Brie Larson Cast as First ‘Avengers’ Female Lead in ‘Captain Marvel’

Brie Larson will be the first woman to play the title character in a Marvel Studios movie, taking on the role of Captain Marvel.

The Oscar-winner was rumored to be playing the role for months, but it was finally addressed at the Marvel Studios panel at Comic-Con in San Diego on Saturday.

Larson took to the stage alongside Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige as well as the casts of Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Spider-Man: Homecoming where the news of her superhero role was revealed.

She later posted a photo of herself on Twitter wearing a Marvel Studios baseball cap alongside the caption, “Call me Captain Marvel.”

Call me Captain Marvel. pic.twitter.com/IgqRIb9ijM

— Brie Larson (@brielarson) July 24, 2016

The superhero has been depicted as both male and female characters in the comic books, but Feige confirmed that the latest Captain Marvel, slated for release in March 2019, would be a woman.

“Let me clarify,” he said previously. “Captain Marvel has gone by many names in the comics, has had many people who’ve inhabited that costume and used that power base. I want to make it very clear: This hero’s name is Carol Danvers.”

Carol Danvers was created in 1968, appearing in the Captain Marvel comic books as an American security officer working alongside Captain Mar-Vell, an alien, sent to study the planet Earth.

Entertainment Weekly reports that the character almost appeared at the end of 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, but no actress was yet cast in the role.

It will be the first superhero movie for Larson, who won an Oscar earlier this year for her emotional performance in the drama Room. She’s previously starred in comedies such as 21 Jump Street alongside Channing Tatum, who is also playing a Marvel superhero for the first time. He was announced as Gambit at Comic-Con last year, a member of the X-Men who will be getting his own solo spin-off film due for release in 2018.