WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Captain Marvel: The End #1, by Kelly Thompson, Carmen Carnero, David Curiel and VC's Travis Lanham, on sale now.
Marvel's The End one-shots explore the final missions of the publisher's various heroes. Among the latest batch is Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, and as the title promises, Carol does indeed meet her end. However, Captain Marvel's death befits the hero, even echoing an act she did during one of Marvel's biggest '90s crossover events.
Captain Marvel: The End #1 opens with Carol defending Planet N'Drelia in 2051. After she gets back from destroying a particularly gross bug, she looks at a photo of her fellow Avengers, who seemingly died years earlier. She's interrupted by a message from her pager, which reads, "Avengers Assemble." This shocks Carol, who had been under the impression those she knew on Earth were dead.
While flying back to Earth, Carol thinks back on the disaster that destroyed the planet. She doesn't go into much detail about the event's key players, but it's revealed a villain attacked and the people of Earth rallied together in response. Despite that, the villain was either defeated or stop caring, having already destroyed Earth. Carol's uncertainty about the details is likely due to her having been in another galaxy at the time.
When Carol arrives on Earth, the planet is frozen over, but she soon discovers a group of survivors made up of several former heroes -- including Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman, Emma Frost, and Hisako Ichiki/Armor -- as well as the children of various well-established Marvel characters. Emma then reveals there's a powerful radioactive monster that the survivors need help subduing. The only reason they've been able to survive the beast's attacks so far is because Jennifer Takeda/Hazmat has been using her power to creates radiation-free pockets, though the process is doing damage to her body. Naturally, Carol agrees to help.
The heroes defeat the monster, but a far darker truth emerges during the ensuing celebration. The Sun is dying, which explains just why the planet is frozen over. Aware that this is no way for the survivors to live, Carol decides to restart the sun herself. At first, Jennifer attempts to convince her not to sacrifice herself, but Captain Marvel can't be dissuaded. The two part ways, and Carol flies into outer space and towards her destiny.
As she works on restarting the Sun, Carol likens the act to how she nearly died doing the same in Quasar #34 as part of "Operation: Galactic Storm." That massive event saw the Avengers attempting to intervene in a war between the Kree and Shi'ar alien empires, which resulted in the Sun getting destabilized. This act of saving the Earth ended up requiring Carol to effectively burn out the white hole powers that defined her time as the cosmic hero Binary.
In The End, Captain Marvel succeeds in restarting the Sun. However, she dies in the process, with her last thoughts being, "It feels like coming home. It's a good death." On Earth, those she saved acknowledge her sacrifice, and a new day dawns on a livable world.
Captain Marvel: The End #1 is fundamentally about Carol's feelings of guilt surrounding not having been around to save those whom she loved. However, Carol's sacrifice means the children of many of her best friends and allies will now be able to live on the surface of Earth. By dying, Carol has given Earth a future once again.