Don Cheadle Defends Brie Larson From “Experts” Attacking Her Body Language on Twitter

Brie Larson gets a lot of hate from the Internet for being vocally political, despite her equally political male co-stars not getting the same hate. However, she’s laughing as her two films this year, Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame, both earned over 1 billion at the box office, and her character is set up to lead the Avengers in Phase 4 of the MCU. A recent video tried to discredit her based on her body language during the press tour, and one of her co-stars rallied to her defense.

Don Cheadle, who plays  James “Rhodey” Rhodes in the films, has apparently had enough of the Larson slander. When tagged in a video from a supposed body language expert about how terrible Larson is, he immediately shot it down, saying that he has to laugh. Check out his tweets below.

The video in question accuses Larson of being “stiff” and “domineering” because she’s sitting up straight. IndieWire, who thankfully did the hard work of actually watching the video, quoted the expert in question, Mandy O’Brien, as saying, “She is really trying to dominate them. I guess in her mind, domination equals acceptance … In reality, submission will get you a lot further in friendship circles than trying to dominate and boss everyone around.”

O’Brien also says Larson gives Chris Hemsworth “bedroom eyes” and says she’s unprofessional for saying she did her own Captain Marvel stunts, which is just ridiculous.

I’m glad Cheadle is pointing out how ridiculous these so-called MCU fans are. It’s clear that Marvel has no problem with Larson, as she’s still set to continue to shine in the MCU. She’s not going anywhere, especially not after Captain Marvel‘s box office debut. If you’re not a fan of hers because she hurt your feelings by saying women should review movies, then you’re in for a rough ride. I

I also love that Cheadle mentions how accommodating Larson was, as it does away with the myth that she’s somehow “unlikable”—another word rarely, if ever, lobbed at men. YouTube is flooded with videos about how the Avengers cast secretly hates her and that she’s a total monster who Marvel wants to do away with. Last night, as I tried to remember if she’d been cast when Kong: Skull Island was being filmed, one of the “articles” that turned up talked about how Larson hated her co-stars and implied they hated her back.

Let the record show this is because Larson pushed for an inclusive press tour, and because she’s playing a powerful woman who doesn’t smile on command. She never said she hated white men, just that Captain Marvel is a film that should have women reviewing it as well. She argues for representation. She didn’t smile enough in the first trailer for the film, and in the film itself she’s too cocky and confident, to hear these “fans” tell it. She’s a woman, so she can’t win.

Anyway, Cheadle did the right thing by calling bullshit on this video, and it only makes me more excited for a potential friendship between Rhodey and Carol in films, since they’re both here to stay.

(image: Marvel)

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Kate Gardner

Kate (they/them) says sorry a lot for someone who is not sorry about the amount of strongly held opinions they have. Raised on a steady diet of The West Wing and classic film, they are now a cosplayer who will fight you over issues of inclusion in media while also writing coffee shop AU fanfic for their favorite rare pairs.