Captain Marvel is the introduction of the the most powerful hero in the MCU to date.
It involves a complex web of characters new and old, and it's also a semi-prequel set
in the '90s, which means there are a lot of questions left largely unexplored.
Be warned, MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.
Captain Marvel gives us yet another wrinkle in the history of the Tesseract, the first
Infinity Stone to make its way to Earth.
We knew that the Tesseract, a.k.a. the Space Stone, was found by HYDRA in the 1940s, recovered
by SHIELD after Captain America's disappearance, and then stolen by Loki in the 2010s.
Now, we know that Dr. Wendy Lawson, a.k.a. Mar-Vell, was a gifted Kree scientist who
used the Tesseract as part of her work on Project Pegasus, using it to power a lightspeed
engine before her death sometime around the late '80s.
In the six years between Mar-Vell's death and the rise of Carol Danvers as a superhero,
the Tesseract apparently just sat hidden in her cloaked, orbiting lab, which raises a
few questions.
She was presumably allowed the use of it by S.H.I.E.L.D., so why didn't SHIELD come looking
for it when she died?
How could something so important go missing for so long?
One of the standout stars of Captain Marvel is Goose, Mar-Vell's quote unquote cat.
By the end of the film, it's revealed that Goose is a Flerken, an alien species that
looks like an Earth feline on the outside, but also packs deadly tentacles and the ability
to consume objects several times its size.
During the film's climactic moments, Goose devours several Kree warriors, intimidates
other aliens, and even eats the Tesseract so Fury won't have to touch it.
Because we know what happens when the wrong people touch Infinity Stones.
Then, in the post-credits scene, we see Goose hwark the Infinity Stone up onto Fury's desk
and back into S.H.I.E.L.D.
custody.
Is Goose still hanging around the MCU somewhere?
We may never know, but Goose and Fury seem like good pals.
"Aren't you the cutest thing ever what’s your name?”
“Fury”
“I’ll be back."
The legendary Nick Fury still has both of his eyes for most of Captain Marvel, and he's
also still a rather green as a lowly Level 3 S.H.I.E.L.D.
agent.
We know that clearance Levels within S.H.I.E.L.D.
go up to 10, with a couple of even more secretive levels above that, which is where Fury eventually
ends up.
The film ends around 1995, which gives him a little more than a decade to become director
by the time he meets Tony Stark in 2008.
We know he gets the director job after forming a relationship with Alexander Pierce, who
leaves the position to become Secretary of the World Security Council.
What we don't know is exactly how long that took.
Fury's rapid rise through the ranks from a wimpy Level 3 agent had to be meteoric, right?
"That's a yes or no question."
"Yes."
Among the film's many familiar faces is Ronan the Accuser, Kree dispatcher of justice and
the main villain in Guardians of the Galaxy.
There, Ronan is a rogue Accuser who becomes a terrorist fanatic after his people sign
a peace treaty with Xandar.
But 20 years earlier, he's still obedient to the Kree government, working in close collaboration
with Yon-Rogg and the rest of the Starforce.
We know that Ronan eventually goes rogue, defies his people, and ultimately dies in
a struggle over the Power Stone.
Which is not an uncommon theme for Infinity Stones.
At the end of Captain Marvel, though, he says that he'll one day return for Carol, a human
weapon.
So, does he ever return for her?
She leaves Earth at the end of the film, but did he and the other Accusers ever try to
seek her out in space?
We don't know right now, but a rivalry between Captain Marvel and a Kree Accuser could be
interesting.
Another familiar face is Korath the Pursuer.
"Who?"
By the end of his life, he's one of Ronan's top lieutenants, but his eventual defection
to follow Ronan is hinted at only briefly, in a scene in which he seems more willing
than Yon-Rogg to tell the Accuser about Carol's whereabouts.
The last time we see Korath in the film, he's battling Carol, only to be defeated along
with the rest of the Starforce.
Korath's state at the end of Captain Marvel isn't exactly clear, but we know that when
he returns in Guardians of the Galaxy, he's working with Ronan, and he has several enhancements,
including equipment grafted into his head.
So, what happened?
Did Ronan rebuild Korath and give him his enhancements?
What turns one Kree against another?
Probably Thanos.
It's always Thanos.
One of the most exciting pieces potential story in Captain Marvel is the Rambeaus: Carol's
best friend Maria and her daughter Monica, who idolizes "Auntie Carol" when she's a pilot,
even more so when it becomes clear that she's a superhero.
In Marvel's comics, we know that Monica Rambeau actually held the Captain Marvel title in
1982, long before Carol did.
She's since shifted superhero identities several times and is currently known as Spectrum.
By any name, she's a vital hero in the Marvel Universe who once led the Avengers and can
summon tremendous power of her own.
She'd be in her 30s by the time the present day MCU events happen, so will we see her
show up as a hero?
Skrulls are an insidious force that will infiltrate any planet using their shapeshifting abilities,
and ultimately take it over.
The Supreme Intelligence tells us this, Yon-Rogg tells this, and even Carol tells us this.
Except that's a big, fat lie.
The remaining Skrulls in the galaxy are actually refugees, running from the Kree as they look
for a new home; something Mar-Vell was hoping to solve with her lightspeed engine.
With Carol's help, they eventually head off into the stars to find a new planet to settle
on, and that's the last we hear of them.
Do the Skrulls find a planet to call home?
If they do, then they've had more than two decades to colonize and rebuild since the
events of Captain Marvel.
So will they eventually become an expanding power in the galaxy again?
The resilience of the Skrulls, and their ability to rise up and conquer again and again even
after their defeat is one of their comic book trademarks.
Sometimes, they're humanity's enemy, and sometimes they're an ally.
So where are the Skrulls now, and whose side are they on?
And will they be the ones to come back the and help kick some Thanos butt?
When Carol finally remembers how she got her powers and ultimately arrived at the Kree
homeworld, everything she knows is flipped upside-down.
Instead of being an ally, Yon-Rogg and his pals are the ones who shot down Danvers' and
Mar-Vell's lightspeed ship and killed Mar-Vell.
When Carol destroys the engine and absorbs its power, Yon-Rogg abducts her, and hides
her memories from her for six years.
After Carol finds out, she defeats her former mentor and sends him back to Hala, where he'll
have to face retribution.
So, what happens to Yon-Rogg?
Is it a light reprimand?
Prison?
Death by Flerken?
Will we ever see him again?
In a universe this complex, anyone left alive is potentially fodder for sequels.
Carol Danvers receives her powers when she destroys Mar-Vell's lightspeed engine, granting
her superhuman strength, speed, resilience, and the photon blasts that become her defining
power.
But that explosive engine was powered by the Tesseract, aka the Space Stone, an object
of tremendous power that's played numerous major roles in the Marvel Universe.
The Space Stone can transport its bearer across great distances, as it did with the Red Skull
in The First Avenger, and Thanos in Infinity War.
We also know that it can possibly be triggered from afar, as Loki did in The Avengers.
Carol Danvers gets her power from it, just as Vision derived some of his abilities from
the Mind Stone embedded in his head.
Does that mean she can manipulate the Space Stone or use some fraction of its abilities?
Is she as intimately connected to it as Vision is to the Mind Stone?
Can she teleport?
These are enormous questions, and Avengers: Endgame might ultimately provide us with some
answers.
We all know you have to be careful with those Stones, though.
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