If you’ve seen the new Captain Marvel, you’re probably familiar with the cat named Goose. The orange tabby has been everywhere, appearing in trailers, poster, and even starring alongside Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury in the movie. He’s the MCU’s newest viral star, and he might also be its coolest. The kitty’s a Flerken, which makes him more interesting than your average house cat. And even though he looks cute, Goose is actually one of the most dangerous aliens in the MCU.
In the comics, the cat Carol Danvers takes home from Project Pegasus is called Chewie, but for the movie version of the film, writer and director Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck decided to change the name to Goose. They say the new name is a nod to Top Gun, which was one of the films that inspired Carol’s career as a pilot.
The film’s main story revolves around the Skrull and Kree trying to capture a Tesseract, but it turns out that it’s much more of a struggle for both sides than they thought. That’s because the flerken is able to open portals into other dimensions. It’s a powerful and dangerous ability, and it happens to be the power that allows Goose to frighten the Skrulls and make them believe they’re being attacked by Flerken.
But Goose might not be a Flerken for very long. Considering how the film ends, it seems like the cat will eventually die, leaving us with a more mysterious and tragic backstory for the furry alien.