How Captain Marvel can be instrumental to beating Thanos in 'Avengers: Endgame' (2024)

• Warning: There are spoilers ahead for "Captain Marvel" and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
• "Captain Marvel" introduces us to Carol Danvers (played by Brie Larson) who will also appear in "Avengers: Endgame."
• The latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe teases how the hero may be instrumental in defeating Thanos.
• Not only is she one of the strongest characters in the MCU, but her powers and Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. may be the key to time travel.

"Captain Marvel" is now in theaters and it introduces us to Carol Danvers, a super-powered half-human, half-alien who may be the strongest superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.(Yes, maybe even stronger than Thor.)

After absorbing an energy core, Danvers can fly and emit photon blasters from her fists. We see her show both off late in the film and they make her appear virtually unstoppable. You better bet that's bad news for Thanos, the villain at the heart of "Avengers: Infinity War."

Since "Captain Marvel" takes place in 1995, she has probably gained or learned a laundry list of other curb-stomping abilities we're not even aware of yet in the 24 years since.

Why is all of this important? Captain Marvel is set to appear in "Avengers: Endgame" and will, most likely, be instrumental in taking down Thanos.

But taking down Thanos now isn't going to help bring everyone back that he made disappear.

That's absolutely correct! Even if Captain Marvel in the present could wipe the floor with Thanos, that wouldn't help bring back the multitudes of people lost after the character snapped his fingers with the Infinity Gauntlet.

Read more: Here's where every major character is after the Thanos snap in 'Avengers: Infinity War'

If only we could see Carol Danvers battle it out with the Mad Titan before he snaps away half of the universe. We bet some of her other powers will come into play to help with that.

In "Captain Marvel," the Kree, an alien species, are searching for a light speed engine that Wendy Lawson (Annette Bening) was working on. It's awfully convenient that Danvers winds up absorbing that very core in "Captain Marvel."

Why is that important? What is this core?

The light speed engine was part of a project called Pegasus aka P.E.G.A.S.U.S. (Potential Energy Group/Alternate Sources/United States), originally run by Lawson at the US Air Force, where she was studying the Tesseract — the cube which held the blue Infinity stone Thanos used to decimate half the world's population.

Read more: Everything you need to know about Infinity Stones — the gems at the center of 'Avengers: Infinity War'

It's not clear how Lawson exactly wound up with the Tesseract, but she was studying it to build a light speed engine. At the end of "Captain Marvel," The Tesseract winds up with Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D.

After you watch “Captain Marvel,” you’re going to want to watch the first few minutes of 2012’s “The Avengers.” Immediately.At the very start of "The Avengers," we see Fury, Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård), and Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) working on a joint project between S.H.I.E.L.D. and NASA with the Tesseract where they're trying to unlock its capabilities.

That project is also named Pegasus.

Of course, they're interrupted by Loki, who takes the Tesseract. We never see work on the project again from S.H.I.E.L.D. Thor took the Tesseract to his home on Asgard where it stayed until "Thor: Ragnarok," when Loki took it again only for it to be stolen by Thanos at the beginning of "Infinity War."

Why Project Pegasus is important:It may be the key to helping the Avengers go back in time.

It's been heavily speculated time travel will be a big part of "Avengers: Endgame" due in part topaparazzi set photos from filming that showed Ant-Man with Iron Man back during the events of "The Avengers."

Previously, we thought the Quantum Realm, introduced in the "Ant-Man" movies would help send the Avengers back in time to try and undo the events of "Infinity War." But it seems more likely the Quantum Realm may not be the sole item that gets the team where they need to go. It may work in tune with this light speed engine Nick Fury's S.H.I.E.L.D. team was presumably trying to figure out at the start of "Avengers."

Skeptical? For what it's worth, Project Pegasus is also the name of an apparent real-life CIA project from the late '60s that was involved in looking at teleportation and time travel. Just saying.

But Thanos TOOK the Tesseract, which houses the Infinity stone needed to work on the light speed engine!

We know.

That's where Captain Marvel comes into play.

Remember, she absorbed that energy core the Kree were after that was needed for the light speed engine in "Captain Marvel." We bet her powers hold an important key to the Pegasus project. That's why the Kree were holding onto her for so many years.

But Captain Marvel alone probably won't be able to help fix the Thanos snap. They'll most likely need everyone who's still alive and worked on Project Pegasus. That may be one reason why Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) goes in search of Hawkeye in "Endgame."

We also wouldn't be surprised if we see Dr. Selvig pop back up in "Avengers: Endgame" to help build time travel devices alongside Tony Stark and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe brain trust. If you're unsure about Selvig, we know he survived the Snap at the end of "Infinity War."

According to tie-in novel, "Avengers: Infinity War: The Cosmic Quest Volume Two: Aftermath," (a mouthful!) Selvig and his assistant, Darcy (Kat Dennings), are alive and are trying to find answers to the Decimation, the official name for the Thanos snap.

Once the crew are able to go back in time, presumably with Captain Marvel, she should have little trouble taking down Thanos with or without the help from the Avengers.

• Read more:
• 'Captain Marvel' has 2 end-credits scenes — here's what they mean for 'Avengers: Endgame'
• 'Captain Marvel' has a sweet Stan Lee tribute at its start that will make you tear up
• Our review of "Captain Marvel"
• 'Captain Marvel' finally reveals the mystery of how Nick Fury lost his eye