Captain Marvel 2 should be a true prequel to 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. By now, it’s surely only a matter of time before Marvel gets to work on the Captain Marvel sequel. The film is on track to gross over $1 billion in the global box office, making it the best-performing origin story in the entire MCU (Black Panther having been introduced in Captain America: Civil War).

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has already hinted that the sequel may actually be another period piece, set in the MCU’s past. Marvel could potentially explore the history of Mar-Vell and the Kree/Skrull war, but he noted that there’s “also this gap of history between when Carol Danvers flew off with Talos at the end, spoiler, and when she arrives with the Avengers.” No doubt Avengers: Endgame will include at least a throwaway line of dialogue to tell viewers where Captain Marvel has been since 1995 - but there’s room for a lot of untold stories.

The first Captain Marvel film was essentially a prequel to the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. It featured a never-before-told adventure of the young Nick Fury, explaining where he got the idea for the Avengers Initiative from; it revealed more about the history of the Tesseract and Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., which appeared in The Avengers; and it featured a cameo from Ronan the Accuser, the main villain of Guardians of the Galaxy. But could the sequel go further, and be a prequel in the truest sense, explicitly setting up Guardians of the Galaxy?

  • This Page: The Real Kree Story Wasn’t Revealed In Captain Marvel Page 2: Ronan’s Story Needs To Be Told & Captain Marvel 2 Can Set Up MCU’s Future

The Untold Story of the Kree Empire in Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel introduces the Kree as a brutal and warlike race of fascists. They have an innate belief in the superiority of their own race, a doctrine that’s strengthened by a leadership cult centered on the Supreme Intelligence. The Kree travel the stars, absorbing lesser cultures and civilizations into their own empire, warring with anyone who refuses to be subjugated, and attempting to commit genocide on races like the Skrulls. Steve Behling’s tie-in novel Starforce on the Rise suggests that the Kree are in danger of overextending themselves, committing to too many wars at once, and as a result, by 1995, were considering a peace treaty with Xandar. Doing so would be a massive cultural shock to them, but in truth they’re only wanting this so they can focus their military power on other opponents.

Crucially, though, towards the end of Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers sends Yon-Rogg back to Hala with a message for the Supreme Intelligence. Now she knows the truth about the Kree, Carol has declared a one-woman war upon their empire. Her first priority will be to get the Skrulls to safety; once that’s done, she’ll return to Kree space and work to end their many conflicts. It’s reasonable to assume this is why Captain Marvel hasn’t returned to Earth before she’s summoned by Nick Fury at the end of Avengers: Infinity War; she’s been busy.

Guardians of the Galaxy hints at just how busy Captain Marvel has been. By 2014, it seems the Kree Empire had begun to abandon their warlike ways. They’d actually negotiated a peace treaty with Xandar, one that was unpopular enough for at least one of their Accusers to go rogue. There’s clearly an untold story here, and it’s reasonable to assume Carol Danvers is at the heart of it. After all, the Kree have been fighting their wars for thousands of years, and it’s all they know. Some new variable must be responsible for the change - and Captain Marvel is the most obvious one.

Page 2 of 2: Ronan’s Story Needs To Be Told & Captain Marvel 2 Can Set Up MCU’s Future

Ronan’s Backstory Also Needs To Be Told

That brings us to Ronan the Accuser, a character who’s been badly served by the MCU up to this point. The Kree renegade was the main villain of Guardians of the Galaxy, and Lee Pace gave his all to make the role work; Ronan’s promise to “unfurl one thousand years of Kree justice on Xandar” was so ferocious that even Thanos took notice. But, unfortunately, Ronan’s motives were barely developed, and his character was overshadowed in a plot overstuffed with other heroes and villains. In the end, Ronan felt more like another of Thanos’ henchmen rather than a major character in his own right. Even James Gunn has acknowledged the problem, considering it a legacy of the old Marvel Creative Committee, who were busy setting up the future direction of the MCU at the expense of Ronan’s own development.

Ronan essentially makes a glorified cameo in Captain Marvel, which shows the Accuser at an earlier point in his career as a Kree Accuser. There’s some evidence he originally played a larger part, working more closely with Yon-Rogg’s Starforce, but in the end those scenes didn’t make it past the editing room floor. He became Yon-Rogg’s backup, only called in when the Starforce Commander realized he was out of his depth and decided he wanted Earth to be razed to the ground. But Ronan’s last scenes suggest he won’t take defeat lightly. Impressed by Captain Marvel’s powers, he wanted the Kree to recapture her and use her as another weapon in their wars.

Captain Marvel 2 could potentially develop Ronan as an actual character, using him as a major villain. He could be portrayed as the one leading the Kree forces against Carol Danvers, attempting to recapture her and even perhaps to brainwash her again in service of the Kree. Indeed, he could even be on hand when Carol wins a decisive victory in her one-woman war against the Kree Empire, forcing the aliens to pursue peace at last. Rejecting this, furious that the ancient traditions of the Kree are being denied by Hala’s leaders, Ronan would go rogue - setting up his entire arc in Guardians of the Galaxy. This would give Ronan a real moment to shine, to become a sympathetic and more complex character, retroactively adding a lot more depth to his Guardians story.

Captain Marvel 2 Could Set Up The Future of Marvel Cosmic

Captain Marvel 2 could easily fill this very visible gap in the MCU’s ongoing narrative. But it could also serve another purpose, dropping hints as to the existence of other alien empires in Marvel’s shared universe. With the completion of the Disney/Fox acquisition, Marvel has regained all the film rights to the various alien races associated with the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. That means Captain Marvel 2 could toss in references to some of the other galactic powers from the comics, most notably the Shi’ar Empire. Although the Shi’ar are pretty warlike themselves, in the comics they’ve been brokers in galactic peace treaties on occasion. So it isn’t inconceivable Captain Marvel 2 could introduce a member of the Shi’ar, perhaps as a diplomat who helps negotiate the treaty between the Kree and the Xandarians.

The Shi’ar have almost unlimited potential in the MCU. Historic stories have tied them to the X-Men, with Majestrex Lilandra becoming Charles Xavier’s lover for a while, but that’s not the limit of the role they could play. As noted, they’re a warlike empire, and unlike the Kree and the Xandarians they haven’t found themselves crossing the paths of powerful beings like Captain Marvel and Thanos. It’s entirely possible they could play a major role in the post-Avengers: Endgame MCU, taking the opportunity of the aftermath of Thanos’ defeat to expand their reach across the galaxy. Marvel could even loosely adapt the “War of Kings” arc from the comics, in which the Shi’ar triggered a galactic war and various superheroes attempted to end it.

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Kevin Feige has already hinted that Marvel Studios is considering setting Captain Marvel 2 in the past, filling the 20-year gap between Captain Marvel and Avengers: Infinity War. Marvel would be wise to do just that, turning the film into a true prequel to Guardians of the Galaxy and setting the scene for the future of the Marvel Cosmic range.

More: Everything You Need To Know About Captain Marvel 2

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