The Marvel Cinematic Universe reached its peak with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and even though the Avengers and the rest of the MCU’s heroes saved the world in Endgame, their actions ended up damaging their reputation even further. The MCU’s first three phases prepared the ground for the arrival of Thanos and him acquiring the Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Stones to fulfill his plans: getting rid of half of life in the universe in order to bring balance to it, and this had terrible consequences in the MCU.
Thanos ultimately gathered all the Stones and mounted them in the Infinity Gauntlet to vanish half of life in the universe with the snap of his fingers in Avengers: Infinity War, leaving the MCU with only a couple of superheroes. However, the surviving heroes were able to come up years later with a plan to bring all those who were “blipped” back, and so Avengers: Endgame saw them planning a complex Time Heist. This allowed the original Avengers and other surviving heroes to reverse Thanos’ snap, after which all the current superheroes joined forces to defeat Thanos and his armies once and for all, and thanks to Iron Man’s sacrifice, they all saved the universe.
However, as heroic as their actions were in Avengers: Endgame, the Avengers’ reputation wasn’t saved by the Time Heist and the Battle of Earth, and it was actually damaged even further. The MCU’s Phase 4 has explored the consequences of the snap and the return of those who vanished, mostly notably in the TV show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The series revealed that there are a lot of people in the MCU who believe the world was better off after the snap, thus supporting the “Thanos was right” campaign, and this mentality made way for the anti-nationalist group known as “Flag Smashers”, so to all these people, the Avengers aren’t heroes at all as they made their lives worse by reversing the snap.
Through the Flag Smashers, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier explained that, following the snap, the nations and people of the world united and worked together as one, but when all those who vanished were brought back in Avengers: Endgame, billions of people were affected. Many ended up homeless and poor as five years passed between the blip and their return, and the once-united nations went back to not caring about the rest and no longer helped each other nor worked together. The Avengers, then, are not regarded by these people as heroes anymore, as their actions only brought misery and pain to millions all over the world. The Avengers’ reputation had already been damaged years ago, beginning with the Battle of Sokovia in Avengers: Age of Ultron, which then led to the Sokovia Accords and the conflict in Captain America: Civil War, and while bringing back all those who vanished was good, no one had in mind how it was going to impact the universe after all those years.
The original Avengers team is now over, with Iron Man and Black Widow dead, Captain America retired, and Thor, Hulk, and Hawkeye following their own paths, so the team’s reputation will most likely remain tainted for the rest of the MCU’s history. The impact of Thanos’ snap and the return of those who disappeared as a result of it will surely continue to be explored in the MCU’s Phase 4 and beyond, but the reputation of the original Avengers team can’t be saved anymore.
