HOLLYWOOD – Brie Larson, the actress behind perhaps the most powerful hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, did something at the “Captain Marvel” premiere Monday that any strong, proud woman has done before.
She teared up.
“Hi,” she said cautiously on the microphone, atop the Dolby Theatre stage and surrounded by her directors, producers and co-stars. “I’m crying a lot today.”
Why the tears?
It could be that the actress is about to make history as the first solo female Marvel movie hero. It could be that there are dozens of women and girls in the audience dressed in the blond hair and navy uniform of her superhuman pilot Carol Danvers. It could be that Larson spent a hard nine months training to get in shape for a role that kicked her butt. It could be that there are 100 members of the Air Force sitting up front, some of whom worked with Larson on the film, smiling at her. It could be that she’s an Oscar-winning performer who is giving us what we want to see.
Regardless, seeing the 29-year-old get emotional about any of that, in a glamorous gown that appears to be covered in POW! starbursts from the comic book that inspired her movie, is touching.
Marvel emphasized the fact that this premiere is an event when they blocked off Hollywood Avenue to make way for a red carpet topped with humongous “CAPTAIN MARVEL WORLD PREMIERE” lettering. There was also that alien ship in the middle of the street. And a flyover of six F-16 Thunderbirds.
So a grand introduction to “Captain Marvel” inside of the theater was not necessary.
✈️ Oooo @usairforce Thunderbirds just flew over the #CaptainMarvel premiere! Maj. Jennifer Piggott, who’s at this event with other members of the #AirForce, told me they’re F-16 fighter jets.
— Carly Mallenbaum (@ThatGirlCarly) March 5, 2019
“I’m not gonna sit here and take too long,” Larson said onstage.
She didn’t need to tell the crowd that there’s a sea change in an MCU previously overstuffed with machismo; the cast and crew in attendance – including a female star, female director, female writers and a female editor– demonstrated that.
But actress Lashana Lynch, who plays single mother Maria Bambeau, did the closest thing to putting the premiere’s feminist vibe into words. She was asked on the carpet about her movie character.
She’s “a superhero by being born a woman,” Lynch said.
.@LashanaLynch plays #CaptainMarvel’s good friend Maria Rambeau. The actress wonders: Why do we never see intimate female friendship in cinema?
— Carly Mallenbaum (@ThatGirlCarly) March 5, 2019
