Marvel Studio’s first female-led superhero movie, Captain Marvel , is creating waves with critics and audiences. As The Inquisitr reported, the film has had some early success at the box office.
While the film isn’t without its critics, the consensus is that Captain Marvel is definitely worthy of the Marvel brand, and is a fitting first film for the character. The movie is great for representation, and is a milestone for the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole. It’s also an important movie to appear in the run-up to Marvel’s current phase of films — one which is slated to end with Avengers: Endgame.
Avengers: Infinity War saw the culmination of 10 years worth of storylines from the 18 individual movies before it — a daunting task. But it’s only overshadowed by the task before Avengers: Endgame , a movie that needs to resolve those storylines, as well as the stakes created previously, in a satisfying way. And the burden of that responsibility falls squarely on Captain Marvel , given that the character’s origin story is being introduced as a way to position her to be the savior of the conflict set up in Infinity War.
While Captain Marvel deals with its own story, conflict, and resolution — one that is largely independent of the films before it — here are five ways that the film connects to the events of the MCU, eventually tying directly into Avengers: Endgame.
From this point onwards there will be specific spoilers for Captain Marvel .
Nick Fury’s Eye
While not a direct connection to Avengers: Endgame , the origin of how Nick Fury lost his eye is finally revealed in Captain Marvel — and it’s not exactly what fans were expecting. The beginning of the movie has a misdirect that sees Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) get hurt in a car chase, appearing with a cut above his eye. The eye looks bloody and damaged initially, but is later shown to be fine, with only a few stitches above the eyebrow. The third act of the film sees Fury’s eye get violently scratched by Goose, the lovable cat. Goose also happens to be a creature that can release tentacles from its mouth, something known as a Flerken.
The Avengers Initiative
Nick Fury’s experience with the Alien races of the Kree and the Skrulls during the events of Captain Marvel is what gives him the idea to create an initiative of other heroes to protect Earth. As he discusses this notion with Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg), the unknown nature of what other forces could be out there requires him to find others like Captain Marvel to combat those threats. Without his friendship and his experiences with Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), there would be no Avengers Initiative.
Carol ‘Avenger’ Danvers
And without Carol Danvers’ call sign as a pilot, the team of super-powered heroes known as The Avengers would be called something else entirely. In the same scene wherein he reveals the need for an initiative, audiences learn that the infamous Avengers Initiative was originally titled The Protector Initiative. It wasn’t until Fury saw Danvers’ call sign on her plane — one that read, Carol ‘Avenger’ Danvers — in an old picture that Fury changes the Protector to Avengers. The rest is history.
The State Of The Art Pager
The biggest connection from Captain Marvel to Avengers: Endgame comes with the infamous pager that Fury is seen pulling out in the last moments of Avengers: Infinity War . Captain Marvel reveals that it’s the same pager that Danvers confiscates from Fury at the beginning of the movie. Fury uses it to call the authorities on her. At the end of the movie, Marvel returns it to Fury, advising him to use it to call her — but only during an emergency. The events of Infinity War definitely qualified, seeing as how the pager features prominently in the Captain Marvel mid-credits scene, per The Inquisitr .
The Space Stone
“I’m ready.” Be the first to see Marvel Studios’ #CaptainMarvel in theaters tomorrow night. Get tickets now: https://t.co/siieRjKIgz pic.twitter.com/NyjCSHwpm7
— Captain Marvel (@captainmarvel) March 6, 2019
One of the biggest clues as to how exactly Captain Marvel will save the MCU from Thanos in Avengers: Endgame — or even undo the events of Infinity War — comes from the origin of her powers. It’s revealed in Captain Marvel that Carol Danvers’ powers come from the Tesseract, or what audiences now know as the Space Stone, one of the Infinity Stones under Thanos’ possession. It’s possible that her powers stemming from one of the stones which Thanos also draws power from will be the loophole needed to disable him — or to undo his actions.
It’s also interesting to note that other Avengers also have connections to different stones, such as Scarlet Witch & Vision’s powers originating from the Mind Stone, and Dr. Strange having power over the Time Stone. Unfortunately, the reveal will have to wait until Avengers: Endgame.
Avengers: Endgame releases on April 26.