If the fate of the planet hangs in the balance and the MCU’s most powerful hero is just a page away, you better have a very good reason for not sending that message. So when Avengers: Infinity War revealed that Nick Fury had a means of contacting Captain Marvel for the last two decades, but only waited until his final moments of existence to call on her services, it was inevitable that the fans would have some questions.
This new theory on Reddit, however, offers a very simple but well-reasoned explanation for why Nick may have been so reluctant to contact Carol Danvers for all these years. In short, the two of them aren’t on the best of terms.
User QuanticQ elaborates a little on how this scenario might play out in next year’s Captain Marvel. Specifically, it’s speculated that the two of them may have conflicting ideas on how the Kree-Skrull War could be handled, with Captain Marvel going her own way and Fury trying to stop her. The post even draws on the old theory that Carol’s cat Goose might be responsible for Nick losing his eye.
But whatever ugliness ensues between Danvers and Fury, the post suggests that their time together ends with Carol feeling pretty mad at the future Avengers assembler, implying that she’d only come to his aid again in the most extreme of scenarios.
While the specific details of this theory don’t have a whole lot of basis to them, the general idea of the two of them having a serious falling out seems about as plausible an explanation as any for why Nick would spend all these years regarding Carol as a last resort that he hopefully won’t ever need.
It’s certainly not the only route that Captain Marvel might take, but we’ll find out soon enough how the pair part ways when the film hits theaters on March 8th, 2019. After that, Avengers: Endgame is set to introduce Carol to the rest of Nick’s friends when it comes out on April 26th.