The only person more excited than us for the new Captain Marvel film is Captain Marvel herself, Brie Larson. The actress has been posting pictures and videos from some of her intense superhero-sized workouts to Instagram, and we’ve been living for it.
Larson recently told CBR.com that she is “trying to be as prepared as possible. This requires a crazy amount of discipline and physical strength. I don’t think I fully understood the scope of it, and to feel this connection to my body in a way that I hadn’t before, it’s incredible. It’s like a triathlon to be part of these legendary superheroes.”
Alongside stalking her social media feed, we’ve also been creeping on the character of Captain Marvel herself, revisiting her long, comic book history. Take a look below at how Larson physically prepared for Captain Marvel’s big-screen debut—plus, learn a bit about the character’s complex (and litigious) comic book history.
The story of Captain Marvel in the comics didn’t start with the Carol Danvers version from the movie. Hell, it didn’t even start at Marvel Comics. According to Mental Floss, the original Captain Marvel appeared in 1939 at Fawcett Comics, with Bill Parker and C.C. Beck creating the character to rival Superman. The characters had almost identical power sets, but what set Captain Marvel apart was his alter ego, a young, mischievous boy named Billy Batson who summoned his powers by shouting his magical catchphrase, “Shazam!”
Despite the subtle differences, DC sued Fawcett for copyright infringement, which was settled in DC’s favor in 1948, resulting in Fawcett being forbidden from publishing any more of their Captain Marvel comics. In the mid-’60s, M.F. Enterprises tried to create a new Captain Marvel character, with little success. Thereafter Marvel Comics obtained the copyright to the Captain Marvel name and created a whole new version of the character in 1967’s Marvel Super Heroes #12. This Captain Marvel was a male space alien disguised as a human scientist.
A few years later, DC licensed the original Captain Marvel from Fawcett for their own purposes. The catch was that Marvel owned the name “Captain Marvel,” so DC couldn’t use Captain Marvel in any of the branding for their character. Instead, they got around it by titling the comic book Shazam!: The World’s Mightiest Mortal. To cut down on the confusion, DC changed the character’s name to Shazam in 2012.
Is your head spinning yet? If you’re reading this and thinking you’ve heard of a superhero named Shazam recently, you’re not wrong. Because the universe is beautiful and petty, the DC cinematic universe will be releasing the movie Shazam!, starring Zachary Levi, on April 5, 2019, almost one month after MCU’s Captain Marvel. Oh, the shade of it all.
Now if you just read all that and thought “what on Earth did any of that have to do with Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel?” Once again, you’re not wrong. The only thing more confusing than copyright history, is comic book history.
Carol Danvers first appeared in Marvel Super Heroes #13 in 1968 as an Air Force colonel, where she met Mar-Vell, the aforementioned undercover alien, Captain Marvel. During an accident involving the two of them, Danvers absorbed Mar-Vell’s power, merging her DNA with that of the alien race Kree. After Captain Marvel died, she took on his role and named herself Ms. Marvel.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Ms. Marvel ran around with Avengers and the X-Men. She was touted as a feminist icon of her time, especially citing the choice to call her Ms. Marvel instead of Miss Marvel in honor of Gloria Steinem. The character was a consistent mainstay of the Marvel multiverse, but often was relegated to the background or as part of a larger ensemble cast. She had some pretty heavy storylines over the years; including sexual assault, alcoholism, merging with a literal white hole to become a superhero named Binary, and that whole thing where Rogue absorbed all her memories and powers (if you’re ever wondering why Rogue can fly, that’s why).
In 2012, Ms. Marvel was officially rebranded as the new Captain Marvel. Redesigned by artist Jamie McKelvie and written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, this series became an instant hit and resonated deeply with fans. The design and story from this run is set to be the primary basis of the film, with callbacks to her greater comic history spread throughout.
It seems only fitting that Carol Danvers, who made waves in the 1970s by using the honorific ‘Ms.’, would be the MCU’s first female-led solo film. It’s been a long and winding road for female solo films; Black Widow has been trying to get off the ground since the mid-2000s with David Hayter, and the current Disney-owned MCU constantly pushing the project back. Other female Marvel superheroes that have tried and failed to get a film off the ground is X-Men’s Dazzler, who was slated to be portrayed by Bo Derek in the late 1970s.
Marvel announced Captain Marvel would be joining the Avengers and company in the MCU in 2014.
Brie Larson is no stranger to film. She started acting as a child in Disney films, had a brief singing career in the early 2000s, and is a bit of meme by posting her own cringe-worthy red carpet pics from the era. Long live low-rise jeans.
What you probably know her for now is films, such as Short Term 12, Kong: Skull Island, and Room, for which she won an Oscar in 2016. Outside of film, Larson stays true to her character’s feminist roots by being an active member of the TimesUp movement and championing more diverse voices in journalism and media. Larson is also backing a campaign to send underprivileged girls to see Captain Marvel.
“I will say that I learned that I’m much stronger than I realize in playing [Captain Marvel],” she recently told Variety.
On top of spending time with IRL pilots to research the part, Larson had to complete some grueling training in order to achieve her part-human/part-Kree physique.
Larson trained for nine months before training for the film even began. Training itself was four hours every day for three months to prepare for the role, according to Marie Claire UK.
It may be hard to believe now, but Larson never enjoyed working out prior to Captain Marvel and found conversations around her body, especially due to her work in film, uncomfortable. “This was an opportunity for me to … make my body mine,” Larson explained in an interview with E! News.
Her strength training for the role included 215-pound deadlifts and 400-pound hip thrusts. Yes, you read those numbers correctly.
“A huge part of [Captain Marvel] is her strength,” Larson said to E! News. “I knew if I could go through that experience, I would get closer to her and I’d understand [her].”
If you need more shots of Brie being totally badass, check out this behind-the-scenes look at her training posted by Marvel.
Fans rallied around the 2012 Captain Marvel comic book reboot, excited by the character’s new moniker and practical (but still cool!) costume. Fans of the series call themselves the Carol Corps, and their numbers are massive, according to Wired, which reported on a Carol Corps convention at Emerald City Comic Con in 2014. You can find endless pages of fan art online; heck, you can even get Carol Danvers-inspired Vans!
Watching her push a 5000 pound jeep up hill wearing Captain Marvel Nike shoes, I’m sure the Carol Corps are beaming with pride. Talk about going higher, further, faster!
