Every character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has a clear-cut, multi-film arc. Captain Marvel’s arc has been a little more disjointed than the others so far, due to her solo movie introducing the character and her supporting cast way back in the ‘90s and her following MCU outing, Avengers: Endgame, being set in the present day. There are two decades that aren’t accounted for.
But Carol Danvers’ arc is still young, and Marvel could have some interesting developments in store for future movies. So, here are 10 Things We Hope To See By The End Of Captain Marvel’s MCU Arc.
A Real Challenge To Her Powers
The problem with Captain Marvel having basically unlimited powers (she has some abilities that she doesn’t even know about yet!) is that it’s hard to give her stories any tangible conflict. If she can punch entire fleets of ships out of space and summon the power of an Infinity Stone to incapacitate even the strongest cosmic warlords, then her fights won’t be dramatically interesting.
She took out Yon-Rogg and Ronan’s army in seconds in her first solo movie. At some point in Captain Marvel’s MCU arc, she’ll need to face a villain that will actually present a challenge to her powers.
An Explanation Of How She Ages
Based on flashbacks to her childhood, Carol Danvers aged like a regular human until she was imbued with energy from the Space Stone and given near-unlimited superpowers. But after she got her powers, she seemingly stopped aging – or, at least, stopped aging at a normal rate.
More than 20 years after the events of Captain Marvel, when she arrives in the vacuum of space to pick up Tony Stark and Nebula, she didn’t look like she’d aged a day. She had to change her hairstyle to show the five-year time jump. We need some kind of solid explanation of how she ages.
Visiting An Older Maria Rambeau
The future of Carol Danvers’ MCU arc will have to explain why she never came back to Earth between the events of Captain Marvel and the events of Avengers: Endgame. Nick Fury didn’t call her to help out with the Battle of New York or the Battle of Sokovia, which is explained by Carol telling him to only ever call her in a truly dire emergency.
But her best friend, Maria Rambeau, was living on Earth the whole time. Maria doesn’t have any superpowers, so while Carol was off in the farthest reaches of space, she was aging at the usual rate. Carol should visit an older Maria in a future movie.
Defeating The Kree Starforce
At the end of Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers promised to fight on the Skrulls’ behalf and bring down the Kree Starforce that she used to fight for. One of Spider-Man: Far From Home’s most talked-about lines had Nick Fury (or, rather, Talos, disguised as Nick Fury) saying, “I thought Kree having sleeper cells was top-secret information.”
If the Kree Starforce has sleeper cells, they haven’t been defeated. They’re still out there, trying to wipe out the Skrulls, and Carol hasn’t stopped them. By the end of her MCU arc, she should achieve the catharsis of stopping the evil army that she was tricked into fighting for.
Teaming Up With Kamala Khan
Kamala Khan, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel, is coming to the MCU in the form of her own series on Disney+. In the comics, Kamala took her superhero name from Carol Danvers, having idolized her as a kid. Brie Larson has already said that she’d love to team up with Kamala in a future Captain Marvel film.
If Ms. Marvel is coming to the MCU, then a team-up with Carol is a no-brainer. Kevin Feige has promised that the Disney+ characters will eventually make their way into the movies, and Captain Marvel is the perfect franchise to bring Kamala onto the big screen.
Feelings Of Guilt
Midway through Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers found out that the Kree had brainwashed her into thinking that their side was the right side in the Kree-Skrull War. The Skrulls aren’t terrorists; they’re just refugees looking for a home, being oppressed by a ruthless military force.
But just because Carol changed sides, it doesn’t mean she didn’t spend all that time on the Kree’s side, killing innocent people for them. Theoretically, Carol should be filled with guilt over this, but she hasn’t shown it in the MCU yet. Her solo sequel could explore these feelings of remorse, and making peace with them.
Finding The Skrulls A New Home
At the end of the first Captain Marvel movie, Carol flew off into space, promising to find the Skrulls a new home. A couple of decades passed in the timeline before we saw Carol again, when she answered Nick Fury’s pager call and helped the Avengers defeat Thanos.
Whether the sequel to Captain Marvel will be set before Avengers: Endgame or not remains to be seen, but it stands to reason that within those two decades, she managed to settle the Skrulls on a new planet. To pay off that narrative thread, we need to see Carol find the Skrulls a home, or visit them at the home that she already found for them.
Joining Nick Fury And S.W.O.R.D.
The post-credits scene of Spider-Man: Far From Home suggested that Nick Fury is off in outer space, setting up S.W.O.R.D. on a Skrull command ship (although, at present, this is just a fan theory). In the comics, S.W.O.R.D. is the intergalactic branch of S.H.I.E.L.D.; it’s essentially the “suit of armor around the world” that Tony Stark proposed before creating Ultron.
Carol Danvers already has an established rapport with Fury from her initial solo movie, and her focus on protecting other planets that don’t have their own Avengers team to keep them safe sets her up perfectly to work with S.W.O.R.D. to solve cosmic crimes.
A Fight With Adam Warlock
When Marvel announced that Carol Danvers would be joining the MCU, the studio was very insistent that she would be the most powerful character featured in the franchise so far. Her strength could be rivaled only by Thanos, and we saw the two of them fight and settle the debate over who would win in Endgame’s final battle.
Thanos is dead, so Carol remains unchallenged. But soon, Adam Warlock will be entering the fold. He was first teased in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and will undoubtedly be rearing his head in Vol. 3. It would be awesome to see a fight between the two.
Helping Monica Rambeau Become Photon
Earlier this year, Monica Rambeau was introduced in Captain Marvel as an 11-year-old kid, played by Akira Akbar. The movie suggested that Carol Danvers had practically helped her best friend Maria to raise Monica, and Monica was shown to idolize Carol. She even encouraged Maria to be a hero when she had the chance, so she’s clearly “all about that superhero life.”
Maria’s callsign being “Photon” seemed to hint to fans that Monica would eventually take on her superhero alter ego, also “Photon,” in the MCU. She’s set to appear as an adult, played by Teyonah Parris, in Disney+’s WandaVision. If this leads into her superhero career, Carol should help her out.