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In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Peter Parker asks Nick Fury why he approached him of all heroes to help deal with the threat of the Elementals against Earth's very existence:

Peter: Sir, come on, there's gotta be someone else you can use. What about Thor?

Fury: Off-world.

Peter: Doctor Strange?

Maria Hill: Unavailable.

Peter: Captain Marvel?

Fury: Don't invoke her name.

The "don't invoke her name" is probably a reverential nod to the insane, otherworldly, God-like power that Carol Danvers has, but for the extreme existential threat that Mysterio claims the Elementals are to Earth, it makes perfect sense to call in Captain Marvel for this task.

Is there an in-universe reason for him not doing so?

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Prometheus
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    We don't know that he hasn't. I'd doubt that someone like Fury puts his eggs in one basket, maybe he contacted her (or others) and is now playing it by ear, see how Spidey goes. – Möoz Nov 11 '19 at 03:09
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    Well there's pretty good evidence that Fury in that bit of dialogue isn't actually Fury, based on the credits scene. That might be part of the reason. – SpaceWolf1701 Nov 11 '19 at 03:27
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    “for the extreme existential threat that Mysterio claims the Elementals are to Earth, it makes perfect sense to call in Captain Marvel for this task” — maybe he did! Maybe she didn't come! She wasn't there to fight the Chitauri or Ultron either. – Paul D. Waite Nov 11 '19 at 08:40
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    Yeah, she's doing the same thing across a thousand other worlds - it's only our perspective that makes us wonder why she's not there for Earth (which is otherwise very well defended anyway). I think this was more a nod to Fury's hidden identity than a real explanation for why she's not here (the real Fury would likely have just said she had other stuff to handle). – delinear Nov 11 '19 at 11:55
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    @delinear It was indeed a nod to that, see my answer here. It's also partly why it was changed from the trailer. – TheLethalCarrot Nov 11 '19 at 12:47
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    @yawnobleix Tangentially related but certainly not a duplicate. – TheLethalCarrot Nov 12 '19 at 10:45
  • I think it is a duplicate of the "Why did Fury respond that way" question because when you boil it all down - it's the same reason. – NKCampbell Nov 12 '19 at 20:58
  • @NKCampbell not at all, the reasons here aren’t just the same as the reason there. Not a duplicate in any way. – TheLethalCarrot Nov 12 '19 at 21:43
  • @TheLethalCarrot From your other answer "His reaction is either protecting her as she doesn't need to come here or he's not wanting her to come due to her power of sarcasm." vs your answer here. There's a lot of words in each answer, but when you break it down to the salient bits - it's the same thing - including the twist (which is the underlying character element inherent in each question / answer as well) – NKCampbell Nov 12 '19 at 22:06
  • @NKCampbell sure there’s a lot of relevance but they’re not the same and there are extra reasons on this question which make zero sense on the other. – TheLethalCarrot Nov 12 '19 at 22:08
  • "Why didn't Nick Fury call Captain Marvel?": because it's not Nick Fury, it's Talos.

    "Why did Nick Fury react that way?": because it's not Nick Fury, it's Talos.

     – NKCampbell Nov 12 '19 at 22:10
  • @NKCampbell correct that is ___one___ reason that applies here but not the only one. – TheLethalCarrot Nov 12 '19 at 22:17
  • If the question was to be changed to "Why didn't Talos call Captain Marvel?" then that would push it outside of dupe range and I'd retract my close vote, because then it is sufficiently different. But - presuming that the character is Nick Fury, as the question currently does, makes it fall under the other question. And keeping the site clean of duplicates and adhereing to the site rules isn't mere bullheadedness, it's how its supposed to work. Other people can vote as well - I'm not a jury of 1, just making my case :) – NKCampbell Nov 12 '19 at 22:52
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    I've reopened this because as explained above it is not a duplicate. One of the reasons here is the same as the answer to the target but this is more than just the answer there whether we consider this was Fury or Talos. – TheLethalCarrot Nov 13 '19 at 08:55

4 Answers4

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There are likely a few reasons here so lets break them down.

For emergencies only

Carol says herself that Nick should only use the upgraded pager for emergencies, he doesn't appear to use it for the Chitauri invasion in The Avengers or Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Carol Danvers: I upgraded it. Range should be, a couple galaxies, at least.

Nick Fury: What? You think I'm gonna crank call you?

Carol Danvers: For emergencies only. Okay?

Captain Marvel

This is also the reason why he doesn't appear to call her until Avengers: Infinity War, before then these threats were just Avengers level threats, Thanos was a Carol level threat.

Peter: And I know you probably have an answer for this. Why didn’t Nick Fury not use the pager until Infinity War? Because this big hole opened up in the sky and aliens attacked New York City.

Kevin Feige: Well, I’d say two things. One, she does say it’s gotta be a real emergency, right? Yeah.

Peter: Because that was just a city. I guess that’s not the world.

Kevin Feige: The other thing I’d say is how do you know he never hit it? How do we know he never pushed it before? We’ve never seen him push it before. That doesn’t mean he never did.

/Film, Why Nick Fury Didn’t Page Captain Marvel Before ‘Infinity War’, According To Kevin Feige

Which leads into the next point...

He may have called her and she couldn't come

He says she's "unavailable" which means he must know that for some reason. Whether that's because she told him when she left or he called and she told him, who knows? And even if he did call her, she's covering a large area as Earth isn't the only place with problems. Therefore, Earth probably wasn't her priority during that timespan of Spider-Man: Far From Home.

James "Rhodey" Rhodes: Hey, new girl, everyone here is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?

Carol Danvers: There are a lot of other planets in the universe. And unfortunately, they didn't have you guys.

[...]

Natasha Romanoff: Carol, are we seeing you here next month?

Carol Danvers: Not likely.

Rocket: What, you gonna get another haircut?

Carol Danvers: Listen fur-face, I'm covering a lot of territory. The things that are happening on Earth, are happening everywhere, on thousands of planets.

Rocket: All right, all right, that's a good point. That's a good point.

Carol Danvers: So you might not see me for a long time.

Avengers: Endgame

The twist

It's worth noting that in the film that Fury we see,

isn't actually Fury, but Talos.

As such he might have had specific orders to not call Carol with whatever she was doing. In fact, it seems like he wasn't even supposed to call

Fury

considering his reaction in the scene when he does. As he doesn't even know what to say when people ask where the Avengers are it seems likely he, himself, is on a need to know basis and is just there temporarily. Even more so because his mission appears to be to fill in and give Peter the glasses.

In fact considering the relationship between this Fury and Carol it seems likely he may not have wanted to call her and instead rely on what he had. That's mostly why he says "Don't invoke her name.", not because of the power she has.

The manipulation

It is also worth noting that Beck has been manipulating "Fury" somewhat throughout this time. He's been making himself look very good as well as making the attacks occur near Peter so that he was the one Fury called upon as he was nearest. Whilst Beck can't really manipulate Fury into not calling the other Avengers he could try and make it seem like they were less needed by making himself look a lot better. When we get to London we even see Beck state that "No other Avengers are coming".

Along these lines it's worth noting that according to Jon Watts, the director, the whole thing probably wouldn't have worked if Fury had been there instead of Talos as he is more sceptical by his very nature.

“Nick Fury’s super power is essentially being skeptical,” Watts notes. “Suspicion is what makes Nick Fury, Nick Fury. That just helped make that part of the story make sense to me in a good way. Nick Fury was sort of taking a vacation of his own, which fits into the greater storyline of Peter’s vacation. So it all sort of came together in this one last moment.”

Polygon, Why Spider-Man: Far From Home’s director wanted a Sixth Sense-like, post-credit twist

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TheLethalCarrot
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  • “He says she's "off-world"” — doesn’t he just say that about Thor? – Paul D. Waite Nov 11 '19 at 10:02
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    @PaulD.Waite Yeah, I changed it to unavailable (because that's what he says in the trailer IIRC). – TheLethalCarrot Nov 11 '19 at 10:03
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    IMHO the "Don't invoke her name" was Talos getting angry and breaking character. She basically saved his entire species, so he's got a lot more respect for her than anyone else in the MCU. – T.E.D. Nov 11 '19 at 15:00
  • @T.E.D. Aye, that's what I was hinting at just didn't want to go into it completely as that's a separate question. – TheLethalCarrot Nov 11 '19 at 15:31
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    I didn't make the "breaking character" connection for obvious reasons. I should really finish watching movies before asking questions on them... – Prometheus Nov 11 '19 at 19:31
  • It is worth mentioning too that Fury knows the avengers personally so they’d be more likely to pick up on the... you know. Not good to go spilling secrets. Nick definitely went to great lengths to keep that secret and the less that know the better. – user64742 Nov 12 '19 at 00:40
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    I think you are making a mistake attributing "Don't invoke her name." to Fury when in reality it is Talos who is saying it. This is likely due to the fact that Captain Marvel saved him and his people, and therefore has significant meaning to him. – yawnobleix Nov 12 '19 at 10:27
  • @yawnobleix I'm not attributing it to Fury but rather Talos, not the wording of "this Fury". I just didn't want to clutter the bottom section with too many spoiler blocks. – TheLethalCarrot Nov 12 '19 at 10:31
  • @Hashim Yes, that would probably be a good idea... – Lightness Races in Orbit Nov 17 '19 at 17:30
  • This answer ignores the key point which is that this whole plan was so that Beck could get EDITH, therefore Beck manipulated Fury to ensure no other avenger was called and the only help on hand was Spiderman, wherever Peter was the Elementals would have appeared – Richard C Nov 18 '19 at 12:23
  • @RichardC Beck couldn't manipulate it so that all of the other Avengers were unavailable. He manipulated it so Peter was available but not so every other Avenger is out of the picture. Also that doesn't mean Fury couldn't call another Avenger at all. – TheLethalCarrot Nov 18 '19 at 12:25
  • No Fury wouldn't But remember, and this is really important, this Isnt Fury, this is Talos who is also being manipulated, he thinks Beck has it all under control, thinks that Spiderman and Beck can take on th eelementals and destroy them because Beck has convinced him, so he doesn't call anyone else to help. – Richard C Nov 18 '19 at 12:30
  • @RichardC I'm very aware it is Talos but I still don't think you have a strong argument that Beck manipulated it that way. Sure he did some manipulation but not as much as what you are getting at. – TheLethalCarrot Nov 18 '19 at 12:32
  • Beck manipulates the whole thing, throughout the film members of Becks team appear in scenes watching and manipulating peter (there is a whole article about that somewhere online I will find it). Beck made sure Fury and Hill came to the first attack site alone and from that point on he ensured everything was exactly as he intended. The entire film is Becks manipulation of Fury, Hill and Peter to ensure that EDITH is handed to him. there isnt some manipulation, it is all manipulation even to the point of "Flying" and landing and sitting next to peter, that is a hologram – Richard C Nov 18 '19 at 12:39
  • @RichardC I'm well aware he was manipulating it, what I'm arguing is his level of manipulation over calling in other Avengers as Fury (Talos) does appear to have called others from dialogue seen in the film. – TheLethalCarrot Nov 18 '19 at 12:42
  • there is no proof he actually called anyone else – Richard C Nov 18 '19 at 12:43
  • @RichardC He knows where they are which means he must be in contact with them but yeah agree to disagree. – TheLethalCarrot Nov 18 '19 at 12:44
  • saying that they are off world and unavailable is not the same as saying he is in contact with them, at the end of End Game Thor took off in a spaceship and as I have said we have no proof that Strange was actually contacted by Talos, agree to disagree but I think your answer ignores the key plot points of the movie – Richard C Nov 18 '19 at 12:49
  • @RichardC I'm not ignoring that point, I just think the other points weigh more heavily and so didn't add it. However, if I get time later on I might add in that point because it is worth mentioning. – TheLethalCarrot Nov 18 '19 at 12:52
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Ever since Nick became aware of Carol, he's been aware that she doesn't really consider herself an Earthling, and has a bunch of stuff to do all across the galaxy. This is why he started the Avenger Initiative: to find other people capable of defending Earth when she can't, or won't. (For example, when the Chitauri invade, or when Ultron tries to wipe out humanity.)

That's exactly what he's doing (or, as it turns out in the post-credits scene, delegating) in Far From Home. Tony, Cap and Nat are gone, Thor's off being a hippy space pirate, Bruce is probably busy taking selfies, Hawkeye's probably retired again.

Nick might think there's a risk that Peter will give up the whole hero thing after his mentor died. But he definitely knows that there are plenty of threats to Disney cinema grosses Earth, all over the release schedule galaxy, and that any potential heroes on Earth need to step up and show they can compete with Aquaman 2 get in the game.

Paul D. Waite
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there are 2 very simple reasons why Nick didn't call Carol.

No1 wanting to get EDITH meant Beck ensured only Peter would be called on. When he attacks London he purposely ensures that no other Avengers are coming to fight the new monster. This scene clears up a very important point, why didn't Fury call the other Avengers, the answer Beck manipulated him in such a way that he didn't think he needed to. Spiderman (armed with EDITH) and Beck where more then enough.

The main purpose of Fury meeting with Peter was to get the glasses to him, it then coincided with the Elementals because of Beck, remember he made sure the Elementals appeared in Venice, and he made sure that Fury believed he could handle them and didnt need any more help, he even suggested to Peter that if he left it would be OK and he would fight on alone, we know then that he would also win. which is also where Peter happened to be and Fury needed to get the glasses to Peter which Beck wanted so Beck manipulated it all.

Also as per the Post Credit scene, which is in itself an important thing

Fury is Talos, Fury is in Space, probably with Danvers, Fury gave Talos a simple task, give Edith to Peter. Beck then involved himself in that and as is clear Talos feels a bit embarrassed that it almost all went very very wrong. It is clear that during the events of Far From Home Talos was not about to call Fury and ask for help and calling Carol is the same thing.

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  • Your first point doesn't make much sense considering Fury would have called upon the other Avengers before London. – TheLethalCarrot Nov 18 '19 at 12:23
  • But he didn't, That is the only time we see Beck state about the avengers not coming, it is a fair assumption to make that every other elemental attack was planned to equally ensure that Fury didn't call other Avengers in to help Becks whole plan depends very much on no other avenger getting involved – Richard C Nov 18 '19 at 12:26
  • Considering Fury knows where some of the other Avengers are it stands to reason he probably called some of them thus invalidating your point. Just saying "but he didn't" with no evidence and then saying it was because Beck manipulated him is very weak evidence. – TheLethalCarrot Nov 18 '19 at 12:28
  • 2 important points this isn't Fury. But also it is clear Beck has manipulated him to ensure the other avengers where not called. Beck has shown he can fight and defeat 3 Elementals on his own. His whole plan is predicated on deception, sleight of hand and making sure it all goes his own way. Another avenger throws that plan out the window so Beck ensures Fury only calls on Spiderman. You can assume Fury didn't call on any other avenger because they didn't show up. The single line at London shows that Beck had taken the avengers into consideration and didn't want them involved. – Richard C Nov 18 '19 at 12:34
  • They didn't show up because they were "unavailable" or "off-world" showing that he did indeed try and call them. But I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree. – TheLethalCarrot Nov 18 '19 at 12:36
  • No Thor is Off World, Dr Strange is "unavailable" (although a shapeshifter is not going to reach out to the sorcerer supreme when he can easily see through there disguise). We still have Hulk, and Bruce Banner would be a massive help here, we have Bucky and the new Captain America, Wanda, Black Panther, there are a host of superheroes on earth that Fury could have reached out to, that would have undone Becks plan in an instant either by being smarter, or more suspicious but didn't, because he was convinced by Beck that he had it under control and Talos didn't want to admit he didnt. – Richard C Nov 18 '19 at 12:42
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Skrull imposter Nick doesn't want to be outed by Carol Danvers.

Ihor Sypko
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