This Is How ‘Captain Marvel’ Could Have Ended
The latest MCU flick, Captain Marvel, is the 21st in the greater film universe. In addition to being the first with a female solo lead and the first to depict a heroine’s origin story, it has broken plenty of other barriers, both at the box office and in critical praise. But the movie could have turned out a little bit differently. Here’s how Captain Marvel could have ended (featuring quite a few spoilers, obviously).
The relationship between Carol and Yon-Rogg was an important part of the film
The movie begins with the eponymous heroine, known as Vers, living on the planet Hala. In the scene, she spars with Yon-Rogg (Jude Law), a Kree leader and something of a mentor to Vers. He is trying to teach her how to harness her abilities — or so it seems.
In fact, Yon-Rogg and the Supreme Intelligence are trying to limit Carol’s powers, which she later learns are far greater than anyone could have imagined. In his final scene, Yon-Rogg, who has crash-landed on Earth, tries to incite a fight with Carol, only to have her easily defeat him and send him back to Hala with a message.
Here’s how the movie ended
After stopping all of those in her way, Carol begins a mission in space to find a home for the displaced Skrull people, while Nick Fury begins the Avengers Initiative on Earth. The first end credits scene ties everything together with the upcoming Avengers: Endgame, in which Carol has been called upon to help the remaining Avengers after Thanos’ snap.
The final end credits scene was mainly for humor. In it, Goose the cat (err, Flerken) coughs up the Tesseract (later known as the Space Stone) on Fury’s desk. Though we don’t see this, we can assume that from there it remains in Fury’s possession, as it is next seen in the opening scenes of The Avengers when Loki steals it from SHIELD headquarters.
But this is how it could have ended
That final scene, though fun, wasn’t entirely necessary — the audience saw Goose swallow the Tesseract, then stay in Fury’s possession, so most would be able to draw the connection that it was extracted at some point between 1995 and 2012 (when the first Avengers film is set).
In an interview for The Empire Film Podcast, co-writers and directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck revealed another idea they had for the end-credits scene. “There was an idea on the table about having Jude Law … emerge from his pod on Sakaar,” said Fleck, “and then have him look around and see the Devil’s Anus behind him and wonder, ‘Where the hell am I?’”
This ties into another Marvel film
For those confused by this comment, Fleck is referring to a location in Thor: Ragnarok. In the 2017 film, the Asgardian god is transported to Sakaar, a planet that is mostly just a dump for other planets but, because it has so many wormholes from places across the galaxy, has become the home of the Contest of Champions, in which beings are forced to fight one another at the instruction of the Grandmaster (played by Jeff Goldblum). Thor escapes the planet via the Devil’s Anus, the largest of the portals, given its name for its red glow.
So the idea was that when Carol sent him to Hala, there was a miscalculation, and Yon-Rogg ended up on another planet entirely — one where he very well may have become a contender. While funny, it feels more appropriate to have ended things the way they did in Captain Marvel, with a connection that relates more to the franchise’s overall chronology.
