Captain Marvel actress Brie Larson was cast after meeting Marvel's "very high bar" says Kevin Feige

Marvel's panel at this year's San Diego Comic Con wrapped up when studio head Kevin Feige announced the actress playing Captain Marvel in the MCU. It wasn't a huge surprise to see Brie Larson walk onto the stage as she was rumored for the part earlier this year. But with the amount of fancasting and speculation surrounding comic book movies, it's always a 'punch the air moment' when we get that official confirmation.

With Larson now part of the MCU family, the folks at CinemaBlend sought out Feige following the panel to ask how she came to be involved. "Listen, we set the bar very high with the first casting decision we ever made with Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark," he says. "Since then, every single choice we've made, we have asked, 'Could it meet that bar?' Because that is what people expect of us, and that is what ... it's a very high bar."

"Carol Danvers needs to be as rich and textured and real as the best of our characters. Maybe even more so. And we got very lucky that Brie - who has all of those attributes, and an Academy Award now - was still very interested in signing up and joining us to bring this character to life."

Larson joins the dozen or so other Oscar-winners who've brought prestigious clout to Marvel's movies. But the studio's casting strategy over the years wasn't always about enticing awards winners though.

Early on it reinvigorated certain actors' dwindling careers and made them cool again, a little like Quentin Tarantino does with his casts. Downey Jr. was a gamble at the time, one that's paid off (and paid for a lot of mansions, too.). That's probably why we're seeing a mix of contemporary movie stars mixing with genre faves like Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone. Kinda makes you wonder what throwback stars might appear alongside Larson in Captain Marvel's solo flick...

Captain Marvel is set to fly into theaters on March 8, 2019.

Images: Marvel, Showtime

Gem Seddon is GamesRadar+'s west coast Entertainment News Reporter, working to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over all things Aliens and Terminator on Twitter.