'Captain Marvel' Directors Reveal How SPOILER Ended Up in the Movie

A familiar artifact made a surprise appearance in Captain Marvel. Now its directors are explaining how it go there.

SPOILERS for Captain Marvel follow.

Captain Marvel reveals that the experimental engine Mar-Vell had been working on - which Carol Danvers ultimately destroys, gaining the powers of Captain Marvel in the process - was powered by the Tesseract. Fans will recall that Red Skull used the Tesseract - which is the form taken by the Space Stone - in Captain America: The First Avenger decades prior to the events of Captain Marvel and that the Tesseract reappeared decades later during the events of The Avengers. So how did it find its way into Captain Marvel?

Co-director Anne Boden tells Empire the idea came from a brainstorming session where the filmmakers asked, "Do we really need to create a whole new energy source for her to gain her powers?" In revisiting Captain America: The First Avenger, they realized they had their answer as the Tesseract was left in the custody of the United States government.

"Our thought was that they had gotten this thing, but they didn't know anything about it," Boden says. "They just kind of had it lying around somewhere at SHIELD, and [Mar-Vell] was able to use it to create her lightspeed engine at Pegasus. Only her as an alien would even know it had all this power, and figure out how to harness it."

After the events of Captain Marvel, the Tesseract is in SHIELD custody, leading right into the reveal in The Avengers that SHIELD has been studying the Tesseract for use as a power source.

The Tesseract will play a role again in Captain Marvel's next appearance in Avengers: Endgame. Thanos collected the Tesseract, adding the Space Stone to the other five to bejewel his Infinity Gauntlet. He then used their combined power to wipe out half of all life in the universe. Nick Fury used his cosmic beeper to summon Carol Danvers back to her home planet. She'll join the Avengers in facing down Thanos, who still possesses the Gauntlet even if it is in a damaged state.

What did you think of the Tesseract's appearance in Captain Marvel? Do you think Thanos will still be able to use its power in Avengers: Endgame? Let us know in the comments.

Captain Marvel is now playing in theaters.

Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Avengers: Endgame on April 26th, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5th.

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