Avengers: Endgame Directors Explain Missing Captain Marvel Narrative in the Film

On Avengers: Endgame's recently-released commentary track, the film's writers and directors spoke about the first scenes involving Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), and how that factored into her own solo film. Captain Marvel's mid-credits scene saw her returning to Earth and meeting the Avengers in the present day, but she was ultimately introduced in Endgame as she rescued Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) from deep space. While that narrative leap might have confused some, the creative team added a bit more clarity.

"And this is essentially the B-side to the tag from Captain Marvel, where she comes back." co-writer Christopher Markus explained. "And the Captain Marvel tag is the B-side to the tag from Infinity War. So it's press the beeper...she responds to the beeper...and this is what she does in response to finding out what happened on Earth."

"The missing narrative, of course, is that she came to Earth, met the Avengers...was brought up to speed on what was happening." co-director Joe Russo added. "And that there's some sort of homing beacon on that ship that she tracks, and brings the two of them back to Earth."

The challenge of bringing Carol into what was happening with the Avengers proved to be an interesting facet of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, especially after her solo film was set in the 1990s.

"Well, we were lucky enough that they already wanted to make a period movie, so that it didn't have to conflict with the events of Infinity War," co-writer Steven McFeely said earlier this year. "She didn't have to be ignoring the snap, or anything like that. So, but we wound up writing and filming our Captain Marvel scenes before they wrote and shot Marvel the movie. So we coordinated with [the filmmakers] and with Brie Larson ... And it's also a weird thing in that our scenes take place 20 years after their movie ends, and there's any number of experiences that could have slightly altered her approach and appearance."

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall of 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If…? In Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021.