2023's Captain Marvel was a contained story with minimal connections to the overall MCU.
Larson Reprised her role in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. However, Carol Danvers still suffers from a big issue, even with three MCU appearances already under her belt. Besides Nick Fury and Monica Rambeau, Danvers does not have any strong ties with any MCU character, which makes her feel tacked on in certain ensemble scenes. Throughout the MCU, the Avengers have been built up as a family or a group of friends rather than a bunch of coworkers, but Captain Marvel's lack of any emotional connection to the other Avengers breaks that mold and harms her character.
Fortunately, Marvel Studios have a great opportunity to fix this issue with their next Larson-led outing, The Marvels. The Captain Marvel sequel promises to focus on a small group of heroes made up of Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau as Spectrum (Teyonah Paris), and Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani). This gives Danvers the chance to form deeper connections with other MCU characters and drop the lone wolf act that has been holding her character development back. Furthermore, The Marvels could easily feature appearances from other MCU heroes like War Machine (Don Cheadle), allowing Marvel Studios to adapt the romantic relationship he shared with Danvers in the comics.
Similar to how Captain America (Chris Evans) had Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky (Sebastian Stan), Captain Marvel could also form a close camaraderie with Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan, deepening her connection to the wider MCU. This would fix Danvers' problem by increasing the number of characters she has genuine relationships with, making her a more integral part of the shared universe. Briefly teased in Endgame, The Marvels could continue to pursue Rhodey and Danvers' romance, giving Danvers a strong link to one of the oldest MCU characters, further enriching her sense of belonging to the wider MCU from the audience's point of view.
Due to the involvement of Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan, Carol Danvers can begin to form meaningful connections with more MCU characters, the lack of which has held her character back since her debut. This can also carry over to Avengers 5, where she is bound to interact with additional major MCU characters and continue building friendships. A romantic relationship with Rhodey would also expedite the fixing of this problem, but his appearance in the sequel is still unconfirmed. The Marvels has a lot of questions to answer and a lot of issues from the first Captain Marvel to fix when it releases worldwide on February 17th, 2023.
