Captain Marvel: Brie Larson discusses importance of female empowerment in new film

Actor says her character was 'doing amazing things even before she had super powers'

Brie Larson has discussed the importance of female empowerment in Captain Marvel, describing her character as “remarkable”.

The latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain Marvel is the first woman-led superhero film from the franchise, following US Air Force pilot Carol Danvers as she generates superhuman strength and the ability to fly.

While the movie is expected to deliver the typical superhero tropes – from bad guys and battle scenes to tragic backstories – Larson says the most important take away is the importance of female empowerment.

Describing her new role, the Oscar-winning actress explained that Danvers was a strong and impressive woman long before she was a superhero.

“There is a through line highlighting the incredible women that we have in the air force, but the other thing for me that I love about that, is that she is incredible in breaking barriers and doing amazing things even before she had super powers,” she told the Press Association.

“That is an important fact to this too, it's not like these powers were the thing that made her remarkable, they just highlighted what was already in her.”

The Room star also opened up about the physical challenges that came with the role, admitting she didn’t think it would be possible to transform her body so drastically.

“My goal was just to train really hard for nine months and see what happened, and I didn't even think it was possible for me,” she said.

“And the reason why I did it was basically for this, for these moments, for these conversations, when we are discussing what it feels like or what it looks like to be a female, a self-identified female, and be strong.

“I want to start those conversations and highlight that I went from not feeling like I was capable of that to really being able to embody this in a new way.”

While she is undoubtedly making history with the upcoming film, Larson said she does not feel the weight of responsibility that comes with such an important part.

“I don't know if I'm crazy, because so many people have been like, 'You must feel pressure, you must feel responsibility', and I'm like, 'I don't, is that bad?',” she explained.

“I just don't think that it's helpful to me or helpful to this story or helpful to the work to feel that way. For me it's just like I really love this character, I love Carol, and I think there is a lot of value in it.

“I just wanted to focus on the best job I could do, and I know especially with a movie this big it seems like it's like this public thing - but when you're on set it's super private so that is how it felt, it felt like we were making a small movie.”

Captain Marvel is released in UK cinemas on 8 March, International Women’s Day.