Who Is Captain Marvel? Breaking Down Brie Larson’s Role in the MCU

With The Marvels releasing later this year, which will feature not one but three superheroines, you might be trying to refresh your memory about who these characters are, where you’ve seen them in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before, and which actors portray them. A lot has happened in the MCU since Captain Marvel first debuted in theatres in 2019, after all. We’re here to help.

Captain Marvel, a “period” piece that takes place in 1995, tells the story of how Nicholas J. Fury met his first true superhero friend: Carol Danvers, who eventually takes on the moniker Captain Marvel, crashlands on Earth with the belief that she is a Kree warrior, fighting against the shape-shifting Skrulls (now featured prominently in Secret Invasion on Disney+.) The truth, however, is far more sinister: Carol was essentially kidnapped by the Kree after a dangerous incident with the Tesseract, one of the MCU’s Infinity Stones. Thankfully, in the end, she embraces her true binary power, saving the Skrulls from the Kree’s genocidal intentions and promising to find them a new home somewhere in the vast galaxy.

Since Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers has become an important figure in the MCU: she jumpstarted Fury’s Avengers Initiative, was instrumental in the battle against Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, and will now team up with Kamala Khan, a.k.a Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) in The Marvels.

Related: The 61 Celebrities Who Have Played Themselves In The MCU on We Got This Covered

So, who actually plays Captain Marvel in the MCU, and where have you seen her before?

Captain Marvel is portrayed by actress Brie Larson. Larson’s casting was announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2016, and she went on to become the first female superhero in the MCU to be featured in her own solo movie. She wasn’t the first titular female MCU hero, however—that honor went to Evangeline Lily’s the Wasp, who starred alongside Paul Rudd in 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Before landing her role in the MCU, Brie Larson starred in notable films like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World as Envy Adams, and in 2015’s Room as Ma, for which she won the Best Actress Oscar in 2016. You might also recognize Larson from her roles in Kong: Skull Island as photographer Mason Weaver (opposite the MCU’s own Samuel L. Jackson), and more recently in Fast X as Tess, Mr. Nobody’s daughter.

Within the MCU, Larson has appeared as Captain Marvel in Captain Marvel, in Avengers: Infinity War‘s post-credits scene, Avengers: Endgame, in the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings post-credits scene, in Ms. Marvel‘s finale post-credits scene, and she will reprise her role in The Marvels, which is expected to release in November 2023. Watch the trailer here:

(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)