'Captain Marvel' has 2 end-credits scenes — here's what they mean for 'Avengers: Endgame' (2023)

• Warning: There are major spoilers ahead for "Captain Marvel."
• "Captain Marvel" has two extra scenes after the movie.
• The first is a direct tie-in to "Avengers: Endgame." The second, at the movie's very end, is a lighter moment that should make you laugh.

Don't head out early after "Captain Marvel." The movie has two additional scenes after the movie ends.

The second scene is mostly a throwaway gag that has no lasting impact. It's the first scene, which occurs during the middle of the credits, which connects directly into "Avengers: Endgame."

In case you missed either, we have you covered.

This is your last chance to head back before spoilers.

The first end-credits scene

What happens

Nick Fury's beeper from the end of "Avengers: Infinity War" is shown held in a device, presumably at the Avengers' HQ. We then see a beardless Captain America (played by Chris Evans) looking at a screen of the global number of people missing after the events of the Thanos Snappening in "Infinity War."

Read more: Here's where every major character is after the Thanos snap in 'Avengers: Infinity War'

"This is a nightmare," says Cap.

"I've had better nightmares," responds Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), as she appears in the frame.

War Machine/Rhodey (Don Cheadle) enters the room to tell Cap and Black Widow to tell them something happened with the beeper.

"Hey, so that thing just stopped doing whatever the hell it was doing," says Rhodey.

The duo follow him and they findBruce Banner/the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). Banner mentions that they don't even know what the beeper is.

As the group chatter, Captain Marvel shows up asking for Nick Fury.

The scene cuts to black. The words, "Captain Marvel will return in 'Avengers: Endgame,' appear on screen.

You can watch the scene below courtesy of Marvel Studios:

—Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) April 22, 2019

What did we just watch? Likely a scene from the next "Avengers" movie.

This is most likely a direct scene from "Avengers: Endgame." That wouldn't be out of the ordinary for Marvel Studios. At the end of "Ant-Man," part of a scene for "Captain America: Civil War" is shown.

It looks like a scene from early in the movie where Captain America, Black Widow, and the others are still processing exactly how many people have gone missing after the end of "Infinity War." Why? Well, Hawkeye isn't seen with them yet or Scott Lang's Ant-Man who we've seen in the trailers.

The core Avengers must be aware Nick Fury is among the missing because they found his beeper that was dropped in D.C. and have been monitoring it. Fury used the beeper in a post-credits scene in "Infinity War" to signal Captain Marvel (Brie Larson). When the signal finally goes out, she shows up to aid our heroes. It looks like she's unaware of what happened to Fury and may be unaware of the destruction Thanos has caused. She also appears to be wearing a slightly updated suit.

Is Captain Marvel really there that early or is this a red herring?

That doesn't seem like a red herring. If anything, the mid-credits sequence makes us believe we'll see a lot more of Captain Marvel in "Endgame" than we thought. If this is a scene from early in the movie, then she'll be working with the Avengers soon after they find Fury's distress call for the heroine.

The big question we have after watching this scene is when Captain Marvel was last seen on Earth. At the end of "Captain Marvel," Carol Danvers sets off to help the Skrulls find their own home in the universe. Has she been gone since 1995? It's tough to believe she would have let a lot of the other destruction occur in Marvel's "The Avengers" or "Age of Ultron" without stepping in to stop it.

From what we've seen of her powers, it looks like she could have stopped Thanos single-handedly.

Marvel may have already hinted at Captain Marvel in a previous trailer.

The other reason I'm convinced this scene may be early in the movie is because of a shot in the recent "Endgame" Super Bowl teaser trailer.

I have a strong feeling Marvel Studios scrubbed someone out of that scene above. As INSIDER pointed out in February, there's a large a large unnecessary space between War Machine and, who appears to be, Ant-Man. If Black Widow rounded up Hawkeye, he could be in the lineup, too, but the bigger surprise would be seeing Captain Marvel there.

If Captain Marvel shows up pretty early in "Endgame," it would make a lot of sense for her to be in that above lineup.

How can Captain Marvel help stop Thanos?

We know Thanos is super strong, but Carol Danvers absorbed an entire energy core in "Captain Marvel," giving her photon blasters that emit from her hands and the ability to fly.

"Captain Marvel" makes Carol Danvers' character out to be the strongest superhero in the MCU, perhaps more powerful than Thor (and he's a God). From what we see in "Captain Marvel," it looks like she'd wipe the floor with Thanos. The only problem is that we really need Carol Danvers to battle it out with the Mad Titan before he snaps away half of the universe. That's where some of her powers may come into play.

In "Captain Marvel," the Kree, an alien species, are searching for a light speed engine that Annette Bening's character, Lawson, was working on.That's the very same energy core Danvers winds up absorbing in "Captain Marvel."

Why is that important? Captain Marvel may be the key to helping the Avengers go back in time.

It's been heavily speculated time travel will be a big part of "Avengers: Endgame" due in part topaparazzi set photos from filming that showed Ant-Man with Iron Man back during the events of "The Avengers." How would that happen?

Previously, we thought the Quantum Realm, introduced in the "Ant-Man" movies would help send the Avengers back in time to try and undo the events of "Infinity War." But it seems more likely they may work in tune with Captain Marvel's superpowers.

Read more: How Captain Marvel can be instrumental to beating Thanos in 'Avengers: Endgame'

Our best guess? Maybe Tony Stark or some of the Avengers will combine the Quantum Realm tech and what is known about the light speed engine Lawson was working onto get the Avengers to travel back in time.

The second end-credits scene

What happens

We open up on Nick Fury's S.H.I.E.L.D. desk. No one's there until Goose the cat jumps up on the table. Fury has adopted the cat by the movie's end.

He starts hacking and coughing and finally spits up the Tesseract onto Fury's desk, which he swallowed earlier in the movie. The Tesseract contains the blue Infinity stone, the space stone, which Thanos eventually gets a hold of in his mission to rid the world of half its population.

What it means

This is mostly a throwaway scene. It's not going to have any implication in "Avengers: Endgame." It just shows us how S.H.I.E.L.D. wound up with the space stone in the '90s after it was lost for some time.

Of course, we know what eventually happened to the Tesseract afterwards.

Loki eventually stole it from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s protection at the start of Marvel's "The Avengers" and started the alien fight that took over New York City. Afterwards, Thor stored it in Asgard until the planet was evacuated in "Thor: Ragnarok." Instead of letting it get destroyed on the planet, Loki salvaged the Tesseract and it was retrieved by Thanos in "Avengers: Infinity War." The stone helped Thanos in his quest to annihilate half of the galaxy.

Maybe Goose should have held onto the Infinity Stone.

• Read more:
• Our review of "Captain Marvel"
• How Captain Marvel can be instrumental to beating Thanos in 'Avengers: Endgame'
• 'Captain Marvel' has a sweet Stan Lee tribute at its start that will make you tear up
• The 11 Disney movies coming to theaters in 2019
• "Captain Marvel" finally reveals how Nick Fury loses his eye