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Marvel Kept Using The Number 12 Repeatedly Till Phase 2. Why?

12%? Hahahahaha!

Marvel Using Number 12 Till Phase 2:

The MCU loved number 12 for some reason as they used it quite regularly until Phase 2. And we’re here to tell you why that used to be the case. As we’re approaching the 12th year of the MCU, we’re going to unravel this mystery that has been a secret for most of us over the years. Apparently we got to see, or rather hear the number 12 pop up in many different instances over Phase 1 and Phase 2.

Marvel

The first time it happened was in Captain America: The First Avenger. Steve Rogers told Peggy that he isn’t really able to inspire crowds of older age groups as the crowds he’s used to for his propaganda shows are 12. Then we got one in The Avengers. Tony & Pepper were enjoying a bit of their date night, and before Agent Coulson came into handover a task to Tony, the two talked about how they built the Stark Tower. It is here that we hear Tony joke about Pepper getting 12% of the credit since Tony did most of the heavy lifting.

Number 12 Till Phase 2

Iron Man 3 was the next film where 12 popped up. Rebecca Hall’s Maya Hansen was introduced as Tony’s ex-girlfriend and when she stepped into his house, he said that she better not have a 12-year-old waiting in the car who’s supposedly his child. After Iron Man 3, this happened 2 more times. Age of Ultron used it in the big finale when Wanda told everyone that she’d guard the key and won’t let any of the Ultron bots touch it. Pietro at this point states – “You know I’m 12 minutes older than you.”

Marvel Using

Before this, it happened in the greatest way possible in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy. The newly formed team was sitting in a circle discussing their plan to defeat Yondu. Peter says that he has part of a plan. Rocket asks what percentage of a plan does he have and Peter replies “I don’t know 12 percent”. Rocket – “12%? Hahahahaha!” Peter – “That’s a fake laugh.” Rocket – “It’s real. That is the most real, authentic, hysterical laugh I’ve my entire life because that is not a plan.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Drax Rocket

This scene was insanely funny and James Gunn is a master of writing such comedic scenes. In fact, it’s James Gunn who has now revealed the secret behind the use of 12. Apparently, there’s no particular narrative reasoning behind it as it doesn’t refer to anything particular in the MCU. James Gunn took to Twitter to tell us the relevance of 12 in the movie-making industry. He said:

“The number 12 is often used in writing/comedy because it’s the highest one-syllable number.”

Number 12

Well, it isn’t just the MCU where 12 was used a lot until Phase 2, but recently even Terminator: Dark Fate used it as Arnie’s T-800 estimated a 12% chance of success. The most notable usage of 12 happened in Star Wars: A New Hope where Han Solo spoke about the Millennium Falcon making “the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.” Well talking about Star Wars, there’s an amazing tribute that all of Marvel Phase 2 movies paid to the Empire Strikes Back.

Number 12
Marvel Using Number 12 Till Phase 2

Apparently, every Phase 2 movie had a scene where someone in the film got their hand cut off in order to reference Luke Skywalker getting his hand cut off in Episode V. It happened with Aldrich Killian in Iron Man 3, Loki cut off Thor’s hand in an illusion in The Dark World, then the Winter Soldier had his entire arm replaced, Gamora cuts off Groot’s arms, Nebula cut off her cybernetic hand, in Age of Ultron it happened to Ulysses Klaue & finally in Ant-Man, Yellowjacket loses his right arm before the rest of him disappears into the void when his suit starts shrinking non-stop. It even happened to Coulson in Agents of SHIELD.

These little details are what make the MCU awesome. But nothing common has happened in Phase 3. Tell us if you spot any similarities that we missed out on.

Vansh Mehra

Content creator. Just wanna share my passion for cinema with everyone.
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