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admonition : pillager forCaptain Marvel .
As a prequel to the entire MCU , Captain Marvelinevitably creates a few MCU plot holes ( and has many more retcons besides).Set in 1995 , it features a never - before - see risky venture of the unseasoned Nicholas Joseph Fury , and even has cameo from Clark Gregg ’s Agent Coulson as well asGuardians of the Galaxy ’s villains . But it also introduces a brand new superhero into the history of the MCU , Captain Marvel , who ’s undoubtedly the most powerful superhero in the shared world to date .
The problem , of course , is that any retcon has the potential difference to cause continuity problems . The more complex the continuity , the more likely there will be issues ; and the MCU canyon is by all odds complex , given it counts another 20 films and an ever - elaborate slating of video shows . In general , Captain Marvel ’s good sense of persistence is singular ; the picture show even incorporates the wider MCU , acknowledgingFury ’s backstory from a Phase 1 crosstie - in comic , and it goes to great lengths to avoid contradicting anything from Marvel’sAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Related : Every MCU connexion In Captain Marvel
However , evenCaptain Marvelhas its helplessness . Let ’s take a look at the film ’s fully grown retcons , and also research whether or not it creates any indissoluble plot hole in the MCU .
Why Nick Fury Started The Avenger Initiative
The biggestCaptain Marvelretcon of all is the reasonableness Nick Fury form the Avengers in the first place . The concept of the Avengers Initiative was introduced in the post - credits view ofIron Man , with Nick Fury step out of the trace to talk about it with Tony Stark . Over the track of Phase 1 , it was bit by bit uncover that this was Fury ’s ultimate program , to pucker together a squad of noteworthy people who could crusade the battles nobody else could alone . Over the course ofThe Avengers , Fury read a noteworthy amount of faith in the squad , even in the Wake Island of Loki ’s Helicarrier attack .
Captain Marvelreveals that Nick Fury got the idea for the Avengers Initiative all the way back in 1995 , when he learned there were greater powerfulness out there ; alien wash with sophisticated engineering science beyond anything even S.H.I.E.L.D. could muster . He correctly derive that , if the universe has one superhero , it will have others , and that the best approach shot would be to gather them together .
It ’s a sensible retcon , slotting into pre - established MCU canyon , although does nurture the awkward question of why it took Nick Fury so long to put together the Avengers Initiative . He was ab initio propose it back in 1995 , but does n’t seem to have gotten to work on it until 2008 ; why did it take him a decade ? attach - in comics may provide a potential result , hint that the World Security Council did n’t really conceive in the idea , and so Fury wound up locked in bureaucratism for twelvemonth .
Related : Captain Marvel ’s Ending Explained
Where The Avengers Name Came From
But just why did Nick Fury prefer to call his squad " The Avengers ? " The title has been regarded as something of a misnomer ; until now , they ’ve been project as a first - reaction unit to deal with impending crises , and until their bankruptcy inAvengers : InfinityWar , they’ve had nothing to retaliate in the first place . Tony Stark may have borrow the language , saying the newly spring mathematical group would " retaliate " Loki ’s flack , but in damage of inspiration , it ’s long seemed Fury just like the name .
Captain Marvelreveals that Nick Fury was in fact urge by Carol Danvers herself ; he was originally planning to call his marriage offer " The Protector Initiative , " but change it in accolade of Danvers ' " Avenger " callsign . This means that , in a fashion , Fury did simply like the name , although there was considerably more personal weight behind it . Again , this exceptional retcon create a average act of sense , establishing a neat story throughline betweenCaptain MarvelandThe Avengers . At the same clip , it does feel a little too on - the - olfactory organ and was frankly unnecessary .
S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Name Has Been Used For Decades
InIron Man , Agent Coulson usher in himself to Pepper Potts as an agentive role of the " Strategic Homeland Intervention , Enforcement and Logistics Division . " A mazed Pepper tell Coulson that was quite a mouthful , and he gave a memorable response ; " I cognise . We ’re ferment on it . " By the end of the film , the trouble was work : " Just call us S.H.I.E.L.D. " Coulson tell apart Pepper at the close . It seemed that this was something of an inception for the organization . ButCaptain Marvelsees Nick Fury introduces himself as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. over a decade originally , contradicting the very first MCU film .
In verity , though , Marvel had long since settle to ignore that particular demarcation of duologue fromIron Man . Arnim Zola claimed he was recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. in the 1940s inCaptain America : The Winter Soldier , while Hank Pym uses the acronym when mention to his pre - Iron Mantime with the sectionalization inAnt - Man . This spills over into idiot box too , withAgent CarterandAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.using the name in events set before the 2000s . Captain Marvelsimply carries on the tradition .
Related : Our Biggest Unanswered Questions After Captain Marvel
Page 2 of 4:Captain Marvel’s Major Cosmic Retcons
The Tesseract’s Location In The 1990s
Captain Marveladds a new bed of complexness to the story of theTesseract . As far as anybody cognise , the Cosmic Cube was recovered by Howard Stark sometime after the events ofCaptain America : The First Avengerand was consider by Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. ( a labor first loosen inIron military man 2 ) , which is where Loki teleport in at the start ofThe Avengers .
As uncover inCaptain Marvel , by 1989 a rogue Kree infiltrator - Mar - Vell - had taken charge of P.E.G.A.S.U.S. ' work on the Tesseract , and was using the Space Stone energy to even grow a faster - than - Light Within railway locomotive . She finally managed to restfully slip the Tesseract aside , hide it on a cloaked Kree Imperial cruiser in field around the Earth . Mar - Vell died in 1989 when the Kree intervened and shoot her mental testing aeroplane down , and the Tesseract was only recover in 1995 ; it was swallow by the Flerken named Goose and afterward cough up on Nick Fury ’s desk , at which period he returned it to P.E.G.A.S.U.S.
While many have cried dirty , there ’s no material persistence issue here at all ; it make sense that scientists would have been attempting to study the Tesseract in the year since 1945 , and allCaptain Marvelshows is one of these diversions beforeThe Avengers . In fact , the new motion-picture show improve the Space Stone ’s floor ; inCaptain Marvel , P.E.G.A.S.U.S. was originally a joint USAF / NASA project , but by the metre it ’s learn inThorandThe Avengers , it ’s a S.H.I.E.L.D./NASA project .
record More : Why The Tesseract In Captain Marvel DOESN’T Break The MCU Timeline
Why No Aliens Attacked Earth Until 2012
The Avengersstrongly implied that the Chitauri intrusion in 2012 was the first metre aliens had attempt to obtrude upon the Earth since the Asgardians drove the Frost Giants back over a millennia ago ( as seen inThor ’s prologue ) .
Captain Marvel , however , reveals that was n’t exclusively reliable ; the Kree had arrived on Earth in force all the path back in 1995 , and even attempted to launch an orbital bombardment . as luck would have it for humanity , Ronan the Accuser ’s forces were defeated by Captain Marvel in a decisive triumph ; theGuardians of the Galaxyran in direct fear of " the woman " . While it ’s not stated explicitly , it ’s implied Carol is viewed as Earth ’s shielder by the fleeing noncitizen , something that would in all probability scare other invader off . This is a very subtleCaptain Marvelretcon , but it does neatly explain why no alien races paid any attending to Earth until 2012 .
Page 3 of 4:Captain Marvel’s Biggest MCU Plot Holes
How Nick Fury Lost His Eye
One of the biggest enigma thatCaptain Marvelsolves ishow Nick Fury lose his optic : after get the better of the Kree , Goose the big cat scratches it out . This is a little different to MCU fans ' headcanon given what little was known about the incident fromCaptain America : The Winter Soldier : when discussing betrayal with Steve Rogers , he claim " Last time I trust someone , I lost an eye . " TheCaptain Marvelreveal is a peck less serious , with that " trustingness " being only in that of a computed tomography , although is n’t by itself more than a retcon .
What makesNick Fury ’s heart a game holeis a more innocuous scene inThe Winter Soldier . When Alexander Pierce is discussing Fury ’s yesteryear , he shows a picture of him being signed in as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. where he ’s still got both centre , implying he did n’t recede the eye untilafterhis promotion . Of course , the picture is a minor piece of MCU canon and patently not something Marvel wanted to dictate an entire account , so this one is middling excusable .
link : Everything You Need To Know About Captain Marvel 2
Nick Fury’s Backstory Is Very Different
It ’s not just the eye that Nick Fury ’s role inCaptain Marvelcontradicts . InIron Man 2,Fury claimed to have had a unaired working relationship with Howard Stark , which meant that he should have already been a gamey - level S.H.I.E.L.D. operative by the clock time Stark died in 1991 . Meanwhile , inCaptain America : The Winter Soldier , Pierce says Fury was made Director after first encountering him as fountainhead of S.H.I.E.L.D. ’s Bogota Station .
Captain Marveljettisons most of this;in the mid-1990s , Fury was still only a Level Three operative , a humiliated - level S.H.I.E.L.D. federal agent who had been run a modest local team and considered himself to be little more than a glorifieddesk jockey . There ’s very little style to make these two accounting synchronise up without squinting - it could be debate that Fury crossed paths with Howardbeforehe joined up with S.H.I.E.L.D. , back when he was working as a spy during the Cold War , but that ’s a stretch - making aPhase 1 rewatcheven more puzzling .
Why Nick Fury Used The Tesseract In The Avengers
InThe Avengers , it ’s unwrap that S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to explicate energy weapons like to Hydra 70 old age earlier . Nick Fury ’s demurrer for this " Phase 2 " project is Thor ’s arrival on Earth , withthe Director claiming that man ’s first contact with aliens had forced him to find fresh armaments .
However , Captain Marvelchanges everything . It reveal that Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. sleep together about the existence of noncitizen since at least 1995 when they encounteredSkrulls and Kree . What ’s more , this intelligibly became vernacular knowledge at the time ; Coulson reported office gossip claim Fury suffer his centre during Kree straining . It would be a draw more credible that Fury started explore the Tesseract arm after Goose cough it up in thepost - credits scene .
Read More : Captain Marvel Creates An Avengers Plot Hole ( Or Nick Fury Is Lying )
Out of all the Avengers - related canon change inCaptain Marvel , this is in all probability the largest . And there ’s only one possible account for this ; Fury was lying as part of his attempt to keep the team together .
Stan Lee’s Cameos No Longer Make Sense
Stan Lee cameosare a traditional part of the MCU , and they ’re all the more poignant after the legendary amusing book creator slip away away in November last twelvemonth . Over the years , the MCU has developed something of a mythology around these , withGuardians of the Galaxy Vol . 2going so far as to suggest that all the cameos are the same mortal - a Watcher ’s Informant , who can go past meter and blank .
Captain Marveltakes a different approach , withStan Lee actually playing himself . He ’s reading the script forMallrats , Kevin Smith ’s 1995 moving picture in which he cameoed . It ’s a poignant protection to Lee , although it raises more question than the Watcher tease . Stan Lee exists in the MCU , but why ? He ca n’t have created these reference , so did he write other famous mirthful ledger superheroes ? Or is he be intimate for doing something else completely ? What ’s more , if the Watcher ’s Informant is an eternal being , would n’t somebody have discover a famous person who did n’t come out to age ?
The verity , of course , is that the cameo was impart as a tongue - in - cheek way of paying homage to Lee ( it waseven edit after his deathto make it more aroused ) . So , while it does n’t work when you stop and think it through , that does n’t matter ; it ’s intended as a respectful nod rather than a meaningful plot compass point .
Page 4 of 4:Captain Marvel’s Own Movie Plot Holes
The Skrulls' Shapeshifting Doesn’t Make Sense
Captain Marvel ’s plot holes do n’t just colligate to the all-inclusive MCU canon . Indeed , the way the moviehandles the Skrulls and their abilities is rather confusing . According to dialogue , aSkrull is able to duplicatethe face and form of anyone they meet , even copying their most late memories . fantastically , it ’s explicate that the Skrulls copy the intact torso , right down to the DNA , so that it ’s inconceivable to enjoin the difference between a Skrull doppelganger and the original .
Related : Captain Marvel Makes The MCU Skrulls BETTER Than The Comics
But that does n’t fit with the story itself . too soon on inCaptain Marvel , Carol Danvers rail downa Skrull who ’s disguised herself as an honest-to-god womanand pursue her in a unrelenting and acrobatic scrap . But , if the Skrull actually had copied the previous ma’am down to that spirit level of detail , it should n’t have been able to fight back at all . The problem is heighten later on in the film , when Talos lay claim that he only necessitate to wear chicken feed to " complete the face " of the S.H.I.E.L.D. political boss he ’s copying . Again , if Skrull duplicates are so accurate then eyesight problem should be copy as well .
The only possible explanation for this is that the Skrulls perhaps have a far greater degree of controller over their shapeshifting than they do in the comics ; it ’s possible they ’re able to adjust the mannikin they ’ve duplicated . Thus Talos would be able to trench the eyesight trouble if he so like , while the Skrull who pose the elderly woman could have choose a partway United States Department of State in which they retained their own natural Skrull durability and agility .
Captain Marvel’s 1995 Setting Doesn’t Quite Work
Finally , there are a handful of continuity issues based aroundCaptain Marvel ’s period setting , which is signposted throughout as being June 1995 ( there are matching calendars on the wall of both Nick Fury and Maria Rambeau ) . Eagle - eyed viewers have already spotted a wide kitchen range of anachronisms :
Some of these were probably creative conclusion ; the " Rock the Vote " posters were related to a key election in the chronicle of American feminism , so are probably intended as an admittedly - anachronistic Easter egg . alas , the rest just propose that Marvel did a cursory chip on songs and films that come out in 1995 , and did n’t put much more campaign into it than that . Of course , give how fleshed out the rest of the populace ofCaptain Marvel , this rough-cut filmmaking trait can be forgive .
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