'Captain Marvel' Original Ending Revealed (And Why The Final One Works A Lot Better)

With her wildly successful first solo movie Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers immediately established herself as the most powerful and experienced superhero of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, saving the world since 1995. But the origin movie presents the MCU with one problem: explaining where Carol has been for the past 20 years. The onscreen conclusion of Captain Marvel goes on to show this, but editor Debbie Berman revealed that the Captain Marvel original ending was almost completely different.

Spoilers for Captain Marvel follow.

In an interview with ET, Berman (who also worked on Spider-Man: Homecoming and Black Panther) revealed that Captain Marvel originally had a different ending before they made some pivotal tweaks:

I did actually suggest some tweaks to the ending of this film. It used to end with Carol flying off into space alone, and I found that a bit jarring. Like, where exactly was she going? And what was she doing? It felt like we needed a stronger visual to assert a more specific justification for her leaving and disappearing for so many years. So we added Talos and his family in their spaceship waiting for her, and they all fly off together. It gave her more of a sense of purpose and made it easier to believe that she left her newfound life on Earth because she was with a friend we knew she cared about, and for a more specific mission. It gave more resonance and closure to her final moment in the film.

This was a great decision, as it wouldn't have made sense for Carol to simply jet off to space on her own for 24 years after just reconnecting with her best friend Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) and her daughter Monica (Akira Akbar). Their relationship was the heart of the film, and an essential part to Carol's ultimate epiphany around her identity. Pairing her off with Talos as they attempt to find the Skrulls scattered across the galaxy offers a much better incentive — motivating Carol to undo the damage of the Kree Empire and giving us Ben Mendelsohn as a scene-stealing sympathetic character for once.

Plus this final ending could potentially set us up for a sequel: the adventures of Carol and Talos, bickering in space. I'd see it.

Captain Marvel is currently playing in theaters.