It’s been several years since Brie Larson signed on to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In that time, she’s firmly established herself as one of the franchise's most powerful heroes, and in her latest Marvel outing, The Marvels, her character serves as a sort of mentor to the younger hero Ms. Marvel. It turns out, that when the actress entered the vast cinematic universe she received a similar kind of help from Black Widow herself, Scarlett Johansson. Now, Larson has made sure to pay that kindness and mentorship forward by helping her fellow franchise stars.
The Marvels cast features Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau and Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan, in their first Marvel movie outings, given their characters were introduced through Disney+ shows. So, going into the film, Larson was the only lead who had worked on an ensemble MCU movie. And while this is the first time these heroes are sharing the screen, Larson made sure to welcome Vellani way before that when she was cast as Ms. Marvel. During a visit to The Tonight Show, host Jimmy Fallon shared a story about the Captain Marvel star reaching out to the Ms. Marvel actress when she first got the role. Larson admitted that was true and explained why she made the call:
I just think being a superhero is like a weird, specific job. Just like who else is gonna be like, ‘Make sure you have extra zippers so you can go to the bathroom?' It’s just like, very strange things. And I felt really lucky because the first time I played Captain Marvel was on Avengers and so Scarlett Johansson was the first person to welcome me, and I got to be there with all of them.
The star of The Marvels then confirmed to Fallon that the Black Widow superstar made a point to call her before her first day on the Avengers: Endgame set. The Oscar winner made it clear that Johansson’s act of kindness has inspired her to do the same for the superheroes who have followed in her footsteps:
To have them not just welcome me in, but also to be like, ‘You’ve got this,' and to answer all my questions, it was just so invaluable. So I just make a point, whenever somebody - When I read that someone’s a superhero, I just go like, ‘If you want info, like, I’m here. I’m not, actually Carol Danvers, who’s always super busy, I’m fine. Like, you can talk to me’... I’m not always like, ‘Oh no, I’m on a control panel. I can’t talk.’ Like, that’s her. I don’t do that. I have a pretty boring life, actually, yeah.
Signing on to star in a huge franchise must be intimidating, and it’s heartwarming to hear that some of the MCU’s biggest stars have found a way to make it a little less overwhelming for those participating in Marvel's upcoming projects. While it’s not surprising that Brie Larson would use her experience and (super)powers for good, it’s cool to know she was able to connect with Iman Vellani long before they joined forces on screen.
The Marvels is earning fairly positive reviews from critics like CinemaBlend’s own Eric Eisenberg, who gave it four stars, and it’s currently in theaters worldwide. Also, if you want to go back and see Brie Larson and Iman Vellani's entrances into the MCU, as well as Scarlett Johansson's iconic run as Black Widow, you can stream the Marvel movies in order -- including Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel -- with a Disney+ subscription.
