Avengers: Endgame - Every Mystery The Russos Have Answered (So Far)

3. Why No Captain Marvel?

The Question

There is an answer to this in the film, as Captain Marvel explains that she cannot stay on Earth because every other planet is going through the same post-Decimation hell and don't have the Avengers to call upon, but there's still room to explore a little more of why Captain Marvel was sidelined so much in Endgame.

The Answer

It's a fairly simple one this and it's because she wasn't the focus of the story. The Russos wanted to stick with the six originals:

"It was a story about the original six. That was the focus of the film, to conclude a 10-year saga about those characters. And Carol’s a fairly new character."

But there's more to it than that, actually. Writer Stephen McFeely also answered this one for the New York Times quite frankly, admitting that it came down to a big logistical issue - they literally didn't know who Captain Marvel was (at least within the MCU) when they were making Endgame and Infinity War.

"We shot [Brie Larson] before she shot her movie. She’s saying lines for a character 20 years after her origin story, which no one’s written yet. It’s just nuts. That’s not the story we’re trying to tell. It’s the original Avengers dealing with loss and coming to a conclusion, and she’s the new, fresh blood."