Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe delivered more shocking plot twists than ever before. Phases One and Two had twists like Loki betraying his species and Bucky being brainwashed to assassinate Captain America. But Phase Three took the MCU’s twisty storytelling to new heights.
From Thanos’ apocalyptic finger-snap to the destruction of Asgard to the revelation that Spider-Man’s girlfriend’s dad is the Vulture to the revelation that Bucky is the one who killed Tony Stark’s parents, Phase Three was full of jaw-dropping plot twists.
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 – Ego Is Evil
From the moment Peter Quill’s mysterious biological father shows up in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, it’s pretty predictable that he’ll turn out to be a villain. The extent of that villainy – murdering thousands of his own children and housing their skeletons in the caverns of his planet – is still pretty shocking.
But no one expected Ego to be a straightforward good guy. This twist is even telegraphed by the movie itself when Gamora says, “If he ends up being evil, we’ll just kill him.”
Thor: Ragnarok – Asgard Is Destroyed
The God of Thunder usually figures out a way to save the day, but in Thor: Ragnarok, he has to save the day by not saving the day. His long-lost sister Hela draws her power from Asgard, so Thor determines that the only way to save Asgard is to destroy it.
As the surviving Asgardians flee on a spaceship, Thor unleashes Surtur and allows the titular apocalypse to take place. The movie makes a morbid joke out of Asgard’s destruction, as Korg says the foundations can be salvaged before realizing he spoke too soon as those foundations are obliterated.
Captain Marvel – Not All Skrulls Are Bad
Skrulls are traditionally the bad guys, and that’s what Carol Danvers is told throughout the first half of Captain Marvel. She’s told by the Kree Starforce that the Skrulls are an oppressive force that need to be wiped out. But as it turns out, the Kree are the oppressive ones.
There are some bad Skrulls, naturally, but most of them – like Talos and his family – are just innocent refugees seeking a new home.
Ant-Man And The Wasp – Scott Gets Stranded In The Quantum Realm
For the most part, Ant-Man and the Wasp is one of the lightest MCU movies. It offered audiences a refreshing change of pace after the universal genocide of Avengers: Infinity War. But it has a very dark ending that ties into Infinity War.
Hank, Hope, and the rest of the team send Scott into the Quantum Realm. But when he’s ready to come out, it’s revealed that Hank, Hope, and everyone else who could get him out of there have been turned to dust following Thanos’ finger-snap.
Spider-Man: Far From Home – Mysterio Is The Villain
Like the Ego twist in Guardians Vol. 2, the Mysterio twist in Spider-Man: Far From Home can be seen coming from a mile away. But the difference with Far From Home’s twist is that it’s executed in a novel way. Quentin Beck masquerades as a fellow superhero who plays on Peter Parker’s lack of a father figure to earn his trust.
The twist is delivered after Peter gives the E.D.I.T.H. technology to Beck and leaves the bar. Seconds later, reality comes crumbling down around Beck and the bar turns out to be an illusion, just like everything else around him, as he gleefully says, “See? That wasn’t so hard.”
Doctor Strange – Strange Traps Dormammu In A Time Loop
“Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain.” Most Marvel movies culminate in huge battle sequences that leave entire cities decimated, but the subversive final battle in Doctor Strange goes out of its way to avoid that kind of widespread destruction.
Strange traps Dormammu in a time loop and allows himself to be killed over and over again until the cosmic baddie eventually grows bored of killing him and agrees to leave Earth alone.
Avengers: Endgame – Tony Snatches The Stones From Thanos
When Captains Marvel and America both get pummeled by Thanos in their attempts to prevent another finger-snap, it seems as though Endgame will culminate in an even bleaker ending than Infinity War with the Mad Titan wiping out all life in the universe so he can remake it to suit his utopian vision. And then, in a glorious act of defiance, Tony Stark steps in.
Thanos shakes him off, declares himself to be “inevitable,” and snaps his fingers – but nothing happens. In a perfect conclusion to his character arc, Tony absorbs the Infinity Stones into his own armor, and does a finger-snap of his own that saves the universe before taking his life. In his final moments, Pepper tells Tony that he can finally rest, knowing that the world is safe.
Black Panther – Killmonger Is T’Challa’s Cousin
When Erik Killmonger arrives in Wakanda with the intention of claiming the throne in Black Panther, he reveals that, not only is he Wakandan; he’s T’Challa’s long-lost cousin. This twist calls back to the iconic “I am your father” twist from The Empire Strikes Back.
In both cases, the familial twist forges a tangible personal connection between the hero and villain that gives the hero a reason to save the villain from their life of evil and earn them redemption as opposed to just killing them to put a stop to the threat they pose.
Captain America: Civil War – Bucky Killed Tony’s Parents
The main conflict in Captain America: Civil War is the debate over the Sokovia Accords, but the conflict in the final showdown is much more personal. After Tony Stark and Steve Rogers make peace over the Accords, Tony is shocked to learn that Steve’s best friend assassinated his parents. And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, Steve knew about it.
Most Marvel movies have giant final battles where the whole world is at stake, but the finale in Civil War is much more intimate. Steve is stuck between Tony and Bucky, reluctantly fighting one to save the other.
Spider-Man: Homecoming – The Vulture Is Liz’s Dad
The Spidey story and the Peter story collide in breathtaking fashion with the twist reveal in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Throughout the movie, Peter has been pursuing a romance with his classmate Liz and Spidey has been pursuing justice for an arms dealer named the Vulture, who keeps insisting that he has a family to provide for. As it turns out, that family is Liz.
When Peter abandons his quest to bring down the Vulture, asks Liz to the homecoming dance, and goes to her house to pick her up, he’s shocked to see his winged nemesis open the front door and obliviously greet him. This leads to one of the tensest scenes in the MCU as he gives the young lovebirds a ride to the dance and slowly deduces that Peter is Spider-Man.
Avengers: Infinity War – The Snap
In every Marvel movie, the villain waxes poetic about their diabolical plans to reshape the universe, and in almost every Marvel movie, the heroes manage to stop that villain before their plan comes to fruition. But in Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos’ delusional scheme to fix overpopulation actually became a reality.
The Avengers failed to stop him, he collected all six Infinity Stones, and half of the universe’s population – including a bunch of beloved superheroes – turned to dust. Audiences were floored by this devastating cliffhanger.