The Real Reason Nick Fury Didn't Page Captain Marvel Sooner
Contains spoilers for Captain Marvel
As the post-credits scene in Avengers: Infinity War and the final few minutes of her recently released solo movie have proven, Captain Marvel is like the Kim Possible of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: call her, beep her if you want to reach her.
Marvelites out there know the story: S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) paged Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) at the tail end of Infinity War after Thanos (Josh Brolin) snapped his fingers, now wearing the Infinity Stone-powered Infinity Gauntlet, and killed half of all life in the universe. In Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers hands Fury his pager back before she leaves Earth to help the Skrulls locate a new home world, telling him she made extra-special enhancements to his trusty communications device and to only use it to contact her when there's a "real emergency" happening.
Thanos decimating the universe is certainly a real emergency, but what about all the other crises that have gone down in the MCU? Did they not necessitate a call to Captain Marvel? Exactly why did Fury wait until Infinity War to page her?
We finally know the truth to all those questions, thanks to Peter Sciretta of Slashfilm.
Sciretta did the world a favor when he asked Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige in a recent interview why Fury didn't contact Captain Marvel sooner — like, say, when that "big hole opened up in the sky and aliens attacked New York City." If the half-Kree, half-human superhero is the most powerful character in the MCU now that she's joined the overarching franchise with her solo movie, and if she's apparently strong enough to help take down Thanos, why hasn't she been spoken about in connection with the Avengers until now? Why hasn't she helped them out?
According to Feige, there are two explanations: 1) Fury may not have considered anything that went down before Infinity War a genuine emergency based on the scale of the chaos, and 2) he actually may have tried to reach Captain Marvel before Infinity War, but it was never shown in a movie.
"Well, I'd say two things. One, she does say it's gotta be a real emergency, right? Yeah," Feige said. "The other thing I'd say is how do you know he never hit it? How do we know he never pushed it before? We've never seen him push it before. That doesn't mean he never did."
Actor Samuel L. Jackson backed Feige on this, explaining to IGN why Fury hasn't mentioned Captain Marvel before.
"We finally have an emergency that I feel warrants her presence. This is unprecedented. How are you gonna fight that? I can't fight that. If I'm not here, I need to find someone to come here who can handle it," he said. "All those people are ineffective. They're great for normal, everyday world disaster. But intergalactic badass who has all the Infinity Stones needs a bit more."
It isn't just Marvel fans who have wondered why Fury didn't reach out to Captain Marvel earlier. Reportedly, War Machine (Don Cheadle) grills Captain Marvel about the situation at the start of Endgame.
At the Disney Investors conference on Thursday, March 7, Disney shareholders are said to have watched footage from Endgame — one scene in particular that takes place at Avengers HQ, the same place the mid-credits scene in Captain Marvel does. That sequence within Captain Marvel saw Carol appear at Avengers HQ, joining War Machine, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), and Captain America (Chris Evans) and asking where Fury is. The scene shown at the investors meeting seemingly picks up where the mid-credits Captain Marvel moment left off: with Captain Marvel amped up and "ready to go kill Thanos," and she and the surviving Avengers discussing "the prospect of a rematch" against the intergalactic tyrant (via Slashfilm). Banner is said to ask her "how this will be different" than the battles of Infinity War and "what guarantee" they have they they will win, and Captain Marvel "confidently says that they have her this time."
Then, War Machine chimes in and asks Captain Marvel why she didn't help the Avengers until now, to which Captain Marvel explains that there are many planets in the universe that needed her help more so than Earth did — planets that don't have a super-group like the Avengers protecting them. A sound response, certainly, but one that doesn't sit well with Thor (Chris Hemsworth). The Asgardian god of thunder appears from the background of Avengers HQ, grabs his battle-ax Stormbreaker, and goes to give Captain Marvel a piece of his mind. When Stormbreaker flies past Captain Marvel's face and she doesn't flinch, Thor softens a bit and says, "I like this one."
So, if this footage description is to be believed, Endgame will not only address Captain Marvel's whereabouts in the time between her solo film and the end of Infinity War, but will also explain why the heck she didn't rush to the aid of Earth's Mightiest Heroes when they weren't feeling all that mighty.
Fans will get the full story when Avengers: Endgame opens in theaters on April 26. Perhaps before then, Marvel will release a montage of all the times Fury tried and failed to get Captain Marvel to swoop in to save the day. A Marvel fan can dream.