There’s a better way to get diversity in the MCU without recasting Captain Marvel

There is currently a petition circulating to have Brie Larson replaced as Captain Marvel in favor of an actress that brings more representation to the MCU.

When Captain Marvel hit theaters in 2019, it was the first time the MCU had given a female superhero a solo movie. At the heart of the film is Brie Larson, the actress who plays the titular hero. And while there were plenty of people who complained about any number of things when it came to both Larson and Captain Marvel, the movie still did well enough to break the billion dollar mark.

However, it seems that having a successful movie under her belt is not enough for some people, as there is currently a petition circulating with a goal of 15,000 signatures that is looking to have Brie Larson removed from the role of Captain Marvel. And as of writing this, the petition has far surpassed its 15,000 signatures goal.

On the one hand, the reason for the petition makes sense in one way. The people who created the petition want more representation in the MCU. They are asking that Larson be replaced with a woman of color who is also gay. And while in theory, this is a petition that has a good cause at its heart, the reality is different.

As We Got This Covered points out, Brie Larson has been very vocal about the fact that the MCU needs to do better when it comes to representation. She has said that they need to “move faster,” in terms of giving the world more heroes of color and heroes who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. Basically, Larson has been as much an ally as anyone.

And we have to point out that Brie Larson herself is a step in the right direction for the MCU. Considering the only major female hero we had for the longest time was Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff played by Scarlett Johansson, until the last few years, it’s hard to fully support a petition that would replace one of the females of the MCU.

We want more women superheroes, so instead of replacing Brie Larson, what we really need are more women to join her. And yes, that includes women of color, bisexual women, trans women, lesbians — all women. Honestly, any and all women need to join the troops when it comes to the Marvel family of superheroes.

Rather than ask the MCU to replace Brie Larson as Captain Marvel in a petition, fans should be asking for more representation period. And there are any number of heroes who could fulfill our need and want for representation. From canonically gay superheroes to women of color, the comics themselves have been much better about representing people than the MCU has been. And it is time to change that.

We should not be going after an ally who agrees with so many people about how the MCU needs to do better. Instead, we should be supporting her and offering up suggestions of who could fill these much-needed roles.

And listen, that nod to the fact that there are in fact LGBTQ+ people in the world that we saw in Avengers: Endgame was nice in a way, but also weak and lacking. It took the MCU how many movies to remind the world that gay people exist? Not to take away from the fact that they finally gave us a gay character, but he was in no way a character that is sticking around, so it doesn’t help the fans who what to be represented.

Instead, we want to see characters who are already part of the LGBTQ+ family in the comics like Iceman, Rictor, Miss America, Wiccan, Karma, Northstar, and Karolina Dean finally having their stories told. We want to see Valkyrie finally have her sexuality addressed, as she is not only queer in the comics, but in the past, we were told that she was in the movies, even if the “scene was cut.” Or as The Mary Sue requests, why not give us Ayo and Okoye getting together in the future?

There are a lot of ways that the MCU could address representation on screen, but replacing Brie Larson as Captain Marvel is not the way to go. We want more women, not less. We want allies who fight with us for representation. And above all else, we want the MCU to realize that they have been too slow in giving their fans what they want.

Hopefully, future movies in the MCU listen to the people asking for them to do better. And even with the Eternals promising us a gay hero, one is not enough. Give fans the heroes who look like them and better represent the diverse world we live in.