At the end of Avengers: Infinity War, we watch in shock as the Mad Titan does what he promised to do earlier in the film – that being snapping his fingers and eliminating half of all life in the universe. He does so while in Wakanda and immediately, we see heroes like Bucky and Black Panther turn to dust before our very eyes. Meanwhile, on Titan, Iron Man’s team sees the same thing, with characters such as Spider-Man dying in his arms. It’s a bold and grim way to end things, but what comes next is even more surprising.
During the much discussed post-credits scene, we see Maria Hill and Nick Fury also feeling the effects of Thanos’ snap, as the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents begin to disappear. Before they do, however, Fury pulls out an old school paging device of some sort and sends out a message for help, which goes to none other than Captain Marvel. It’s a nice tease of what’s to come, but it does beg the question: where’s Carol been this whole time and why is Nick only calling on her for help now?
Well, we’ll likely get some more clarity on all that in next year’s solo feature for the character, but until then, a new Reddit theory has attempted to piece together the puzzle. In short, what it suggests is that Fury never reached out to her in the past because he knew Earth’s Mightiest Heroes could handle the situation themselves in The Avengers and Age of Ultron. It’s only in Infinity War that he realizes they may need some assistance.
Here’s the theory in full (and excuse the spelling and grammar, as it’s pulled from Reddit):
Let’s say Captain Marvel takes place in 1998 (we’ll find out in the movie).
I would say Captain Marvel and Nick Fury get involved in all kinds of shenanigans exposing Fury to world of Super People. She ends up leaving earth to pursue other endeavors for lack of better wording. But before she leave she gives Fury the pager to contact her in case of any world threatening issue occurs (we can basically assume this already).
Fury begins a mission to find more people with powers to form a team that can protect Earth if anything were to happen now that she’s gone so he doesn’t always have to rely on her. It takes him about 10 or so years for Iron Man and Hulk to show up.
He then tells Iron Man, “You think you’re the only superhero in the world? Mr. Stark you’ve become part of a bigger Universe you just don’t know it yet.” This line left the window open to him knowing about plenty of other heroes.
Avengers 1 – Near the end, the council tells Fury that they’re sending a Nuke to the NY to save it and he states, “Until I am certain my team can’t hold it I will not order a nuclear strike.”
Fury doesn’t call Captain Marvel here because he feels the Avengers can hold Loki off in NY. And he was right, he didn’t need her help as his team was successful.
Avengers: AoU – Nothing has happened since A1 that would require Captain Marvel’s help until AoU, where the team is torn apart, but then Fury shows up to glue them back together at Barton’s cabin.
He doesn’t call Captain Marvel here for the same reason as in A1, as he believes the Avengers can hold off Ulton without her help. He doesn’t know that Ultron’s planing to create a asteroid to extinct the human race, until he shows up with the Helicarrier last minute, but by then it’s too late to call for her. Plus, Iron Man has a plan.
Infinity War – The events happen so fast that he doesn’t have time to page her until we see it on screen. But why did he in fact call her?
Well, Fury just watched his team tear each other apart in Civil War, Earth hasn’t seen of Hulk or Thor for more than 3 years and Captain America, Falcon, Scarlet Witch and Black Widow have all been MIA for 2 years.
Furry isn’t in S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore so he doesn’t get updates on a daily basis. Even though S.H.I.E.L.D. knows Thanos is coming right before he does, Coulson’s busy and never had time to relay that to Fury.
Once the Black Order comes for the Time Stone in NY, all that happens in a few minutes and all Fury knows is that Tony Stark was there and the ship’s now gone from the city – and Tony’s missing. After the ship left NY, Fury was probably monitoring the atmosphere. Nothing happened for about 2 days but then he sees two more signatures on top of Wakanda. By then it’s too late though and the next thing he knows people start disappearing. He then scrambles and finally calls Captain Marvel with all the Avengers missing.
While you could certainly poke a few holes here, it’s a mostly satisfying explanation for why Carol hasn’t shown up yet. Like we said above, though, Captain Marvel will no doubt shed a lot more light on where Ms. Danvers has been and why Iron Man and co. haven’t run into her yet. Or at least, it’ll give us some solid hints.
Until then, though, feel free to share your thoughts on this theory with us down in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you.
