As the movie Avengers: Infinity War drew to a close, fans expected the Avengers to defeat Thanos before he got the chance to snap his fingers. Even when Thanos got all the Infinity Stones into the Infinity Gauntlet, viewers still believed that the Avengers would stop him. At the last moment, Thor nearly kills Thanos, but he doesn’t stop him from snapping his fingers and obliterating half of all life in the universe.
This event, referred to as the Snap in the MCU, fundamentally changed the MCU. Though the Blip brought back those who got dusted by the Snap, it did not reverse time: it simply brought them right back to where they were when they died, with no recollection of the five years in between. The MCU has been feeling the after-effects ever since.
10 the Five-Year Time Jump opens up a lot of possibilities within the MCU for potential changes
Between the Snap and the Blip, five years passed. This means that there was a five-year time jump in the MCU between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. In these five years, it’s clear that the universe had been struggling to cope with what the Snap did to them.
Losing half of all life in the universe is completely devastating, and those left behind struggled to deal with that. In addition, that five-year time jump opens up a lot of possibilities within the MCU for potential changes to the universe.
9 Holding Spider-Man & His Friends Back In School
Among those who perished in the Snap were Peter Parker, his friends, and peers. Because all these students from Peter’s school — Midtown School of Science and Technology in New York City — experienced the Snap, they have to restart that school year, and they’re held back in school.
The kids who they previously grew up with are now five years older than them, forever shifting their lives and friendships, as well.
8 Traumatized Those Left Behind
Those who were left behind in the Snap had no idea what was happening, at first. These survivors only saw people around them dissolving into dust. Not only did half of all human life disappear, but half of all life in the universe, both sentient and insentient beings died in the Snap.
This does include the bacteria in the bodies of those who survived the Snap, therefore putting them at increased risk of illness. In addition to all that, a quarter of all children around the world were orphaned because of the Snap, leaving them without families or homes. People lost loved ones with no reason or pattern; just mindless, senseless loss.
7 Stalled Those Who Got Snapped
After the Blip reversed the Snap and Bruce Banner brought back those who got dusted, they reappeared exactly where they had been before, as if only five minutes had passed, not five years. Apparently, there were at least 3,797,000,000 humans that vanished in the Snap, all of whom reappeared in the Blip.
Not only did the sudden reappearance cause a great shock to the survivors, but the appearance of those who had vanished caused problems for them, as they got stuck in the past and struggled to catch up with a world that moved on without them.
6 Universe Falls Into Complete Disarray
When the Snap erased half of all life in the universe, the planet Earth was thrown into complete chaos. The majority of the world’s governments completely collapsed, with most of the globe falling into a state of total anarchy as people struggled to understand what was happening and thought they had reached the end of days.
The death of half of all life caused the entire universe to completely collapse, with universal governments falling apart and leaders either vanishing or ceasing being functional entirely.
5 Summoned Captain Marvel Back To Earth
As Nick Fury witnessed the effects of the Snap begin to take place, he knew that he had to summon Captain Marvel back to Earth. With his last action, he used the Transmitter Pager to contact Captain Marvel and call her back home. Carol Danvers came back to Earth and was able to save Iron Man and Nebula, as well as assisting the Avengers in finding Thanos.
She fights with them in the ultimate climactic battle, as well, and now is tied to the Earth once again in a way she evidently hasn’t been in years. With Monica Rambeau apparently holding onto some resentment towards Carol Danvers for leaving her and her mother in WandaVision, it’s a good thing Carol has come home.
4 Ultimately Killed Thanos
While Thanos believed he was doing the right thing in collecting the Infinity Stones to exterminate half of all life in the universe, he struggled with his decision. He fell into a strange purgatory sort of lifestyle after the Snap, and it was in this state that the remaining Avengers later found him.
Devastated and believing that there was no way to reverse the Snap, Thor felt he could do nothing but destroy Thanos. Because Thanos Snapped his fingers, he brought about his own demise: Thor beheaded him with Stormbreaker, ensuring Thanos could do no more damage — in this timeline. In the other timeline, he will be ultimately stopped by Tony Stark.
3 People Who Died Before The Snap Stayed Dead
After the Snap was reversed, both characters in the MCU and fans watching the MCU hoped that some fan-favorite characters would get their lives back, too. However, characters like Loki, Gamora, and Vision were all killed before the Snap.
Because of this, the Blip can’t revive them; they are permanently dead. However, Vision is apparently alive again, kind of, in WandaVision, and a version of Loki is apparently kicking around in Loki, so fans are wondering if this death means anything — and if they might see Gamora again in the MCU sometime soon.
2 The Ensuing War Ended The Lives Of Some Of The Avengers
When the Thanos of the past found out about his own future success, the fact that he successfully Snapped his fingers and the fact that the Avengers killed him, he wanted to prevent the latter event from happening. Still, he wanted to ensure he could complete the Snap, so he tried to fight another war against the Avengers to defeat them all over again.
He nearly won; however, at the last moment, the entire heroic side of the MCU united against Thanos and were able to defeat him. However, because of Thanos’ second attempt at a Snap, several Avengers permanently left the team — mainly Black Widow, Captain America, and Iron Man.
1 The Blip Brought Absolute Madness
While the Snap caused a great deal of chaos, the Blip brought absolute madness to the world of the MCU. All living beings, both sentient and insentient, returned instantly to the universe when Bruce Banner succeeded in reversing the Snap and executing the Blip. However, it caused a great deal of chaos.
Some were permanently traumatized by the Snap; some had moved on from the Snap and now had to confront those they said goodbye to returning, and some were confused about their place in the world. Some aged, some didn’t; some grew, some didn’t. The world changed, and the Blip tried to reverse it. Ultimately, it brought sheer chaos to the universe, and the MCU will spend a long time readjusting to itself.