How Does Captain Marvel Fit Into Avengers: Endgame?
Captain Marvel holds plenty of clues about what the character could be getting up to in Avengers: Endgame.
This article consists of massive Captain Marvel spoilers.
So, Captain Marvel is finally with us and, as the last MCU film to be released before Avengers: Endgame, it’s full of pointers as to the role that Carol Danvers – one of Marvel’s most powerful characters – might play in the Phase 3-closing epic.
With that in mind, we’ve broken down the major links between Captain Marvel and the wider MCU, as seen in the film, in order to try and gain more of an insight into what Avengers: Endgame might have in store – and how Brie Larson’s intergalactic superhero will fit into the proceedings.
If you haven’t seen Captain Marvel yet, a word of warning – this article contains huge spoilers…
The mid-credits sequence
Let’s get the obvious link out of the way first. Much like the post-credits sequence of Ant-Man (which fed into Captain America: Civil War), Captain Marvel’s mid-credits scene seems to be lifted directly from Avengers: Endgame itself.
Set in the present day, it shows Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers and Rhodey holed up at Avengers HQ, assessing the devastation caused by Thanos’ Infinity Stone-powered snap (which wiped out half of all living creatures in the universe), while Bruce Banner is monitoring the pager device activated by Nick Fury before he disintegrated into dust. It stops blinking, when suddenly Carol Danvers appears, demanding to know where Fury is.
read more: Complete Guide to Captain Marvel Easter Eggs
As we’ve seen moments earlier, it’s the same modified pager that Danvers gifts to a young Fury back in 1995, before she leaves Earth to help the Skrulls find a new home and finish off her beef with the Kree. She tells Fury that the communicator is for emergencies only, so it’s no wonder she’s not best pleased to find him absent when she finally answers the call.
Danvers and Fury built up a buddy movie-worthy rapport throughout the film, so it’s likely that she’ll be chomping at the bit to, um, avenge her friend’s death. Her expected battle with Thanos might be more personal than we first thought.
We have more information about what the Captain Marvel post credits scenes might mean right here.
The Tesseract
That pesky Tesseract gets everywhere in the MCU, doesn’t it? In Captain Marvel, we find out that Annette Bening’s Mar-Vell is using the ubiquitous blue box to power her experimental warp engine. We also find out that it is responsible for Carol’s god-like powers, after she absorbs its energy upon destroying Mar-Vell’s ship.
read more: Captain Marvel Comics History and Origin Explained
We now know that the Tesseract is actually the Space Stone – aka, the shiny blue gem currently attached to Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet. That sets up an interesting question: will Danvers’ unique link to the stone prove key to finding Thanos, who was last seen using it to teleport himself away to an unknown planet?
There’s also the matter of Goose the cat, who’s actually not a cat at all, but an alien Flerken – a species that, in the comics at least, contain “pocket dimensions” within their mouths. In Captain Marvel, Goose manages to safely swallow the Tesseract before spitting it out later on Fury’s desk (that’s quite some furball). Could the super-kitty do the same with other infinity stones, or even, say, a gauntlet full of them?
Ronan the Accuser and the powers that be
When Carol finally manages to break free from the Kree inhibitor chip that’s keeping a lid on her powers, she finally unleashes her true potential. The result? She single-handedly manages to take down a massive spaceship, prompting fearsome Kree warrior Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) to cancel his assault on Earth and retreat into space.
As we know from his villainous turn in Guardians Of The Galaxy, Ronan – who was at one point working in cahoots with Thanos – is not someone who scares easily. Not only that, he managed to contain the force of an Infinity Stone – the purple Power Gem – by himself. So the fact that Danvers gives him the willies should give some indication that she’ll be on more of a level playing field when it comes to going toe-to-toe with Thanos. Will the power that she wields allow her to finally de-glove the Mad Titan? We wouldn’t bet against it.
The first Avenger?
The Protector Initiative. Not quite as catchy, is it? Luckily, an old photo of Carol in the cockpit of her plane – which is decorated with her call sign, Carol ‘Avenger’ Danvers – inspires Fury to change the title of his fledgling superhero project.
read more: Captain Marvel Ending Explained
And thus, the Avenger Initiative was born. The likelihood is that Endgame will see Captain Marvel finally joining the team that’s named after her.
Are there any other details that you spotted in Captain Marvel that could offer clues to Carol’s involvement in Endgame? Let us know in the comments below…
Written by