Five Things We Learned From Captain Marvel

Warning: So many spoilers ahead, for both Captain Marvel and Avengers: Infinity War. Seriously, turn back now.

This month’s Captain Marvel film has been highly anticipated, especially following the end of Avengers: Infinity War which shows Nick Fury page her in a last minute call for help. But until the movie was released, I don’t think many of us knew just how integral Carol Danvers’ story was to the history of the Avengers and the factors leading us to the current battle with Thanos.

In honor of a new Endgame trailer released today, here are a few things Captain Marvel taught us:

1. How the name Marvel came to be

In probably the most meta of reveals, we discover how Carol Danvers adopted the name of the entire superhero universe in which she exists. Her mentor, Mar-Vell, was a Kree scientist and the one whose ship gave Carol her powers when the engine exploded. Towards the end of the movie, Fury keeps pronouncing it as one word: Marvel (oh, Earth, how you butcher the alien languages). Carol tries to correct him, but clearly it sticks.

2. Nick Fury’s origin story (kinda)

When Fury meets Carol (going by Vers at the time), he’s just a young S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who’s shocked to meet an alien! And he has both eyes! By the end of the movie he’s met multiple alien races, and lost an eye thanks to a cat/Flerken named Goose. Oh yeah, Fury is also obsessed with cats.

3. How the Avengers initiative started

So now that Fury’s life and outlook has changed, he realizes he needs to find others like Captain Marvel and create a task force to handle extraterrestrial threats. Spurring this decision would be major enough, but Carol also inspires the name itself. Noticing on a photograph that her Air Force nickname was “Avenger,” Fury decides to give his new club a name with a little more zazz.

4. How the Tesseract came to be in the possession of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I’m pretty sure the whole theater gasped when it was revealed that the energy core fueling Mar-Vell’s light speed engine was the Tesseract. This dang cube has caused trouble throughout multiple MCU films before getting crushed by Thanos to retrieve the Space Stone. And while we still don’t know how Mar-Vell came to be involved with it, we’ve still filled a major gap in its story between Captain America and the first Avenger film. After locating the Tesseract and keeping it away from the dangerous clutches of the Kree, it’s transported safely to earth in Goose’s stomach. She eventually coughs it up, hairball style (thanks for making wait through the credits for that, Marvel), and it’s kept safe and sound by Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. – at least until Loki steals it.

For a more thorough history of the Tesseract, check out this piece. (Disclaimer, I work for NBCUniversal, who owns SyFy.)

5. The story behind that pager

Possibly the only thing giving Avengers fans hope at the end of Infinity War was the shot of Fury paging Captain Marvel before fading into dust. Turns out he’s using that 90s era device because well, it was the latest technology when he met Carol! Before leaving to help the Skrull refugees, she gives the pager an alien upgrade to allow Fury to reach her a few galaxies away. Thankfully, from the looks of the mid-credits scene (and the new Endgame trailer) she answers the call. The clock is ticking, Thanos.

Honorable mention: C-53

At first I was confused when Carol referred to Earth as C-53, but then I realized that of course she does. To the Kree, Earth is just another alien planet. And how the heck would they know to call it Earth? Every other alien movie out there – take note. Keep in mind what extraterrestrial species would know about our dear planet, and what they wouldn’t.

Captain Marvel is in theaters now. Avengers: Endgame arrives April 26th, with preview showings April 25th.