‘Captain Marvel’ Clues Explained And ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Lead-Up

“Captain Marvel” not only answered a lot of questions in the minds of fans, but it also left them puzzled. So for those looking to make sense of some of the major elements in the film and how it can go from there, here is a guide to help.

1) What's up with Goose the Cat?

In the end credits, Captain Marvel's scene-stealing feline friend coughed up the Tesseract, Loki's prized possession in “The Avengers.” Goose, as it turns out, is a Flerken, an alien species that can house alternate realities inside its body using pocket dimensions, so it's obvious that Goose is pretty powerful.

This is precisely why she (yes, it was confirmed that Carol's pet is a she) is expected to play a key role in “Avengers: Endgame.” She might be able to help the heroes get to Thanos fast, if they’re willing to be swallowed by the creature with its massive tentacled black hole of a mouth.

In fact, there is an interesting new speculation suggesting that her “Captain Marvel” end-credit scene actually takes place after “Avengers: Infinity War.” A clue is that Nick Fury, who was one of the half of the population that perished, wasn't there in his office. Considering Goose is an intergalactic creature, it isn't hard to believe that the cat is still around decades later and even survived Thanos' snap.

Fans might also be interested to know that in the comics, Carol's pet was named Chewie, as in Chewbacca from “Star Wars.” However, it seems that Marvel isn't ready to confirm that the Skywalker movies exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so they named the cat after the character of Anthony Edwards in “Top Gun.”

2) Was that really Carol Danvers in the mid-credit scene?

Taken at face value, it is safe to say that Captain Marvel was one of the survivors of the snap, which means that she might be available to assist Captain America and his crew very early on in “Avengers: Endgame.”

Interestingly, there is a speculation going around that the Captain Marvel who showed up at Captain America's headquarters in the mid-credit scene wasn't actually her at all but a shapeshifting Skrull. The theory suggests that this impersonator may be one of the thousands of less empathetic Skrulls that Talos mentioned were still scattered across the galaxy.

3) There were a lot of villains in this film

There is a lot of layer to the villains featured in “Captain Marvel.” While the Skrulls were teased as the big bad in the movie, it is actually the Kree who are the real menace in this story. There were, however, a lot of characters with questionable morals in the film, which are more fleshed out in the comics.

For one, Captain Marvel's Star Force buddies Korath the Pursuer, Minn-Erva, Att-Lass and Bron-Char are actually quite powerful in the comics. Att-Lass was able to wield Mar-Vell's Nega-Bands, while Bron-Char was one of the few who were able to destroy Captain America's shield.

Meanwhile, Skrull leader Talos, who is a prominent presence in the comics, was tweaked for “Captain Marvel.” The comic book counterpart of Ben Mendelsohn's character didn't have the ability to shapeshift, but his drive to prove his worth to his people made him ruthless and violent.

“Captain Marvel” also had a more personal take on the Supreme Intelligence, a sentient computer system that is a living manifestation of all the knowledge of the greatest Kree minds, which were downloaded from their brains before their death.

In the movie, the villain took the form of Mar-Vell, but the comic book version was actually far worse in terms of its appearance and ruthlessness. The Supreme Intelligence is actually one giant head connected to tubes. In the comics, it started a war just so it can fuel the evolution of the Kree race after it stopped. It also at some point ordered the execution of the Fantastic Four.

Lastly, Ronan the Accuser, first seen in “Guardians Of The Galaxy,” had a smaller role in “Captain Marvel” than his comic book version, who worked with Talos to trigger another war to defeat the Supreme Intelligence.

4) How did the Tesseract end up there?

The appearance of the Tesseract in “Captain Marvel” definitely threw fans for a loop. How did the all-powerful cosmic cube ended up where it did in the movie? Here's the short version.

The Tesseract was sitting in Odin's throne room in Asgard but at some point was brought to Tønsberg, Norway, where Red Skull found it by the year 1942 in “Captain America: The First Avenger.” After he made a mistake of touching it with his bare hands in the year 1945, Red Skull was banished to Vormir to be the guard of the Soul Stone, as seen in “Avengers: Endgame.”

After all the chaos that ensued, the Tesseract sank at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, which is where Howard Stark found it during his search for Captain America, who was thought to be dead at the time. Stark Sr. started studying it, and by 1990s (“Captain Marvel's” timeline) it landed on the hands of SHIELD and NASA, which fans see pan out in the film. After the project for which it was used went awry, Nick Fury looped Dr. Selvig in on the secret in “Thor.” The rest is history.

5) What the ending means for MCU and the other characters

“Captain Marvel” sets up a lot of things beyond “Avengers: Endgame.” One is the future of Monica Rambeau, who is now an adult as far as the present MCU timeline is concerned. When the character returns, will she also have powers? Or will she at least continue her mother's crusade? That's assuming she didn't turn to dust.

Unlike Monica, Carol hasn't aged that much, as evidenced in the mid-credit scene. It will be interesting to see how she will interact with the Avengers because it looks like she will need to brush up on her Earthly knowledge.

The “Captain Marvel” ending also saw Carol give Nick Fury the pager he used to contact her in “Avengers: Infinity War.” Fans are wondering why he didn't use it when the Chitauri attacked in “The Avengers,” but who's to say he didn't? This is exactly what Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige wants viewers to think. Carol may have been just too busy to respond. After all, it won't be easy to find the Skrulls a new home.

Additionally, after what Nick Fury went through in “Captain Marvel,” he himself looked into the possibility of assembling a team of heroes like Carol to prepare for other alien threats, so he was able to form Avengers, who he probably thought would get the job done when Loki showed up to invade Earth.

“Captain Marvel” is about to conclude its first opening week.