Five potential reasons Captain Marvel has been absent from the MCU

Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN MARVEL..Captain Marvel (Brie Larson)..Photo: Chuck Zlotnick..©Marvel Studios 2019

2. She Hasn’t Been Gone At All

Okay, this might sound crazy, but it is possible that Captain Marvel hasn’t disappeared at all, she’s just… never shown up.

Throughout the MCU movies, the audience has seen heroes come to the end of the line with their powers again and again. Tony Stark has more than once claimed to be giving up his Iron-Man suits, even going as far as blowing them all up dramatically, and Hawkeye has been retired before, hanging up his bow to live the simple life with his wife and kids. Of course, it’s never held, but it has happened.

Perhaps, after the events of Captain Marvel, Carol was just moved to hit pause on being a hero for reasons not yet known, and nothing up until now seemed intense enough to require her. After all, nothing until now has actually been intense enough to require her, with the Avengers, Guardians, and Co. taking care of business and protecting the world fairly capably.

But after Thanos, the game changed completely. The world is now in disarray, the Avengers are in shambles, and it could be this that is the real impetus for Carol’s return to the stage, or rather, the screen. Undoubtedly, the MCU heroes could have used her before, but they well and truly need her now, and now appears to be exactly when they’ll get her.

It’s not the most extravagant of theories, true enough, but it might just be true. The world can only hope it is soon enough to undo the damage done to the universe.