From the very first trailer, it was clear Captain Marvel was going to be a game-changer in the superhero genre. And the movie proved as much as soon as it came out in March 2019: Marvel’s first female-led superhero movie shattered box office records by making $455 million its opening weekend. (It eventually made a cool billion dollars.) The best part? Captain Marvel was the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to have a woman co-director and writer (Anna Boden) helming things behind the camera.
Now, according to the The Hollywood Reporter, a sequel to Captain Marvel is in the works. The company has reportedly started developing the new film, and while there are still a lot of details we don’t know, here’s what we’ve gathered about the project so far:
The cast:
The film is going to star Larson again, who reprised her role as Danvers for Avengers: Endgame. So far, she’s the only person listed on the sequel’s IMDb page, so we’ll have to wait and see who else is joining her in the follow-up adventure. We’re hoping Samuel L. Jackson comes back so he can recreate some adorable press moments with Larson.
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The director:
According to sources who spoke to THR, Boden and Ryan Fleck are busy with other projects and may not take on the second installment. However,
Marvel and Disney are reportedly working to find a woman director to take the reins from them.
The writers:
THR reports that Megan McDonnell, one of the lead writers on the Elizabeth Olsen-led series WandaVision, is in final negotiations to write the film’s script.
The premiere date:
The film is expected to come in 2022, although that could change, since the whole thing is still in development. Here’s hoping it coms sooner, though, because we can’t wait to see Larson kick ass on screen again.
Captain Marvel broke all kinds of records when it hit theaters in March 2019. It raked in $455 million its opening weekend, it was created by a team of powerful women, and it introduced audiences to a new kind of female superhero. Brie Larson, the star of the film, got tons of recognition for her work in such a badass production; however, when she was given the Best Fight trophy at the MTV Movie & TV Awards on Monday, she made it clear there were some unsung heroes who needed serious credit. So she went onstage to accept the award alongside her stunt doubles Renae Moneymaker and Joanna Bennett.
Larson made sure the spotlight was on Moneymaker and Bennett, who both worked intensely by her side on Captain Marvel. Stunt doubles often fly under the radar in action films, and they don’t always get recognized for their dedication. Larson wanted to change that, so the Oscar winner and new director completely turned the attention to her friends and colleagues.
“I wanted to take this moment to really say thank you to the two women who are standing here beside me,” Larson said. “These are the women that trained me and were also the stunt doubles for Captain Marvel. I could not have made this film without them. They are really the baseline of who she is. They are the living embodiment of Captain Marvel.”
After introducing them, Larson cheered, “Say whatever you want!” and turned the mic over to the two professionals, who have also been stunt doubles on Wonder Woman, Avengers: Endgame, and X-Men, to name a few. Bennett talked about how exciting it was to bring a strong female character to life, while Moneymaker recalled the female characters who had influenced her own career.
“As young girls, we wanted to be just like Lara Croft and G.I. Jane, so it’s a real honor to be a part of this character and hopefully pass along some of that inspiration and strength that those iconic women brought to us,” she said. “And lastly, a big thank you to Brie for acknowledging our role in this film. It’s truly a rare acknowledgement, and it means so much not only to both of us, but to the entire stunt community.”
I generally feel about the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) the way I feel about gender reveal parties: I get why people are into it, I’ll go if I’m invited, and I always root for a girl. So after I saw on Twitter there’s a “women got this” moment in the climactic battle of Avengers: Endgame, I decided I’d do my cultural duty and see this much-hyped project for myself.
Twenty dollars and three hours later, I can attest that, yes, the female superheroes do kick butt. Moreover, Endgame reveals a franchise—and perhaps an audience—caught between nostalgia for the status quo that built it and the interesting, diverse possibilities ahead. But before we get into that, be warned: Major spoilers for Endgame ahead.
Endgame picks up where Infinity War left off: Half of the universe’s population has turned to dust, though the original six conveniently survived (Iron Man, Black Widow, Hulk, Hawkeye, Thor, and Captain America). War Machine, Nebula, and Rocket Raccoon are also around to help, along with new recruit Captain Marvel, who saved Iron Man’s life on her way to Earth because Carol Danvers is good like that. Right away, Captain Marvel is confident that, with her help, they can all do their avenging and finally kill Thanos—and they do. The only problem: He destroyed the Infinity Stones, which means they can’t reverse his actions from Infinity War.
For five years, everyone mourns their lost loved ones. Captain America leads a support group that features the movie’s one and only openly gay character. Captain Marvel peaces out to fight crime on other planets, even though Nick Fury used his dying breath to summon her to earth. But don’t worry, because here comes…Ant-Man! Yes, they let the most powerful woman in the galaxy skip town, but good ol’ Ant-Man is crucial to the first half of the movie.
That’s not to say the first half of the movie isn’t really fun, by the way. The Avengers go back in time to collect the Infinity Stones, allowing Thor to see his mom, Iron Man to see his dad, and Captain America to fight himself. There’s a lot of sneaking around and even more anti-aging CGI. It all leans hard into the audience’s nostalgia for the earlier movies in the franchise, and that’s what we signed up for, isn’t it?
Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), War Machine/James Rhodey (Don Cheadle), Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), Ant-Man/Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) in Avengers: Endgame.
Marvel Studios
The only thing is, if you haven’t seen the original Avengers since it came out and have instead been watching Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and the MCU’s other more inclusive efforts, you might have forgotten that it’s a real White Guy-Palooza. Iron Man and Captain America are going ego-to-ego, Hulk is doing his best to rein in his testosterone, and Thor still has his phallic attachment to his hammer. The only girl in the group is Black Widow…except she—spoiler—sacrifices herself so Hawkeye can get the Soul Stone and dies. After that, the only women left to save the world are Nebula and Gamora (who, yes, died in Infinity Wars but has joined with her sister in the past and traveled to the present day). But they interact with the main group pretty much never.
After some twists and turns, though, Hulk is able to un-dust all the people Thanos previously dusted—right as a now-alive Thanos (who time-traveled his way from the past) arrives with his entire army. But good news: The heroes who turned to dust have returned, too. If the first half of Endgame was a long and loving tribute to the original batch of Avengers movies, the second is a rapid-fire reminder of all the characters Marvel introduced in the past five years. On your left is Doctor Strange! On your right is Spider-Man and the Scarlet Witch! Directly in front of you…Wakandans! And arriving via the sky are Valkyrie and Captain Marvel (taking down a whole ship by herself in the process, by the way). Except, wait, those last two never got the dust treatment. They could have been here helping the whole time.
Marvel got fans excited this week by dropping the official trailer and poster for Avengers: Endgame, but that hype turned into frustration for many when they noticed one glaring omission: The poster doesn’t list Danai Gurira in the cast credits at the top of the image.
In this latest installment of The Avengers, Gurira reprises Okoye, her badass warrior character from Black Panther and Infinity War. Gurira’s image appears on the Avengers: Endgame poster, alongside actors like Brie Larson and Chris Hemsworth, but she’s the only one out of 12 major players whose name isn’t listed in the top credits. That’s a massive oversight, given that Gurira is also the only black woman in the cast. The omission didn’t sit well with Twitter users, many of whom saw it as erasing a woman of color and urged Marvel to correct the poster.
“She is the only black woman on that poster, the highest profile post-snappening wakandan, a firm fan favorite, and freaking actual DANAI GURIRA to boot. put some respect on her name, damn,” one Twitter user wrote. Others pointed out that characters with less impressive roles had been included in the credits. “They really put Bradley Cooper as the fucking raccoon before Danai Gurira’s name this is pathetic,” one user tweeted.
Eventually, eagle-eyed fans noticed that Gurira’s name does appear at the very bottom of the poster, but you’d basically need a magnifying glass to see it. Marvel hasn’t responded to the criticism or issued a new poster, but fans have made it clear that Gurira should not be ignored.
The female hero is evolving rapidly, or maybe she just can’t be pigeonholed anymore. Whatever the case, it took long enough. Action movies with female leads, especially in the superhero subgenre, have certainly been few and far between compared with the slew of male-fronted films. Despite that, movies like Kill Bill, Foxy Brown, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider paved the way for major female-fronted action franchises to take over the box office in the last decade, including The Hunger Games, Divergent, Star Wars, and, of course, Wonder Woman.
This weekend Marvel finally debuted its first solo female superhero movie, Captain Marvel—and with that came countless comparisons to DC’s Wonder Woman. But other than their genre and box office successes, the films—and their heroes—are nothing alike. In fact, as far as heroes go, Captain Marvel is the first of her kind.
Brie Larson as Captain Marvel
Marvel
Their differences are most notable in, where else, their superpowers. Wonder Woman’s defining message is that there’s strength in being feminine, and hers is tangible. We see it radiating off her glowing skin. We see the way her strapless breastplate and short skirt accentuate her curves and muscles. She’s an Amazon, a towering marvel of a woman. Wonder Woman’s calling card is that she’s unlike any male hero. She was literally created in the 1940s to be the antithesis of a male hero, an answer to masculinity—something that was not only revolutionary in its era but controversial.
Captain Marvel, as we’ve come to know her in the MCU, is not that. To start, her backstory is more modern: The character in her current iteration was created by Kelly Sue DeConnick in 2012. Carol Danvers is an Earth-born fighter pilot in the U.S. military. She’s one of us, she’s achievable. She shares our stories, our struggles in the real world. She’s bogged down by the chains of patriarchy, forced to find her own internal feminine strength to get back up each time she’s knocked down. She’s tomboyish—her off-duty wardrobe consists of Nine Inch Nails T-shirts, leather jackets, flannels, and baseball caps—and unlike Wonder Woman, her super-suit neither hugs her hips nor exposes her skin. But it’s not traditionally masculine, either. In some ways, Captain Marvel eludes gender, from her function-first suit to her nearly gender-neutral character development.
From left: Gal Godot as Wonder Woman, Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars
Warner Bros/Disney
Both Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel are monumental characters, and their differences are what make each of them so special and lovable. But while feminine power exudes from Wonder Woman in every action scene, her idyllic form dancing through war-torn fields and obliterating men, Captain Marvel’s is in the subtext. Take the famed No Man’s Land scene in Wonder Woman; Diana stands out in lurid color against a sea of gray male soldiers, towering over them, her long locks twirling with her sword. Captain Marvel’s strength is in her story rather than the visual aids. There’s a subtle nod to girl power in a fight scene set to No Doubt’s “I’m Just a Girl.” In another scene, a montage of misogynists tell Carol she’s too emotional to be a pilot, not strong enough to be an athlete. We watch a pilot prod, “It’s called a cockpit for a reason.”
The most feminine part of Captain Marvel is her ability to overcome in the face of misogyny. It’s endurance—a feminine strength that may not be inherent but is certainly learned, or forced upon women in the real world. I love this about Captain Marvel, along with her inability to be pinned as any type of female hero that came before her. Because while Wonder Woman is powerfully female, many action franchises’ leading women are almost conventionally male. Rey in The Last Jedi and The Force Awakens is reminiscent of the golden boys of saviors past, a Harry Potter reboot. Ellen Ripley of Alien also contains conventionally masculine power, a morally sound badass with brawny muscles.
Marvel’s first female-led superhero movie is officially a record-breaking success: Captain Marvel made a reported $153 million in its opening weekend, just in the U.S. alone. It brought in another $302 million internationally for a huge total of $455 million worldwide ticket sales, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The movie stars Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, a pilot who becomes Captain Marvel after she finds herself in the middle of an intergalactic war. It’s also the first in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to have a woman behind the camera—co-director and writer, Anna Boden.
Those numbers make Captain Marvel the biggest opening of 2019, as well as the first film to break the $100 million dollar mark this year. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the global sales also make Captain Marvel the biggest launch for a female-fronted film ever and the second-largest superhero film behind Avengers: Infinity War. It’s the sixth-best opening worldwide of all time.
Clearly, moviegoers were ready for a female superhero to take charge in her own piece of the franchise. This, along with the smashing success of Wonder Woman, should put an end to any doubts that female superheroes can’t sell at the box office.
Fans took to social media to give their own mini-reviews after seeing the film. “I saw Captain Marvel tonight,” wrote one user. “I am such a fan of the @kellysue comics, and was KINDA nervous. Because SOMETIMES screen things aren’t as good as paper things. BUT I LOVED IT. Truly. Madly. Deeply. #HigherFurtherFaster” Another said, “I just wanted to tell you that we WE ARE SAFE NOW MISS CAPTAIN MARVEL IS HERE AND SHE IS GLOWING.”
“#CaptainMarvel was good fun, and the backlash against it pre-release was ridiculous,” said another user. “Go see it and support it – shouldn’t matter to whiny nerds what gender or race the lead in a Marvel movie is, it’s still a Marvel movie. Representation clearly matters.”
Next up for Captain Marvel? She’ll help take on Thanos when Avengers: Endgame opens on April 26.
