With the release of Iron Man in 2008, Marvel began a trend that would change cinema forever. In 1996, Marvel’s stocks crashed as comic sales went down by 70%. The winter of 1996 was truly the Dark Ages for both Marvel and the comics community as a whole. After much corporate intrigue, investments and an entire company overhaul, Marvel established Marvel Studios in 1995 with the hope of getting its heroes onto the big screen. In 2005, they took a big risk; they made a deal with Wall Street firm Merrill Lynch.
Merrill Lynch gave Marvel Studios $525m to produce ten movies in seven years. The catch? If the movies failed, then Marvel’s brightest stars would be owned by the bank. Now Marvel has risen from the ashes of past mistakes to create the Marvel Cinematic Universe; an intertwined world where our favorite Marvel heroes fight, interact and live together. Movies like The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy make billions in the box office and Marvel is a big name once again.
People all over the world get hyped up for the latest Marvel release, now more than ever in the wake of Avengers: Infinity War. We all want to know what happens next, but I want to take a moment to look back into the past. With years of lore, different directors and writers there are bound to be blips in the timeline. I have scoured the web looking for continuity breaks in the MCU. Read on to discover what I found.
24 Captain Marvel Is Inherently A Retcon
I feel a bit bad criticizing Captain Marvel since she has not even hit the screen yet, but I gotta. Captain Marvel is set in the nineties and features both Nick Fury and Korath The Pursuer. However, some big changes have been made to their backstories. Fury has gone from a military hero and S.H.I.E.L.D agent to two-eyed desk jockey in Captain Marvel. This is a big contradiction that cannot be ignored. If the iconic ‘keep two eyes open’ quote from Winter Soldier is honored then it will be redeemed a small bit.
23 Hulk Almost Ended It - And Cap Was There??
In The Incredible Hulk, the Edward-Norton version of Bruce Banner nearly kicked things off in a dark way. In an original opening for the film, Banner was alone in the Arctic with a gun. When he attempted to end his life, the big guy came out and crushed the weapon (and the area) before Banner could do anything. In the background for a moment, you can spot The Cap frozen in the ice. If the ice was destroyed, how could Cap-sicle be found in his own movie?
22 Peter Quill’s Time Travelling Cassettes
The Guardians of The Galaxy soundtrack is so freaking good. Full of tasty jams that everyone on the audience was familiar with, Peter Quill’s cassettes were a great detail in the movie. They were given to him by his mother before she passed in 1988, but there is a small problem; those are not eighties cassettes. The cassettes Quill uses are Type 2 CDing 2TDK cassettes from the nineties. Not only are they invincible to wearing out but they are also time travelers - who knew?
21 The Prophecy Of Thor
In the first Thor movie, we meet Thor and Loki as children and learn of the epic battle that revealed Asgardians to humanity for the first time. Asgardians were immediately seen as gods and Norse mythology was formed. When Thor is banished to Earth for trying to pick a war with the Frost Giants, Erik Selvig recognizes him from a book in the library. This book has an exact picture of Thor along with his name and a perfect replica of Mjolnir. The problem is Thor had never been to Earth before, so how was he drawn so perfectly?
20 You Only Have Two Shots, Agent Carter
In the past, Marvel has created short films called One-Shots that explored a character or scenario. These One-Shots have featured Phil Coulson, Tony Stark, and Agent Carter herself. Carter’s One-Shot, however, is rendered an issue due to the existence of the Agent Carter series, which was released after the One-Shot came out. The series is considered canon making the One-Shot irrelevant at best and a complete continuity break at worst.
19 The Timescale Issue Of Spider-Man: Homecoming
Hold on tight kids, things are about to get confusing. The very first scenes in Spiderman: Homecoming takes place in the aftermath of The Avengers, which took place in 2012. Then a title card appears saying ’eight years later’.
What is the truth, Marvel?
This means that Homecoming takes place in 2020, which makes no sense considering that Infinity War takes place in 2018. Spider-Man was a huge part of Infinity War but also appeared in Civil War which takes place in 2016.
18 Which Shield Entrance Should I Use?
In the opening of Spider-Man: Homecoming, we watch the iconic shield-stealing moment in a vlog Peter recorded. You know how it went: he swung in, snatched Cap’s shield and said ‘hey, everyone’ after he landed.
As Oprah would say ‘so what is the truth’?
But what if I told you that this version is incorrect? In Civil War, Spider-Man instead steals the shield and lands but says nothing. Stark praises him, leading to word-vomit and then the ‘hey, everyone.’
17 The Infinity Gauntlet’s Backstory
According to Thanos, he got the dwarves to make the infinity gauntlet before destroying all except King Eitir. Judging by Thor’s conversation with him, the dwarves were only recently attacked. If this is true, how did Thanos have the gauntlet in Age of Ultron, which is set in 2015? Does time work differently in space? Have grief and trauma affected his ability to gauge the passing of time? It just does not make sense.
16 Gamora’s Conflicting Origins
When we first meet Gamora in Guardians Of The Galaxy, she tells us that Thanos destroyed her parents in front of her. This would be fine if we did not see Thanos invade Gamora’s home planet in Infinity War.
Yet again what is the truth, Marvel execs?
In this scene, Thanos rounds up the population brings Gamora away from the crowd and turns her away as Thanos’ troops cull the masses. It is a brutal scene, but very contradictory.
15 Bucky’s Double Birthday
Museums are reputable sources of fact. We have been told that information and artifacts found in museums are accurate and legitimate. However, in Winter Soldier Cap went to the Smithsonian Institute’s exhibition on his life.
I bet Steve got a chill seeing this.
In a display on Bucky Barnes, there are two different years given for Bucky’s birthday. According to the Smithsonian, Bucky was either born in 1916 or 1917 and perished in 1944 - somebody did not check their facts.
14 Friendly Neighbourhood Space-Man
In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Tony Stark offers Peter the opportunity to become an official member of the Avengers. This offer is essentially a VIP pass and an absolute dream for Peter. However, being the mature kid he is, Peter turns down the offer knowing he is not ready for that kind of responsibility. But then in Infinity War, he goes to space when no-one asks and basically becomes an Avenger anyway. There’s going with the flow and there’s taking a few too many risks.
13 Thor’s Missing People
Thanos’ MO is that he destroys half of the population on each planet to conserve resources and ‘save’ everyone. One of the main themes in Thor: Ragnarok was that Asgard is not a place but a people and ended with the Asgardians sailing off into space. Infinity War began by showing the bodies of deceased Asgardians. Thor was going around as if he were the last Asgardian in the universe. But the thing is, Thanos ended everyone; not just half. He is breaking his own bad guy code.
12 Thor’s Almost Character Development
Speaking of themes in Thor: Ragnarok, one other big hurdle for Thor was the destruction of Mjolnir, his hammer. After feeling useless without it, Thor eventually remembers that he was still powerful before he received Mjolnir and thus unlocks his true potential as the God of Thunder. This was some great character development and a good general lesson for him. But then Infinity War came over and ruined it by making Thor go get a new weapon. We literally just established that he does not need it - way to go Marvel.
11 Thor’s Extra Ability
Thor is a man who loves to make an entrance. In The Avengers, Thor ambushes Cap and Iron Man’s escort of Loki. He slams onto their plane in the midst of a thunderstorm which is pretty amazing. The problem here is that at the end of the first Thor movie Thor destroyed the Bifrost and cut off all access to Earth. Loki mumbled something about Odin using ‘dark magic’ to get him there which renders all of Thor’s moping irrelevant. Not only this, but the Bifrost is fixed by Dark World, which is impossible. Odin stabbing himself on the World Tree wouldn’t tell him how to fix an age-old bridge.
10 Stark Quit In Iron Man 3
Iron Man has had a rough time over the years. First, his heart got wrecked by terrorists, then he has to fight to keep ownership of his suits and then everything he owns gets destroyed. By the end of the third movie, Stark has practically nothing but is ready to begin a new life with Pepper Potts and finally settle down. This is a sweet ending and a big moment for Tony. If Stark really did retire why do we then see him in Age of Ultron?
9 We Were On A Break
Speaking of Stark’s love life, In Civil War, which happens post-Iron Man 3, Stark is suddenly not with Pepper anymore. When Cap asks, Tony mutters that they are on a break and nothing more is said. This is crazy since we just saw them together ready to start new lives and Stark was retired. This casual explanation always bothered me even on my first viewing of Civil War. Sure, Tony’s addictive personality may have latched onto heroism and he just couldn’t stay away, but a mumbled explanation may as well not exist here.
8 The Mysterious Second Shield
Peter Quill’s cassettes are not the only Marvel items that can teleport. As we all know by this point, Steve crashed his plane into the ocean and froze with his shield in the war. We then found our chilly Cap many decades later and defrosted him into the man we know and love.
I guess being a Stark gives you access to beta shields?
In the Iron Man movies, however, you can see Cap’s shield in the background in Tony’s workshop. In one shot it is just on the table but in another scene, the shield is holding up one of Tony’s inventions.
7 Iron Man Has Healing Powers?
Remember how I mentioned Tony Stark had a bad time in his movies? His business partner, Obadiah Stane, used a machine that paralyzes Tony with sound causing him to bleed from his ears. Bleeding from the ears usually means a severely ruptured eardrum at best and a brain hemorrhage at worst. But then in the next scene, Tony has no blood on his ears. I doubt he had time to clean himself up while crawling for his life to his garage, so the next logical step is he magically healed from a brain hemorrhage and he went on to battle Stane.
6 Stan Lee Can See The Future
Love them or hate them, Stan Lee cameos are a staple of the Marvel movie franchise. From a jury member to a hot dog vendor Stan Lee has been anything and everything in the MCU. In Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, Lee is an informant for The Watchmen on a random planet. While chatting about his experiences on earth, he mentions that he has been a FedEx guy before. However, he was a FedEx guy in Civil War, which is set after Guardians 2 - Spooky.
5 Avengers Assemble (Another Time)
In Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 2, Ego the Celestial wanted to manipulate his son Peter Quill’s powers to activate tree seeds he had hidden on planets across the galaxy. This power set off the trees and caused widespread devastation as Ego assimilated entire planets.
Missed the memo, guys?
Earth had the misfortune to be included in this process and was engulfed in what can only be described as waves of purple goop that destroyed everything. Being set in 2014, this movie should have featured the Avengers as they were on Earth at this time.
