10 Captain Marvel Theories That Could Change The Future Of The MCU
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Let's get weird with it.
One of the most fun parts of being an MCU fan is sitting back and trying to connect the dots. And after a decade of movies being woven together, there are no shortage of dots in play. As we head into Avengers: Endgame in earnest, it's crunch time on getting every crazy, abstract, just-weird-enough-to-work theory written down and out there, just on the off chance that you'll get to say "I told you so" when the final battle with Thanos actually happens.
That, and with a little over a month left to wait for Endgame to hit theaters, we've got to keep ourselves sane somehow, right? The anticipation is killing us.
So, with that in mind, we've compiled a list of our favorite post-Captain Marvel fan theories, ranging from the extremely likely to the absolutely bonkers--and everything in between. We're just as in the dark as everyone else when it comes to the next phase of Marvel movies, but we like to think we've got enough nervous energy and enthusiasm to make some educated (and not-so-educated) guesses about the way things are going to play out.
1. Carol could bring the X-Men into the MCU
With the Fox/Disney merger reportedly still going on, fans have been clamoring for the X-Men to be brought into the MCU fold--and Carol might just be the key. Not only does Carol have a long and sometimes rocky history with the mutants over in the comics, the Skrulls do as well, with a band of Skrull pacifists known as the Cadre K providing a direct link to Charles Xavier. It's a pretty long shot, to be sure, but anything is possible. And, hey, if there ever were going to be an MCU/X-Men merge, having them piggyback into the fray with Carol as a jumping off point would certainly be a fun way to do it. After all, that same sort of introductory formula worked really well for both Black Panther and Spider-Man.
2. The Tesseract is the key to defeating Thanos
Carol's powers came directly from the Tesseract, which makes her the only other hero in the MCU, next to Wanda Maximoff, who was empowered directly by an Infinity Stone. This is particularly interesting, given how we know that Wanda was able to not only destroy another Stone with her abilities in Infinity War, but hold off the other five at the same time. Add to this the fact that the Tesseract got a very special shout-out in Infinity War care of the Red Skull, who was made the "keeper" of the Soul Stone by some sort of consciousness found within the Tesseract back in the first Captain America--and, well, things are getting pretty curious indeed.
3. Carol's powers somehow allow her to time travel
We've been wondering about the extent of Carol's powers for a while now. Considering that Wanda was powered by the Reality Stone, which later translated into, uh, basically catch-all telepathy and "magic," what would Carol's Tesseract/Space Stone powers actually amount to? The Tesseract obviously did some sort of crazy time manipulation thing with Red Skull, so maybe we've only seen the tip of the iceberg here. Maybe Carol really can time travel and that's how the team will go back and ultimately defeat Thanos.
4. The Skrulls are actually still villains
The MCU's take on Skrulls is pretty drastically different than their comics counterparts, but that doesn't mean a heel turn somewhere in the future is totally off the table. After all, the Skrulls are pretty infamously manipulative, so who knows? Maybe Talos's whole plan was actually a scheme to get Carol on their side. Maybe there's a lot more going on under the surface of the MCU's Kree/Skull War than meets the eye.
5. Talos returned to Earth a while ago
Regardless of whether the Skrulls are actually villains, there's still a chance that they've been lurking on Earth for a while. After all, people have been trying to spot Skrull imposters in the main Avengers lineup for years--who's to say there aren't still some there? Maybe even Talos himself has been masquerading back on Earth for a while. Maybe he's been sneaking around as Hawkeye this whole time? It could be the most interesting thing to happen to Clint Barton in the history of the MCU.
6. Carol's been replaced by a Skrull decoy
On that same note, there's no telling whether the Carol who returned to Earth is actually Carol. This could be malicious, or it could just be a simple safety measure. After all, in the Captain Marvel post credits, we don't actually see the Carol who showed up at the Avengers compound use her abilities at all, which is apparently one of the ways to tell whether or not a Skrull has taken over her identity. Maybe the real Carol is being a bit more cautious in answering Fury's decades-delayed page than we all assume--but that begs the question: to what end?
7. Yon-Rogg is still out there somewhere, waiting
Yon's ending in Captain Marvel is a bit interesting. Not only did Carol brutally shame him by defeating him in battle, she also let him live and sent him back to Hala. We have no idea what happened to him after that moment--and, based on how slowly Kree seem to age in the MCU, there's a decent chance he could still be around, and if he is, he's going to have a pretty major grudge to settle with Carol later on.
8. Goose will help save everyone from the Soul Stone
Everyone loves Goose the Flerken for how cute and cuddly (and lethal) he is, but did you know that in the comics Flerken also have the ability to teleport? And that they carry a "pocket dimension" in their stomachs? Maybe Carol's furry friend has been the key to getting people to Thanos (and subsequently out of the Soul Stone dimension the Snap victims might be stuck in) all along. It would be pretty weird, sure, but it would also be pretty cute.
9. Monica Rambeau will appear as Photon
Monica Rambeau is pretty famous as the first female Captain Marvel and as a hero named Photon in the comics--and though she was just a kid in this movie, she'll definitely be an adult in the present day for Avengers: Endgame. Her comics origin story is similar to Carol's in that an accident lands her with cosmic abilities, so that will likely be overhauled for live action, but there's a very good chance we'll be seeing Monica as a hero sometime soon. After all, we do know that Maria used "Photon" as her callsign in the Air Force, so the name is already in play.
10. The baby Skrull will grow up to be Kamala Khan
The Ms. Marvel legacy may not technically exist in the MCU--Carol skipped that whole phase and went right for the Captain title--but that doesn't mean someone else can't pick it up. Someone like Kamala Khan, maybe, a recently created hero and fan of Carol in the Marvel comics universe. However, there's one sticking point for a Kamala entrance into the MCU: Kamala's powers originated because she's an Inhuman, an evolutionary off-shoot of humanity similar to the mutants (but not really--it's a whole complicated thing, don't stress about it). The Inhumans were, however, used by the ill-fated TV show of the same name which may have taken Kamala's comic book origin pretty well off the table for the big screen.
But, that doesn't mean she can't show up with an overhauled identity--maybe as the very young Skrull Monica befriended before Carol and company left Earth?