Kevin Feige on casting Brie Larson as Captain Marvel: 'People expect us to meet a very high bar'

This year's San Diego Comic-Con had its fair share of juicy reveals when it came to movies, including a plethora of first-look trailers for films such as Justice League and Kong: Skull Island as well as second sneak peeks for Suicide Squad and Doctor Strange. But one of the biggest news stories to come out of the weekend was undoubtedly that Brie Larson will be playing the titular role in Marvel Studios' first female-fronted superhero movie, Captain Marvel.

The announcement was made during the studio's panel in Hall H on Saturday (23 July), when Marvel President Kevin Feige suggested to the audience that everyone there promoting an upcoming Marvel movie should gather on stage to take a selfie. When everyone had finally congregated, the 43-year-old added: "Hang on, if we're actually going to do a big Marvel family photo, we should probably introduce the newest member... the newest person joining us... Captain Marvel herself, Brie Larson," to which the Room actress walked on stage to cheers and applause.

Following the event, Feige also explained to Cinema Blend why Larson is a perfect fit for Carol Danvers: "Listen, we set the bar very high with the first casting decision we ever made with Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark. Since then, every single choice we've made, we have asked, 'Could it meet that bar?' Because that is what people expect of us, and that is what ... it's a very high bar.

"Carol Danvers needs to be as rich and textured and real as the best of our characters. Maybe even more so. And we got very lucky that Brie — who has all of those attributes, and an Academy Award now — was still very interested in signing up and joining us to bring this character to life."

Larson has had quite the year, particularly when you consider that she's actually been in the acting game since 1998. More recently, she got everyone's attention as Amy Schumer's sensible sister in comedy Trainwreck and then of course, went on to have huge success awards-wise with drama Room, for which she won a Bafta, Golden Globe and finally, the Oscar in their respective lead performance categories.

Coming aboard, Larson will stand along side an extensive line of acclaimed actors who have joined the Marvel ranks over the last year or so including Tilda Swinton, Kurt Russell, Ryan Coogler, Marisa Tomei, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rachel McAdams and Lupita Nyong'o. She is expected to debut her version of Captain Marvel in Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 and will lead her own movie in 2019.

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