We’ve known for a while that Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel would soon be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though the Russo brothers have emphatically denied that we’d be seeing Carol Danvers in Avengers: Infinity War. So that’s left fans wondering just when the iconic superpowered pilot and kind-of-alien badass will enter the fray. Well, we do have an idea about how she’ll be introduced, and we that think it’ll involve one Stephen Strange.
When we look at the state of the MCU and what we know about the solo Captain Marvel movie, it makes a lot of sense that Doctor Strange will play an integral role in Carol entering the canon. One of the biggest hurdles in the way of a seamless Captain Marvel intro seems to be the time difference; we know that Captain Marvel will take place in the 1990s, which sure makes it seem unlikely that Carol will just turn up at the end of Infinity War. But of course, we cannot forget about those precious Infinity Stones.
Remember that shiny necklace that Stephen Strange wears around his large-collared neck? That spectacular piece of jewelry is the Eye of Agamotto. In the comics, it’s a mythical totem that actually looks like an eye with lids that can open and shut. Previously owned by the former Sorcerer Supreme named Agamotto, it’s used by Doctor Strange to help him do, well, just about any magical thing that he needs to do! This mystical mechanism can create portals, see through illusions, peek into the past, and even track living beings through time and space. In the films, the Eye of Agamotto is a sort of cosmic locket that the Time Stone sits inside. Its powers are similar to the Eye in the comics, but the device mostly allows its wearer—in this case Stephen Strange—to manipulate time.
What if, after being devastated by Thanos and his almost completed Infinity Gauntlet, the Avengers are desperate and in need of help? Could the Sorcerer Supreme use his Eye of Agamotto to reach into the timestream and call upon a champion who could turn the tide? It might sound farfetched, but Doctor Strange has actually summoned the powers and spirits of creatures from across time and space in the comics, like the battle when he called upon the demon Zom to take on the Green Goliath in Greg Pak’s World War Hulk. In the MCU, we saw firsthand in Thor: Ragnarok how easy it is for Stephen to manipulate time and space, as he threw Odinson around his home and sent him and his brother to Norway where they met their sister Hela for the first time.
There’s no question that Strange has the power and tools in both the comics and the MCU to create a portal that could potentially bring Captain Marvel through from the past. But the wrangling of Captain Marvel through such means could also bring something much darker along with it that might change the MCU and the Sorcerer Supreme forever.
We know that the Skrulls will be a large part of the Captain Marvel movie, and therefore likely a large part of Phase Four, which means that if and when Strange brings Carol through to the present, he could potentially bring the Skrull threat with her as well. That would make sense, as we know that after Thanos the MCU will need a new threat, and the Skrulls existing in both the past and current timeline would be a pretty epic one.
There’s one other unfortunate outcome that could face Doctor Strange should he choose to summon Carol from the ’90s, which has a lot of precedent in the classic comics. After his fight with Zom in World War Hulk, Doctor Strange had to give up the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme, having lost control of the massive power that he had summoned. And that’s not the only time that he’s had to quit being the most Supreme of Sorcerers, as in the ’70s comics, he time-traveled (uh-oh) with his apprentice/girlfriend Clea and got in some big trouble. The pair decided they’d go to the Revolutionary War era and stick around to watch the “founding” of the United States of America (because why not?), which leads to Ancient One stripping him of the Sorcerer Supreme title. So it’s pretty likely that Strange might have to sacrifice some or all of his powers to bring Captain Marvel through to the MCU.
But in the name of bringing Captain Marvel on board as our new Hero Out of Time (filling the shoes of another Captain we all know and love, which seems to be fitting with what we’re expecting to see in Phase Four), all this could prove worth it.
What do you think of our cosmic conspiracy? Do you think we’ll be seeing Carol sooner rather than later? Are you just waiting for Kamala Khan to turn up? Let us know below!
Images: Marvel Studios, Marvel Comics
