Endgame: Captain Marvel Explains Where She's Been In New Sneak Peek

Well, that explains that.

In a clip aired on Good Morning America and subsequently posted to YouTube, Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) offered a succinct explanation as to where the heck she's been while the Avengers have been busy handling potentially world-ending threats. The clip also gives us a couple clues as to what forces the team back into action and how they plan on reversing the tragic events of last year's Avengers: Infinity War — which is to say that spoilers for Avengers: Endgame may follow.

The sneak peek opens with Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), James "War Machine" Rhodes (Don Cheadle), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and Carol Danvers (who, it may be noted, has not actually been referred to by her superheroic moniker yet) gathered at Avengers HQ. As Widow examines the holographic display of their resident AI, she exclaims, "He used the stones again." This on its own is pretty interesting; so far as we or anyone else knew, the sole goal of Thanos (Josh Brolin) in obtaining the Infinity Stones was to execute his plan of eliminating half of all life in the universe, thereby restoring balance and quelling the threat of overpopulation. He did that — and at Infinity War's conclusion, he was seen to be simply kicking back, giving the partially-burned-out Infinity Gauntlet a rest and reflecting on his extremely morally questionable victory. Why would he risk using the stones again, and drawing the renewed attention of Earth's Mightiest Heroes? Something tells us it wasn't to manifest the universe's most kick-ass waterslide park.

Banner speaks up in protest, reminding the team that they'd "be going in short-handed," and Rhodes seems similarly reluctant to sign up for the rematch. "Look, he's still got the stones, so..." he begins, but before he can finish the thought, Danvers interjects, "so let's get 'em. Use them to bring everyone back." Okay... whoa. We all pretty much figured that the power of the Stones would be the key to un-dusting all of the beloved characters — including Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, and poor Groot — who crumbled away to nothingness in the wake of the Snap, but this is a pretty blunt statement of intention. "Just like that?" Banner asks skeptically, at which point Captain Rogers predictably sides with Captain Marvel: "Yeah," he says, "just like that."

"Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this... I mean, we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try," says Widow. Banner (who is really just kind of being a killjoy at this point) counters with, "If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?" Danvers has an answer for that: "Because before, you didn't have me." She's got a point; having the most powerful hero in the known universe on your side tends to add a new wrinkle to any conflict.

Rhodes jumps into the conversation with a statement that seems destined to become a virulent meme. "Hey, new girl," he says, "everybody in this room is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?" Just a touch dismissive, if you ask us, but her reply is almost equally so: "There are a lot of other planets in the universe. And unfortunately, they didn't have you guys." The implication here is that, while it took an entire, ever-growing team of Avengers just to deal with threats posed to Earth, Ms. Danvers was essentially filling that role for virtually every other populated planet all by her lonesome. She can probably be forgiven for not popping in to see how the Battle of New York was coming along; after all, the team ended up handling that little incursion just fine without her.

Rhodes and Rogers exchange a glance that couldn't possibly mean anything other than, "Well, you can't really argue with that." It's at this point that Thor (who, you will note, hasn't had a word to say this entire time) rises from his seat, gets in Captain freaking Marvel's face, and calls Stormbreaker to his hand, earning nothing more than a slightly inquisitive look from the hero. Apparently satisfied with this response, he says, "I like this one," prompting Danvers to offer the slightest of smiles.

Speculation about Captain Marvel's role in the events of Endgame has been at a fever pitch ever since the character was first teased in the infamous post-credits "pager scene" of Infinity War, and a fair amount of digital ink has been spilled attempting to puzzle out her reasons for staying away from Earth while the Chitauri, Ultron, and all manner of superpowered villains were giving the Avengers hell. This short clip goes a long way toward giving us the answers to both of those questions. Look, being a ridiculously powered spacefaring hero comes with a certain amount of responsibility; you can't just drop everything to come screaming back to Earth every time an invading alien race or malignantly evil artificial intelligence threatens to gum up the works. Thanos, however, is a menace not just to Earth, but to the entire universe — plus, it should be kept in mind that if there's one Earthling more qualified than any other to evaluate the gravity of any given situation, it would have to be Nicholas J. Fury. He has always had the option to call Danvers in at any time, and he did not, and he was right not to. He waited until the very last second (literally, the last second of his existence) to exercise the nuclear option, and that will probably end up being the decision that saves half of the entire universe.

At any rate, Danvers' explanation suggests decades worth of planet-saving adventures under her belt, some of which will perhaps make their way to the screen at some point. (Disney+ limited series, anyone?) It also suggests that the Mad Titan has met his match — and that if you're going to mock Thor for not going for the head, you might want to make sure that your most formidable potential adversary is among the people you're dusting.

Avengers: Endgame hits the big screen on April 26.