Let’s face it, while Captain Marvel has its own appeal with audiences, a certain section is immensely excited to see the character interact with our decade-old heroes. As such, the Captain Marvel post-credits scene (technically a mid-credits scene) is the talk of the town, at times even more than the movie itself. If you haven’t seen the movie, read the next few bits at your own risk. It doesn’t spoil any major reveals from the movie but if you’re planning on watching it, you’d best return after having seen it on the big screen.
The scene in question has Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, James “Rhodey” Rhodes and Bruce Banner back in the Avengers upstate facility, trying to trace the signal sent by Fury’s pager at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. All of a sudden, the pager stops broadcasting, leading everyone to discuss and question the reason for it. There’s a brief debate about wanting to give up pursuing the pager, but Romanoff firmly believes that if Fury used it, it must be something important. As soon as she turns, there’s Carol Danvers standing behind her, who asks her in a very serious tone, “Where’s Fury?”
In my screening of Captain Marvel, there were loud cheers multiple times during this credits sequence, even more than in the entire movie preceeding it. And it’s not without reason. Audiences have been starved of new Avengers: Endgame footage and after last year’s cataclysmic events within the MCU, everyone is on the edge of their seat. So naturally, a brand new scene with our heroes back to figuring out a way to defeat the Mad Titan Thanos is going to have everyone on the edge of their seat. But does this scene tell us anything more about Endgame than we already know? Well, not by itself but if used in knowledge with the footage description that leaked a day or two back, it gives us enough to munch on.
For starters, this sequence most certainly happens within the movie’s first act. The leftover Avengers have somehow gotten hold of Fury’s pager from the streets of New York and are working to decode the signal being sent. I’d also imagine this is a while into the movie, after we’ve been treated to some scenes of mayhem, emptyness and chaos in wake of the decimation that we saw in the Super Bowl Spot. Danvers arrives, oblivious to what’s gone down with the snap and all, which is when the Avengers explain to her (and also to newcomers who might be making the mistake of watching Endgame without seeing Infinity War) what Thanos did. This should lead into the scene screened at Disney’s shareholder meet, where she urges the Avengers to simply head off to confront and kill Thanos upfront.
Of course the Avengers will fail, concluding the first act. But that’s all we’re going to see from the marketing side. And now that Captain Marvel is out, it’s possible we’ll see some footage of her with the Avengers, exchanging quips and possibly, even the first skirmish they have with Thanos. It’s perfectly in Carol’s nature to act recklessly, and her act will certainly land them another massive blow. To recoup, they will strategize and devise a whole new plan of getting things back the way they are. It’s also likely that the leftover team members will realize in their fight with Thanos that the gauntlet is damaged beyond repair and cannot be used to undo what it did, leading them to pursue more drastic solutions.
That’s just my two cents based on what I saw and what we’ve known. Let me know if you have any other theories around the credits scene and how Captain Marvel factors into the upcoming Avengers movie.
Captain Marvel is out in theaters now. Avengers: Endgame comes out next month, on April 26, 2019. Keep a close eye out on Appocalypse for all the latest coverage about the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
