--- title: Brie Larson Was Told to Smile More As Captain Marvel description: Captain Marvel may be an action movie, but that hasn't stopped Internet trolls from telling star Brie Larson that she should smile more. canonical: https://time.com/5403533/brie-larson-captain-marvel-smile/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-21T21:10:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:55:01.368Z og:title: Brie Larson Was Told to Smile More and Had the Best Response og:description: Nobody talks to Carol Danvers that way og:url: https://time.com/5403533/brie-larson-captain-marvel-smile/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3e35d4272d41549/69893ae8457a527d99d5f737/brie-larson-captain-marvel-smile.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Women In Film 2018 Crystal + Lucy Awards Presented By Max Mara, Lancôme And Lexus - Red Carpet og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Brie Larson Was Told to Smile More and Had the Best Response twitter:description: Nobody talks to Carol Danvers that way twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3e35d4272d41549/69893ae8457a527d99d5f737/brie-larson-captain-marvel-smile.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Brie Larson Was Told to Smile More As Captain Marvel. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=b82ebb6c-6b75-4834-b592-3542511e73ed&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Sep 21, 2018 9:10 PM UTC  Brie Larson attends the Women In Film 2018 Crystal + Lucy Awards presented by Max Mara, Lancôme and Lexus at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on June 13, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California. Brie Larson attends the Women In Film 2018 Crystal + Lucy Awards presented by Max Mara, Lancôme and Lexus at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on June 13, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Women In Film  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Sep 21, 2018 9:10 PM UTC [_Captain Marvel_](http://time.com/4870052/captain-marvel-movie-timeline-comic-con-2017/) may be an action movie, but that hasn’t stopped Internet trolls from telling star [Brie Larson](http://time.com/5312618/brie-larson-women-in-film/) that she should smile more. After the [trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1BCujX3pw8) for [Marvel’s forthcoming superhero flick](http://time.com/5167535/upcoming-marvel-movies/) dropped on Tuesday, trolls began posting their unsolicited opinions on Larson’s facial expression. One Twitter user even went so far as to photoshop a smile onto photos of Larson in character for the role. > [](https://twitter.com/TFMonkeyYouTube/status/1042171852221763584) Fortunately, being the absolute badass that she is, Larson had the perfect response to the sexist feedback. The Oscar winner took to her Instagram story to share some shots of Marvel’s male superheroes with smiles edited onto their faces. The resulting images were, of course, creepy and clearly illustrated the gender-based double standard of the “smile more” complaint. “Breaking news: You can be you. That means you can smile or not,” Larson wrote on Instagram, according to [Uproxx](https://uproxx.com/hitfix/brie-larson-captain-marvel-smile-more/2/). “You can be strong in the ways you want to be. You can own who you are. If anyone tells you different don’t trust them.” See the images—which appear to have been originally posted by Twitter user Jane Ritt—below. > [](https://twitter.com/heymermaid/status/1042464773999394817) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5403533/brie-larson-captain-marvel-smile/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5403533/brie-larson-captain-marvel-smile/"},"headline":"Brie Larson Was Told to Smile More As Captain Marvel. 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