'Captain Marvel' Bits: Rejecting Her "Bathing Suit" Costume, Larson Fought For A More Inclusive Press Tour, And More
With Captain Marvel debuting soon, we've rounded up a few stories related to the upcoming female-fronted Marvel Studios movie. Read on to read Kevin Feige's comments about the comic character's "bathing suit" costume, how Brie Larson fought for a more inclusive press tour, get a look at a new Captain Marvel-inspired line of clothing, and read between the lines of a new interview that could potentially hint at who may be the next Captain Marvel after Larson hangs up her suit.
Larson and Feige Agreed About the Costume
In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter (via io9), Marvel Studios president and producer Kevin Feige talked about one of his early meetings with Larson about taking on the role, and how they both thought that the earlier designs of the character's suit wouldn't be the best fit for a movie:
"If you look at the comics, the further you go back, the less clothes Carol Danvers seems to be wearing. Oftentimes it's a one-piece bathing suit basically, with outrageous comic proportions. ... Brie pointed it out on the wall, and we went, 'Yeah ... just so you know, that's not what we're doing.' She goes, 'OK. I didn't think so, but I'm glad you said that.'"
The character's redesign under writer Kelly Sue DeConnick removed the bathing suit and gave Carol Danvers a much more practical sense of style, so don't expect to see Larson fighting Skrulls in a tight black one-piece on the big screen.
Press Members Covering Captain Marvel Won't Be Overwhelmingly White and Male
Speaking with Marie Claire UK (via Pajiba), Larson explained that she noticed an imbalance in the type of people who were interviewing her, and she took action to open things up to a wider group of journalists:
"About a year ago, I started paying attention to what my press days looked like and the critics reviewing movies, and noticed it appeared to be overwhelmingly white male. So, I spoke to Dr. Stacy Smith at the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, who put together a study to confirm that. Moving forward, I decided to make sure my press days were more inclusive. After speaking with you, the film critic Valerie Complex and a few other women of colour, it sounded like across the board they weren't getting the same opportunities as others. When I talked to the facilities that weren't providing it, they all had different excuses."
As you may have expected, this has sparked a bit of a whiny backlash from a small, angry corner of the internet. Because of course it has. But it's obvious to anyone with a non-festering brain that this is a good thing, and it's cool to see Larson using her power to help provide access for marginalized journalists in a time when the profession is under fire.
Who Will Be The Next Captain Marvel in The Movies?
Rotten Tomatoes spoke with actress Lashana Lynch, who plays Carol Danvers' best friend Maria Rambeau in the new movie, and they asked her about Monica Rambeau, her character's daughter. Monica wore the Captain Marvel suit in the comics, but it sounds like that may not be the case in the MCU:
"At the present time, [Monica] is 11. Most of the time, she's 11, so I honestly don't know. I feel like there's, there's always some things in the works when it comes to the MCU, and there's always things changing. They go by the comics, but they also switch things up sometimes to keep us on our toes, to keep us excited, and as a Marvel fan, I'm always excited why they didn't go by the comics with that particular detail, and then how it unravels down the line."
Inverse speculates that this could mean that the door is open for Kamala Khan, Carol's biggest fan in the comics, to eventually step in and take over. Kamala is Marvel's first Muslim character to lead her own comic; in the pages of the books, Kamala inherits the mantle of Ms. Marvel when Carol Danvers steps up to become Captain Marvel. This is all a long way off, but it could hint that the studio is laying the groundwork for that to eventually happen on the big screen.
Captain Marvel Clothing Line
We started by talking about Captain Marvel's costume, so let's end with a clothing line inspired by the character that's bringing superheroic style to women in the real world. ComicBook points us to a new Hot Topic/Her Universe collaboration that includes a bunch of Captain Marvel-themed options for anyone into cosplay or who just might feel like rockin' a shirt with a picture of a superhero's cat on it. Keep the Goose content coming, please. Take a look at a few of the items below.
Captain Marvel hits theaters on March 8, 2019.