Captain Marvel – and specifically Brie Larson – has generated an incredible amount of controversy in 2019. Prior to release, the actress made some incredibly milquetoast feminist comments, which were seized upon by more unpleasant fans as ammunition to use against her. This developed into an avalanche of online negativity, which led many to conclude that Larson’s feminist posturing had irrevocably doomed the movie and it would go down in history as Marvel Studios’ first outright flop.
Given that the film has now made about $1.1 billion, it’s safe to say that certain portions of the internet were talking out of their collective asses. But now, there’s another attack on Captain Marvel and this time, it’s apparently from the very same social justice warriors that are supposedly the biggest fans of the movie.
An online petition, which is closing in on 25,000 signatures (after passing 15,000 not too long ago), demands the following:
We need Brie Larson to step down from her role to prove she is an ally of social justice and ensure a gay woman of color plays the role. Let Monica, the original female & BLACK Captain Marvel instead of white-washing characters for the benefit of the straight, white men running Disney.
Pretty damning, right? I mean, now that they’re being attacked from progressives, maybe Disney and Marvel Studios will finally act and replace Brie as Captain Marvel.
Or they won’t, because to anyone with half a brain, this is clearly a stunt by the alt-right intended to create a false appearance of outrage. Getting to the bottom of this wasn’t exactly some Woodward and Bernstein stuff, either. The creators have been discussing on 4Chan how best to “use Brie Larson’s rhetoric against her,” including tips on which petition site to use and a note that perhaps they should remove the word “gay” from the petition as it makes the ruse “too obvious.” This isn’t even a particularly new tactic (see their past attempts to pose as black feminists who wanted to cancel Father’s Day).
But naturally, it’s not obvious enough to stop many other journalists from reporting on it as if it’s the gospel truth. Eesh, how embarrassing for them…
