What ‘Captain Marvel’ could mean for ‘Avengers: Endgame’

Warning: Spoilers for Captain Marvel and possibly Avengers: Endgame lie ahead.

In the words of Mashable’s own Angie Han, “Well, Thanos is fucked.” 

While it’s clear the demise of Angry Grimace and his population control bullshit is imminent, exactly when, where, and how Captain Marvel and the rest of the Avengers will take him down remains a mystery. 

Luckily, fans have been using evidence from the original comics, Captain Marvel‘s post-credits scenes, past MCU installments, and cast and crew interviews — with just a sprinkling of common sense regarding what Marvel Studios will and won’t do — to piece together what they can before Avengers: Endgame hits theaters April 26. 

We wracked our brains and scoured the internet to compile a collection of the 7 best theories explaining how the events of Captain Marvel could change the endgame (pun fully intended), and then ranked them from least to most plausible for your convenience. 

Happy hunting, truth seekers!

7. Captain Marvel can time travel

We recognize that this is probably not true, but it would be so convenient. 

Last year, Samuel L. Jackson told Mashable and other outlets visiting the Captain Marvel set that Carol Danvers is “one of the few people in the Marvel Universe that can time travel.” Considering this would fix just about everything, fans understandably obsessed over the apparent spoiler.

In a radio interview last week, however, Jackson rolled back the statement, claiming he “made it up” after a long day of filming. Brie Larson then reiterated that Captain Marvel cannot in fact time travel during an interview with Wired. 

That being said, any actors lucky enough to be part of the MCU are contractually obligated to avoid spreading spoilers — and could be lying about past slip-ups in an effort to throw us theorists off their tails.

While we’re not banking on Carol busting out an intergalactic DeLorean in Endgame, we’re not entirely discounting it either. Seriously, have you seen this woman? She can do just about anything. 

6. There is a second set of Infinity Stones ripe for the taking

As theorized by USA Today‘s Brian Truitt, the second post-credits scene for Captain Marvel could be more than an ode to cat barfing. 

Considering we don’t have a time frame for when that whole Goose puking up the Tesseract thing occurred, it’s possible that scene actually took place post-snap and not in 1995, as the film’s framing might lead us to believe. If that’s really Tesseract #2, then it stands to reason we could be getting a whole second set of Infinity Stones for the Avengers to wield in their war against Thanos.

That being said, everything about that shot — right down to Fury’s case of glass eyes still sitting on the desk — seems to imply that the short clip was just a goof. But where there’s a will, there’s a theory and we’re into it.

5. The Skrulls hold the key to defeating Thanos

The Skrulls certainly can’t fill in for all of the heroes lost to Infinity War — but when it comes to usefulness, shapeshifting never goes out of style. 

Considering Captain Marvel made helping the Skrulls find a permanent home her first post-origin story order of business, we’re betting they owe her more than a few favors. While the specifics are too hazy to even guess at, it would be pretty awesome to see Talos and a few other Skrull spies playing defense for the Avengers behind enemy lines.

4. The addition of Captain Marvel and Ant-Man to the Avengers plays an important mathematical factor in Doctor Strange’s vision

Give Redditor ArenLexon all the Infinity Stones and a cash prize of $14,000,605.00, because this is one beautiful theory. 

Using a whole lot of math we won’t get into here (though you should really take the time to appreciate it for yourself), they break down exactly how the “possible futures” number spouted off by Doctor Strange in Infinity War factor Captain Marvel and Ant-Man into the equation.

Tl;dr: To solve for that ~14 million figure, you’ve gotta get these two on board.

Of course, Infinity War writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely could have just picked a random, big number for Strange’s dialogue… but we doubt it.

3. The Kree and the Supreme Intelligence will serve as critical supporters of Thanos

Heading into Endgame, we’re keeping a close eye on anyone with a bone to pick with the Avengers — and an extra close eye on Ronan the Accuser and Korath the Pursuer. 

Both of these Guardians villains appear in Captain Marvel, and their future extremist behavior casts a particularly scary light on their Kree cohorts: Yon-Rogg, Minn-Erva, and their leader, the Supreme Intelligence. It’s unclear whether Ronan and Korath’s appearances serve as groundwork for Endgame or the inevitable Captain Marvel 2 — either way, “For the Good of All Kree” seems like bad business.

2. Captain Marvel has a special link to the Quantum Realm

In an interview with Inverse, quantum physicist Spiros Michalakis, who served as a consultant on 2014’s Ant-Man, let slip that he’d also talked to the producers on Captain Marvel. Which is interesting, because Captain Marvel doesn’t really get into that Quantum Realm stuff.

But who’s to say Carol won’t later? The Quantum Realm seems to allow for some form of time travel; Ant-Man and the Wasp mentions a “time vortex” down there. Is it possible, as Nerdist suggests, that Carol has been there the whole time between Captain Marvel and Infinity War, and that’s why she looks so young in the Endgame teaser? Or that her pager allows her to communicate through the Quantum Realm, explaining how Nick Fury got her a message from across the galaxy?

Maybe, The Wrap theorizes, Carol will be like Quasar in the comics – a character who’s powered by quantum energy, and therefore has the ability to hop through the Quantum Realm across dimensions and timelines. 

Whatever the case, we’re thinking there’s something going on with Carol and that mysterious Quantum Realm, and that there’s a pretty good chance it’ll come in handy during Endgame. 

1. The Avengers will destroy the Infinity Stones, beginning with Captain Marvel crushing the Space Stone

Variations on this theory have been floating around for a while, but davidlyncheyebrow put some exciting Captain Marvel specifics into its future possibilities.  

Assuming there isn’t a second set of Infinity Stones stowed away in an attic somewhere, the Avengers seemingly have three options on the Infinity Stone front: (1) Steal them from Thanos; (2) Copy them to battle Thanos on an even playing field, with one set of Infinity Stones per side; or (3) Break them in the past so that Thanos can’t use them in the present.

The latter increasingly seems like the most plausible, straightforward option when you consider how complicated multiple Infinity Stones would make the final film. 

How can the Avengers break the stones? Well, if we use Scarlet Witch’s destruction of the Mind Stone as a template, Captain Marvel’s connection to the Space Stone should allow her to similarly ruin its molecular integrity — and we figure Shuri, Bruce Banner, and Stark Industries can sort out how to harness that capability as a means of destroying the other Infinity Stones shortly thereafter.

When it comes to hunting down the Infinity Stones, davidlyncheyebrow points out that two of them, the Space Stone and the Mind Stone, were seen at the Battle of New York from 2012’s Avengers – which set photos indicate will be revisited in Endgame. 

That seems like a pretty great place to start crushing stones and unraveling this mess, but beyond that we’re not all that sure where this is going. Luckily, this Redditor has got some thoughts on that too.

Honorable Mention: Goose is going to eat everyone

In this house, we stan Goose the Flerken/Cat/Good Boy and we believe he can do anything he puts his mind to. 

If he wants to catch that laser, he’s gonna catch that laser. If he wants a belly rub, he’s gonna get a belly rub. If he wants to swallow the MCU whole and turn it into intergalactic kitty poops, he’s gonna do it! #InGooseWeTrust.