Since its inception in 2008, the interconnectivity of the MCU has often created massive plot holes, some of which have still not been explained.
Several major plot holes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have still never been explained by Marvel Studios. Since the MCU kicked off with 2008’s Iron Man, Marvel Studios has created a massive, intricate, and entertaining shared universe. However, while the largest franchise in cinema history has provided some ground-breaking moments, the complexities of creating such a universe means that plot holes regularly pop up – some of which are too big to ignore.
Some of them were ultimately fixed. The Bifrost being repaired in Thor: The Dark World, HYDRA getting access to Loki’s scepter in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the Red Skull’s strange disappearance at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger are just a few examples of plot holes that were cleared up in various MCU projects. Even so, some of the MCU’s biggest plot holes still haven’t been solved, and this problem has only been exacerbated by the substantial increase in content being produced in the Multiverse Saga.
10Ant-Man’s MCU Powers Don’t Make Any Sense
Paul Rudd debuted as Scott Lang in 2015’s Ant-Man, and has most recently appeared in the Phase 5 film, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, but none of his MCU appearances have fully explained the complex details of his size-changing powers. With the use of Pym Particles and the Ant-Man suit, Scott can shrink or grow to extreme sizes, initially explained as the particles manipulating the space between atoms. However, this neglects to account for how Scott can shrink smaller than atoms to travel into the Quantum Realm.
Ant-Man also suggests that Scott retains his mass no matter his size, so it can be assumed that other objects he shrinks do too. Even so, Hank Pym is later revealed to have been carrying around a shrunken tank on a keychain, which would have been impossible had the tank retained its mass. The details of Scott and his size-changing team being able to take off their helmets in the Quantum Realm and still stay shrunk was also a point of discussion following the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
9Electro Never Knew Who Peter Parker Was In The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man: No Way Home was by far one of the most popular projects in the MCU’s Phase 4, bringing together Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland as three different versions of Spider-Man in a battle against various past villains. One of these villains was Electro, first portrayed by Jamie Foxx in 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, brought to the MCU’s main continuity thanks to Doctor Strange’s spell. This spell apparently dragged those who knew Peter Parker’s true identity to the MCU – but Electro never knew Parker’s identity.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only plot hole caused by Spider-Man: No Way Home. Eddie Brock, a.k.a. Venom, was also pulled into the MCU without knowing who Parker was, and Morbius’ post-credits scene saw the MCU’s Adrian Toomes end up in the Sony Spider-Man Universe. Nothing in Spider-Man: No Way Home suggested that characters from the MCU would be moved to other universes, further adding to the confusion.
8Odin Had A Fake Infinity Gauntlet
Back in 2011’s Thor, audiences caught a glimpse of Marvel Comics’ Infinity Gauntlet in Odin’s vault on Asgard. This was a fun Easter egg, but as the MCU began building up to Avengers: Infinity War, questions emerged about how and why Odin had possession of the Infinity Gauntlet. This was later explained during Thor: Ragnarok, as Hela noted that the Infinity Gauntlet in Odin’s vault was a fake.
This reveal was followed by speculation over Odin’s reasons for commissioning the creation of a fake Infinity Gauntlet in the first place. There’s also the question of how Odin would know what the real Infinity Gauntlet looked like. Thanos had Eitri forge the Gauntlet at some point before Avengers: Age of Ultron, but there’s no way that Odin would have seen it. Plus, there’s the matter of what Odin’s intentions were for the fake Infinity Gauntlet. Clearly, he never used it to halt Thanos’ conquest.
7Mysterio’s Earth-616 Reference Needs To Be Explained
Spider-Man: Far From Home introduced Jake Gyllenhaal as Quentin Beck, a.k.a. Mysterio. Beck originally claimed to be a multiversal traveler from Earth-833, and suggested that the MCU’s reality was Earth-616. When it turned out that Beck was a fraud, however, this turned into a fun Easter egg for fans of Marvel Comics, as that continuity is set in Earth-616. However, Phase 4 cast a huge amount of confusion onto this revelation, as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness seemed to confirm that the MCU is indeed designated Earth-616.
6Nobody Is Talking About The Celestials
Though the Celestials have been in the MCU since 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Phase 4 took huge strides to introduce them fully, particularly in 2021’s Eternals. However, Eternals created a plethora of Celestial-related plot holes. The appearance of the Celestial Arishem in the skies above Earth, and the emergence of the Celestial Tiamut from within the Earth, have barely been mentioned since Eternals, but both should have had much more of an impact on the people of the planet.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 also created a Celestial plot hole years before Eternals. Kurt Russell’s Ego was revealed to be the Celestial father of Peter Quill, and the former intended on transforming the universe into extensions of himself using a strange, sentient sludge. One of his host planets was Earth, but even though some of this sludge destroyed part of a Missouri town, it’s not been mentioned since.
5Steve Rogers Couldn’t Have Returned The Infinity Stones As They Were
After the end of Avengers: Infinity War and the destruction of the Infinity Stones in Avengers: Endgame, the surviving Avengers embarked on the Time Heist to collect the stones for themselves. Their plan was to return the Infinity Stones to their respective timelines after they’d been used to reverse Thanos’ snap, and while this made sense to a degree, the ending of Endgame created a plot hole that the MCU has all but forgotten – the Infinity Stones simply couldn’t be returned in the condition in which they were taken.
The Space Stone was taken from 1970, still housed inside the Tesseract, the Reality Stone was in liquid form and inside Jane Foster when taken from 2013, the Mind Stone formed the gem of Loki’s scepter in 2012, and the Power Stone, collected from 2014, had been housed within the Orb. None of these Infinity Stones would have been able to be reset to their original forms, making returning them an impossible task. The Time Stone could have been returned, but the rules of the Soul Stone have yet to be explained, so this was a very confusing storyline to comprehend.
4MCU Phase 4 Timeline Order Is Wrong (Again)
In an effort to avoid continuity issues, Marvel Studios revealed the official timeline order of the MCU on Disney+. However, Phase 4 confused things even further, as She-Hulk: Attorney at Law takes place before Thor: Love & Thunder on the timeline. At first glance, this doesn’t appear to be an issue, however, the Mighty Thor is mentioned in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law‘s series finale even though the character wasn’t introduced to the MCU until Thor: Love & Thunder.
Natalie Portman reprised the role of Jane Foster in Thor: Love & Thunder, now wielding Mjolnir and operating as the Mighty Thor. The mention of a “Lady Thor” in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law means that the MCU’s official timeline must be wrong – and this isn’t the first time this has occurred. MCU audiences will remember the confusing “eight years later” error in Spider-Man: Homecoming, so it seems even Marvel Studios’ own attempts to clear up their timeline haven’t actually solved anything.
3Thor Knew About Xandar’s Decimation In Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Infinity War introduced Chris Hemsworth’s Thor to the Guardians of the Galaxy following Thanos’ attack on the Asgardians. This introduction came with the information that Thanos decimated Xandar to collect the Power Stone, and though it initially made sense for Thor to know this, looking back, it’s unclear how he would. The opening of Infinity War takes place only moments after the ending of Thor: Ragnarok, and Thor didn’t know this information then.
In fact, Ragnarok closes with the new King of Asgard discussing where to take the Asgardian refugees, eventually deciding to take them to Earth following a restocking on Xandar. If Thor knew of Xandar’s decimation a week prior, there’d surely be no suggestion of restocking there. It seems unlikely that Thanos revealed his decimation of Xandar during his attack on the Asgardian ship, and Thor had no way of knowing that the Power Stone was on Xandar anyway, so it’s unclear how he would have known about Xandar’s destruction.
2Iron Man 3 Has A Confusing Power Problem
The events of Iron Man 3 saw Tony Stark transported to Tennessee in a suit of armor which proceeded to completely shut down. Stark enlisted the help of Harley Keener in recharging his armor, but this doesn’t make a great deal of sense when considering that Stark has an unlimited power source in his chest. He recharged his Iron Man armor with a regular battery in Keener’s garage, and never seems to consider using the arc reactor to power the suit – even though that’s one of the machine’s primary functions.
Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark designed the miniaturized arc reactor not only to save his life by keeping shrapnel away from his heart, but also to power his prototype Iron Man armor, which would translate to his later suits too. Since this is the case, it’s unclear why Stark couldn’t use the arc reactor to power the suit in Iron Man 3 – surely all he had to do was wear the suit and it would receive power. This would have negated a lot of interesting narrative points in Iron Man 3, but it created yet another plot hole at the same time.
1Nick Fury Knew About Aliens Before Thor Came To Earth
In 2012’s The Avengers, Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury explained that SHIELD began developing weapons in response to the Asgardians coming to Earth in Thor, implying that they were the first aliens that SHIELD had contact with. The dangers of extraterrestrial life seemed like a new revelation to SHIELD in 2012. This wasn’t a plot hole until 2019’s Captain Marvel, which revealed that SHIELD, and even Fury himself, had come into contact with two other species of aliens back in the 1990s.
Captain Marvel brought both the Kree and the Skrulls to Earth, and Fury interacted with both. Phase 5’s Secret Invasion reveals that the Skrulls have even had a permanent residence on Earth since the 1990s, while Fury and Danvers apparently searched for their new home. This means that the Asgardians weren’t the first aliens Fury and SHIELD came into contact with, by any stretch, meaning some major plot points in the first crossover event of the Marvel Cinematic Universe no longer add up.
