Other than who the hell is going to pop their clogs and the location of that pesky Soul Stone, Avengers: Infinity War’s biggest mystery is probably surrounding the appearance (or lack thereof) of Captain Marvel. We know Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers will appear in her own standalone movie next year, but, aside from that, there’s been a maelstrom of misinformation and crossed wires about her possible debut in Avengers 3.
Let’s get to the bottom of it, starting at the beginning…
October 8, 2015 - Captain Marvel gets a release date
Having already been mooted for both July and then November 2018, Captain Marvel is moved to its March 2019 (pre-Avengers 4, lest we forget) release date to accommodate for both Ant-Man and the Wasp and Spider-Man: Homecoming. That puts the movie in much closer proximity to Avengers 4 than Infinity War...
May 5, 2016 - The Russo Brothers accidentally reveal Captain Marvel for Infinity War
As ComicBook.com reported at the time, a slip of the tongue by the directors at an event at the Smithsonian led to even more tongues wagging. When called out on inadvertently spilling the beans, Joe Rosso replied, sharp as a tack: “Um… Captain Barvel. Totally different character.”
July 23, 2016 - Brie Larson announced as Captain Marvel
This is nice and straightforward. At SDCC 2016’s Marvel Studios panel in Hall H, Brie Larson was announced as Captain Marvel amid much fanfare. Here’s where it gets muddled: Entertainment Weekly, at the time, seemed to indicate that Captain Marvel was meant to appear in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but the cameo was scrapped. Confused? That’s not the half of it.
December 20, 2016 - Leaked cast list includes Captain Marvel
Omega Underground added fuel to the fire by reporting on a cast list that included Captain Marvel. She’s in, right? Surely?
January-June 2017 - Infinity War set visits confirm Captain Marvel in Infinity War
Ok, bear with me. A lot of places are reporting that the Russo Brothers confirmed that Carol Danvers will show up in the third Avengers movie in an interview with Entertainment Tonight: “We have some great female characters in this: Captain Marvel is in it, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch,” says Joe Russo.
And he’s not lying. But the interview is from a set visit which took place in 2017, with the embargo only lifting a few days ago (as of writing), and in the meantime, some things have changed…
IGN also caught a glimpse of Captain Marvel’s presence on set during the same visit, so as of 2017, she was definitely in Infinity War. So, what’s happened?
June 25, 2017 - "She's not in Avengers 3"
Ah, here we go - it looks like Captain Marvel was going debut in Infinity War, but her role has since been cut.
In a chat with ComicBook.com, the Infinity War directors finally confirm that Captain Marvel won’t be in the movie. Reading between the (time)lines, the reveal of Captain Marvel’s solo movie being set in the ‘90s, as well as various moving parts with the third Avengers movie mean that, after the press set visits and before SDCC 2017, the decision was made to cut Ms. Danvers from the crossover extravaganza.
Probably for the best really. My head hurts.
TL;DR? Captain Marvel was in Infinity War, but, for one reason or another, her role has been cut and Brie Larson won’t be appearing in Avengers: Infinity War. Phew.
Image: Brie Larson
Now *that* is out of the way, we can look forward to a clearer future: Here's every upcoming MCU movie 'til 2022.
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