One of the lingering questions Marvel fans have had since Infinity War is why Nick Fury hadn’t paged Captain Marvel before then?

During the end credits scene of Avengers: Infinity War, it was revealed that Nick Fury had something of a Hail Mary up his sleeve in the shape of a pager. After Thanos obtained all of the Infinity Stones, and set into motion the Decimation, Fury decided to activate a distress signal, and a symbol on its screen revealed who was on the other end: Captain Marvel.

When Captain Marvel released, it outlined the events that led to Nick Fury coming into possession of that pager — a device modified by Carol so that, no matter where she was in the universe, should Fury use it she would return to Earth. There was just one caveat: Fury was only to use it in the case of an emergency.

But with so many world altering events having hit Earth in the intervening years since Carol’s departure, fans have been asking the question — both with and without the context of Captain Marvel — why did Fury wait so long before paging her?

When The Avengers kicked off with a full scale alien invasion of New York, headed up by Loki, it dramatically altered the course of the occupants of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Though some characters, like Fury and Coulson, were already aware of alien species having come to Earth prior to the invasion, it made their existence common knowledge.

While the aim of The Avengers movie was to bring the core group of characters together, align their ideals, and solidify them as a team moving forward, there can be little argument that something as huge as an alien invasion wouldn’t warrant some outside assistance by a known ally who might have more knowledge on the situation.

The Battle of New York, while it was contained to one city during the movie, threatened to spill out and plunge the entire planet into chaos — aligning with Loki’s plan to rule. So, with such high stakes, why did Fury not call for Carol’s help? Especially with the threat of a nuclear bomb being launched to eliminate the threat, along with some apparently justifiable “collateral damage.”

One of the only reasons I can think of for why Fury might not have activated the distress signal was down to timing. There was no way Fury could know where in the universe Carol might be at any given time — particularly with her self-imposed mission to re-home the refugee Skrulls, and return to Hala to make good on her promise to Yon-Rogg and the Supreme Intelligence — and thus, with the immediacy of what was going down, could not guarantee she would arrive in time to make a difference.

Equally, with the reveal of Hydra having infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D, as well as the rise of Ultron, and later the Civil War that erupted over Bucky Barnes and the Sokovia Accords, those were all insular issues that — while devastating for the characters individually — did not really constitute an emergency that would require Carol’s specific skillset.

So, when breaking down the events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in such a way, it becomes more and more apparent that something of the scale of Thanos wiping out half of existence might just tip that scale and push Fury into pressing the call button.

In the end credits scene of Captain Marvel, Carol’s arrival on Earth following her receiving the distress call confirms that — despite her formidable power — she does not have the ability to appear immediately. Her arrival took a significant amount of time, enough that whatever she was summoned for would need to be able to wait for her.

Thanos’ Decimation was unstoppable. What comes next — how they stop Thanos and get back all of the people lost to the Snap — is something Carol can actively help with. And we’re certain that she won’t stop until Fury is returned, whole and well.

The question, of course, has also been posed to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, by SlashFilm, who wanted to know what the behind-the-scenes justification was for Carol’s absence all of these years, and he had a very interesting response — one that could throw a curve ball into the mix.

“How do you know he never hit it? How do we know he never pushed it before?” Feige said. “We’ve never seen him push it before. That doesn’t mean he never did.”

So, if Fury has used the pager before, and Carol did not return for an as-yet-undetermined reason, it would give even more perspective to how utterly dire the situation with Thanos is: Knowing that she might not answer the call, Fury could do nothing but try again anyway.

Though, with the close knit relationship built between the two in Captain Marvel, and Carol’s reaction to Fury’s absence upon her return, it throws doubt onto the possibility that she would not have come, had Fury used the pager before.

With Avengers: Endgame around the corner, it is only a matter of time before we can piece together the timeline since Carol’s leaving Earth that little bit more.