The origin of Captain Marvel and the chronology of Tesseract

What makes the many Cinematic Universe films of Marvel impressive, with the exception of the box office, is the connective tissue. With this week Captain Marvel, 21 films now live in the same fictional universe, with the same set of global logic, without contradicting in a major way.

This shared effort also means that many overlapping characters, parameters, and plot features appear and all affect global meta-narrative at various points throughout its 10-year existence. And one of the earliest examples continues to have a profound impact on the MCU: the Tesseract.

[[[[Ed. Note: Spoilers for Captain Marvel as well as about half a dozen other Marvel Studios movies.]

Tesseract's power seemed unlimited during the first phase of Marvel Studios' films. The cosmic cube that houses the space stone has often jumped into the Marvel universe, and its disproportionate influence on the MCU continues with Captain Marvel and his original story. With 10 years of knowing now in Marvel's timeline, it's worth revisiting how the cube arrived at that moment.

What is the Tesseract and how does it connect to the Space Stone?

If you are stunned by Thanos, make your Stone Reality and Time muscles work. War of Infinityyou can forget exactly where the gem hunt really started. In the MCU, the Tesseract is a container for Space Stone, one of six Infinity Stones that make up the almighty MacGuffin of the MCU. Each of the stones embodies an aspect of the universe and their respective capabilities testify to it. In practice, Space Stone / Tesseract has been used to create portals to travel the universe, but it is just as common that it is a magic blue box used to create weapons, engines of spacecraft and, in the case of Captain Marvel, a superhero.

At some point in the history of the MCU, King Asgard Odin (also Thor's father) takes possession of the Tesseract. Some time later, Odin hides the Tesseract on Earth, especially in Norway.

The debut of Tesseract in Captain America: The First Avenger

Although not the first appearance on the screen – Thor the post-credit scene preceded it by a few months – the Tesseract became a major conspiracy device in 2011 Captain America: the first avenger. The film begins when a group of Nazi / HYDRA soldiers led by Johann Schmidt (aka Red Skull) follows the Tesseract in a church in Norway. Schmidt, whose knowledge of existence seems to come from mythology, then takes the Tesseract and, with the co-conspirator Armin Zola, develops weapons that exploit the energy of Tesseract.

In the end, Steve Rogers (aka Captain America) foiled his plans by infiltrating a plane filled with Red Skull, Tesseract and several nuclear bombs. In the end, Red Skull tries to physically maintain the cosmic cube, which – as we learn in Avengers: war in the infinite – Teleport through space on the planet Vormir, where Thanos finally sacrifices Gamora.

After the vortex, the Tesseract burns the aircraft and falls into the ocean, where it is later found by Howard Stark (the father of Iron Man, one of the many important dads of the MCU) in search of Rogers . At one point, between then and 1989, the Tesseract is on the PEGASUS project, a joint effort by NASA and the US Air Force to study the Tesseract. We'll have to wait for the next Marvel sequel to find out what happened to Tesseract over the past 45 years in MCU's history.

Captain Marvel and Project PEGASUS (first part)

The importance of Tesseract in Captain Marvel The story is revealed only later in the film, after Carol Danvers has found his memories. Prior to the film's events, Mar-Vell (Annette Bening) joined the PEGASUS project under the pretext of an aerospace engineer named Dr. Lawson. She ends up taking possession of the Tesseract, storing it in a hidden laboratory orbiting the Earth. Mar-Vell, a Kree scientist helping Skrull refugees escape the horrors of war, is striving to create a faster-than-light engine (FTL) powered by an "energy core" that harnesses Tesseract's power.

As flashbacks reveal, Danvers was the pilot of an experimental aircraft (towed special energy engine) that was escorting Lawson / Mar-Vell. As we see in the flashback, officer Kree Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) shot down the plane to steal the technology. Danvers, acting on Mar-Vell's death, explodes the engine so the Kree can not get it. The resulting explosion bathes Carol in Tesseract's energy, which gives him powers. Yon-Rogg brings Danvers into Kree's lap, his pre-blast memories being missing, while implanting a low-power chip into his neck.

Back in the present, Danvers – with Nick Fury and the alien cat Mar-Vell / Flerken Goose – go to the orbital lab and find the source of this power faster than light: the blue cube too familiar (to the public, from less – the characters are of course not so familiar). A battle with the Kree ensues, during which Goose swallows the Tesseract. We will then see the Tesseract on the post-credits scene of Captain Marvel, when Goose will put it on the stage.

To summarize, Tesseract moves from the PEGASUS project to a hidden space station, then heads to the interdimensional stomach of an extraterrestrial cat, then moves on to SHIELD headquarters. He then "created" Captain Marvel by proxy. The 90s were a strange time.

The Avengers and PEGASUS project, part two

In the chronology of the MCU, the next time we will see the Tesseract, it is the post-credits scene of the year 2011. Thor, in which Nick Fury shows the cube to Dr. Selvig (and, unbeknownst to Fury, an invisible Loki) in the hope that Selvig could help SHIELD exploit the Tesseract for, among other things, weapons that would help Earth to defend itself against forces from another world. The program for which Selvig would work? PEGASUS project.

In short – to the extent that anyone can be, since Tesseract is the driving force of The Avengers & # 39; Plot – Loki steals the Tesseract at SHIELD and uses it to create a portal on New York allowing an army of Chitauri to invade the Earth. The appearance of Loki prompted Fury to set up the Avengers initiative, named after Carol Danvers' call sign, which brings together all the MCU heroes so far to save the world, which they have of course done.

Finally, Thor takes Loki and Tesseract to his home world, Asgard, which he locks into Odin's vault for the next ten films.

Post-Avengers Ragnarok and War of Infinity

The next time we will see the Tesseract (apart from any strange character vision or animated exhibition), it's in 2017. Thor: Ragnarok. Loki – who is at this point on the side of the heroes who help Thor and his team evacuate the Asgardians – silently seized the Tesseract while he was in Odin's vault, summoning the god of fire Surtur.

Possession does not last long, as we see in From Ragnarok post-credits when the Asgard refugee spacecraft is quickly overtaken by Thanos a lot bigger job. The sequel opens in 2018 Avengers: war in the infinite: After killing half of the Asgardians on board, Thanos Thor tortures until Loki reveals the Tesseract. After a very fast fight with Hulk, Thanos gets the Tesseract, crushes it with one hand and sets the Space Stone now exposed in his Infinity Gauntlet.

A final summary: in short, the Tesseract went from Thor's father to Norway, via the Nazis / HYDRA, to the sea, to the father of Iron Man, to the PEGASUS project, to a space station, to the stomach of a foreign cat, at SHIELD, Loki, Asgard, Loki and Thanos.

Several questions remain about the chronology of Tesseract. When did Howard Stark give it to the PEGASUS project? How did Odin take possession at the beginning and when did he hide it on Earth? When did the Space Stone have its own small container? And in the future, what will happen to Space Stone in this post-snap world?

We will know the answer to at least a of those questions in April when Avengers: End of the game close this chapter of the MCU.