Warning: potential SPOILERS for Avengers: Endgame

By the time Thanos turned half the Marvel Universe to dust in Infinity War, fans knew that Nick Fury would call Captain Marvel for help. And now that Carol Danvers has officially joined the MCU, we know exactly why she’s the only hero who can defeat Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.

We’re not just spinning another Avengers: Endgame theory either, since the Captain Marvel movie explains exactly what makes Carol so unique a superhero compared to the rest of the Avengers. The changes to Captain Marvel’s origin story may seem small, or even acceptably modified to fit into the movie universe and its Infinity Stone fiction. But make no mistake: the version of Captain Marvel joining the Avengers is fundamentally different from her comic book version, in one major way. And that change puts the weapon capable of beating Thanos into her hands–literally.

  • This Page: Captain Marvel’s New, Infinity Stone Origin Page 2: Infinity War Proves Captain Marvel Can Beat Thanos

Captain Marvel’s MCU Origin Makes a Change

It would be tempting to dismiss the unique elements of Carol’s new origin story. On the one hand, it does what MCU films have done so well in the past, keeping the broad strokes of the character’s origin story and powers intact when adapting to film, but doing their best to anchor these events to Infinity Stones. That ‘MacGuffin’ approach has worked so far, and the result is a vast group of characters who are literally connected by their proximity to these cosmic gems. All that being said, Captain Marvel has done something different. Instead of it being a mission to defend an Infinity Stone from villains that forges Carol into a superhero, it is the Infinity Stone itself that triggers her rebirth.

Technically it’s the experimental, lightspeed drive created by Mar-Vell in her human scientist persona that transforms Carol. As ‘Dr. Wendy Lawson,’ Mar-Vell spent years, possibly decades trying to unlock the powers within the Tesseract. Or, if not unlock them, then learn how to channel the cosmic energy inside of it into a form she could test, refine, and eventually manipulate into her lightspeed engine designs. When the engine exploded, all of that cosmic potential went flying directly into Carol Danvers.

No longer just an alien soldier, or even a human instilled with alien strengths and powers, the Captain Marvel of the MCU is now born of the Infinity Stone (thanks to Mar-Vell’s engine making it all possible). Because Carol’s physical form has been augmented by the power of the Space Stone, she has the ability to destroy not only Thanos and his Infinity Gauntlet, but possibly even the Infinity Stone itself.

And while some will say that connecting those dots is nothing but a theory, we would offer a reminder that the MCU has shown Thanos’ vulnerability to this kind of Infinity Stone power already. Even if nobody was talking about it once Thanos won the Infinity War…

Page 2 of 2: Infinity War Shows Why Captain Marvel Can Beat Thanos

Captain Marvel Wields The Space Stone’s Power

It’s impossible to know if Mar-Vell actually knew she was manipulating the energy of an Infinity Stone encased within the Tesseract. Whether she did or not, Captain Marvel’s flashbacks prove how powerful the Space Stone’s expelled energy was on its own. Even if that power isn’t identical to the Space Stone’s–perhaps Mar-Vell’s efforts to mold its mastery over physical space into a lightspeed engine Explains Captain Marvel’s focused light blasts–the source is the same. Thanos may use the Space Stone to travel across the universe through wormholes while Carol manipulates photons, but both are different manifestations of the Space Stone’s power.

Again, this may all just be Marvel Studios using the most convenient explanation available, and suggesting that they have a more concrete plan for the future of Captain Marvel, the Skrulls, and the Kree than they actually do. But if we’re assuming that Marvel had Captain Marvel’s role in Avengers: Endgame planned long ahead of time, then the comics may offer some help. Because the history of the Infinity Stones has introduced plent of cosmic characters created, molded, or otherwise intimately linked to the magic gems… and it’s never a coincidence. If an Infinity Stone made you, you had best believe your path is headed right back to them. It was true for Scarlet Witch, and hers may be the lead that Carol Danvers follows when facing off against Thanos. But with one key difference.

Thanos Will Be Vulnerable To Captain Marvel’s Powers

The moment may have gotten lost amidst the heartwrenching stakes, or may have been forgotten next to the death of half the Marvel Universe. And sure, Thor planting an axe in Thanos’ chest may get all the headlines. Iron Man drew blood from Thanos, Captain America held his hand, and Thor should have “aimed for his head.” But if there was one Avenger who actually managed to match the Mad Titan’s strength, it was Scarlet Witch. Fans know the reason why, but still may not have realized just how much Marvel may have hinted at Captain Marvel’s future in Wanda’s standoff with Thanos.

Just like Carol, Wanda owes her power to tests conducted on an Infinity Stone (the Mind Stone). And while common sense might suggest that the Stone itself would hold a more pure, potent, and concentrated form of its cosmic energy than a superhuman created from it, Wanda and Vision showed that isn’t the case at all. As Vision put it himself, “if [the Mind Stone] were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something very similar to its own signature, perhaps… its molecular integrity will fail.” He was right, in the end. In fact, not only was Wanda’s decision to unleash all her power capable of overpowering the Mind Stone and destroying it, but she was able to stop Thanos in his tracks, despite his own Infinity Stone enhancements (and did both at the same time, no less).

None of it mattered since Thanos could use the Time Stone to turn back the clock. But what would have happened, we ask fans to consider, if Wanda was replaced in that scene by Captain Marvel in her overpowered Binary form? What if instead of dividing her attack between Thanos and the Infinity Stone that created her, the two were already combined? Logic says Carol would have a shot at shattering Thanos and the Space Stone before he could use it, assuming the Avengers: Endgame time travel rumors are true (and he can’t just rewind time again). But add in Carol’s military training in both the U.S. and Kree military, the stronger-than-human Kree blood pumping in her veins, and the unknown limits of her Space Stone infusion… and it’s hard to understand how Thanos could measure up, even with the Stones.

But if Thanos were to underestimate her–both a tendency he showed in Infinity War and a strong theme of Captain Marvel’s own movie–she may just do what the Avengers couldn’t.

MORE: Every MCU Connection in Captain Marvel

  • captain marvel Release Date: 2019-03-08 The Avengers 4 Release Date: 2019-04-26