Growing up, I was a fan of comic books as a kid.
My family would play this game called Quarters. It's a card game.
You get a couple quarters to start. It's like how you bet.
It was a brilliant game for me because,
I think, when I was buying comics,
it was maybe 75 cents or $1.50.
And so, if I won a game of Quarters,
I could go buy a comic,
or a couple, if I was buying older comics.
I was hugely inspired by the women that I saw in comics,
that they were battling, you know, creatures
and then also personal problems at the same time.
Getting exposed to that at a young age is monumental.
I'm unstoppable
I'm a Porsche with no brakes
I'm invincible
Yeah, I win every single game
I'm so powerful
I don't need batteries to play
I'm so confident
Yeah, I'm unstoppable today
I'm unstoppable today
Unstoppable today
I'm unstoppable today
SANA AMANAT: In Marvel Comics' history,
there have been really successful, powerful female characters,
like the Invisible Woman,
Black Widow, Storm,
Gamora, Scarlet Witch,
Shuri, and Carol Danvers.
DECONNICK: Carol Danvers was created in the early 1960s
and she was an Air Force Security Officer.
And she continued to exist as a sort of background character.
And then, in 1977,
Gerry Conway and his then-wife, Carla,
made Carol into Ms. Marvel.
She was given powers
and it was a deliberate feminist take.
AMANAT: For the next several decades, Carol Danvers
was one of the most popular female superheroes that existed.
And then, in 2012,
we decided it was time to reimagine her character.
Comic book writer Kelly Sue DeConnick
shaped her into a relatable, strong fighter pilot that was more empowered.
And that's when she became Captain Marvel.
Fans loved the new Carol, so she was an obvious choice
for the first female-led film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
LIVANOS: This iteration of Captain Marvel is a unique one.
Her history in the comics is complicated
and has gone through many iterations.
I feel we've really been able to pick through
and take the very best to create something impactful.
Marvel has made incredible leaps forward
in developing female characters and putting them onscreen.
ALONSO: I think it was important for us to tell her story
because she is one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful
superhero we have.
With Captain Marvel,
I knew we were creating a character
that was going to be even more otherworldly
than most of the characters that we'd seen so far.
So, for me, it was even more important
to have an actress who would approach it from a grounded place,
to ground Carol Danvers in reality, in her humanity.
Captain Marvel herself, Brie Larson!
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
FINN: For me, she is the perfect Carol Danvers because
she is an accomplished actress who can do anything.
She's funny.
Wow. You're the Captain now.
- I always was. You just didn't know. - (LAUGHS)
She's dramatic.
- What did you do to me? - It's like a bad trip, isn't it?
FINN: She approaches her work
with a dedication that's pretty unmatched.
MAN: Action! One and two and stance! Nice!
And she had the passion for the role, ultimately.
LARSON: Getting ready to play Carol, I went through the comics
and learned a lot about the core of who Carol is.
Carol Danvers is an interesting character,
in that she has one foot on Earth and one foot in the cosmic arena.
When we first meet Carol Danvers, we meet her as Vers,
a Kree warrior who does not remember her human origins.
But when she comes back to Earth,
she finds Carol Danvers and Vers
weren't so different after all.
LARSON: Carol Danvers, in her human form, is an Air Force pilot,
incredibly well-achieved in her field.
A true badass.
Through a blast,
she loses her memory
and she gains powers.
(GRUNTS)
(GROANS)
BERMAN: As we go through the film's story,
she learns who she used to be.
Then, her final act is figuring out who she wants to be.
I knew it! Everyone said you were dead.
I'm not really who you think I am.
I think Carol Danvers is the most powerful,
most empowered character in the whole Marvel Universe.
But she's also a regular person.
And I think that's one of the things
that's so important about women superheroes,
is that heroism is everybody.
We all want to feel inspired to be the best versions of ourselves.
I'm only human.
One of the most powerful messages that Captain Marvel represents
is the inability to accept a "no."
Like, when she falls down...
(GROANS)
...her strength comes from learning to stand up again.
That's something I connect to.
I was attracted to the tenacity of Captain Marvel's character,
and I found that inspiring.
LARSON: With Carol, one of the main cornerstones of her
is that she gets back up after the mistakes she's made.
And that's something I really appreciate
about her as a role model.
She can be cocky.
She can say the wrong thing.
She puts her foot in her mouth, but she owns up to it,
and that's, I think, really important,
far more than trying to reach some sort of perfection.
Carol Danvers, as a character,
is one who always looked to the stars.
She isn't just a female protagonist.
She has a distinct personality.
Put that on.
- What is it? - It's the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo.
Does announcing your identity on clothing help with the covert part of your job?
LIVANOS: Young girls recognize her
as real, and relatable, and admirable.
(GRUNTS)
If you asked me a couple years ago, I'd have said,
"She's so different from me."
I was an introvert with asthma
and that was really antithetical to who I thought Carol was.
But I do feel like, playing her now,
I'm more blended with her than not.
Some of her most powerful moments,
it's when Carol's at her lowest, her weakest.
And so, I truly felt in those moments that I was being reminded of myself.
The story of her in the film
is about her coming to terms with that she's controlled.
She thinks that she's supposed to be a certain way.
- You must let go of the past. - I don't remember my past.
It's causing you doubt, and doubt makes you vulnerable.
IMAN VELLANI: No, I think Captain Marvel being told by Yon-Rogg
that she's not good enough, that her emotions get the best of her,
that her vulnerabilities make her weaker,
perfectly captures what we go through.
There's nothing more dangerous to a warrior than emotion.
VELLANI: But throughout the movie,
we see Carol actually defying that
and being like, "My emotions are mine."
Can you keep your emotions in check long enough to take me on?
Or will they get the better of you as always?
BERMAN: I believe Carol realizing that her power is in her emotions
is a really strong point of self-discovery,
where the Kree try to convince her that she is just this weak human
and she realizes that she'd been restricted this whole time,
and she had way more power in her.
I have nothing to prove to you.
Her arc is one of realizing
that you have to be empathetic.
You have to embrace your emotions.
Your ability to connect with other people is what makes you strong.
And I think that what Carol Danvers learns
is that her love for other people
and her compassion is what allows her to become
the most powerful person in the universe.
Where's your head at?
In the clouds. Where's yours?
On my shoulders. About to show these boys how we do it.
One of the things I really love about Captain Marvel
is there's no romance in the movie.
There was no reason to have a male counterpart
'cause it didn't add anything to the story.
And it's one of the best friendships that we've put together in the MCU.
LARSON: In this film,
the great love of her life is her best friend.
Is that really who you are now?
I don't know.
And it's humbling, because you realize love doesn't have to be romantic.
It can be a deep friendship.
No. What's hard is losing my best friend.
What if a woman is just friend to another woman
and they are enough for each other?
And they make each other feel like they are enough for themselves.
Carol and Maria, they have this really healthy
love and trust for each other.
They were the only ones who were there for each other when things got hard.
My best friend,
who supported me as a mother and a pilot when no one else did.
Come here. Come here, girl.
I got you.
BENING: Everybody has struggles
and we all have to find a way to deal with them,
whether it's through our support system,
our family, our loved ones, our friends.
Early start to your morning.
Late night, actually.
I can't sleep when there's work to do. Sound familiar?
Flying your planes isn't like work.
BENING: Dr. Wendy Lawson is a brilliant scientist
who is very much interested in trying to mentor Carol.
This isn't about fighting wars.
It's about ending them.
PERLMAN: The character of Lawson is
somebody who isn't Captain Marvel's mother,
isn't a sister or friend,
but is somebody who, nevertheless, shapes her really intensely.
BENING: I'm the older scientist encouraging the young pilots
to build their skills,
to become great at what they do,
and to know the power within themselves
and not be afraid of their own potential.
I kind of have always had that in me
because my mom was so amazing.
She is my hero, still. She's 92.
She was always such an intelligent, committed,
interesting, informed woman, and she still is.
I also had another hero in my life who was this woman
that I started babysitting for when I was 12, 13 years old.
We became friends
and, as I got a bit older, we learned to scuba dive together.
And we have been dear, dear friends ever since.
We all need these figures in our lives,
whether they're our moms, or our teachers,
or our aunts, or our grandmothers.
We all need to be brought along and to be encouraged.
We all need support.
I don't care who you are.
You need somebody to say to you
what Dr. Lawson says to Captain Marvel,
which is, "You have the power inside of you.
"You just have to access it."
Yes. Come on.
Whoa!
LARSON: Before the film started,
the physicality was a huge fear of mine.
I trained really hard for that film
and it doesn't come without hitting the floor.
Stunts, fight training, you slip, you fall on your face.
And to me, life is that.
But when you meet yourself, when you're terrified,
when you are tested, you're stronger, taller,
bigger than you thought.
MAN: And, action!
(GRUNTS)
LARSON: What's so interesting about physical transformation is it's mental.
I learned it clearly with deadlifting.
I couldn't break 200 pounds.
I just couldn't for months.
I was just clicking along
and every time I went to go lift 200,
I just would freeze and I couldn't do it.
And then I finally broke it and got to like 215
because my trainer lied and said that it was at 175.
So I started realizing that the whole game was the mind.
TRAINER 1: Release!
TRAINER 2: Go, go, go! Dig, dig, dig!
LARSON: I've learned a lot of things from Carol.
I learned that
I am a lot stronger than I realized.
TRAINER 2: Five, four...
(LAUGHS)
LARSON: I am physically much stronger,
mentally much stronger.
That I am quite comfortable in my body.
It's why I love my job so much, is because it pushes me to the edge.
I felt pretty exhausted just walking from getting coffee up to my tent again, so...
I am not sure how this is gonna go,
but I'm gonna try really, really hard. (CHUCKLES)
The physical training changes the way that you view things.
It changes the way you perceive the world, and Carol is hyperfocused.
She is very perceptive.
And so, putting myself in that mindset,
where I was clearing my mind everyday through the training,
helped me bring her to life.
It helped me to have this role
and to have Carol as this guiding light.
I don't know how many of these steps I would've taken without
being pushed into it.
I can't believe I just did that.
(PANTING)
Before the film started,
I was a nervous flier, to put it lightly.
But I learned a lot from my time at the Air Force.
I had the pleasure of meeting the first female Air Force pilot.
This is General Leavitt, who is a legend.
A legend!
INTERVIEWER: Is there anything you cannot do
in comparison with your male counterparts?
Do you have the stamina to compete one-on-one, do you think?
Yes, sir. I go through the same training my male counterparts do.
And I've had no problems so far,
and I'm looking forward to the challenge of flying the F-15E.
What would it be like to fly?
I've never done it.
That's where we're going, hangout here, do some fighting here.
LARSON: You can't imagine what G-forces are like
until you're actually in it and experiencing it.
We were flying back and the turbulence started to get to me.
Horrific. Terrible.
I'm strapped in and I'm still bouncing around.
I'm like, "This is it. I'm not gonna make this movie. It's the end of me."
And I remember my pilot talking to the tower saying,
"We've got some turbulence."
And I heard this voice from the tower, "How'd you describe the turbulence?"
And I'm thinking, "Worst ever!"
And she goes, "Mild."
And I was like, "Okay."
I realized that these planes can do
insane maneuvers in the air effortlessly.
And I have been a very chill flier since then.
In the comics, Carol's gone through many iterations of her costume.
And it was not the most practical in real life.
I just feel like clothes should make sense,
especially if she's flying in space
and fighting strange creatures.
It should be protective. It should have a purpose.
How do I look?
The costume, actually, was a huge part
of why I was excited about the film.
HAYS: The costume on the screen is important because
you immediately make judgment
about that character based on what they wear.
And so Brie and I both agreed
that it needs to look like a uniform,
but yet, it needs to look like a uniform on a female body.
There was no reason to make it cutesy or anything else.
It's all about inner power.
TRAN: We really want to make sure that the MCU female superheroes
stand next to the men
and they're equally badass in the uniforms that they wear.
And it represents their skills and characteristics
and not necessarily their body.
We really talked about not making her look too sexy.
I worked with a great makeup artist, Heba Thorisdottir,
and it was really great, like, coming up with Brie's look.
I'm a third-generation hairstylist.
I've played with hair my whole life.
I know what the '90s looked like. I grew up in it.
We looked at rock 'n' roll pictures.
We looked at Stevie Nicks. We looked at Joan Jett.
We looked at all those girls of like
that whole rock 'n' roll, hair band era.
I have to say, the '90s,
the hair is not so fabulous.
But, you know what?
I think we did a good job figuring it out.
I think it's so important for women
to see an unapologetic
representation of female power and glory.
Women are given a lot of messages about
how to hold their power and how to express it and what's appropriate.
I think in the Marvel Universe,
we're able to see women owning their power.
And now!
We want you to change it.
Yeah. That's what we like, we want to keep it going.
Okay.
Anna is so amazing and super inspiring
when she was directing.
She knew what she wanted, and I'm like, "This is an amazing director."
After I was filming, I was thinking to myself,
"When I'm older, I want to become a director like her."
It's so important for women to be behind the scenes
as well as in front of the camera, because it informs all we do.
It informs the stories we tell, the way we tell them,
the lens through which they are viewed.
I love every single one of you, and it's not just because I'm hot
and I've sweated out all my water and I had two sips of champagne.
I really, really have appreciated every single one of you.
I really do. Okay.
- Let's finish this movie! - (ALL CHEERING)
BERMAN: I was one of those kids who was always in love with filmmaking.
I've always wanted to make movies.
That's just been part of who I am.
I love the process of editing.
That's really where you can kick into high storytelling gear
and craft the story, the characters.
As a female editor,
editing Marvel's first female-led film,
I definitely felt a responsibility to get it right.
The most powerful moment in Captain Marvel comes right at the end.
There's a take where Carol stands up
and she says, "My name is Carol."
My name is Carol.
That's her superhero moment, as you'd call it. She claims herself.
And there were a lot of takes that Brie did
that were what you're used to seeing
and what felt right because that's what you're programmed to expect.
Then there was this other take where, as she said it, a tear ran down her face.
My name is Carol.
And I thought, "Wow, I have never seen,
"in the superhero's most powerful moment,
"a tear running down their face. I have to put that take in."
And I put it in and, you know, there was resistance.
They're like, "Why is she crying?"
The answer was, "That's kind of the theme of the entire film,
"that you can be emotional and powerful simultaneously."
And that choice that Brie made
enveloped everything Captain Marvel is.
I feel like Marvel is going to a whole new chapter.
We have so much coming out
that represents different kinds of communities and voices,
including the series Ms. Marvel,
which was inspired by my own life experiences.
I was a brown kid growing up in Jersey.
It was a predominantly white community.
The only brown people in town were related to me.
And it was challenging.
I never saw girls or anyone who looked like me
in television shows or magazines.
And, in fact, if I did happen to see a brown person on television,
they were usually the bad guy.
I am Muslim. I am South Asian.
And I was growing up in a time where people
truly just did not understand who Muslims were.
Thought it would be cool to have a superhero who actually fights for us.
Now we get to show that world through the lens of Ms. Marvel.
Ms. Marvel is a young woman named Kamala Khan.
She is from Jersey City.
She is just really intelligent and very quirky,
and has a very loving family.
Whatever mountain you're facing, you don't have to do it alone.
I can be special tomorrow. I just wanna be normal today.
I don't know. I don't see why this is so hard for me.
AMANAT: It's funny to think that there was anybody else as an option
for Kamala Khan other than Iman Vellani.
She turned in a fantastic audition.
So we can expand our horizons, meet interesting people,
realize our true potential to fulfill the American Dream!
AMANAT: She is Kamala in real life.
And yes, this is my American Dream.
We'd be honored if you'd play Kamala Khan in the Ms. Marvel show.
Yeah, I can't comprehend this right now.
(FEIGE CHUCKLES)
Oh, my God!
(ALL CHUCKLING)
VELLANI: It was the first audition I ever did in my entire life.
As a kid, I was very confused about what I wanted to do with my life
until this opportunity came around.
I have so much love for the character, which is why I auditioned.
I didn't wanna be an actor, but because it was Ms. Marvel
and I loved her comics, I had no choice.
My ten-year-old self would hate me if I didn't audition.
I loved reading comic books.
I got really into superheroes when I was, like, ten.
Where I live is right next to a comic book store
and my parents would give me $20 of allowance every month.
I'd spend it on comic books.
And one day, I picked up a Ms. Marvel comic
and I was like, "Brown girl, who's she?"
And I got excited and I fell in love with her.
Growing up with little to no representation, I needed that.
LARSON: In the comics, Ms. Marvel is like Captain Marvel's biggest fan.
What's cool about it is she doesn't just emulate her.
She sees the strength of Captain Marvel
and then finds her own version of it in herself.
Kamala is a creative, passionate, Avengers-loving, fanfic-writing nerd.
I feel kind of honored to be the nerd to represent all the other nerds.
I get to channel a lot of my real life into her character.
Kamala, she is Pakistani, she is Muslim,
but none of that alone defines her.
What's up, Najaf?
And I think that is a lot of her journey in the show.
Let's be honest. It's not the brown girls from Jersey City who save the world.
Sure they do.
Kamala embraces everything that makes her her.
And I think that's so admirable.
You know, she doesn't shy away from the fact that she is Muslim.
The importance of having Kamala be the first Muslim superhero,
it's enormous.
That's the DNA of Marvel,
of making sure that the stories are representative,
because Marvel tries to capture the real world,
just in the most fantastic way possible.
Sometimes, a movie is a movie, and escape is fun,
and you enjoy it and never think about it again.
But Captain Marvel was not just a movie.
It changed how people felt about themselves.
I can remember growing up and not really having
many female superheroes to look up to.
I can't even recall, if you ask me, if there's one.
But now, you know, I can say with Captain Marvel,
it's allowing little girls to look up to this
strong woman and say that, "I actually can be her."
My name is Alyssa Carson.
I'm an aspiring astronaut and my favorite character is Captain Marvel.
Captain Marvel is my favorite character
because she sends such a good message of women
being just as strong as the male superheroes.
Captain Marvel shows determination.
(GRUNTS)
And so, I think that that determination
definitely resonates with me to keep going after my dreams.
When I was a little girl, I pretty much have loved space
ever since I could remember.
I was always obsessed with it and wanting to learn more.
No one in my family has any space or science background.
So it was very bizarre for me to one day come up
and start asking all kinds of space questions,
but I took it and ran with it.
Then, as I got older, the more I learned, the more my obsession grew.
I've seen Captain Marvel many times,
and, you know, I think that the more times that I watched it,
I was definitely encouraged to keep doing what I'm doing.
I'm currently studying astrobiology.
And I'm looking forward to being able to contribute
to the science happening on Mars.
Something that I share with Captain Marvel is curiosity.
She definitely has a very curious mind,
but, at the end of the day,
she really just wants to contribute to something greater than herself.
And so, I think that connects,
'cause when we look at the mission to Mars,
it's not about just getting to Mars.
It's about all the benefits that getting to Mars brings.
New technologies, new resources
that can actually help with the problems we have now on Earth.
I think that we need female superheroes
because it is so important to see other strong women.
Captain Marvel is encouraging the next group of women
to go after their dreams and hopefully be just as empowered.
(CROWD CHEERING)
HAYS: The huge value of the movies is that they show people
the world the way it should be,
where the good and strong and smart win.
Giving an incredible role model to everybody,
to kids, to young women, to older women.
I think it has a huge impact on culture
and changing the way people think.
We're being represented by someone
who plays and portrays us
as someone amazing, you know,
and we don't get that often, so it's nice to see it on the screen.
After the movie came out,
the enrollment of women in the Air Force went up 50%.
We were completely taken aback
by the cultural wave that it created.
(CROWD CHEERING)
And I just love that it's girl power
and my girls can be what they want,
and she's the epitome of that.
Every girl has strong powers.
She's just an incredible role model for girls.
GIRL: It's just really like amazing to see such a strong, female lead.
Someone to look up to.
Young girls across the nation will see her and think, "That could be me."
(CROWD CHEERING)
I'm Brie Larson and I'm Captain Marvel.
I'm very aware of the fact that I'm just a conduit for a concept.
It always, for me, was the star.
I just wanted to imbue that symbol. That was my goal.
If I could imbue that star
and that symbol to mean something,
to help you out of a tough situation,
to give you strength when you really need it.
That we're free.
We're completely free to be as we are.
I see people with, like, a Captain Marvel leather jacket or a keychain
or a pin with that star.
If that can be a reminder of inner strength and power,
it's a powerful concept.