Five potential reasons Captain Marvel has been absent from the MCU

Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN MARVEL..L to R: Att-Lass (Algenis Perez Soto), Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and Minn-Erva (Gemma Chan)..Photo: Film Frame..©Marvel Studios 2019

Captain Marvel will tell the origin story of Carol Danvers in the 1990s. With the MCU taking place in the present day, where has she been all these years?

Although little is known about Captain Marvel so far, there is one glaring fact every Marvel Cinematic Universe fan is aware of… She hasn’t shown up to any of the major battles over the last decade, not on earth, space, or anywhere in between. (At least not that have been shown.)

Naturally, this begs the question, where has the good Captain been?

With Captain Marvel set to, hopefully, answer this question and more, here are just a few possible options to speculate about in the meanwhile.

5. Time Travel

Although the only time traveler the MCU has seen to date is Doctor Strange (though an argument of sorts can be made for Captain America), it’s certainly an in-universe possibility that Captain Marvel has not yet made her appearance because she is somewhere lost in time.

While it is unlikely that Carol Danvers has gotten her hands on an infinity stone, recent interviews with Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Director Fury and will also be appearing in Captain Marvel, seems to lend this theory quite a bit of credence.

Speaking about Carol, Jackson told Entertainment Tonight:

"And at some point, we’ll find out how powerful she is and all the things that she’s capable of. She’s one of the few people in the Marvel universe that can time travel, so…”"

Captain Marvel has not been known to time travel in the comics, but the MCU always has a few tricks up their sleeve. While this comment by Jackson could be a red herring, or simply a statement of fact that has nothing to do with where Captain Marvel is right now, it could also be the key to her disappearance. Perhaps the events of Captain Marvel will leave her no choice but to abandon the time she lives in for some-time else, perhaps she’s simply been exploring her powers during the most inconvenient of timelines for the rest of the team.

If Captain Marvel is time traveling, the next questions are when has she gone, and what is it that inevitably brings her back to the rest of the Avengers, struggling after the snap?

Only…time…will tell.