WARNING: Spoilers for Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel's end-credits scenes have big implications for the wider MCU. The final film before Avengers: Endgame brings the eleven-year story (so far) to a close, Captain Marvel not only introduces one of the strongest characters in the universe, but directly sets up what's to come in April.

As a prequel to much of the MCU set in the 1990sCaptain Marvel naturally has a lot of connections to the various films. Characters like Agent Coulson and Ronan the Accuser return from previous movies, the Tesseract plays an essential role in Carol Danvers' origin, and we learn the origin of Nick Fury's futuristic pager from Avengers: Infinity War. But as any Marvel fan knows, if you're looking for teases of future movies, you need to look beyond the movie and after the credits.

Related: All The MCU Characters Who Return In Captain Marvel

Next up for Captain Marvel is Avengers: Endgame, where Carol Danvers must join the remaining Avengers in their fight against Thanos. And this is where Captain Marvel's end-credits scenes come in, teasing her role and dropping some unexpected information about the secretive team-up.

Captain Marvel's Mid-Credits Scene Explained

Captain Marvel's mid-credits scene takes place in the Avengers Compound not long after the end of Avengers: Infinity War where half of all life in the universe was wiped out. The stinger opens on a shot of the souped-up pager Carol gives to Fury at the end of the movie displaying Captain Marvel's logo attached to some new tech. It then cuts to Captain America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) looking at the tally of the dead from Thanos' snap - officially referred to as the Decimation - as the numbers continue to rise. A despondent Steve Rogers calls it a nightmare, while Natasha Romanoff replies that she's had "better nightmares." War Machine (Don Cheadle) then comes in to let them know that the pager has "stopped doing whatever the hell it was doing."

The group - along with Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) all look at the pager which has gone black, no longer displaying the Hala star and colors of Captain Marvel's costume. Bruce explains that whatever signal the pager was sending "finally crapped out," to which Steve looks confused because he thought they had "bypassed the battery." Rhodey says that they did - explaining why it's hooked up to so much machinery - but that it still "just stopped." Steve orders them to reboot it and resend the signal, but Bruce interjects because they "don't even know what this is." Nat responds that Fury knew what it was, and because of that, she wants to "know who's on the other side of this thing."

At that moment, Nat turns to leave and immediately comes face-to-face with Carol Danvers - freshly returned from her intergalactic adventures with the Skrulls and sporting a newer costume than what she was last seen wearing in Captain Marvel - and she has only one question: "Where's Fury?"

Related: Everything We Know About Captain Marvel's Role In Avengers: Endgame

Captain Marvel Will Already Be With The Avengers When Endgame Begins

Captain Marvel Avengers Endgame

The spontaneous arrival of Captain Marvel is not only a great moment to end the scene on - it also confirms Carol will be with the Avengers at the beginning of Avengers: Endgame. The biggest indicator of this is that Steve Rogers still has the beard he grew during his time on the run from the government following Captain America: Civil War. Trailers for Avengers: Endgame prominently feature a clean-shaven Captain America, so at some point between meeting Carol and embarking on their Endgame adventure, Steve will shave. Given that the trailers are using footage from very early in he film, that would indicate Avengers: Endgame starts after Captain Marvel's mid-credits scene.

This would mean Captain Marvel has a bigger role in Avengers: Endgame than some expected. It also makes one of her teammates particularly more important. It's widely accepted that the Avengers' plan to stop Thanos in Endgame involves time travel. Many speculated Carol Danvers would be the key to this since her origin film is already set in the past, but the Captain Marvel post-credits scene quickly does away with that by bringing Carol straight to the present day.

Instead, it looks like it will be Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) who introduces the Avengers to time travel thanks to his knowledge of the Quantum Realm; Scott was trapped in the Quantum Realm at the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp and is widely expected to escape by traveling through a time vortex. This means that Ant-Man is, suddenly, one of the most important Avengers.

Captain Marvel Has A New Costume In Avengers: Endgame

Captain Marvel Movie Review

In addition to teasing how Carol Danvers will appear in Avengers: Endgame, the Captain Marvel mid-credits scene also teases the new costume Carol will wear in that film. In Captain Marvel, Carol gives her Kree Starforce uniform a makeover with a new color palette inspired by Monica Rambeau's U.S. Air Force t-shirt - red, blue, and gold. But that's still just the same uniform she's been wearing as a member of Starforce, albeit with a new color scheme.

Related: Captain Marvel's Ending Explained

When she reappears on Earth in Captain Marvel's mid-credits scene, Carol looks a bit different (unsurprising considering 25 years have passed). Of course, she hasn't aged as a result of her half-Kree DNA, but there are some cosmetic changes. Most noticeably, Carol's hair is longer, but her costume, while retaining the same colors (although in a deeper shade), has had a redesign. It's only seen briefly, and given the nature of the shot, only her head and shoulders are really visible, but it's enough to distinguish it from the Starforce uniform she originally wears. The shoulders are more pronounced, almost appearing armored, and there looks to be more gold detailing.

The Hala star on her chest is also different, with more elongated points. While some may think it strange for Carol to keep the Hala star so prominently displayed on her costume given what she thinks of the Kree following the events of Captain Marvel, it's likely the symbol means something different to her now. Though a Kree symbol, it's possible that for Carol the Hala star represents her mentor - Dr. Wendy Lawson aka Mar-Vell. The film doesn't include Carol actually using the code name, Captain Marvel, but if she's still wearing the Hala star some 25 years later, she may have also come to adopt Mar-Vell's name, too.

Page 2 of 2: Captain Marvel's Post-Credits Scene & What Happened to Goose?

Captain Marvel's Post-Credits Scene Explained

As is now customary with Marvel's films, after a mid-credits scene that generally deepens the film's connection to the wider MCU, there's a post-credits scene that's some gag or callback. Captain Marvel is no different - though it could be argued this film's post-credits scene is more important than most.

Captain Marvel post-credits scene is a shot of Fury's desk where we see Goose, the Flerken - an alien creature that looks very much like a cat despite having large tentacle appendages in its mouth which it stores inside a pocket dimension. And, like a cat capable of swallowing almost anything (an Infinity Stone, for instance), Goose hops up on the desk, retches a few times, and coughs up the Tesseract like it was a hairball. Now, no specific time is given for when this scene takes place, but it must occur before Thor as it's not long after that film that Fury asks Dr. Selvig to study the Tesseract.

Related: Marvel Movie Timeline: A Complete History Of The MCU

This scene explains how Fury gets the Tesseract back, although for some it may still be unclear how Dr. Wendy Lawson aka Mar-Vell got a hold of it in the first place. She was working on a secret government project under the code name P.E.G.A.S.U.S. -  Potential Energy Group/Alternate Sources/United States. P.E.G.A.S.U.S. is overseen by S.H.I.E.L.D., which by this time had been given the Tesseract by Howard Stark, who found it in the Atlantic Ocean when searching for Captain America. Originally, it was assumed the Tesseract simply remained in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s possession for all those years, and in a way, it did; it just spent six years hidden away by Mar-Vell (and some undisclosed amount of time inside a Flerken's dimensional tummy).

What Happened To Goose After Captain Marvel?

Goose the Cat in Captain Marvel

But while Captain Marvel's post-credits scene explains what happened to the Tesseract, there's still the matter of Goose. After all, a cat that's not a cat but is actually a Flerken is shown to be very handy to have around. Not to mention, Goose and Fury grow very close - even if Goose took out Fury's eye. So, what happened after Goose spit up the Tesseract?

There are a few possibilities. It may simply be that Goose is content to hang out with Fury, eventually passing away after living approximately as many years as your average housecat. Or, seeing as Goose is obviously not your average housecat, he may still be alive, just wandering around some S.H.I.E.L.D. facility as he clearly had been for the six years Carol was on Hala. As an alien, it seems likely S.H.I.E.L.D. would want to keep tabs on him, too.

There's also a moment in the comics where Carol's Flerken lays 117 eggs (that's how the species reproduces). So who knows? Come Captain Marvel 2, a whole litter of Flerkens might have hatched! Either way, whether it's the O.G. Goose or a whole new generation, it seems a safe bet Captain Marvel's end-credits scene isn't the last time a Flerken will appear in the MCU.

Next: Every MCU Movie Coming After Captain Marvel

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