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- 19 Marvel Cinematic Universe unresolved cliffhangers and loose ends you probably forgot about
19 Marvel Cinematic Universe unresolved cliffhangers and loose ends you probably forgot about
- The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues expanding with multiple movies and shows released yearly.
- There are still various cliffhangers and big reveals that haven't amounted to anything (yet).
There may still be a version of Mordo trying to hunt down sorcerers.
At the end of 2016's "Doctor Strange," Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) sets himself up as the franchise's next big villain when he decides to eliminate sorcerers from the world.
Surprisingly, this major plot point failed to appear in 2022's sequel.
Maybe we'll finally get that in another "Doctor Strange" film, but it's likely this storyline could be dropped altogether.
According to the film's commentary, an early scene in "Multiverse of Madness" would've addressed this dark version of Mordo directly. Director Sam Raimi said they considered having the Scarlet Witch decapitate Mordo and presenting his head to Strange.
The end-credits scene of "Spider-Man: Homecoming" showing Vulture and Scorpion talking about Spidey while imprisoned probably won't get resolved.
"Homecoming," the first of three standalone Spidey films starring Tom Holland, was released in 2017. The end-credits scene opens with Adrian Tooms/Vulture, the film's main villain, entering prison.
While walking through a corridor with other inmates, he sees Mac Gargan/Scorpion, who has a large scar on his head from his previous encounter with Spidey on the Staten Island Ferry. Naturally, he wants to get revenge on the web-slinger.
"I've got some boys on the outside who would love to meet him," he tells Adrian. "You know, take a picture, slive his throat, put his head in a dryer. And I heard a rumor you knew who he is."
Adrian knows that Peter Parker is Spidey, but he tells Scorpion that he doesn't know the identity of the superhero.
The scene was clearly setting up Scorpion as Spider-Man's next villain in a future project. In the comics, he's one of Spider-Man's foes and a member of the Sinister Six.
But as the sequels played out, this scene never amounted to anything. And given the events of "Spider-Man: No Way Home," it seems pretty unlikely that this scene will be relevant going forward.
Another version of Vision is still out there somewhere.
Vision (Paul Bettany) was brutally killed by Thanos in "Avengers: Infinity War," but the character lives on in another synthezoid.
Marvel's "WandaVision" series ended with the Vision replica brought online by S.W.O.R.D (an intelligence agency that we should see more of in 2023's "Captain Marvel" sequel). Originally programmed to destroy Wanda, the synthezoid flew off into the world after regaining Vision's memories.
As of 2022, a spin-off series for the character called "Vision Quest" was reportedly in the works. There haven't been any updates on it.
Sharon Carter might be a villain now.
Marvel's 2021 series "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" featured the return of Sharon Carter, the great-nice of S.H.I.E.L.D. cofounder Peggy Carter.
Prior to the Disney+ series, Sharon only appeared in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and "Captain America: Civil War." In those films, she was an ally and love interest to Cap.
When she reappears on "TFATWS," Sharon doesn't have the same disposition as she used to. After working with Cap in "Civil War," she was forced to run from the government for years and it seemed like no one from the Avengers bothered to check in on her.
On the season finale of "TFATWS," the end-credits scene reveals that Sharon is the show's mysterious big bad, known only as the Power Broker.
The elusive figure is a respected, powerful, and well-connected figure based in Madripoor who was mentioned various times throughout the season.
In the end-credits scene, Sharon is finally granted a full pardon, meaning she could return to the US. She was also offered her old job at the CIA, which she accepted.
She's last seen leaving the courthouse, speaking with an undisclosed person on the phone, and discussing a seemingly sinister plan.
"Start lining up our buyers," she says. "Super Soldiers might be off the menu, but we're about to have full access to government secrets, prototype weapons, you name it. Should be something for everyone."
Shang-Chi and his friend Katy have met some of the Avengers.
In the first end-credits scene of "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," Wong transports Shaun/Shang-Chi and Katy via a portal to meet with him, Bruce Banner/the Hulk, and Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel.
They question Shaun about the details surrounding the titular rings, because Wong felt the impact of them in Kamar-Taj when Shaun used them for the first time.
The team arrives at the conclusion that the ancient rings are sending a message, but the details, destination, and recipient are unknown.
Then, Carol's hologram dashes off so she can deal with something else pressing.
"Guys, stay safe. Welcome to the circus," Bruce says before he leaves.
Wong notices how confused Shaun and Katy are, and he tells them that this is just the beginning of their abnormal adventures.
"I know this is a lot to take in, but you're gonna have to start getting used to that," he says.
"From now on, the trajectory of your lives will be like nothing you've ever experienced before. And there's no going back. You both have a long journey ahead of you. Go home, get some rest."
But in the two years since the standalone film was released, fans have yet to see the return of Shang-Chi in the MCU.
Shang-Chi's sister Xialing has taken over as the leader of the Ten Rings organization and has begun rebuilding the organization.
The second end-credits scene of "Shang-Chi" shows Xialing taking the throne after the death of her dad Wenwu.
"Let's get started," she says. "We have a lot of work to do."
It's also revealed that men and women are training hard in the courtyard of the compound. A title card at the very end reads: "The Ten Rings will return."
As of June 2023, no follow-up projects to "Shang-Chi" have been announced yet.
Arishem teased some kind of judgment day after some of the Celestials defied his orders in "Eternals."
During the 2021 movie, the Eternals realize their life's purpose is to destroy any planet they land on, rather than protect it, allowing for the birth of a celestial in an event called "the Emergence."
So, they band together to prevent Earth's destruction, angering their overlord, Arishem.
Toward the end of the film, Arishem rounds up Sersi, Kingo, and Phastos in space and warns about the consequences of preventing the aforementioned Emergence.
"You have chosen to sacrifice a Celestial for the people of this planet," Arishem tells the Celestials. "I will spare them, but your memories will show if they are worthy to live And I will return for judgment."
Then, Arishem disappears into a vortex. After the lackluster box-office performance of "Eternals," it's unclear if Arishem will pop back up to decide Earth's fate in a later Marvel project.
Harry Styles joined the MCU as Eros, the brother of Infinity Saga villain Thanos.
Fans of Styles probably haven't stopped thinking about the singer's MCU debut in "Eternals," but the 2021 film was poorly received overall and it's possible that the general audience forgot about his cameo.
In the end-credits scene, Eros and Pip the Troll (voiced by Patton Oswalt) enter the spaceship known as the Domo and greet three Eternals: Thena (Angelina Jolie), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), and Druig (Barry Keoghan).
Pip then refers to Styles' character as the "Royal Prince of Titan, brother of Thanos, the Knave of Hearts, defeater of Black Roger, the great adventurer, Starfox."
Then Eros says to the immortals: "Your friends are in big trouble. And we know where to find them."
With the Infinity Saga in the rearview and Marvel diving fully into multiverse storytelling, it's unclear how Thanos' hot brother fits into the future of the MCU.
Plus, in the two years since "Eternals" was released, a sequel or spin-off hasn't been announced.
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was asked about Styles' involvement in the MCU while speaking with MTV News at San Diego Comic-Con in 2022.
"The adventures of Eros and Pip is something that is very exciting for us," he said. "You're talking about Ghost Rider, we've got Blade, we've got Doctor Strange with the supernatural angles, we've got the street level with our announcement of Daredevil and of course, [Spider-Man], and cosmic, and that's where our friends Eros and Pip live."
Kit Harington may have a larger role in the MCU in the future.
At the end of 2021's "Eternals," Harington's character, Dane Whitman finds the Ebony Blade, a powerful, cursed weapon in the MCU which transforms his character into the Black Knight.
In the comics, the sword has the power to "destroy worlds" and has driven those who wield it to slowly become mad.
The "Eternals" end-credits scene teased we may see Dane again in the upcoming MCU vampire film "Blade." In the scene's final seconds, Blade actor Mahershala Ali can be heard warning Dane against touching the artifact.
At the time of release, Harington told Insider that when he took on the role of Whitman, there was "the idea that I would be in some future version of some movie somewhere, playing a continuation of this character in some iteration, but that's all I really know."
Laura Barton, the wife of Clint Barton/Hawkeye, used to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
Jeremy Renner's standalone "Hawkeye" series, released on Disney+ in late 2021, included a huge bombshell about Laura's backstory that made her more intriguing.
The season one finale reveals that Laura's S.H.I.E.L.D. codename was Agent 19, known as Mockingjay in the comics.
Ever since Laura's first appearance in the MCU in "Age of Ultron," she was believed to be a stay-at-home wife and incredibly understanding partner when it came to the superhero side of Clint's life.
But Laura as a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent explains why the couple seems to be so compatible and on the wavelength.
"We've seen her over these years as his wife, and there was obviously a desire [to expand her backstory]," finale director Rhys Thomas told Marvel.com. "We should know more about her. There's more to her than just staying at home with the kids. It was a fun little thing to tease out over the season and again a nice little payoff that hopefully promises more of a character planted at the end."
This revelation about Laura's past leaves opens up a lot of questions, that may or may not ever be addressed.
Eddie Brock's symbiote left behind some black goo on the Earth inhabited by Tom Holland's Spider-Man.
In the first end-credits scene of the 2021 movie "Spider-Man: No Way Home," Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock is seen at a bar, jotting notes as pestering a bartender with questions about MCU superheroes, Thanos, and the Blip.
"Maybe I should go to New York and speak to this Spider-Man," Eddie says.
As Eddie gets up, he suddenly disappears back to his Earth. This indicates that the scene takes place just before Doctor Strange casts a spell that causes anyone from the multiverse to return to their home timelines.
Even though Eddie is sent home, viewers see that a piece of Venom was left behind at the bar, meaning part of the symbiote is in this Peter Parker's world.
A fourth "Spider-Man" film and a third "Venom" movie are both in the works, so this cliffhanger may be resolved in those upcoming projects.
"Moon Knight" protagonist Marc Spector has another personality.
The final moments of Marvel's Disney+ series revealed that Spector (Oscar Isaac) has another, more violent, latent personality, a suave, Spanish-speaking Jake Lockley, who appeared to kill Ethan Hawke's antagonist, Arthur Harrow.
Lockley, dressed as a cabbie, departed in a limo with the license plate "SPKTR," referencing Marc's last name. In the comics, Marc's a billionaire, making him one of the wealthiest Marvel characters.
It's currently unknown if "Moon Knight" will receive a second season or if Isaac's character will return in another part of the MCU.
Wanda may or may not be alive at the end of "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness."
At the end of "Multiverse of Madness," Wanda uses her powers to collapse Wundagore Mountain with herself trapped inside.
It's difficult to believe the MCU would kill off a fan favorite as big and powerful as Wanda. It should take more than a cave-in to do in the Scarlet Witch.
Elizabeth Olsen currently doesn't know if she'll reprise her role as Wanda in the future, telling Variety in June she's "really proud of" what she's accomplished with the character since 2015's "Avengers: Age of Ultron."
There may be an entire parallel universe seeking revenge on Wanda for her actions in "Multiverse of Madness."
In "Multiverse of Madness" Wanda brutally murders the Illuminati, a group of the world's most brilliant minds on an alternate Earth, consisting of Reed Richards and X-Men leader Professor Charles Xavier, among others.
It's difficult to imagine there won't be any consequences for those actions. It's possible the X-Men, Fantastic Four, or other heroes of the alternate Earth-838 may pursue justice (or vengeance) against Wanda or her timeline if she's seen as a multiversal threat.
It's unclear how Gorr the God Butcher's daughter, Love, may be incorporated moving forward in the MCU — if at all.
The fourth "Thor" film culminated with the God of Thunder adopting and raising Gorr's daughter, Love, played by Chris Hemsworth's own daughter, India Rose.
Since the film ended with the words, "Thor will return," a surprise to the director, it seems like the young girl could return in some way, especially if Thor is outrunning gods in a future outing.
At the film's end, Korg notes she was "born of Eternity," a cosmic entity who may or may not appear in the MCU again. As a result, Love also has the powers of a God.
For what it's worth, Hemsworth recently told Entertainment Tonight that he's not in a rush for his daughter to get into the acting industry.
"I want her to have a childhood, and I think so does she," he said.
Of course, there's the possibility the character could be aged up with a new actor taking on the role in the future.
Hercules and Zeus want revenge on Thor.
2022's "Thor: Love and Thunder" introduced more gods to the MCU in the form of Zeus (Russell Crowe) and his son Hercules (Brett Goldstein).
Though impaled with a bolt of lightning at the hands of Thor during the film, Zeus revealed himself alive in a post-credits scene where he tasked his son with seeking revenge on the God of Thunder.
Bruce Banner/The Hulk has a son.
At the very end of 2022's "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" series, Bruce Banner/the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) shows up at a family get-together revealing that during his time off-planet, he apparently had a son, named Skaar.
Banner says he plans to fill everyone in on the details, but it's unclear when and where that could happen.
Due to a complicated rights deal for the character with Universal Pictures, which has previously prevented any solo Marvel Studios' Hulk films, it's more than likely we'll see Skaar in another series or tied into a larger film.
When Universal's "The Incredible Hulk" film from 2008 became available on Disney+ in June 2023, Variety noted the movie's rights reverted back to Marvel Studios after 15 years. This could be the first hint of some sort of Planet Hulk adaptation in the future.
Emil Blonsky/the Abomination from "The Incredible Hulk" is on the loose.
The Abomination served as the antagonist of the 2008 film, which starred Edward Norton as the titular Marvel character (before Mark Ruffalo took over the role in the MCU). Tim Roth reprised his role years later, for a cameo in " Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings."
In "Shang-Chi," Abomination was seen fighting Wong as part of an underground competition. After battling, the two characters appeared to be on good terms.
"She-Hulk" writer and showrunner Jessica Gao told ComicBook.com Abomination was part of her pitch for the show. He was added to "Shang-Chi" for a quick appearance once she was hired, "because everything in Marvel is connected." His cameo was meant to be a teaser for his future appearance on "She-Hulk."
"It was kind of to seed him so that people can get excited but also remember him and it kind of forced people to go, 'Oh, I should go back and check in on him and remember who he is and what all of that was about,'" Gao said.
Emil/the Abomination shows up throughout the nine-episode first season of "She-Hulk."
When he became eligible for parole on the show, Jennifer Walkers/She-Hulk took him on as a client that testified that he had reformed.
Emil was granted parole under the condition that he wouldn't transform into the Abomination. He ended up breaking that rule and was sent back to prison.
In the finale's end-credit scene, Wong appears at Emil's cell, then Emil gathers his things and steps through a portal to join Wong in Kamar-Taj.
"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" villain Namor seems to be laying the groundwork for a larger, more ambitious plan.
The 2022 "Black Panther" sequel focused on the tension between two civilizations: Wakanda and the underwater nation known as Talokan. During the film's major battle between Shuri, the new Black Panther, and Namor (Tenoch Huerta), she spares his life.
Shuri also promises Namor that if he yields, Wakanda will protect his people's oceans and secrets. Namor then yields to Shuri and she drops the weapon that she was going to impale him with.
But Namor's final scene of the movie hints at his continued attempt for power, and possibly world domination. In a conversation with his general Attuma, Namor assures her that his yielding was part of a bigger strategy.
"The Black Panther had every reason to kill me," he says. "Why do you think she didn't go through with it? The Black Panther is the most powerful person, in the most powerful nation on the surface. But she has no allies. Now she has empathy for the people of Talokan."
"With this alliance, Talon will be stronger than ever," Namor adds. "The surface world will come for Wakanda and Wakanda will turn to us. Trust me."
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