Captain Marvel: What you need to know about Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.

Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. has been around in the MCU for a while, but Captain Marvel could give us some substantial insight into the S.H.I.E.L.D. division.

Now that the Captain Marvel cast and crew have debunked our MCU cameo theories, we can focus on some more specific fan theories. We’ve covered our Flerken fan theories and how much Captain Marvel could earn in its opening weekend, which means we can finally move onto the next item on our speculations list: Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.

During a set visit for Captain Marvel, Entertainment Tonight noticed crates labeled “PEGASUS, UNSC”  on a Kree ship. In response to what ET saw, Captain Marvel producer Jonathan Schwartz makes some vague but intriguing comments about Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., saying:

"That’s an interesting little bit, huh?Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. plays a big part in the movie. We are going to see more of their inner workings as it existed in the ’90s."

What is Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.?

If you’re experiencing some déjà vu, that’s because the first Avengers film name dropped Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. as the S.H.I.E.L.D.-led enterprise meant to study the Tesseract. Not to be mixed up with the conspiracy theories about a real-life government Project Pegasus, the Marvel-related project focuses on otherworldly devices.

Though Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. hasn’t been featured extensively in the MCU yet, it does have an important role in Marvel Comics history.

In various Avengers-related comics, Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. is a S.H.I.E.L.D. operation that oversees cosmic powers and technology, which makes sense why the project would try to dissect the power behind the Tesseract in Avengers. (Little did they know, the immense power came from an Infinity Stone housed within it — the Space Stone, that is.)

In the comic series The Avengers Prelude: Fury’s Big Week, we actually find out that the super secret S.H.I.E.L.D. council ordered Fury’s Avengers Initiative be put on hold in order dedicate more time into unlocking the powers of the Tesseract. It wasn’t until the Avengers movie that we see Professor Eric Selvig is finally able to understand how to harness its energy — except, he’s more of use to Loki than S.H.I.E.L.D., given his was mind controlled by the time he was able to figure it out.

You might be wondering why P.E.G.A.S.U.S., a project that was well-covered in the Avengers —  and the Tesseract could be at the forefront of Captain Marvel. Don’t worry: we have a couple of theories.

The Tesseract could’ve started the Kree-Skrull War on Earth

While the Kree and the Skrull both have a longstanding, unclear, but mutual hatred of each other, there has to be a reason for their Earth battleground. Other than refraining from destroying their home planets and wanting to enslave other alien races to fuel their ongoing war, a certain powerful glowing cube could have enticed the Kree and Skrulls to Earth.

Both the Kree and Skrulls have a plethora of advanced technologies, so they probably have some sort of intergalactic energy-tracking device that could easily lead them to the Tesseract’s powerful energy source on Earth. The Tesseract is a powerful weapon, especially during an interstellar war. Talos’ human cover possibly within S.H.I.E.L.D. already shows that the Skrulls are attempting to get ahold of something in the organization.

Coupled with Thanos’ underling, Ronan, and the Kree’s prominent villainous undertones in the Captain Marvel trailers, the Kree are probably after the same technology. With Ronan’s affiliation with Starforce and the many potential double agents in Carol’s Starforce fleet, the fight for the Tesseract could paint the Kree as the villains in the film. (Even though we all know that, overall, the Skrulls and Kree are both space bullies.)

Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel Trailer #2. Photo Credit: Marvel Entertainment.

Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. could be a source of Carol’s powers

Annette Bening’s ambiguous character tells Carol in her trailers that the Kree found her devoid of memories and made her a Kree. Given the intense vibes coming from Carol’s Starforce fleet, we don’t trust the Kree. It’s also hard to trust a shapeshifting alien species who love to infiltrate and conquer planets, but we definitely don’t trust what the Kree is telling Carol.

In Captain Marvel‘s second trailer and beyond, we can see a part of a Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. logo on the wing of a Quinjet (as seen in the photo above on the bottom left). This Quinjet is probably the jet Nick Fury and Carol set off in moments later. However, Carol’s knack for flying shows she’s flown that type of Quinjet before, or at least another form of airborne Project P property.

Since Marvel won’t likely spoil the main conflict in the trailer, Carol could have gotten her powers from an accident related to Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. The crash site scene in her trailers could have ignited her abilities, since her plane could have carried some experiments related to the S.H.I.E.L.D. operation, and the Kree could’ve simply helped stabilize her abilities and any of her injuries.

Theories aside, Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. has a vague history in the MCU. There have been references and Easter eggs in Iron Man 2, Ant-Man, and the first Avengers film. Since Project P’s Iron Man 2 cameo was reduced done to a verbal reference to its existence in the MCU, Captain Marvel could give some insight into the project and connect its affiliation to multiple other Marvel films.

To recap, Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. was created by S.H.I.E.L.D. to understand the cosmic entity that was the Tesseract, hoping to harness its power as the ultimate defense mechanism. Instead, the project collapsed, and we now know that the Tesseract actually holds the Space Stone within it (soon to be used by Thanos in his Infinity Gauntlet).

How that fits into Captain Marvel will be revealed when the movie comes out, but we know it will be a staple of the film’s plot.

Captain Marvel comes to theaters on March 8.