Disclaimer: This post contains hard spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War and potential spoilers for Avengers 4 and Captain Marvel. Also, none of this should be taken as fact, it is all purely speculation as to what the end-credit scene for Infinity War may mean.

Last Thursday, Avengers: Infinity War stormed into theatres and left fans stunned (though not necessarily for the right reasons). The film, ending on a massive cliffhanger for Avengers 4 (which is supposedly now titled Avengers: Endgame), is set to break box office records and is definitely Marvel’s biggest film so far – though Black Panther may still reign as king of the box office. Having killed off characters on which the future of the MCU relies, we know the events of Infinity War will be undone before the third Guardians of the Galaxy film and the sequels to Spider-Man: Homecoming and Black Panther. In this post, I will be breaking down how this could happen and how Captain Marvel could fit into the future of the MCU.

Starting In The 90s

If you have seen it, the end-credit scene was very obviously showing a signal sent from Nick Fury to Captain Marvel following the events of Infinity War as Fury turns to dust. We know that Captain Marvel will be set in the 90s and will lead us through her backstory as ‘Earth is caught in the middle of the Kree-Skrull war’. We also know that Nick Fury and Phil Coulson (and maybe Peggy Carter) will appear in the film and we will likely follow the action into space, explaining why Captain Marvel has not appeared previously in the MCU. This suggests that, though we may get a set-up for the Infinity War end-credit scene, the scene has no effect whatsoever on the Captain Marvel film. Also, I am interested to see how the film will centre on Earth but be contained to events that would not have been mentioned in the MCU so far.

Code Red

We know, thanks to the below statement of Kevin Feige, that Captain Marvel will be the most powerful hero we have seen so far in the MCU. This means that, as ‘Thanos will return’, she may be being brought in to deal with the Mad Titan in person.

“All of the Marvel characters have flaws to them, all of them have a deep humanity to them. With Captain Marvel, she is as powerful a character as we’ve ever put in a movie. Her powers are off the charts, and when she’s introduced, she will be by far the strongest character we’ve ever had. It’s important, then, to counterbalance that with someone who feels real. She needs to have a humanity to tap into, and Brie can do that.”

These events would line up perfectly as, after her introduction (and the explanation of her backstory) in Captain Marvel and following the events of Infinity War, she will be called to Earth by the late Nick Fury and will band together, just two months after her solo outing, with the original Avengers to defeat Thanos. She will then turn back time to finish Doctor Strange’s plan and save the dead Avengers (on which Marvel has future franchises based). These events would pass early next year in Avengers 4 (potentially titled Avengers: Endgame) and bring back Black Panther and Spider-Man before their respective follow-up sequel films and likely kill of the original Avengers.

This would bring together the original Avengers team for one final outing before many of them die (probably all but Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Thor) to bring back the likes of Bucky, Falcon, and Black Panther. This would also free up Bucky or Falcon to take on the role of Captain America but that’s another theory for another time.

The Fate Of The Stones

Finally, in the events of Avengers 4, the stones will almost definitely be destroyed as I think it’s fair to say that we are tired of the repetitive use of the stones as plot-drivers and Marvel knows it. We may even see Captain Marvel display her strength through the destruction of the stones (as we know she is capable of if she is more powerful than Scarlet Witch). I think this would be a fitting end to the fourth phase of the MCU and would be a symbolic saying of ‘out with the old and in with the new’ on the part of Marvel Studios.

Anyway, I hope you liked this post and let me know what you think in the comments. Also, be sure to check out my Black Panther review at The Sci-Fi Critic or some more of ScreenHub Entertainment‘s content like our Infinity War review and my theory on 3 ways we could see Agent Carter return to the MCU.

Sources: Nerdist