Brie Larson reveals what she loves most about Captain Marvel

Brie Larson spoke about the way Captain Marvel has inspired her and the importance of such a complex, flawed feminist hero making it onto the screen.

In an interview with InStyle, Brie Larson spoke with Sana Amanat, a Marvel editor who co-created another feminist hero, Kamala Khan, discussing her own experiences as well as why she was drawn to Captain Marvel. Looking elegant and photographed with a variety of birds, Larson got real about how Carol Danvers is a complex, feminist hero.

We’ve collected a few of the things you need to know from the interview.

Why she became Captain Marvel

According to Larson, one of the things she loves the most about the character is that she has such a strong sense of humanity and realness about her. Larson said:

"She didn’t apologize for herself. I felt like that was a really valuable trait, because she is incredibly flawed and makes a lot of mistakes … and has to ask to atone for them, and that is super valuable. She’s not ever shrinking herself down."

In a world that often asks women to do just that, it’s no wonder Larson wanted to play such a complex character.

Larson also mentioned that by taking this role, she could have her own superpower in a way and reach people all over the world by playing a feminist hero.

She wasn’t sure if she’d take the role

Larson mentions that even though she loved the character, it was hard to make the decision given how secretive everything was. She didn’t feel like she could reach out to anyone for advice, not even her own mother.

She realized, however, that playing Captain Marvel was a role she didn’t even know she had been waiting for. Larson talked about how influential seeing Indiana Jones was for her as a child and how playing Captain Marvel felt like a feminist opportunity her child self had been missing. She had finally found the female Indiana Jones that she wished she could watch as a child.

The actress shared:

"I couldn’t think of a female equivalent. There was Sigourney Weaver in Alien, of course, but there wasn’t enough of that spectrum of confidence and sass and a little bit of a mess, just a mix of everything. Women weren’t allowed to do that."

Her Captain Marvel training was intense

By now, we’ve seen Brie Larson’s training videos on social media and around the internet. She’s already shown us some of her workout routines, and we’re pretty sure she can lift Mjolnir at this point.

But in the interview, Larson revealed she went through nine months of training for the role and by the end was able to deadlift more than 200 pounds. She even was able to push a Jeep… up a hill.

She says the training was important to her on a personal level and a feminist one. She wanted to be strong for the role and learn what her body could do, saying:

"The movie is not really going to look any different with the fact that I can actually lift 225 pounds. It doesn’t matter to anyone else, but it did to me. Breaking that boundary of what it means for a woman to be muscular and strong and own your body and use it as a tool, that felt meaningful."

With all the other strong and powerful ladies of the MCU, Larson shows us being a super powerful hero on screen and in real life isn’t just for the guys.

She had an early start with acting

Larson told InStyle that she wanted to be an actress at an age when many people don’t even know how to write their own names yet. She remembered playing the Energizer Bunny when she was 4 during a family Christmas talent show. This small moment inspired her; when she was only 6 years old, she started acting at the American Conservatory Theater located in San Francisco, and she was the youngest person to ever do so.

Just like her co-star Samuel L. Jackson, it seems like acting is in Larson’s DNA, and she’s been working at it ever since.

Captain Marvel’s inspired her, too

Larson seems particularly inspired by the heroic role she’s taken on and thinks Captain Marvel has many valuable traits she can to bring into her real life. She told the mag:

"I want to hold on to the cockiness and the sense of ownership. Because I do believe in my abilities. And I do value myself, and I do know that I’m strong, and I do know that I can do a lot of things that people don’t think I can do."

Of course, this is a great message we can get behind. And it’s one that many women can be inspired by.

Brie Larson seems like the perfect person to play Carol Danvers, and we can’t wait to see her portrayal on the big screen when Captain Marvel hits theaters on March 8.