
Looks like Marvel’s casting department might be about to pull off another doozy. Brie Larson just took home an Academy Award for Best Actress and next up she might just become Marvel Studio’s first headlining female superhero. Variety reports that the Room star is in early talks with the studio to take on the title role of Captain Marvel, aka Carol Danvers.
No director is currently attached to the project, though MCU chief Kevin Feige indicated we’d be hearing a name by the end of the summer. Guardians of the Galaxy co-writer Nicole Perlman and Inside Out co-writer Meg LeFauve are penning the script and with Marvel’s recent resume of impressive creative talent, including Thor: Ragnarok‘s Taika Waititi to Black Panther‘s Ryan Coogler, odds are the studio is eyeing some exciting prospects. With Larson’s name now in the mix to lead, those odds just skyrocketed tremendously.
Despite being best known for her dramatic work, this isn’t the first time she’s been up for a major tentpole lead. Larson is currently heading up Kong: Skull Island with Tom Hiddleston and a few years ago she was reportedly in talks for the role of Sarah Connor in the last Terminator film (Emilia Clarke eventually landed it), but considering how that all went down, Captain Marvel is poised to be an even bigger get.
While Captain Marvel doesn’t arrive in theaters until March 8, 2019, the studio has long considered introducing her character before her standalone film (she was originally set to debut in Joss Whedon‘s Age of Ultron), and a recent comment from Captain America: Civil War directors Joe and Anthony Russo indicated that Captain Marvel may make her debut in their upcoming Avengers: Infinity War films. Names like Emily Blunt and Natalie Dormer have been on the top of fan casting lists since the film was announced, but Larson is a bit of an unexpected pick. That said, she would also be a fantastic one.
