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Pulling together a gigantic 11-year undertaking like Avengers: Endgame isn’t exactly a walk in the park. When you're balancing the screen time of characters and storylines built up through the 21 films prior, slotting in an individual character like Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel in the fight against Thanos requires the finesse and thought that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has exhibited throughout each film prior to that point.
Which makes the fact that Captain Marvel’s eponymous lead had her hand-to-hand standoff with Josh Brolin’s Thanos added at the last minute. This story came from Avengers: Endgame’s editor Jeff Ford, as he laid out the following scenario in a recent interview:
When Captain Marvel arrives, that was in the script from day one, the way she comes through the ship. We knew she was going to do that, but what we did alter and add and expand later, mostly because of how much we loved what Brie was doing with the character, was her fight with Thanos before he power punches her back.
It was previously revealed that when heading into the Avengers: Endgame writing process, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely weren’t sure about Captain Marvel’s character when when they included her in the proceedings. But at the very least, she was always supposed to show up, complete with a Captain Marvel mid-credits sequence that saw her teed up for participation in Endgame.
Eventually, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely gamed out a rough idea of the character that they could eventually workshop with the writer/director team behind Captain Marvel, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. After confirming the tone and character of Carol Danvers, and making sure her inclusion didn’t get in the way of wrapping up the story of the six original Avengers team members, the writers were then cleared to really have fun with Brie Larson’s character in Avengers: Endgame.
This lead to the action sequence you can see in the finished product, as exhibited in this clip:
Slashfilm’s oral history of how the final battle in Avengers: Endgame came together revealed this very fact, and it’s interesting to put that together with what we previously knew about Captain Marvel’s connection to the next-to-last film in Marvel Studios’ Infinity Saga arc. Though while she may have been a relatively minor inclusion in the events of this particular film, Marvel Studios is still banking on Carol Danvers to be a huge part of the future for the MCU.
While there’s no real indication when Captain Marvel 2 will happen, the film’s box office performance earlier this year has most definitely made sure that the franchise will be in play in the years to come. Meaning this relative radio silence of when exactly her superpowered antics will return is probably leading to a huge surprise somewhere down the line, with this scene playing an important role in whererver she goes next.
For now, you can relive Carol Danvers’ origin and continued story in Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame, respectively. Both are not only available on Digital HD, 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD, but they will also be available upon Disney+’s launch this Tuesday, November 12.
If you haven't signed up for Disney+, use this link for a 7-day free trial.
