Captain Marvel: Clark Gregg Fires Back At Those Hating On The Film

Clark Gregg has a little something to say to the Captain Marvel haters. 

Chatting in a recent interview with Nerdist, Gregg addressed the group of people who lodged hateful, troll-like reviews on Captain Marvel's Rotten Tomatoes page. The actor, who plays Agent Phil Coulson in Captain Marvel (digitally de-aged for the 1995-set flick to appear 20-some years younger than he actually is), made it clear exactly how he feels about the trolls purposefully slamming the latest Marvel movie and hating on lead actress Brie Larson: he thinks they're "sad," and feels that the hatred they have spewed comes from a place of discomfort at seeing a superhero that doesn't look exactly like they do.  

"It's easy for people to get, I don't know if the expression is '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," said Gregg. "There are people that 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. It's sad. It must be sad to be that kind of dinosaur wandering toward the tar pits."

The people denouncing Captain Marvel have done so all across social media, but have mostly focused their unsavory efforts on Rotten Tomatoes, namely bringing Captain Marvel's audience score on the review aggregator site down as low as possible. One wrote that Larson — who advocates for equal representation for men, women, and people of color within the film industry — didn't want white men seeing the movie, while another argued that she holds "sexist and racist attitudes." Another naysayer added that Larson can "wallow in her own hate filled life," and a different person said that they wouldn't be upset if Larson were "hit by a bus" and roasted Captain Marvel as an "SJW laden, white male hating worthless POS movie."

These individuals submitted negative reviews prior to the film even launching in theaters, basing their intense reactions on Larson's past comments about the importance of inclusivity, diversity, and equal representation on the Captain Marvel press tour. 

In February, she told Marie Claire that she had noticed her press days and film critics "appeared to be overwhelmingly white male," and that from that moment forward, she "decided to make sure [her] press days were more inclusive." 

Larson simply wanted to ensure that women and people of color had the same opportunities as others — which doesn't, as she noted last year during the Crystal + Lucy Awards, mean that she "hates white dudes." 

"I do not need a 40-year-old white dude to tell me what didn't work for him about [A] Wrinkle in Time. It wasn't made for him," Larson stated at that time. "I want to know what it meant to women of color, to biracial women, to teen women of color, to teens that are biracial."

Thankfully, despite all this cruel and largely unjustified backlash to Captain Marvel, the film is thriving. Directed by Mississippi Grind filmmaking duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Captain Marvel shattered several records during its opening weekend, earning $153 million domestically and $455 million globally. That yield represents the biggest debut for a female-led movie of all time, even better than the Beauty and the Beast live-action remake from 2017; the second-best opening for a superhero film, just behind Avengers: Infinity War; the sixth-highest launch for any movie in history; and the seventh-best launch for an MCU movie. There are a dozen reasons why Captain Marvel blew everyone away at the box office – including its connections to Avengers: Endgame, the introduction of a new superhero into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the welcome twists on the character's origin story, and, of course, the lovable Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Goose — but it's evident that almost everyone is absolutely loving the film. 

Captain Marvel is faring just as well critically, much to the dismay of the "dinosaurs" Gregg so dislikes. As of this writing, Captain Marvel is certified fresh with an 80 percent critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, its critical consensus reading, "Packed with action, humor, and visual thrills, Captain Marvel introduces the MCU's latest hero with an origin story that makes effective use of the franchise's signature formula."

The haters tried to bring Captain Marvel down, but still, she soared higher, further, and faster. A captain, indeed.