Brie Larson wants you to know she doesn’t believe the hoopla over the rumors surrounding her character, Captain Marvel.

“I do not look at that stuff, man,” Larson tells The Nerds of Color during the Captain Marvel set visit last May.

Like her character, Carol Danvers, an Air Force pilot who obtained alien powers to become the titled hero, Larson wants to focus on the good she could do in the world.

“I find the character so inspiring that whenever I feel sort of like nervous and scared, I feel like I can turn to her and I feel like ‘no, I got this’,” says Larson. “And, that feels really awesome.  I feel like I have the same awe over her that a lot of her fans do.”

Captain Marvel is the first woman-led superhero film from Marvel Studios, but Larson isn’t feeling the pressure and is just enjoying the process of being a feminist superhero.

“Really, what it came down to is I had a meeting with Marvel and what we sort of discussed was they wanted to make a big feminist movie,” Larson says. “And I remember[ed] going home being like, ‘shit, am I gonna do this? It’s kind of everything that I’ve wanted.’

For Larson, it all came down to wanting to bring more representation to the big screen. As an advocate for inclusion and diversity in the industry, Larson knew that working in a Marvel film would make a large impact on that.

She reveals, “I know my limitations and I know that I’m still just, I’m just one White girl. I’m just trying to do as much as I can within that, within the framework of my body. As I’ve grown I’ve noticed that these movies and the Marvel movies, in particular, have so much meaning in them. They mean so much. You can have a great time and just enjoy it for having a great time, but you can also be left with some really deep philosophical questions.”

Larson said she already see some changes being made in the film due to the fact that the film was written by women and co-directed by a woman, Anna Boden (alongside her directing partner and husband, Ryan Fleck).

“I didn’t realize how vital [having the script written by women was] until I read it for the first time and realized little things, like there’s little moments that I went ‘oh, those have always been like snags’ and things that I’ve had to fight for,” says Larson. She felt understood from the very beginning of production by the creative team. Larson felt a deep connection with how Carol Danvers was written.

“I’m trying to think of what I can say about that, that’s not gonna get me in trouble,” Larson says. “I love that [Carol] is unapologetic. I love that she’s not apologizing for her strength, first as just a human in the Air Force. You know, she’s never trying to shrink herself because of who she is. And, she can’t even be somebody else if she wanted to. She can’t. It’s like she can’t be contained. And, I think that is such a beautiful thing.”

The actress herself has already begun making positive changes post-production for the film. As an active supporter for the Time’s Up Movement, Larson recently told The Hollywood Reporter, “On the Captain Marvel press tour, I’ll be pushing for representation across the board: my interviews, magazine covers, the clothes that I’m wearing. It means spending more time thinking about things than you sometimes want to, but it’s worth it.”

Captain Marvel opens in theaters on March 8, 2019.