Should we be wary when our favourite actors become superheroes?

We love Brie Lar­son. We love Mar­vel. She’s one of the most promis­ing young actors in the busi­ness; they’re the stu­dio respon­si­ble for some of the best block­busters of the last decade. So why do we feel a lit­tle uneasy about the fact that Lar­son has just land­ed the Cap­tain Mar­vel gig, which will make her the first female lead of a stand­alone Mar­vel movie?

On paper it’s a match made in heav­en. Marvel’s upcom­ing slate looks more diverse than ever with the likes of Doc­tor Strange and Black Pan­ther, while this year’s Cap­tain Amer­i­ca: Civ­il War, the thir­teenth MCU instal­ment, was one of the studio’s best received and most prof­itable releas­es, sug­gest­ing that the super­hero boom isn’t about to fade any time soon. Join­ing the most pop­u­lar and pow­er­ful film series in the world right now is a no-brain­er for any up-and-com­ing actor.

But is it real­ly a step up for Lar­son? So far dur­ing her career she’s earned rave reviews and numer­ous awards for her out­stand­ing comedic and dra­mat­ic work, and it’s almost cer­tain­ly the for­mer that first grabbed Marvel’s atten­tion. Take her scene-steal­ing turn as Envy Adams in Edgar Wright’s Scott Pil­grim vs the World from 2010. She’s one of the best things about the film, with her cut­ting put-downs and for­mi­da­ble pres­ence instant­ly mark­ing her as some­one to watch.

Her ascent was con­firmed ear­li­er this year when she won the Oscar for her stun­ning per­for­mance in Room. Of course, there are two kinds of rep­u­ta­tion in film: crit­i­cal and com­mer­cial. The acco­lades she received for Room gave Lar­son a cer­tain amount of indus­try lever­age, but thanks to Mar­vel she’s poised to acquire the kind of finan­cial clout that is so impor­tant in Hol­ly­wood. Being a house­hold name may have its down­sides yet it also means Lar­son will soon be big enough to get films green­lit on her own. Cap­tain Mar­vel will open doors that were once locked and allow her to pur­sue more per­son­al projects.

If we’re lucky we could see more films like Short Term 12 from 2013. Explor­ing the dai­ly lives and emo­tion­al trau­mas of the kids and staff at a home for at-risk youths, it’s about as far from Mar­vel as you could ever hope to get. Lar­son stars as Grace, one of the care work­ers, but also some­one trou­bled by her own demons. It sounds like a maudlin tear­jerk­er – a film about ​‘issues’ – but in the hands of Lar­son and writer/​director Des­tin Daniel Cret­ton it becomes some­thing authen­tic and powerful.

The wor­ry is that Cap­tain Mar­vel will lead Lar­son down a dif­fer­ent path. Because while it’s not easy to escape the Mar­vel machine once you’re part of it, it’s equal­ly unlike­ly that she will have the time to pur­sue oth­er ven­tures. Aside from the actu­al pro­duc­tion of the film itself, being part of the Mar­vel jug­ger­naut is a full-time com­mit­ment. Half the role is per­formed off-screen: at press jun­kets, Com­ic-Con and oth­er fan events. Lar­son won’t just be Cap­tain Mar­vel for the two hours she appears on screen. She’ll be Cap­tain Mar­vel forever.

By land­ing a major role in a Mar­vel movie, actors like Lar­son aren’t sim­ply assum­ing an alias and slip­ping into a snazzy cos­tume, they’re tak­ing a size­able risk. Mar­vel will make her a star. But it may also rob her of oppor­tu­ni­ties to devel­op her act­ing skills. Here’s hop­ing she con­tin­ues to dis­play the pas­sion for her craft and nous she’s shown so far in her short but fruit­ful career. After all, the blue-screen bat­tles of Mar­vel block­busters are a world away from the more tra­di­tion­al act­ing require­ments of Short Term 12 and Room.