The next ‘Captain Marvel’ is female. This group wants to send girls to see the film
Hundreds of girls will get to see the new “Captain Marvel” movie for free, thanks to a crowd-funding campaign that has smashed its original goal.
“Captain Marvel,” starring Brie Larson, is the first time Marvel Studios has put a woman in the lead role, a moment of “important representation,” say the organizers of the GoFundMe effort, which has raised more than $60,000 as of Wednesday. Their original goal was $20,000, the website says.
The movie opens on March 8, coinciding with International Women’s Day during Women’s History Month, Variety reports.
The fundraising effort’s message is this: “Every girl deserves to know she can be a hero.”
“Everyone should have an opportunity to see women in roles they can aspire to one day be, roles that show women as strong, smart and bold,” says the GoFundMe campaign.
“From a teacher to a fighter pilot — or a superhero. This is an opportunity to continue to empower girls to be just that.”
The drive is led by Frederick Joseph from the non-profit Girls Inc., in Los Angeles, and the We Have Stories philanthropic group, Space.com reported in January.
It was inspired by a tweet last year from Larson herself, the space news website reported. She used the hashtag #captainmarvelchallenge, hinting at the #blackpantherchallenge that raised money to send children to see “Black Panther” for free.
We Have Stories “last year raised more than $1 million and provided free screenings of ‘Black Panther’ for 73,000 children,” Variety writes.
The “Captain Marvel” campaign has attracted big-name donors - Ellen DeGeneres among them, according to Variety. “The Ellen Show” and E! News gave $10,000 each to the campaign, Variety reports.
“At the current donation amount, the #CaptainMarvelChallenge will provide free tickets to nearly 2,000 kids,” according to Variety.
The movie is a prequel, set in the 1990s “before the events of the very first Iron Man,” Entertainment Weekly explains.
“Carol Danvers is part human, part Kree, and a member of Starforce, the SEAL Team Six of the Kree. After landing on earth with mere flashes of memory left of her past life as an Air Force pilot, she fights to stop the shapeshifting Skrulls, who’ve already secretly begun invading civilization.”
The female superhero has already gotten under some people’s skin. “People of a certain ilk, the largely male and largely misogynist variety,” EW reported, “seem to be preemptively flooding the Captain Marvel page on Rotten Tomatoes with negative reviews.
“But for film critics and reporters who actually saw the latest Marvel movie, Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers is aglow with praise.”