‘The Marvels’ having the chance to break a 4-year MCU box office record makes clear that it’s all resting on Brie Larson to save the MCU

To say 2023 hasn’t been the best year for the Brie Larson.

Yes, suck it haters, but the statistics do not lie. Here’s a fun fact for you. Or maybe a worrying one, depending on your point of view. Outside of epic crossover events Spider-Man: No Way Home and Avengers: Endgame, the last Marvel Studios movie to earn over $1 billion at the global box office was 2019’s Captain Marvel. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 have come close, to be fair, but so far Larson is the last solo hero to cross that coveted threshold.

Obviously, the MCU, and the cinematic landscape as a whole, was very different pre-2020, and for whatever reason, it’s much harder than it was to enter The Billion Dollar Club than it was before the pandemic. And yet another female-fronted, female-directed crowd-pleaser.

Nia DaCosta’s recent promise that stealing its IMAX screens is definitely a blow, but “Barbenheimer” has taught us not to automatically assume the more overtly masculine movie will win out.

It’s far too early to call it yet, but it’s not out of the question that Larson’s haters could have their feeble arguments shut down for good when The Marvels blasts into theaters this Nov. 10.