I know what you’re thinking. More talk of Brie Larson quitting the MCU? Haven’t we already sung this song many times over?
Well, on that you would be correct, as the unfair onslaught of hostile criticism the Oscar-winning actress has had to endure over her Marvel career so far has often led to rumors that she might be about to call it quits or even be fired by the studio for apparently doing “a bad job.” Unfortunately, in this case, there is a tangible root to the reports. Let’s grab our skeptical shovels and dig into this contentious claim.
Brie Larson has allegedly grown “disillusioned” with the MCU
Talk of Larson potentially calling it quits as Carol Danvers following The Marvels spawned from a claim published in MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, an unofficial history of the franchise that has grabbed headlines for its various revelations, including that Marvel was convinced Quantumania was a “banger” and that Avengers: Secret Wars is going to be a soft reboot of the MCU.
As for Larson, author Joanna Robinson writes that “Brie Larson grew disillusioned” with her role as a major face of the franchise. While the book itself doesn’t go into details over why that is, Robinson elaborated on her claim during an appearance on The Watch podcast. Unsurprisingly, the author alleges that the “toxic backlash” the Captain Marvel star has received has soured the experience for her. Here, Robinson even claimed that Larson categorically “doesn’t want to play” in the Marvel sandbox for longer than she has to:
“[Marvel Studios] put Brie Larson in [a prominent place in the MCU]. I don’t know if Brie Larson was the wrong person for the role necessarily. But the toxic backlash means that Brie Larson doesn’t want to play Carol Danvers anymore.”
Immediately, Robinson’s allegations cast comments Larson made in November 2022 in a new light, as — when asked about what’s next for her in the MCU after The Marvels — she said, “I don’t know, does anyone want me to do it again?” While she was clearly throwing shade on her haters to some extent, we assumed Larson’s deadpan expression was simply her poker face, hiding her knowledge of future appearances, but now we’re worrying if she looked humorless simply because she didn’t find anything about portraying Captain Marvel fun anymore.
To reiterate, no, Brie Larson has not given any official indication that she’s looking to move on from Marvel, but there also aren’t any confirmed MCU movies or shows on her slate at this time. If all her enjoyment of a role that clearly meant so much to her originally — just see her social media posts from the making of Captain Marvel for evidence — really has been sucked away by toxicity, however, then those who have been spewing bile about her all these years should feel deeply ashamed.