News that Captain Marvel 2 is official happening only broke recently, but it appears that MCU fans have gotten in early to voice their concerns about Brie Larson’s role in the film.
A petition has been created to ask Disney to recast the role of Captain Marvel so that she’s closer to her comic book origins.
Care2 Petitions features a petition titled “Demand Captain Marvel is Played By a Woman of Color, Not Brie Larson!” and has almost 28,000 signatures at the time of writing.
The creator of the petition writes, “We need Brie Larson to step down from her role to prove she is an ally of social justice and ensure a gay woman of colour plays the role.
“Let Monica, the original female & BLACK Captain Marvel instead of white-washing characters for the benefit of the straight, white men running Disney.
They also claim that Larson hasn’t donated to any charities other than The Motion Picture and Television Fund Foundation and that she should step down to show that her previous message of inclusivity isn’t just talk.
Those who have supported the petition are referring to Monica Rambeau, who is indeed the first female incarnation of the character. She first appeared in the comics in 1982, while Carol Danvers only took on the identity in 2012. So, it’s understandable that fans feel like they’ve been let down.
Monica did appear in the first Captain Marvel film and is also set to appear in the Disney+ series WandaVision, however, it just isn’t enough for fans of the original story.
In 2019, Larson made a number of comments about the importance of inclusivity and diversity in the MCU, however, this just ruffled more feathers and the backlash saw people downvoting Captain Marvel on Rotten Tomatoes.
Larson’s comments included calls for more inclusivity in terms of those who review films, saying “reviews change lives”.
She spoke at the Crystal + Lucy Awards and said, “I don’t want to hear what a white man has to say about A Wrinkle in Time. I want to hear what a woman of colour, a biracial woman has to say about the film. I want to hear what teenagers think about the film.”
The actress also urged publicists to rethink their press invitations, “Please make sure that these invites and credentials find their way to more underrepresented journalists and critics, many of whom are freelancers.”
Disney has not responded to the petition, and, to be honest, it’s unlikely that they will.
Perhaps the studio has plans to write Monica Rambeau as Captain Marvel in the future, but at this stage, we have no idea if that’s the case.