The news recently broke that the upcoming Captain Marvel will be set in the year 1995, placing the events of this film roughly 13 years prior to the MCU officially launching with Iron Man. And since a de-aged Nick Fury looks to be playing a prominent role in the movie, fans have been rightly wondering why it wasn’t until this year’s Avengers: Infinity War that the former S.H.I.E.L.D. director visibly acknowledged the existence of the franchise’s most powerful hero to date.
Fortunately, the Captain Marvel Prelude comic seems set to provide a little context, with the series said to be leading up to an actual meeting with Carol Danvers herself. Of course, with only one issue out so far, Marvel isn’t ready to give the whole game away yet, but in a couple of panels set in the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War, we at least see Samuel L. Jackson’s character vaguely allude to his old friend. Speaking to Maria Hill – who doesn’t seem clued in yet about Carol – Fury hints at Captain Marvel as a hero he can call on should the worst ever happen.
While these panels bring us just a little closer to understanding Carol’s relationship with Nick, they also leave us with plenty of questions, one being: Has there really never been a big enough emergency before Infinity War to justify giving Captain Marvel a call? Granted, things have usually turned out more or less okay in the MCU, but was Fury always so confident that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes would triumph that he didn’t feel the need to bring in some extra help?
That being said, perhaps there’s a very good reason why the Avengers assembler wants to play the Carol card sparingly, but we’ll find out for sure when Captain Marvel comes out on March 8th, 2019.