Brie Larson was not a universally welcome addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but somehow she is currently leading the film industry’s biggest franchise after most of the MCU’s legacy characters are departing. The Captain Marvel movie experience left many fans and some critics unenthusiastic about the casting as well as the future of the MCU. Even though the Russo Brothers knew it was best to minimize Captain Marvel in Avengers: Endgame, according to insider Daniel Richtman, Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel will now be repositioned as an LGBT character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the leader of the next Phase. 

Yep. Being gay will be the elixir that increases her popularity among fans… 

Captain Marvel being a gay character was all but demanded by a small but vocal segment of moviegoers and activists. Both years ago, and even more recently, there was a persistent rumor that Marvel was actively planning for an openly gay character coming in the Phase Four of films with speculation it could be Captain Marvel. 

Not enough to convince you that you’re about get more woke and preachy Marvel Cinematic Universe tales?

Brie Larson, like other MCU actors, is politically vocal. She also happens to be a militant feminist, and a big believer in pushing for equality (in the film industry and the world). One statement that gained a lot of attention before Captain Marvel was released is when Larson said that she had noticed her press interviews were filled with “overwhelmingly white male” and that she “decided to make sure my press days were more inclusive”.  Here’s a sample:

Critics also argue that not only Larson, but the marketing of the Captain Marvel film itself, put too much emphasis on the fact that Captain Marvel is a woman. And this may just be the beginning of woke and preachy superhero movies and properties. As Jim Nolte wrote last summer:

…the obnoxiously woke, preachy, mean-spirited, sexless, and humorless Captain Marvel is not just a preview of what’s coming from the next phase of the Marvel franchise, it’s a preview of what we can expect from every movie (and TV show) for years to come.

Remember that scene where the joyless, intolerant, and bitter Captain Marvel assaults, robs, and threatens a guy for making a pass at her, and then steals his clothes and motorcycle? Remember the scene below where Captain Marvel proves she’s a thin-skinned bully, thief, and humorless asshole…?

We’re going to see a whole lot more of that.

Remember the Captain Marvel scene where Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury innocently addresses Marie Rambeau as “young lady” and she flips out?

“Call me young lady again, and I’m gonna put my foot in a place it’s not supposed to be!”

Remember that?

Oh, yeah… Those kinds of hideously unattractive moments presented as bold and brave are about to be everywhere in our entertainment culture… Instead of being cool, laid back, self-composed, strong, generous, gracious, forgiving, and good-natured, we’re about to be instructed that the following are virtues: thin-skinned, humorless, easily-offended, weak, demanding, vindictive, and neurotic.

If you thought popular culture was sickeningly left-wing and preachy before, you haven’t seen anything yet. By next summer and the summer after, you’re going to look back on Captain Marvel as the good old days.

Captain Marvel, in spite of collecting a sizable box office, just wasn’t a very good MCU movie. While it was extremely aware of its duty to check all the boxes about feminine equality in all circumstances, it clumsily jammed in various feminist tropes whenever possible. Clearly, not giving Carol DanVers a romantic interest in her origin story was meant as a signal that she doesn’t need a man to be strong and courageous, but moviegoing audiences could have used the intrigue. Besides, Carol may not need a man, but creepy Jude Law and CJI Jackson weren’t quite enough man candy to attract a millennial crowd of ladies. Who was this for exactly? What is the endgame here?

The writer-director team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck  could have made a powerful statement about sex and social justice — an arduous undertaking for even the most seasoned superhero filmmakers. But the end result was an empty bag with a few ‘meh’ action sequences, lots of silly questions left unanswered, and a fairly exciting final twenty minutes. All in all, the pluses weren’t enough to make up for the lack of depth in story and characters.

And Captain Marvel’s charisma certainly did not magically appear when she met the rest of the Avengers. 

In possibly related news, Brie Larson has been actively campaigning for an all-female cast in the next movie.

We’ve beaten the “Brie Larson was an unlikeable Captain Marvel” horse to death by now. And Disney making the character gay isn’t going to camouflage a thin-skinned, humorless, easily-offended, weak, demanding, vindictive, and neurotic character, as she was portrayed by Brie Larson. The fact is, the majority of movie goers could not care any less about a character’s sexual orientation. What moviegoers care about is the protagonist’s character (i.e. courage, integrity, personality, nature, humor, disposition, emotions, temperament, etc.). 

Which frankly, Brie Larson is found wanting.

With Disney’s decision to make Carol Danvers a lesbian in the next film, Captain Marvel will become one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first openly gay characters, and she very likely won’t be the last. There are already rumors of storylines in the upcoming Eternals which have multiple characters who are gay in the comic books. And LGBTQ activists are even more hopeful now that there are a number of other possibilities with the X-Men coming into the Disney fold.  None of those characters are particularly popular with the fandom, and in fact most fans don’t really care about who Wonder Man is sleeping with, but sure, go ahead Marvel. Go ahead and make what is perhaps your least popular character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe into a lesbian.

That should offer her some more protection from trolls.

Please don’t hear me saying gays should have no representation in television or movies,  of course there should be diverse representation in popular media, but Hollywood knows that it can shape pop culture and people’s perceptions. Contrary to what you push on TV, homosexuals only make up about 3% of the population, but make up more than 15% of films. Being under-represented is not really an issue anymore. As many have noticed, there’s a gay storyline in every modern TV show out there these days. There is a purpose to this and as Stan Lee would have attested, altering the sexuality of a Marvel Comics character that’s been portrayed as straight for more than fifty years is not a decision that should be made flippantly. 

Even though the character of Carol Danvers has always been played by a heterosexual character since her debut in 1968, Stephen Crowder is convinced there is a strategy here:

…there’s now a movement…  to make existing heterosexual characters into homosexual ones. A writer in Vanity Fair lamented that Captain America was not gay with Bucky. Why? Because apparently men can no longer be just friends [Hollywood must] to turn healthy male friendships into closeted gayness. As if all people are secretly gay, they just need to meet the right person to be gay with…

It’s even been suggested that James Bond should be gay. James Bond. Gay. Think about that for a second. James Bond is a serial womanizer. He loves the ladies. The ladies love him. But we’re living in a culture where people feel comfortable suggesting a character like James Bond should be gay without being laughed at.

Is that what’s happening? Are Brie Larson and Marvel afraid of the #Woke mob and willing to acquiesce to their demands, are they active participants of a “gay agenda,” or are they so lost themselves in the church of wokeness that MCU fans are simply going to be forced to spend another two hours with a dull protagonist without vulnerabilities, zero sex appeal, and no character arc? None of those flaws will matter, because at least she’ll be GAY…!

And you had better never criticize that trait, because even if you don’t care by now, you will be made to care.