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.
Set in 2051 after the decimation of Earth by an unnamed villain, Captain Marvel: The End #1 is fundamentally about Carol Danvers' last quest. However, the book also reveals just what happened to many of the hero's greatest allies -- and their children. A few surprising new additions to the Marvel Universe are introduced in the book.
Captain Marvel: The End #1 opens with Carol protecting Planet N'Drelia when she receives a mysterious message that reads, "Avengers Assemble." This causes her to return to Earth, which has been turned into a frozen wasteland since she last visited. While searching the ruins, Carol comes upon a group of survivors.
The first person Carol recognizes is Gerry Drew, the son of Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman, who was one of Captain Marvel's best friends and allies. However, he's far from the only person Carol is able to identify. Dani Cage -- the daughter of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones -- is also there, as well as Runaways member Molly Hayes, whose face is quite scarred. They're working with Johnny Watts/Fuse and a mutant named Irene, who is Rogue and Gambit's child. That's not all, though. Several well-established characters also return, including Emma Frost, Jennifer Takeda/Hazmat, Hisako Ichiki/Armor and Jessica Drew, though she's quite old and infirm.
Following that meeting, Carol is brought to the survivor's base. There, she meets Lucy, the daughter of Danny Rand and Misty Knight. Lucy is married to Dani. Carol also learns Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff had a daughter who they named Katie Barton, potentially a reference to Kate Bishop/Hawkeye. Finally, there's Carol Rhodes, the daughter of James Rhodes/War Machine and an unidentified woman who was none too happy with the hero naming his daughter after his ex-girlfriend.
Just how these characters survived the disaster that happened on Earth isn't totally clear, although Gerry claims it mostly had to do with resilience. At the start of the book, the group is being threatened by a massive, radioactive monster. In order to keep the other survivors safe, Hazmat has been using her powers to send the beast's radiation into space and create pockets that are radiation-free -- however, this comes at the expense of her health.
Carol feels terrible about having abandoned them all to live in this horrible wasteland, but Emma, never one to let people feel bad about themselves unless she wants them to, enlists the hero's help in protecting the city. This allows the new heroes to show off just how powerful they are, and they're able to defeat the radioactive monster together.
At the end of the book, it's revealed the survivors are unable to live on Earth's surface, as the sun is dying. It's then that Carol decides to make up for being away when Earth needed her most and sacrifices herself to revive the celestial body. On the final page of Captain Marvel: The End #1, the new heroes look up at the blue sky that is now above the Earth knowing that one of the most powerful heroes of the old guard sacrificed herself to give them a future.