Captain Marvel’s original ending didn’t explain her absence in Infinity War

Judging by the latest trailer, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest superstar, Carol Danvers, will do whatever it takes to end Thanos’ threat in Avengers: Endgame, but dedicated MCU fans know that Captain Marvel wasn’t around for the Avengers’ first fight against the Mad Titan in Avengers: Infinity War. Captain Marvel, which is currently tearing it up at the box office, explained why. That wasn’t always the case. As Captain Marvel‘s editor reveals, the film’s original ending left the reasons behind Carol’s decades-long absence ambiguous.

Warning! Spoilers for Captain Marvel follow.

According to Debbie Berman, film editor on Captain Marvel, Black Panther, and Spider-Man: Homecoming, Captain Marvel’s origin story originally ended with Captain Marvel flying off into space all alone. “I found that a bit jarring. Like, where exactly was she going? And what was she doing?” Berman told ET. She argued that Captain Marvel needed “a stronger visual to assert a more specific justification for her leaving and disappearing for so many years.”

So, things changed. In the final cut of the movie, Carol joins Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos and his family on a quest to find the extra-terrestrials a new home. “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,” Berman said. It also shows why Captain Marvel didn’t show up in Infinity War. After all, it’s hard to keep tabs on Earth when you’re house-hunting in space.

Captain Marvel stars Brie Larson as the titular superhero alongside Mendelsohn, Jude Law, Annette Bening, Lashana Lynch, and Samuel L. Jackson as a much younger Nick Fury. Not only is Captain Marvel Marvel Entertainment’s first female-led film, but it’s also the studio’s first movie with a woman director (Anna Boden, who co-directed with Ryan Fleck) and only its second penned by a female writer (Geneva Robertson-Dworet, who follows Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Nicole Perlman).

The film has been a big hit with audiences, raking in $500 million at the global box office, making it the second-biggest debut for a superhero movie ever. That’s good news for Marvel: Avengers: Endgame, the second half of the Infinity War saga, sees Larson reprise her role as Carol Danvers. It hits theaters on April 26.