Samuel L. Jackson has addressed the past online hate campaigns and backlash to Brie Larson’s casting as Captain Marvel.
Ahead of the film’s release in 2019, Larson was targeted with online sexist abuse and review bomb campaigns in an attempt to tank the film’s success.
Jackson, who first met Larson while filming 2017’s Kong: Skull Island before she cast him in her directorial debut Unicorn Store, explained in a Rolling Stone interview how she consulted him on whether she should join the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“We bonded through the election while we were doing her movie when Donald Trump won,” Jackson recalled. “She was broken and I was like, ‘Don’t let ‘em break you. You have to be strong now.’ Then, when she got Captain Marvel, she called me and was like, ‘They want me in the Marvel Universe. Should I do it?’ And I was like, ‘Hell yeah! Let’s do it!’”
Speaking about the online hate she received, Jackson said: “Brie’s a stronger person than people give her credit for. She’s not going to let any of that stuff destroy her. These incel dudes who hate strong women, or the fact that she’s a feminist who has an opinion and expressed it? Everybody wants people to be who they want them to be. She is who she is, and she’s genuinely that.”
Jackson first joined the MCU as Nick Fury in 2008’s Iron Man. After numerous appearances in Marvel projects since, Fury leads his own Disney+ series for the first time with this year’s Secret Invasion alongside Ben Mendelsohn and Olivia Colman.
Recently, Jackson questioned why he didn’t make an appearance in a Black Panther movie. “I’m still trying to figure out why I’ve never been to Wakanda,” the actor told Entertainment Tonight.
Larson and Jackson reunite in The Marvels, which sees Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) and Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) team-up. The film is scheduled to be released on November 10, 2023.
In a four-star review of Secret Invasion, NME wrote: “Already looking to be to the MCU what Andor was to Star Wars, Secret Invasion is less of a sea change for Phase Five than it is a hint of growing maturity – a sign that Marvel can grow up with its audience if it chooses to.”