Stars don’t make the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Marvel Cinematic Universe makes stars. The studio have never actively sought to cast A-list names as their marquee superheroes, but instead favor an approach that sees many of the major roles given to up-and-coming young actors that grow into their characters over a number of years.
Chris Hemsworth was a virtual unknown, Chris Pratt was best known for playing a supporting role in a sitcom, Chris Evans was widely remembered as being Fantastic Four’s Human Torch, and when Robert Downey Jr. was first cast as Iron Man he was still on the comeback trail following years of highly-publicized and self-destructive behavior.
The point is, being an important part of the MCU is of huge benefit to any actor’s career, but nobody is bigger than the franchise itself, with Kevin Feige the one and only person calling the shots. However, we’ve now heard that Brie Larson is reportedly pushing for the same kind of status that Downey Jr. previously held, that made him both the highest-paid member of the studio’s roster and the focal point of the marketing and promotion of any of their projects that featured his involvement.
According to our intel – which comes from the same sources that told us Marvel were working on She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel shows before either of the Disney Plus exclusives were officially announced, and that Han would return in Fast & Furious 9 – the Captain Marvel star wants to be established as the face of the MCU, and have the same kind of ubiquitous presence that RDJ enjoyed during his decade as Tony Stark.
The actress is fully aware that her character is poised to be one of the MCU‘s marquee names throughout Phase Four and beyond along with becoming the next leader of the Avengers, and reportedly wants her status within the company to reflect an increased role that would see her effectively replacing both Iron Man and Captain America.
You can understand the reasoning given how Carol Danvers will be playing a massive part in the franchise’s future, but people have tried to play hardball with Marvel Studios in the past and it never worked out well for them in the end. Besides, we already know that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is being positioned as one of the leading faces of the MCU going forward so if anything, we imagine Marvel will have both of them steering the franchise into the future together from here on out. But for now, we’ll just have to wait and see who becomes the new face of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.