The Marvel Cinematic Universe has changed Hollywood forever. Then it changed Hollywood forever again, and again. In order to survive over a decade, it has had to throw twist after twist after twist to keep things interesting. Some of these twists didn’t really blow the minds of their audience. Moments like Tony Stark meeting General Ross or Bucky being revealed as the Winter Soldier weren’t really moments that anyone couldn’t have seen coming.
That’s why it’s always so satisfying when the MCU throws a twist out that truly shocks its fanbase. These are the twists that reverberate through the subsequent films and tv series for years to come. It’s why every film from this shared universe feels essential for filmgoers. Here are ten MCU twists that shocked everyone in the theater.
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10 Iron Man Reveals His Identity in Iron Man
Paramount Pictures
The Marvel Cinematic Universe really did start with a bang. Iron Man was a film so good that it spawned an entire universe of sequels. The action sequences were solid, the plot was fun, and most importantly, Robert Downey Jr. was PERFECT as Tony Stark. He had the perfect balance of snark and heroism. Anyone who has read the comics knows just how hard that balance is to pull off. Downey makes it seem easy.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Just to prove that, look no further than the biggest twist in Iron Man. That would be that Tony Stark throws away the secret identity that was the norm for superhero movies at the time. What’s crazy about this twist was that it was Robert Downey Jr.’s idea that made it into the final cut. This makes it one of the best improvised lines in cinema history. Even a cameo from Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury couldn’t top this.
9 SHIELD Falls in Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Marvel StudiosDisney
By the time Marvel dropped The Avengers, people thought they had a pretty good idea how the Marvel Cinematic Universe worked. The solo films would introduce new concepts but nothing important would happen until the big team-up films. None of the solo films of the second Phase of the MCU flipped the universe on its head. Not until Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
In that film, Captain America, Black Widow, Falcon, and Nick Fury discover that the secret organization behind the Avengers, SHIELD, was actually intertwined with the evil HYDRA from Captain America: The First Avenger. In order to defeat the evil organization, they have to destroy SHIELD itself, leaving the team with no oversight whatsoever. This would set up all the biggest twists from the likes of Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War.
8 Asgard Is Destroyed in Thor: Ragnarok
By the time Thor: Ragnarok came around, fans thought they had seen it all from the MCU. SHIELD had fallen, Quicksilver was taken out as quickly as he was introduced, the Avengers disbanded, and Spider-Man accidentally dated his bad guy’s daughter. At this point, it looked like nothing could really be surprising.
Then, Ragnarok shocked everyone by showing that Hela was one of the most harrowing villains in MCU history. She was able to crush Thor’s hammer with one hand as a warm-up act. She was so powerful that the only way to take her down was to trigger the titular Ragnarok and destroy Thor’s home forever. This was the biggest upset in the MCU since Nick Fury found himself suddenly unemployed. Though that twist wouldn’t be the biggest very long…
7 The Avengers Lose in Avengers: Infinity War
Marvel Studios
Even comic fans who knew the story of the classic Avengers story “Infinity Gauntlet” didn’t quite foresee the adaptation’s brutal ending in Avengers: Infinity War. The multi-planet epic showed Thanos fighting through Asgardians, Guardians of the Galaxy, his own daughter, the Avengers, the Wakandans, and the other Avengers. Somehow, despite all those odds against him, Thanos pulled off the biggest villain victory since Darth Vader cut off Luke Skywalker’s hand after freezing Han Solo in Carbonite.
While comic fans could’ve guessed that Thanos would snap half the galaxy away, few could’ve guessed which of the heroes would turn to dust. Newer characters like Black Panther, the Guardians, Doctor Strange, and even poor Spider-Man all turned to dust before the more seasoned Avengers who could do nothing to stop it. This blow is still being felt years later.
6 Spider-Man Gets Doxxed by Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home
Marvel Studios / Sony
Spider-Man’s arrival in the Disney-owned MCU despite him still being owned by Sony was perhaps the biggest twist in the MCU considering how fierce the rivalry was between the two studios. No one really expected Marvel Studios to go quite as hard as they have with the Spider-Man films. This partnership with Sony could’ve easily been one of their weaker efforts. Many fans felt that Spider-Man: Homecoming recast Marvel’s most important hero as Iron Man Jr. These fears were fully assuaged by Spider-Man: Far From Home. The movie was all about Spidey coming into his own and cementing both his superhero and personal lives.
Unfortunately, Quentin Beck had his own plans. The film ends with Mysterio revealing to the world that Spider-Man was responsible for his demise and that he was secretly Peter Parker. Reality literally had to be rewritten to solve this twist.
5 The New Captain America from Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Disney Platform Distribution
No matter how many times Sam Wilson said he had no interest in being the new Captain America, literally no one was surprised that Falcon and the Winter Soldier would end with Wilson taking up the SHIELD. What was surprising is that there was a middle Captain America between Steve and Sam. The internet was set on fire at the end of the first episode when it was revealed that Sam was duped by the government and John Walker was given the mantle.
This Cap would prove to be much more volatile, violent, and vengeful than the original Captain America. Time will tell if Sam Wilson’s new Captain America or John Walker’s USAgent will match up to Steve’s legacy with their new films in Phase 5. That’s a tall order.
4 He Who Remains from Loki
Walt Disney Studios
Pretty much all of Loki was a giant twist on the MCU. It rewrote the rules of time travel, showed Infinity Stones used as paper weights, and introduced a new pantheon of villains known as the Time-Keepers. Only, the Time-Keepers proved to be another Iron Man 3-style Mandarin fake out. They were just androids and the real villain was hiding like The Wizard of Oz.
Once Loki and Sylvie find the Wizard though, they accidentally find the next Thanos-level villain, Kang the Conqueror. Sure, this was a variant who was called “He Who Remains”, but fans knew that the consequences of this episode of television would be felt for years to come.
3 Kingpin Is the Big Bad in Hawkeye
Hawkeye was a fun series about Clint going up against a silly gang of Russian, tracksuit-wearing, mobsters. This seemed like a fun Christmas romp, not something that would reintroduce a major element into the MCU. After Spider-Man: No Way Home brought Netflix’s Daredevil back into the fold, fans started speculating that Hawkeye was holding a similar card back.
And they were right! It is revealed at the end of the series that Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin was behind the plot in Hawkeye all along. Now that Disney+ has revealed that Echo and Daredevil: Born Again are both set to continue the rivalry between Fisk and Matt Murdock, this is essentially equivalent to the reveal of a street-level Thanos in the MCU.
2 All Three Spider-Men Become Main Characters in Spider-Man: No Way Home
For a while there, Marvel and Sony made it seem like any chance of a third Spider-Man film was over. Thankfully, they made up and then some. The two companies decided to become much more ambitious with their collaborative franchise. Once Marvel revealed that Spider-Man: No Way Home would have the surprise return of previous Spider-Man franchise bad guys like Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock, Jamie Foxx’s Electro, Rhys Ifans’ Lizard, and Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman, it was no surprise that speculation ran rampant over the potential returns of previous Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. This was countered heavily by not only Marvel, but the stars themselves. Andrew Garfield strongly rejected any notion that he was in the film.
Only, that proved to be a lie. No Way Home shocked audiences all over the world by having all three Spider-Men fighting side by side. Now that Phase 4 has ended, it’s clear that this was basically that Phase’s Avengers. Only it was a Spider-Man team up, not a general Marvel hero one.
1 Wanda Is the Villain in Phase Four
Marvel Studios / Disney
If Loki is the main villain of Phase One, Ultron of Phase Two, and Thanos of Phase Three, then the main villain of Phase Four is definitely Wanda, or as she comes to be known, the Scarlet Witch. Marvel pulled this off not once but twice in Phase Four. First, in WandaVision, it really seems like Wanda is as much of a victim of the situation in Westview as everyone else. The show eventually reveals that Wanda was, in fact, the one who created the entire simulation. Even after she realizes this, she decides to continue it even if the citizens of the town are suffering. Eventually it seems like she finds redemption by the show’s end.
Then, in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we were all led to believe that Wanda would be Strange’s partner or even sidekick by the marketing. She doesn’t waste much time at all in throwing those perceptions upside down. The Scarlet Witch then becomes one of the most frightening villains the MCU has ever had, destroying not only the Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj but the entire Illuminati, which included heavy hitters like Black Bolt, Captain Marvel, and even Professor X.
