We Finally Know Why Captain Marvel Was Barely in ‘Endgame’

It’s hard to remember now, in the post-Endgame world, but Captain Marvel came out less than three months ago. It was good! There’s ’90s nostalgia galore and Brie Larson has an Oscar for a reason. And as the amuse-bouche to the main course of Endgame, we expected Carol Danvers to play a prominent role in the juggernaut. That’s not what happened. Now we know why.

In an interview with Empire, Joe and Anthony Russo said that Captain Marvel’s relegation to minor character was the result of a choice to focus on characters with longer tenures in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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

She “had no depth of relationship with those other characters, which on one side is an opportunity, but also – when you have a story that’s this size – you have to work with an economy of storytelling in order to maximize the journey in the movie,” Anthony Russo added.

Joe also mentioned that they liked the idea of expanding the world of the films to encompass the other planets that need Captain Marvel’s help.

That makes sense, but from a fan perspective, it’s not exactly satisfying. Endgame will be remembered as a massive hit and a satisfying conclusion to the story that began with Iron Man. And while there are clearly way too many characters to give everyone a starring role, we’re still disappointed that an actress of Larson’s talents and a superhero of Captain Marvel’s powers wasn’t a bigger part of the film.