The MCU is vast and never-ending. And the guys who are charged with oiling and keeping the gears of time in shape are human. They are bound to slip up sometime. Most of the following points aren’t MCU mysteries but facts and trivia that the MCU presented to us as Easter eggs and comic book references but totally forgot about them later on. Presenting 15 Mysteries that still haunt the Marvel Universe after Infinity War!!
Spiderman: Homecoming timeline
The timeline places Homecoming on the year of its release. But here’s the kicker – Spiderman: Homecoming takes place in the aftermath of The Avengers. The infamous ‘8 years later’ card puts Homecoming 8 years after the events of The Avengers in 2012 which is 2020. That is basically impossible.
Beta Ray Bill
The Beta Ray Bill Easter egg was supposed to subtly sound of the horn for the things that is to come in the Marvel Universe. The Beta Ray Bill bust stuck on the walls of the Grand Master’s tower in Sakaar made a lot of fans excited. It’s a pity Bill hasn’t made it to the MCU as of yet. We all wanted to see a Beta Ray Bill vs. Thor fight in the MCU. Thor: Ragnarok gave us something entirely different than what he had asked for.
The Bi-Frost
The Bi-Frost was supposed to be the only way Asgardians could instantly teleport themselves to any of the nine realms in the universe. That myth was shattered the moment Thor showed up in The Avengers in 2012, even after the Bi-Frost was destroyed. There are also other methods like the Tesseract and Stormbreaker to do the job. The Bi-Frost is said to be controlled by Heimdall’s sword. But in Thor (2011), Odin opened the Bi-Frost using his spear.
The Ross Family
The Incredible Hulk of 2008 has become somewhat of a conundrum for the MCU. Case in point – The Ross Family members. General Ross is the enemy number one of Bruce Banner but he never objects to the Hulk becoming an Avenger. Where the hell is Betty Ross? And why are the Abomination and the Leader absent from the MCU??
Doctor Strange Timeline Problem
Doctor Strange of 2016 does not have any problems for the MCU but it does have issues within itself. Remember Doctor Strange’s post credits cameo featured Thor. He also was seen in Thor: Ragnarok. By that time, he already seems like a master sorcerer. Strange was supposed to be only a year old as a sorcerer. How did he manage to learn the mystic arts in such a short span of time given the fact that it took him so long to learn even the basics?
The Sokovia Accords
Civil War featured the Sokovia Accords but the fact is – whether it passed or not is still a big mystery. The Focus was mainly shifted to Tony and Cap trading fists in the airport hangar and the Accords took a backseat. Our belief is the Accords never passed considering Iron Man would himself encourage Peter to become a vigilante.
What happened to the Stark Industries
In 2008, Tony Stark would claim Stark Industries would focus on energy generation and shut down its weapons research programs. We still don’t know if that has led to any foreseeable fruits. Pepper Potts is now the CEO of Stark Industries and she too has been rather vague as to what they actually do now. In Agents of Shield, they are shown to be providers of private security. In Spiderman: Homecoming, Stark industries regularly organizes field trips for up and coming scientists in the New York area and beyond. How on Earth has Stark Industries managed to stay at the top of the game even after their primary source of revenue, i.e. Weapons research and development was shut down by Tony Stark himself in 2008?!?!
The Iron Patriot
Rhodey has been both the War Machine and the Iron Patriot in the MCU. He has shifted from one to the other as more and more movies came out. He is still a government agent pending a court martial since Infinity War. Which suit will Rhodey wear next and if the answer is War Machine, then has he lost faith in his own country??
Are there other Super-Soldiers besides Cap??
With the death of Abraham Erskine, the Super Soldier Serum stayed a mystery for a long time. Then Howard Stark would go on to create a prototype that made Bucky Barnes the Winter Soldier. Considering Shield had already been infiltrated by Hydra, it would be possible they secured some of Cap’s blood to extract and remake the Super Soldier Serum from scratch. And what about the one administered to Emil Blomsky before he became the Abomination??
Loki’s Staff
Believe it or not, Loki’s Staff was originally supposed to be the Soul Stone. Even if it was the Mind Stone, why would Thanos give away an Infinity Stone to a guy who is literally called the God of Mischief? And why does the Mind Stone shoot beams of energy from the Vision’s forehead?? Loki’s Staff isn’t just a conundrum, it’s a plot hole. And that brings us to our next entry in the list.
What are the true abilities of the Mind Stone
There’s a reason the Mind Stone was chosen to be the last stone to be nabbed by Thanos. Its abilities that range from giving humans superhuman abilities (the Maximoff Twins) to housing a megalomaniacal A.I are so vague that the writers just didn’t know how Thanos would have used against the Avengers. That is why Thanos comes for the Mind Stone at the very end of the movie. All the Infinity Stone’s have a defined set of abilities – the Power Stone gives you immeasurable strength, the time stone grants you control over the time stream, the reality stone can bend the fabric of reality, the Space Stone gives you powers of teleportation and the soul stone has also some pretty cool abilities that were pivotal in helping Thanos wipe out half of all life in the Universe.
Odin’s Vault
The treasures within Odin’s Vault did not just include the Eternal Flame and the Infinity Gauntlet. It housed several powerful artifacts that Thor could have used against Hela or the Chitauri or Ultron. Since Asgard was destroyed in Ragnarok, we will never know how powerful they really were. The Infinity stones were introduced in a hurry to the MCU and as a result, all these powerful artifacts that deserved to grab the spotlight or even passively mentioned in the superhero shared universe never got a chance to shine.
The Ten Rings
Mandarin was handled really poorly in Iron Man 3. They would later change that aspect to reveal the real Mandarin exists in the MCU. The Ten Rings, a terrorist organization vying for world domination was featured multiple times in the MCU. And yet they just haven’t found their mojo yet in the Marvel movies.
Tony’s Actions
Iron Man started out as a vigilante and he has done horrible things ever since. He has killed Obadiah Stane. He has undertaken unsanctioned missions on foreign soil as a vigilante and gone against international law. He has killed Ivan Vanko, a foreign national, even though he could have stopped him without banking on lethal force. Maybe that is why Tony Stark is in support of the Sokovia Accords? Because judging from the things he has done in the past, it is all the more reason for the United Nations to regulate his actions and those of other superheroes that also act as vigilantes within the Marvel universe.
Agent Coulson
This is THE most glaring mystery within the MCU. The Agents of Shield TV Series does not coincide with mainstream MCU timeline but they are confirmed to be in the same universe. Agent Phil Coulson’s death in The Avengers was the primary force that brought the six founding members of the Avengers together. It was his sacrifice that started it all. And yet in Agents of Shield, Coulson is revealed to be alive and well. What’s more? He has even been revealed to be a fugitive and at odds with the highest circles of the Government. How does a figure like that escape the crosshairs of the Avengers? More importantly, how has Phil Coulson managed to keep his status secret from the Earth’s mightiest heroes?!?!?
