Avengers Endgame: What We May Have Learned From Captain Marvel
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Time to start speculating wildly.
Avengers: Endgame is almost here. With the final chapter in this phase of the Avengers' story just around the corner, we're gleaning what hints we can get from the events of Captain Marvel, the MCU prequel set 25 years earlier.
Captain Marvel may be an MCU prequel set decades before Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet ever arrived on Earth, but it's still full of potential Avengers: Endgame clues. Yes, there was that whole post credits scene, and yes, obviously we know from the latest Endgame trailer that Carol is on her way to help the Avengers in the aftermath of their battle with Thanos. But now we've finally got some idea of what all those pieces means for the immediate future of the MCU. And with Endgame coming in fast, no detail can go unexamined--partly because we're genuinely curious, and partly because we're just so anxious we've gotta get some of this nervous energy out of our systems.
Now, before you go down the rabbit hole with us here, head over to our Captain Marvel review where we spend some time taking a look at some of the bigger picture parts of the movie. "Captain Marvel expands the scope of the MCU significantly; just as Guardians of the Galaxy added a whole universe and Doctor Strange introduced magic to the world, CM brings a long running Marvel comics conflict to the silver screen: the war between the Kree and the Skrulls," reviewer Mike Rougeau wrote.
Now the question has become: How will the introduction of the Kree and Skrulls affect the story of Avengers: Endgame? And what else in Captain Marvel provides potential clues for the conclusion of the Avengers' clash with Thanos? let's zoom in and take a look at just what else Captain Marvel has to say about the MCU's future, one tiny detail at a time.
1. The Skrulls are, presumably, still out there.
We may not be getting the full scale Secret Invasion of the Skrulls on Earth like we all feared--but that doesn't mean the Skrulls still aren't out there, and potentially ready to return as allies. It's a weird possibility to consider for anyone who has spent some time with Marvel comics in the past and knows the Skrulls as a terrifying invading force, but in the MCU, they might just show back up somewhere as bystanders. There might actually still be some on Earth--but they're probably not a major threat. Will they play a part in Avengers: Endgame? It's possible, but we just don't know yet.
2. Fury's pager has an origin story
The story of Fury's weird retro-futuristic pager is actually a lot more simple than we would have guessed. Turns out it really was just a normal pager from 1995 that Carol updated with Kree tech. This probably won't have any bearing on the plot of Endgame but, hey, at least that's one mystery down.
3. Carol's already on Earth
This is a big one: We learned care of the post credits scene that Carol is actually on Earth relatively soon after the end of Infinity War--just look at Nat's hair and Steve's beard as they're examining Fury's pager--which is pretty wild considering she's only had one brief appearance in any of Endgame's trailers. This could mean a lot of things--maybe she shows up on Earth and then leaves, maybe she's off sneaking around somewhere, maybe the Avengers don't trust her and refuse to work with her right away--honestly, who knows? But she's definitely going to be there right from the start.
4. Steve's beard was still around for a hot minute
Everyone's favorite costume choice of 2018, Captain America's amazing beard, was still around for the post credits scene of Captain Marvel. This is significant, not only because it looks incredible, but because it helps us establish a little bit of a timeline of events after Infinity War--Carol shows up and Steve's still rocking his beard, but during the Endgame trailers, he's clean shaven (RIP), so we can assume that at least a little time has passed between the post credits and the first trailer. That is, of course, unless Carol showed up and Steve immediately went to shave like, right then and there. Who knows?
5. Talos and co. might be heroes down the line
Not only are the Skrulls still (probably) out there somewhere in the galaxy, but we think it's pretty safe to say Talos and his friends owe Carol a favor. It's possible that they'll--or their relatives, depending on the whole Snap situation--will come back into play for Endgame as a trump card Carol is able to call in.
6. Maria and Monica Rambeau are on Earth somewhere
Maria and her daughter Monica stayed on Earth and they've both got some intimate knowledge of the weirder, more cosmic side of things thanks to Carol--at least way more than the average civilian. Also, Monica has her own comic book history as a hero in her own right--she was even Captain Marvel for a while--which could amount to something cool come Endgame when she'll have grown up. Maybe an adult Monica Rambeau is going to come storming in at the last minute as Photon and save the day?
7. Carol's powers came from the Tesseract
This is majorly significant, all things considered. In the comics, Carol's abilities come from a wacky sci-fi piece of technology called the pscyhe-magnetron, but in the MCU, she's directly empowered from a blast of the Tesseract, aka the Space Stone. This means she's the only other hero in the MCU next to Wanda Maximoff and Vision who is directly connected to the Stones. We saw just how much Wanda could do in Infinity War when she destroyed a stone with one hand all while holding off the rest with her other--if Carol is anywhere near as powerful, that's great news for our heroes.
8. Carol doesn't age
The time jump between the end of Captain Marvel in 1995 and the beginning of Endgame is pretty significant--not to mention the undefined amount of time between the end of Infinity War and the start of what we've seen in Endgame--yet Carol shows up on Earth looking exactly the same as she did back in the 90s. This is obviously thanks in part to her Kree biology, but it could also have something to do with her Tesseract powers, which could be significant.
9. The Kree are terrible, and still out there
We know that Carol didn't end the Kree's galactic reign of terror when she left Earth with Talos thanks to Ronan's continued existence and alliance with Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy--so that begs the question, just what, if anything, does the Kree empire have planned? Yon-Rogg is still alive, we can assume, given the Kree's slowed down aging, and he's obviously going to have a bone to pick with both Carol and Earth. Is it possible we'll be seeing him again come Endgame? Maybe picking up where Ronan left off as an ally of Thanos?
10. Project Pegasus was helmed by a Kree scientist
Project Pegasus was first referenced in the MCU all the way back in Iron Man 2 as a joint project between the military and SHIELD to work on engineering tech from the Tesseract--we now know that the Kree were directly involved via Mar-Vell, which could have some significance come Endgame. Carol's relationship with the Kree might mean some answers--or at the very least--some theories of how to undo the damage done by the Infinity Stones, or how to unlock Carol's full potential with her Tesseract imbued abilities.
11. The Avengers might not trust Carol
The post credits scene gives us a very clear look at just how wary the remaining Avengers are of Fury's pager, which makes us think they might not be stoked to just accept Carol's sudden arrival with smiles on their faces. The major question is how exactly does Carol win them over--or does she even bother? We could very well be looking at a movie where Carol leaves Earth yet again and winds up helping Tony and Nebula rather than Steve and company.
12. There's a baby Skrull who "won't change her eyes," whatever that means
One of the most bizarre throwaway lines in Captain Marvel came from Monica Rambeau when she told a little Skrull child that she should "never change her eyes" when she changes shape. We're not exactly sure what this could mean, but it seems like a bit of foreshadowing for a Skrull return somewhere down the line. Maybe if Talos and company don't come back to Earth full force, the grown up version of this little Skrull will--and who knows, maybe they'll take the form of someone familiar. Maybe Kamala Khan will get her MCU intro not as an Inhuman--which are largely out of the picture for the MCU thanks to the failed TV show--but as a Skrull? It sounds crazy but, hey, we're not ready to count anything out at this point.