We’re less than a day into 2023, but Marvel Cinematic Universe fans have already been praying for Brie Larson to end what could turn out to be the franchise’s longest-ever losing streak, if you can even apply such a term to the all-conquering franchise.
Should Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania or Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 fail to reach a billion dollars at the box office, then the MCU will have gone five consecutive films without reaching 10 figures for the first time Phase One culminated in The Avengers. Neither of those self-contained sagas have reached that number before, but Larson has.
That means supporters have already pinpointed The Marvels as the movie that could repeat the success of its predecessor and prevent the comic book juggernaut from going six in a row for the very first time, although we suspect that’s not the reason why Larson has opted to kick off 2023 in much the same way as a lot of other people; by hitting the hard stuff right out of the gate.
Even if we ignore the superhero shenanigans, it’s going to be a huge year for the Academy Award winner anyway. Not only is she boarding another one of Hollywood’s biggest properties when Fast X comes to theaters in May, but she’ll also play a recurring role on television for the first time since her days on The United States of Tara when Lessons in Chemistry comes to Apple TV.
12 months from now, we could realistically be talking about Larson adding another pair of billion-dollar behemoths to her resume while also headlining a potential small screen awards contender, so let’s hope that’s a stiff drink.