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We see in the post credit scene of Avengers: Infinity War, where Nick Fury seemingly sends a message for help to Captain Marvel and he has her number on speed dial, or if that was a pager.
In an interview, Kevin Feige stated that Captain Marvel would be the strongest character they have introduced.
So why did Nick Fury didn't call for her help sooner? She could've helped them defeat early on when he hadn't gathered all of the Infinity Stones.
When I saw the movie I thought the same thing, like where is Nick Fury in all this chaos. My only way to explain the situation is that Nick Fury probably doesn't even know that anything is happening in Wakanda at all.
In the post credit scene, we see him, on what looks like any other day, there is no panic on the streets, he is not rushing anywhere to do something like you would in a middle of a world ending event.
Also when Thanos's henchmen came to New York, they shortly fought Iron Man and the others, and soon, carried them into space, where they would stay for the rest of the movie. That way Iron Man couldn't really inform him of anything.
All of the events that occur afterwards in the movie are happening very fast, one after another so there isn't really any time gap, or time jump, between start and finish of the movie.
One could say, how can't he know, the New York attack was all over the news?
That is true, but only consequence of that event is Tony Stark missing, they didn't attack New York with an army like they did in Wakanda, so that really wasn't a world ending event so that he needs to call Captain Marvel (they've seen much worse). And like I said, while they may be investigating what happened to Tony, other events are all happening very fast that they simply didn't have the time to hear what is happening at Wakanda (probably on the same day).
So why did Nick Fury didn't call for her help sooner?
The situation was contained within the AVENGERS throughout the movie until the big blowout which resulted in the world knowing what happened. Let us consider the movie events:
Now let us consider the perspective of Nick Fury:
So Captain Marvel was reserved only for extinction-level events dubbed CODE RED and considering people were dis-integrating in front of him, he assumes the Avengers have failed and that's when he goes for the last option available... As to why she is considered for only and extinction-level event, we have to wait for the "Captain Marvel" movie.
SHIELD was basically destroyed after Captain America: Winter Soldier, and Nick Fury "died". He doesn't have the same level of immediate news and access that he previously enjoyed. The Agents of SHIELD tv series shows that at this time, SHIELD is considered an underground (if not terrorist) organisation. This, combined with Wakanda's mostly secretive nature, means that he wouldn't know about what was happening over there.
While it's certainly conceivable that he was aware of the New York/spaceship attack, the news reports shown were discussing (if I remember correctly) a missing Tony Stark afterwards. Nick may have assumed, without any other contradictory information, that since the spaceship is gone Iron Man has handled it.
Thanos is not a threat that Nick knows about (as far as we've seen so far).
With no Tony(missing), and no Steve (on the run), when he sees what happens to Maria Hill, he sends a message to (presumably) Captain Marvel.
This is entirely speculation: From an out-of-universe perspective, considering that Kevin Feige stated that Captain Marvel is the strongest character they will have introduced, it would make sense to not have her show up in Infinity War.
I'm not really familiar with the character at all. Presumably she would have been more of a match for Thanos and, along with the Avengers and Guardians, the screenwriters might not have been able to prevent her from turning the tide.
When you look at how the movie ends, it seems clear to me that they wouldn't have wanted some new mysterious character to swoop in and do that.
Because she is always Nick's backup plan as elaborated in canon comics, from screenrant
The official Captain Marvel Prelude comic offers the first clues. There's one brief conversation, set at the same time as the end of Captain America: Civil War, in which Nick Fury and Maria Hill discuss heroes. Hill is evidently disappointed in the Avengers, and doubting the wisdom of this entire initiative. "I've heard something else said about heroes," she observes caustically. "Never to meet them. They'll only ever let you down." It's an observation Fury objects to, and he gives a swift response; "Not all of them."
Eternally observant, Hill realizes that this seems to imply there's still another hero in play. "You got one we haven't called yet," she asks, clearly curious. "Might be helpful to have a backup plan in case the worst should ever come." In case readers were doubting this conversation was about Captain Marvel, Fury ends it with a simple response; "Nah. If we do our job right, we'll never be in a position of having to call her."
Clearly indicated it's Captain Marvel.
I'm not a comics fan and have only seen the movies.
But, my assumption would be - as an audience we do not know the answer to that question yet, and we won't likely know until Captain Marvel comes out next year.
They have released that the Captain Marvel movie is set during the 90s though, so presumably something happens during this movie that either puts her out of action (which may be why as of Iron Man, Nick starts putting that Avengers together in the first place) or for some other reason she is indisposed.
So realistically it's the same question as to why Thor wasn't in Civil War. The answer to that was in Thor: Ragnarok.
The movies are a series, we just have to wait for the next one.
If you've seen the movie a couple times then it becomes pretty clear that Nick Fury simply didn't know enough about Thanos until it was too late.
If you stretch the question a bit further, though, "Why didn't Fury call during the NYC attack or about Ultron?", then you have a much more interesting question.
One theory I haven't seen yet:
Imagine you've got a bank heist going on. Who would you call?
The police can probably handle it. They've got the tools and experience to sufficiently eliminate the threat.
If Iron Man is around, isn't too busy, and is willing to participate, then he could probably handle it better than the police. His technology and experience is superior. It'd be overkill to call him about every bank robbery, but you could be forgiven for doing so if you felt like the robbers were unusually dangerous. As Tony told Peter in Homecoming: "Forget the flying Vulture guy. There are people who handle this sort of thing."
Then there's Hulk... you don't call Hulk for a bank robbery because using him comes at great cost. Hulk is a destroyer, much like a bomb. You don't use him unless the situation warrants it. You would try to handle the situation with less raw, destructive power.
Perhaps the Captain Marvel character we're about to be introduced to comes with some costs. Perhaps she attracts the wrong crowd™, or her powers, once unleashed, are difficult to control. Maybe she just doesn't care that much about human life or collateral damage. Who knows... she might not have been much more useful in the NYC attack then that nuclear missile, which is why Fury chose not to call her.
But, if half of the universe is dying or already dead... well then the costs associated with using her may actually be warranted.
I'd imagine it will take her time to get to earth say a couple of months, like how it took Thor two months to get to Sakar. She wouldn't have been back in time to beat the nuke, levithian or sokovia dropping if he called her any time before. At the end of Infinity War he knows Stark is off the planet and multiple ships are over Wakanda, instead of just one ship over New York like the previous two times. When people dissolve before his eyes he knows he has no options even if she doesn't arrive for a couple of months because the escalation of problems is too much for him and Hill and whoever may or may not be alive to fix themselves.
