In the past eleven years, Marvel Studios has made over twenty-one movies and over fourteen billion dollars from box office returns alone. With Avengers: Endgame finally here, the first Golden Age of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is coming to a close, with many of our favorite heroes and the actors that portray them choosing not to renew their multi-picture movie contracts. That doesn't mean the MCU itself will be stopping its ambitious world building or its near-constant film production — they've been slowly familiarizing us with a new slate of heroes to save (and occasionally destroy) the world.
After over a decade of filmmaking, it's only natural that the complex and often confusing interlocking stories in the MCU would create some massive plot holes. Most of the little inconsistencies can be easily written off as a side effect of crafting such a massive enterprise, but some issues could have been avoided with tiny tweaks and others should have been pre-empted at the beginning of the saga. That doesn't make the MCU any less impressive, but it is fun to imagine all the ways Marvel could explain away their tiny mistakes. Fan theories across the internet have been doing just that since the franchise began, and they only get more intricate with time. No one knows the MCU better than its superfans, possibly not even the people that make the movies themselves. We've found the most frustrating mistakes and the most compelling fan theories in preparation for the biggest movie event of our generation.
Makes No Sense: They Don’t Team Up During Their Solo Films
When the universe hangs in the balance, the Avengers assemble to take on the Earth's most fearsome foes. When it's just something small like terrorists, the supernatural leader of the Dark Elves, or a villain with wings selling weapons on the black market, the heroes tend to work alone. Even if they aren't working without any help, like Steve Rogers teaming up with the Black Widow or the Falcon during his stand-alone films, they conveniently never call whichever Avenger might be able to solve their problems the quickest. Iron Man would have made quick work of the Vulture, but then what would have happened in Spider-Man: Homecoming?
Makes No Sense: Powerful Characters Get Ignored To Raise The Stakes
In a similar vein, Thor and the Hulk are regularly benches when their existence could solve every problem the Avengers and their friends are facing, especially during the epic airport fight during Captain America: Civil War. At least Vision was given an in-universe reason to stay out of the fray and give both sides a fighting chance, but Thor and The Hulk are so ingrained in the Avengers dynamic as two of the original members, that their absence from the struggle between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers felt like a glaring error.
Makes No Sense: Developments From Solo Films Are Forgotten During The Avengers Movies
While fans can't get enough of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, casual viewers who just want to know enough to make it through the latest Avengers installment could argue there are too many movies to keep in mind. The various production teams might feel that way too, in situations like Tony's character development in Iron Man 3 being completely ignored or Thor's fluctuating levels of power. Various writers and directors don't always have the same character arc in mind as the auteurs of the solo installments, so characters keep needlessly regressing.
Makes No Sense: The Avengers Never Recruited
Now that the MCU is prepping its second era, there are a ton of fresh faces in the Avengers clubhouse. The Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, Black Panther, and soon Captain Marvel have all been called in to stop Thanos from destroying half of the universe, but there's no reason for them to have stayed separate entities for so long. Tony finally brought in Spider-Man during Civil War to further his personal agenda, but the Avengers should have been seeking out more people to help them in their high-risk missions.
Makes No Sense: The Extremis Method Is Never Used To Cure People After Iron Man 3
Iron Man 3 should really exist outside of Marvel's collective continuity. Tony's destruction of his super suits was immediately forgotten in the next Avengers film, and one important plot device, in particular, was introduced that could have changed the entire MCU if included in future films. With the Extremis Method, Bucky Barnes could have been given a new arm. Any major, non-life threatening injuries could have easily been written out by using the revolutionary medicinal breakthrough, which probably would have made most poignant moments in the subsequent films a little less impactful.
Fan Theory: The Dusted Heroes Went In The Soul Stone
It’s no secret that the heroes who were dusted at the end of the first Infinity War film will be coming back. Someone needs to star in Black Panther 2, right? That leaves inventive fans like this Redditor to come up with a plausible way for the fallen to return in Infinity War Part 2. Because Gamora is seen in a watery realm the color of the soul stone after being snapped out of existence, this theory believes that the soul stone can only take its physical, sentient form when attached to an actual soul and that the dusted are living within it as it’s physical anchor.
Makes No Sense: The Ancient One Left A Very Important Book Unprotected
Stephen Strange learned the art of sorcery when he used his own universe-given superpowers of autodidactism and speed reading to learn the entire contents of a very, very old book in a short time span. Even without his brilliance, with time and focus, Stephen could have become Doctor Strange with help from the book. The Ancient One reasonably would have placed powerful protection spells over such an important book, so it makes no sense that the future Doctor Strange was able to steal it just by grabbing the book from its shelf.
Fan Theory: Anyone Could Be A Skrull
Marvel fans learn that the eternally feared Skrulls are actually refugees in the MCU, tragic characters with hearts of gold that helped Captain Marvel in her time of need. That's not to say they couldn't go bad far in the future or that they couldn't be helping Earth's Mightiest Heroes by standing in for some of the Avengers without our knowledge. The dusted could have been Skrulls in disguise and the Avengers could be alive and well according to this theory from Games Radar. The snap was never going to stick, but this Skrull business might.
Makes No Sense: Nick Fury Went MIA
Nick Fury created the Avengers Initiative way back in the early '00s, and thanks to Captain Marvel, fans now know why. The big question now is where the S.H.I.E.LD director has been since Age Of Ultron. During Ultron, Nick spoke briefly about how he has lost his eyes and ears on Earth, leaving the Avengers with only their powers and their wits. That doesn't mean that he isn't a valuable leader in a volatile team, a rare voice of reason when our heroes need guidance. It's strange that Fury would allow himself to be so absent during most of Phase 3.
Makes No Sense: Captain America Was Originally Built For USO Tours
Captain America was created to be the toughest, most invincible soldier in the U.S. Army, and Steve Rogers was picked for his bravery and his heart of gold. All of that adds up, except for the part where the Army uses their secret weapon primarily as a party trick on USO tours. If all they wanted was a face, they could have hired a model. Abercrombie probably already existed back then. Steve was the strongest soldier the army had, so it will never make sense why they didn't put him on the front lines.
Fan Theory: The Quantum Realm Will Create A New Captain Universe
This theory put forth by Games Radar is extremely detailed, but it basically boils down to equating the Quantum Realm in the MCU with the Enigma Force in Marvel’s comics. If Captain Marvel isn’t enough to defeat Thanos, this theory places the weight of the world on Ant-Man’s shoulders. While trapped in the Quantum Realm with only some blink-and-you’ll-miss-it foreshadowing to help him find his way out, Scott could activate the Uni-Power within his endless void, allowing himself or one of the other heroes to become Captain Universe and save the day. If nothing else, Captain Universe may become a reality later in the MCU.
Makes No Sense: How Did Howard Stark Get Vibranium?
Captain America's shield is so powerful because it was made with vibranium by the late, great Howard Stark, who Tony Stark knew as dear old dad. In Black Panther, it's stated that the only outsider to ever escape Wakanda was Klaus, which is why vibranium is so rare on Earth. Klaus was supposedly the only Earthling to escape Wakanda with the element, and Wakanda is the only place in the universe vibranium can be found. If that's truly the case and there isn't more left to the story, there's no way Howard could have gotten it for Cap's shield.
Makes No Sense: Spider-Man: Homecoming Implies Our Timeline Is Off
One careless "8 years later" called the already fragile MCU continuity into question. The first Avengers' alien attack supposedly happened during the present day in 2012, but Spider-Man: Homecoming was set eight years after that attack, which would be 2020. 2016's Civil War reaffirmed that the alien attack happened in 2012, so the two timelines cannot live together in continuity unless fans are missing something huge. Infinity War was said to happen in 2018, but it would have to have happened after 2020 if Spider-Man was involved. Spider-Man: Homecoming must have gone through countless edits, yet no one missed this glaring mathematical error.
Fan Theory: Stan Lee Played Uatu The Watcher
This fan theory has been endorsed by some big names in the Marvel universe, like its chief, Kevin Feige. Stan Lee's cameos in all of his films were a heartwarming tradition highlighting the man who gave fans the characters they love so much. Many believe that all of these cameos were actually one character, Uatu the Watcher, an alien who was assigned to observe sentient life on Earth. This was supposedly confirmed in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and the theory has only gained in popularity since Stan's passing.
Makes No Sense: Thanos Gave The Mind Stone To Loki
Thanos has a one-track mind. All he wants is to collect all of the infinity stones, place them in his fancy glove, and destroy half of all life in the universe. That alone is confusing, because with his gauntlet he could provide necessities for the entire universe and ensure that no one loses their lives in pursuit of justice for his home planet, but it can be written off as the plan of a mad man. That mad man easily handing one of his precious stones to Loki, a notoriously unpredictable and untrustworthy trickster, is entirely out of character.
Fan Theory: Nick Fury In Ultron Was From The Future
There might be a good reason S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury hasn’t been around. This theory from Dorkly wonders if the Nick we see in Avengers: Age of Ultron is really from the future. Nick encourages the Avengers to create Vision to help them in the battle ahead and discourages Tony from experimenting with the A. I. that will birth Ultron, even if they don’t realize it at the time. He also makes a strange comment that implies he has been away from Earth, which hasn’t happened for present-day Nick yet.
Makes No Sense: Captain America Never Had To Crash His Plane
In the saddest of all of the MCU's plot holes and mistakes, Steve Rogers never had to crash his plane in the first Captain America film. Steve never had to give Peggy his dramatic goodbye, he never had to become encased with ice, and he could have lived happily with his lady love and saved the Earth back during the 1900s when there were still plenty of problems to be solved. Cap could have jumped out of his plane, jammed the steering wheel to keep the autopilot on track, or aimed for a less-frozen section of the ocean, and he might have had a happier life.
Makes No Sense: Nick Fury Just Picks Up The Tesseract
The tesseract fully destroys the Red Skull when he picks it up with his bare hands, but human male Nick Fury is just fine when he grabs the cosmic cube during the first Avengers film. Fan theories say Nick was wearing special gloves that protected him from the cube, but if that's true, it definitely should have been mentioned. What's more likely is that the tesseract's frightening powers were forgotten in the hustle and bustle of the biggest MCU event that had happened thus far. Fans may never know if it was a careless error or an unexplained plan.
Fan Theory: Loki Hasn't Really Passed Away (Yet Again)
Honestly, it's likely that Loki will never truly be gone. Tom Hiddleston is a very popular actor among Marvel superfans, and he hasn't been as vocal about plans to leave the franchise as some of the core Avengers have. Characters are resurrected in the MCU every day, and Loki is returning at some point for his television spin-off. Some fans think that Loki going after Thanos with his left hand was a mirror action that implied Loki was a projection, and the real trickster is actually somewhere far, far away from the action.
Makes No Sense: Doctor Strange’s Time Rewinding Powers Weren’t Used In Infinity War
Doctor Strange has made it clear that he doesn't want to use his time-bending powers because the consequences are too great and unpredictable. That's fair, but if the stakes surrounding Dormammu and Kaecilius's attempts to make the Dark Dimension engulf Earth were great enough that Stephen Strange felt compelled to turn back time, Infinity War's struggle against Thanos should have been equally motivational for Stephen to rewind time and stop Thanos from defeating the Avengers at every turn. This is another example where one hero's powers were too great for there to be any stakes in the Avengers films.