Setting its story well over a decade before the events of 2008’s franchise-founding Iron Man, the upcoming Captain Marvel exists in its own relatively isolated period within the MCU timeline. Nonetheless, the movie still holds some noteworthy connections to the rest of the Marvel saga.
One link to the wider MCU that we knew about months before we’d even seen our first footage from the film is Nick Fury’s pager, which previously showed up in the post-credits sequence of Avengers: Infinity War and can now be seen in the new Russian-dubbed teaser for Carol Danvers’ big screen debut. In the short preview, viewable above, we witness Samuel L. Jackson’s character typing the words “WITH TARGET” into his pager, most likely referring to Captain Marvel herself, then later handing the prop over to Carol. Presumably, Nick will be getting his device back by the end of the movie, setting up his last-minute distress call in Infinity War.
As it stands, we’ve yet to find out why Fury refrained from contacting the MCU’s most powerful hero throughout all the drama that’s unfolded since, though the Captain Marvel Prelude comic at least clarifies that he sees Carol as a last resort that he hopes he won’t ever have to use. Beyond that, the reason for the pair’s lack of contact remains open to speculation, but while the internet has already provided a few theories, executive producer Jonathan Schwartz has offered his assurance that film itself will provide an explanation.
In any case, we’ll see how Fury gets on with his super-powered partner when Captain Marvel hits theaters on March 8th, 2019, before Carol answers Nick’s call for help when Avengers: Endgame comes out on April 26th.
