Clark Gregg Slams Captain Marvel Trolls, Defends Brie Larson

Beloved Agents of SHIELD Clark Gregg is speaking out against the internet trolls who have been bombarding Captain Marvel and its star Brie Larson with hate since before the film's release. The backlash against the film has been ongoing ever since the actress talked about wanting more inclusivity at press junkets, a comment which was badly misinterpreted by certain sections of the internet.

Said interested parties proceeded to bombard Captain Marvel's Rotten Tomatoes page with negative reviews, bringing its "Want to See" meter down to historic lows before the movie opened. These attacks led to the review site changing their audience score policy, although that didn't rectify the situation entirely. Now that the film is available for audiences to judge Carol Danvers' debut on its own merits, with the sixth-largest worldwide opening weekend speaking for itself, Clark Gregg has added his own two cents to the controversy.

In an interview with Nerdist, the Agents of SHIELD star revealed his opinion of the fans who had created the toxic atmosphere surrounding Captain Marvel, in which he also makes a return as a younger and less experienced Phil Coulson. Indirectly referencing Larson's comments on the importance of diversity, he said, "There are people who get very bent out of shape about the fact that she's a woman, and that Brie's a woman and wants to see women moving into an equal place in humanity to men." He then added, "It must be sad to be that kind of dinosaur wandering toward the tar pits."

As for the film itself, Gregg was very much taken with the way Danvers and her backstory were introduced, saying, "I'm a big sucker for the thing where people are having to understand on a deeper level who they are, in a way they never would have imagined." Considering that his character went through a similar process on Agents of SHIELD, it makes sense that he would feel a kinship with Captain Marvel, adding, "Forget that she's a woman, it's just a great origin story, period." It seems critics agree with him, seeing as the critical score on Rotten Tomatoes is currently sitting at 80 percent even as the audience score suffers from targeted attacks.

Thankfully, the negativity hasn't slowed the movie down any. With the second-largest global debut for a comic book film, second only to 2018's Black Panther, this is surely a win for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and for female-led superhero films at large. And for those who feel attacked by the mere presence of these new and different heroes? Gregg has some more words of wisdom, saying it's easy for people to get "butthurt about seeing someone else get a hero that looks like them, but that's because they've always had heroes that look like them." As much as the MCU has provided an amazing and masterful array of characters to choose from in the last ten years he added, "It wouldn't have been a complete canvas without someone like Captain Marvel in the same way that it was never going to be a complete canvas without T'Challa and Wakanda."

That being said, this is no guarantee that every individual fan is going to love Captain Marvel, or that there is something wrong with them if they don't. Just because a film stars a powerful women doesn't mean it's automatically good, but it does mean audiences should give it a chance before judging. Neither Carol's superpowers nor Larson's desire to lift other women (as well as people of color and people with disabilities) up warranted the severe response they received over the last few weeks, but hopefully civil discussions about the story's highs and lows will replace the recent vitriol.