Ever since the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Carol Danvers obtained her superpowers in 1989, she hasn’t spent a ton of time on Earth. Sure, she found her way back to her homeworld during the 1995-set events of Captain Marvel, where she regained her memories, and then she returned to team up with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes for Avengers: Endgame. However, following Tony Stark’s funeral, Carol embarked back into the cosmos, and ahead of The Marvels’ November release on the upcoming Marvel movies schedule, Brie Larson has explained her character has largely stayed away from Earth post-Endgame.
Following Avengers: Endgame’s release in late April 2019, we’ve only seen Carol two other times: in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ mid-credits scene, and in the post-credits tag for last year’s Ms. Marvel finale. The former saw her appearing over hologram, and the latter saw her mysteriously ending up in the bedroom of Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan, and not by choice (more on that later). Regarding why Carol has opted to steer clear of Earth following Endgame, Brie Larson said the following to EW:
The way I was able to tap into it and understand it is the concept that Carol kind of became a workaholic, and she lost touch with her heart and with family and friends. That's certainly something I can relate to.
Carol Danvers certainly follows the adage popularized by Spider-Man closely, “With great powers comes great responsibility.” At the end of Captain Marvel, Carol left Earth to help Talos and the Skrull refugees find a new home, and while that’s not to say she never secretly returned to Earth in the decades that passed between then and The Snap, she made it clear to the Avengers that she’s been protecting lifeforms in other other corners of the universe. But as Larson explained, Carol’s workaholic ethic has remained intact even after she helped defeat Thanos and his army, as she’s now dedicated to pursuing villains elsewhere in the cosmos. While this is definitely in service to the greater good, it’s also resulted in her losing that emotional connection to Earth.
While it’s unclear if any of Carol Danvers’ blood family is still around in the present day MCU, one person who’s definitely been estranged from her is Monica Rambeau, who’s being reprised by Teyonah Parris in The Marvels following her debut as the adult-aged in WandaVision. As a child, Monica looked up to Carol, as she and her mother Maria were best friends. However, judging by how Monica reacted when Carol was brought up in WandaVision, plus Carol’s unwillingness to hang around Earth for too long because of her superhero duties, I wouldn’t be shocked if these two either haven’t interacted whatsoever since Captain Marvel, or they briefly reunited, but then had a falling-out.
Though it’s reasonable to assume that The Marvels will see Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau mending their relationship, there are more important concerns that’ll need to be addressed first. The next MCU movie sees these two, along with Kamala Khan, swapping places with each other every time they use their powers. That’s the reason Carol ended up in Kamala’s bedroom, and these three will need to work together to solve this mystery and deal with adversaries like Zawe Ashton’s Dar-Benn, a Kree revolutionary. But when all is said and done, will Carol decide to stay on Earth for an extended period of time and reconnect with her roots? We’ll just have to wait and see.
The Marvels’ cast also includes Samuel L. Jackson, Park Seo-joon, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur and Saagar Shaikh, among others. Make sure you’ve caught up on Carol, Monica and Kamala’s prior MCU adventures with your Disney+ subscription before the movie’s release on November 10.
