The MCU has been ongoing for nearly 13 years now, with dozens of entries to the franchise. Not just movies, but television shows and comic books, too, have made up the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its many expanded elements and stories. In all that time, there have been a fair few moments that fans truly never saw coming.
There are plot twists that they saw coming a mile away, and some that just didn’t land, but others are still being talked about to this day. As the MCU enters its newest phase, fans reflect on some of the plot twists they never saw coming, and the ones that still hold up.
10 Asgard Is Destroyed
For centuries, Thor has called Asgard his home. He prioritized the kingdom above most other things, as he is technically the king of Asgard and is always at least a member of the royal family. However, in the movie Thor: Ragnarok, Thor comes to realize that Asgard is not just a place, it is also a people.
When it comes time for Thor to choose whether he saves the physical kingdom of Asgard, or if he saves the Asgardians, he makes the right choice and saves his people. However, in the process, the magnificent Asgard is completely destroyed, after standing gleaming and beautiful for many centuries before.
9 Ego Is The Bad Guy
When Peter Quill was taken from Earth, his mother had just died and he felt alone in the galaxy. This turned out to not be true, as his true father, Ego, had sent Yondu to find Quill, and Yondu never turned the boy over. Peter Quill is betrayed by this at first, as he feels that he lost out on a great deal of time with his real father.
However, despite how wonderful his dad may seem, it becomes clear to Star-Lord eventually that his dad is the bad guy. Ego doesn’t want to be a father to Peter, he wants to consume Peter and his power. Even worse, Ego is the one who killed Peter’s mother in the first place all those years ago. Peter recognizes Yondu as the truer father of the two, and they fight to take down Ego together instead.
8 Spider-Man Is Dating The Vulture’s Daughter
Because Peter Parker is just a kid, there are so many small coincidences in his life that make it simply impossible for him to have a normal childhood. Of course, the boy is also Spider-Man, and he invites chaos into his own life. Even in Spider-Man: Homecoming, when it seemed that Peter Parker could finally be a normal teenager for the night, he can’t even have that much.
He goes to a dance with Liz Allen only to find that her father is Spider-Man’s current villain, the Vulture. Vulture has to give Spider-Man a ride to the dance without either of them revealing their identities, leading to a shocking but hilarious confrontation between the two.
7 HYDRA & S.H.I.E.L.D. Have Been Tangled For Years
As Captain America joined the 21st century and resumed his work fighting for the country, he found out that Peggy Carter and Howard Stark, among others, were responsible for forming the organization S.H.I.E.L.D.. Because Peggy had been involved, Steve doesn’t think twice about involving himself as well.
However, in all that time, S.H.I.E.L.D. has not existed alone; it was revealed in Captain America: The Winter Soldier that HYDRA has existed inside S.H.I.E.L.D. that entire time, growing like a weed, feeding off the organization meant to destroy it. This plot twist tears S.H.I.E.L.D. apart, and changes the MCU forever.
6 The Mandarin Is Not Really The Mandarin
One of the most notorious villains for Iron Man in the comics is the character known as the Mandarin. It seemed that the Mandarin would be introduced in the movie Iron Man 3, and the character even seemed to be a dark, cool, ruthless adaptation of the comics version of the villain.
However, the biggest shock of all came when the movie revealed that the Mandarin was not truly the Mandarin, but an actor hired to distract Iron Man. For fans of the Mandarin in the comics, this was not only a plot twist, but a major disappointment.
5 Helmut Zemo Orchestrated The Civil War
The Avengers team seems to naturally fall apart in Captain America: Civil War. The team finds themselves at odds, and Captain American and Iron Man end up leading two separate sides against each other in a seemingly-inevitable battle.
However, it is revealed to T’Challa, also known as the Black Panther, that this is not a naturally occurring fight. Instead, Helmut Zemo is the one who orchestrated the fracture in the Avengers team, as an act of revenge. Zemo blames the Avengers for the deaths of his family and, as a result, he will do anything to stop them from existing and to take their mutual love from them, too. Sadly, he does succeed.
4 Natasha Turns On Tony For Steve
When the Avengers split up and take sides in Captain America: Civil War, fans were surprised to see the Black Widow go to Tony Stark’s side, and not Steve Rogers’. As Natasha Romanoff and Steve had been close for years, it seemed logical they would go together. However, fans were shocked when Natasha chose Tony.
Even more shocking, however, was the fact that Natasha ended up double-crossing Tony and helping out Steve instead. During the airport battle in Captain America: Civil War, Natasha goes rogue and allows Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes to escape. This surprised Tony as much as it surprised audiences watching the film.
3 The Winter Soldier Killed Howard & Maria Stark
Perhaps the biggest betrayal in the MCU comes in Captain America: Civil War, when Tony Stark watches footage of his parents’ death. He knew they had been killed, but did not know they had been killed by none other than the Winter Soldier. Though Bucky Barnes was brainwashed by HYDRA at the time, Tony still wants revenge against Bucky.
When Steve Rogers realizes he can’t allow that to happen, he has no choice but to stand in between Tony and Bucky, ultimately siding with Bucky and not Tony. Not only was his parents’ murder shocking, but this apparent betrayal, too, was a huge twist for Tony.
2 The Return Of Red Skull
After Captain America: The First Avenger seemed to destroy the Red Skull, fans weren’t exactly expecting the character to return. However, this iconic villain did come back in Avengers: Infinity War when the Red Skull is revealed to be the guardian of the Soul Stone.
In life, he was as obsessed with the Infinity Stones as any other madman in the MCU, and this obsession eventually forced him into being the eternal guardian for the Soul Stone as a punishment. This reveal was shocking and exciting for fans who thought they had seen the last of this classic character.
1 Thanos Actually Snapped
As the MCU began with Iron Man and slowly built up over the years around the main point of stopping Thanos, it seemed inevitable to fans that the Avengers would, someday, stop Thanos. It never occurred to most audiences that the Avengers could fail, but fail they did.
In Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos does successfully get all the Infinity Stones into his Infinity Gauntlet. Taunting Thor one last time, Thanos actually successfully snaps his fingers and eliminates half of all life in the universe. This is not only the biggest plot twist in the MCU, but possibly one of the most shocking moments in all of cinema history.