Captain Marvel: New Featurette Takes You Behind The Scenes Of The Marvel Movie

It's a good time to be a Captain Marvel fan.

After dropping a joke-filled special-look trailer for the Brie Larson-starring superhero movie alongside three stunning, film format-specific Captain Marvel posters, Marvel Studios drew back the curtain and gave fans a peek behind the scenes in all-new featurette. 

Aired during the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday night, the footage features Larson opening up about the intense training she went through to get in tip-top shape to play Carol Danvers. 

Before the cameras even got rolling, Larson stuck to a comprehensive workout regime for nine full months. It was tough work, no doubt, but the actress has zero regrets about the blood, sweat, and tears she shed in preparing for the role of a lifetime. Not only was the physical prep work important to ensure Larson could perform all the unique stunts featured in Captain Marvel (like the one that sees the hero battle a bad guy on top of a train) without getting burnt out or injuring herself, but it was also vital to help further inform Larson of who Carol really is. 

"Captain Marvel is about somebody who goes on a journey of discovery, and I think it was really important for Brie to learn how to fight," the film's co-director, Anna Boden, explained in the featurette. The actress added, "By the time we started shooting, I had been training for nine months, and I'm glad that I did. Doing fight sequences up and down a train for three days? I felt kind of alive."

Larson's Captain Marvel training also included visiting an Air Force base to gain more insight into her character's humanity. A half-Kree, half-human woman who was once all human before an accident left her imbued with alien DNA, Carol first appeared as a United States Air Force officer in the Marvel Comics lore. Larson noted in the featurette that paying a visit to the base helped her make a big realization about Carol as a person. 

"The thing that I found so unique about this character was that sense of humor mixed with total capability in whatever challenge comes her way," said Larson, "which, I realized after going to Air Force Base, is really what Air Force pilots are like."

It wasn't all introspection and analysis of Carol Danvers' personality during the Air Force base portion of Larson's Captain Marvel prep work, though. While at the base, the actress got the chance to participate in a simulated dogfight — an aerial battle between two or more fighter aircraft, carried out at a close enough range for one to shoot the other down. Stepping out of the plane after the (somewhat fake) in-air fight, Larson beamed, "It was amazing!"

Check it all out above. 

As was mentioned by both Larson and Boden in this featurette, Captain Marvel will blend together Carol's personal story of self-discovery with all the epic action fans have come to expect from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is a total reflection of the superhero herself: she's a badass who's about to become the strongest character in the MCU, but she's also vulnerable, witty, and complex. 

"She's a believer in truth and justice and she is a bridge between two worlds, Earth and space. She's fighting between the flaws that are within her and all this good she wants to try and spread and make the world a better place. She can also fly and shoot things out of her hands. And she's really funny!" Larson once said of her character. She later added in a separate interview, "She doesn't have an unrealistic expectation of herself — she just owns that she's really good and really skilled, which feels good to play. She also has an incredible sense of humor, makes fun of herself, makes fun of other people, and has no issue if someone makes fun of her ... [She's] probably the most dynamic character that I've ever played ... as of now it's been the most range I've ever played in a character. I've had to go through every emotion possible with her."

Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige once praised Larson as the perfect person to bring Captain Marvel to life: "Her powers are off the charts, and when she's introduced, she will be by far the strongest character we've ever had. It's important, then, to counterbalance that with someone who feels real. She needs to have a humanity to tap into, and Brie can do that."

See the fruits of Larson's physical and emotional labor when Marvel releases Captain Marvel on March 8.