Top Ten Unanswered Questions in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: C.C.C. Issue #48

Top 10 Unanswered Questions in the Marvel Cinematic Universe 

With Captain America: Civil War right around the corner, promising to kick off Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a hero-on-hero battle the likes of which we’ve never seen before, it got me thinking about some of the loose ends in the MCU that have yet to be tied up. No doubt Civil War will shed more light on the grand scheme of things in the Marvel world, plus get some nagging questions answered, but with answers often come more questions.

I tried to avoid picking questions that a) will likely be answered in Captain America: Civil War, b) are overly speculative to the point that they become more like fan theories, and c) are not questions that have been posed from the actual movies [i.e: will the Netflix heroes ever cross over into the movies? Is something fans want to know, but at this point, the Netflix series’ have barely any connections to the movies so it’s not technically a question posed by any of the movies.] 

I’ve also included my own ideas at the end of each question about when/in which movie we might get an answer. Spoilers ahead, obviously. 

Honourable Mention Question: How many Infinity Gauntlets are there? 

This one’s a little speculative and a little nitpicky, but just how many gauntlets are there, exactly? The last one we saw was on the hand of Thanos, but it lacked any infinity stones. The first one we saw was on display in Asgard in the first Thor movie, but it seemed to have all the stones in place. Was that one just a prop? Are there actually two? Chances are that first gauntlet complete with the stones was just a fun easter egg that didn’t mean anything, but given it was seen in a flashback to when Thor and Loki were just kids, maybe it was the real one and the stones have since been removed and displaced, and the one Thanos dons in the Age of Ultron after-credits scene really is that same one from Thor, minus the stones. Of course another question is, how did Thanos get his hands on it if it was locked up safe in Asgard? 

Potential Answer: maybe as soon as next year’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but likely not until Thor Ragnarok or Avengers: Infinity War Part 1. 

10. Is Stephen Strange already Doctor Strange by Phase Three? 

Hey, we just got a Doctor Strange trailer! That was cool, right? I thought so, but it didn’t really give non-comic readers much info on who this guy is or what his powers are. My big question about Doctor Strange is, when does this movie take place? The first time we heard Stephen Strange’s name dropped was in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, when Agent Sitwell mentioned people they’ve been monitoring. He doesn’t say Doctor Strange, he says Stephen, so I wondered, is he just being professional and saying his actual name, or has Stephen Strange not yet become Doctor Strange at that point? It seems clear from the trailer the Doctor Strange movie will detail his origins, but is it taking place before the events of Captain America: The Winter Solider? Or after the events of Captain America: Civil War? Or both? If it is set in the past, even if just by a few years, that’ll make it the first movie in the MCU to take place in a previous time since Captain America: The First Avenger.

Potential Answer: Maybe a Captain America: Civil War after-credits scene? If not, it should definitely be all cleared up in Doctor Strange later this year. 

9. Is Groot as we know him ever returning? 

 

No one seems to truly die in the MCU, and the lovable dancing tree known simply as Groot is no exception. At the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, a fragment of Groot is revealed to be growing, having been planted in a pot by his partner in crime, Rocket Raccoon. Another aspect to this question fans have asked is, did Rocket know Groot would grow back if part of him was planted? His face seems to indicate pleasant surprise, but whether he knew it would work or not isn’t totally clear. Something I hadn’t considered until recently is, this new baby Groot might not be like the Groot before. Sure, he’s a pretty simple, straight-forward character, but maybe he won’t have any memory of what happened before, making him basically a new character. Also, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, will he be his full-grown giant size again, or will he still be small? How big will he be, exactly? 

Possible Answer: this should be clarified in next year’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, for sure. It might even be explained in one of the trailers.  

8. What happened to everyone from The Incredible Hulk?

In Phase One, we got to know all of our principal heroes—Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and Hulk. Everyone had their own groups of people in their own movies, and something I was curious about (as were most fans) was how it would work, exactly, to bring them and their relatively separate worlds together for The Avengers. In Avengers, we see Tony Stark’s girlfriend Pepper Potts, they make a point to explain Thor’s girlfriend Jane Foster is not present but safe elsewhere, and poor Steve Roger’s girlfriend Peggy Carter is all old and senile. 

But, what about Bruce Banner’s girlfriend, Betty Ross? In the comics, that’s Bruce’s girl, but as we know well by now, Marvel is content with forging their own storylines, often radically different from the comics. To be fair, Banner is basically off the grid at the end of The Incredible Hulk/the beginning of Avengers, but then, by the time Age of Ultron rolls around, we still don’t know what Banner’s been doing or who he’s been hanging out with. Oh, but we know he now has a thing for Black Widow. We can assume he’s been teamed with the Avengers over the course of Phase Two, but once again, at the end, he’s gone off the grid, and not since The Incredible Hulk have we seen or even heard about Betty Ross or General Ross (but we will see him in Civil War). But it doesn’t stop there, what about Abomination? We know he’s still alive. How about that other guy who got all mutated? The lack of follow-up from this movie is just one of the reasons it feels the most separate from the MCU. 

Possible Answer: Possibly we’ll get more insight on these characters from General Ross in Civil War, but Hulk won’t be around, so maybe we’ll get mention in Thor: Ragnarok, since Hulk will have a presence there. 

7. What’s Nick Fury been up to?

Last time Nick Fury had a big presence in a movie was Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but after his “death”, he kind of went off to do his own thing, whatever that was, then he returned to give the Avengers an important pep-talk in Age of Ultron (of course with no reference to what he’s been doing since his “death”) then he showed up again at the end on the heli-carrier. Strangely, there’s been little indication that Fury will have any major presence in Phase Three. I say strangely because, this is the guy who went to Tony Stark and actually got the Avengers together and had the idea, so, you know, he’s kind of a big deal. But not anymore, apparently. If not directing S.H.I.E.L.D, what has he been doing? What will he be doing in Phase Three? Will they bring him back and actually kill him for real?

Possible Answer: Civil War cameo? If not, I guess Avengers: Infinity War. Maybe they’ll try to replicate the death of Coulson from the first Avengers in Avengers: Infinity War Part 1, only with Fury dying instead of Coulson, which brings the team back together after separating (which I’m guessing they will be separated after the events of Civil War) 

6. Who is Star Lord’s father? 

A big part of Guardians of the Galaxy was the mystery surrounding Peter Quill’s parentage. We know his dad is definitely an extraterrestrial of some kind, though probably not of the same species as Yondu, the pirate who abducted Quill from earth (not trying to be space racist or anything, just, Quill really didn’t seem to have any shades of blue on his skin). I don’t know what Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’s plot will be, really, but I do know Peter trying to find out who his father is will be a pretty significant part of the film. Comic fans thought they’d be clever and look to the source material to find the answer, but director/writer James Gunn has made a point to say his father in the film will not be the same as in the comics. Fans have since gone on to speculate Adam Warlock, who has been confirmed to appear in Vol. 2, could be his outer space old man.   

Potential Answer: this is less potential and more likely certain: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will answer this question. Think it might be whoever Kurt Russel is playing? 

5. Will we ever see the real Mandarin? 

Many fans of the comics (and fans of just the movies, for that matter) were really let down by the reveal in Iron Man 3 that The Mandarin, often referenced as one of Iron Man’s greatest villains, was nothing more than a fraud; a drunk actor named Trevor pretending to be a terrorist. It was a ballsy move that didn’t really work out all that great, but Marvel made an interesting follow-up move by releasing a one-shot called All Hail the King, which showed Trevor in prison, but then also hinted at the possible existence of the real Mandarin, as he’s known in the comic world. Could it be, that this fan-favourite really is lurking around in the MCU, waiting to take on Iron Man in a future film? 

Possible Answer: To be determined. There’s been nothing since this one-shot to further confirm or deny his existence. Hopefully he pops up one day in his truer-to-the-comics form to appease fans still mad about his portrayal in Iron Man 3. 

4. Is Ultron really dead? What about Red Skull? 

Yeah, this is a bit of a cheat by being a two part question, but I’m really only focusing on Ultron here. It’s sort of an unwritten rule in movies that if something important, like the death of a character, happens off-screen, it’s not a sure-thing. At the end of Age of Ultron, the last remaining Ultron drone has a Shakespearean conversation about life and the future of the human race and whatnot with the recently created Vision—essentially J.A.R.V.I.S with a new super-powered body. Some very precise wording is used here, as well as earlier. Vision says to the Avengers “I don’t want to kill Ultron. He’s unique.” Then later during the convo between him and Ultron, it ends with Ultron saying “You’re incredibly naïve.” To which Vision says, “Well, I was born yesterday.” Then it cuts to a wide shot where neither of them are in frame, and it’s implied, but not shown, that Vision blasted Ultron with the laser thingy from the mind stone on his forehead. 

Most viewers shrugged it off as, well I guess Ultron’s dead. Not me. In the comics, Ultron keeps coming back all the time—often with a different body, but he’s still the same evil A.I. I don’t think Vision killed the last Ultron, based on what he said earlier and the fact that a conscious choice seemed to be made not to show it, but even if he did destroy that last drone, it’s entirely possible Ultron’s A.I. still resides somewhere in the depths of cyber space, and is just waiting to make a triumphant return. 

As for Red Skull, there’s been fan speculation that when he was sucked up into that space hole in Captain America: The First Avenger, he didn’t actually die, and might come back one day as Cosmic Skull. I can’t say much on that theory as I know nothing about Cosmic Skull from the comics, but it would be neat to have Red Skull return in a new, more powerful form. But this is all getting a bit speculative. 

Possible Answers: Will Ultron and/or Red Skull return in Phase Three? If not in Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 or Part 2, then perhaps not until Phase Four, or maybe they really are both dead and we’ll never see them again. But I doubt it. 

3. Is Odin alive or dead/Does anyone know Loki is ruling Asgard?

Again, sort of a two-parter, but they go hand in hand. Perhaps the biggest cliff hanger ending from a Marvel film thus far has been the final moments of Thor: The Dark World, in which it is revealed Loki is once again not dead but very much alive (wow, so original, never seen that before!), and the added surprise of this reveal is that he’s disguised as his adoptive father Odin, and he’s sitting on the throne in Asgard. It’s a reveal that has pretty big implications, and brings up a few queries. What happened to Odin? He is getting pretty old, did he die and Loki just filled in for him? Did Loki straight up murder Thor’s biological father and take his place on the throne? 

Fans thought the question of does Thor or anyone else know Loki is impersonating Odin? Might get addressed in Age of Ultron. It wasn’t, but what we did get was Thor having a vision of the apocalypse, and at the end he heads for home to figure out what’s going on with the infinity stones. A couple other related questions: is Loki still working with Thanos? Probably not, since the Age of Ultron mid-credit scene seems to indicate Thanos is going to just do it himself, as he says, and isn’t relying so much on others to do his bidding. 

Possible Answer: the fate of Odin, Loki, and all of Asgard will likely be revealed in next year’s Thor: Ragnarok. As far as Loki’s involvement with Thanos, that might not be addressed until Infinity War.

2. Do the Avengers know Coulson is alive?

Let me preview this by saying I don’t watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. What I do know about it, though, from talking with people who have watched and still watch the series, is that Coulson is very much alive. And yet…he didn’t make a single appearance in any of the Phase Two films. We’re talking about the agent who appeared in 4/6 of the Phase One movies (including what were arguably the two most important, the one that started it all (Iron Man) and the one that changed it all (The Avengers)) and then died heroically mid-way through The Avengers, which essentially brought the team together to defeat Loki and his Chitauri army. His death wasn’t taken lightly by the team, nor the fans. 

Fans were excited to hear he would be back for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, but I think most fans were more excited about the prospects of him popping back up in the movies again. Only he hasn’t. Not once. Not even a cameo. Which is a little weird, and begs the question, do the Avengers even know he’s alive? It seems like a pretty major thing to have had them all find this out at some unspecified point between movies and then never address it. Like, imagine if Coulson just pops in to Civil War, and Tony Stark’s like, wow wait, I thought you died, and he’s like nah it’s good. It makes me wonder if we’ll ever see Coulson in a movie again. 

Possible Answer: Not soon enough, no idea when or where (if ever) we’ll find out if the Avengers know about Coulson’s resurrection.  

1. What is Thanos’ ultimate plan, exactly? 

Okay, this is a biggie. Let’s take the comics out of the question here, and just look at what evidence the movies have provided for us. The first time we caught a glimpse of the mad titan was in the mid-credits scene for the first Avengers. I didn’t even know who he was—I thought he was Galactus at first. He remained un-named, and if it were not for the comic fans who spouted off their knowledge on the internet, most people wouldn’t have known anything about him. For two years, that few seconds of footage remained mysterious and unexplained, with little context to how it fit within the ever-expanding MCU. 

Then, in Guardians of the Galaxy, a very familiar-looking purple alien by the name of Thanos appeared on a floating throne of rock. Guardians gave us a bit more insight into who this guy was. We knew he lived in space in a place called Sanctuary, he had two daughters, Gamora and Nebula, and it reaffirmed suspicions that he is one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, beings in the universe (as Drax says at the end of the film, “…Ronan was only a puppet. It's really Thanos that I need to kill.”) 

And then, in what may be his most important appearance thus far, we see Thanos for a third time (the second time in a mid-credits scene) after the event of Avengers: Age of Ultron, as he puts on the golden infinity gauntlet and says, “Fine, I’ll do it myself.” And what did Thor just talk about in the movie? And what did the Collector talk about in Guardians of the Galaxy? Oh, something to do with some infinity stones and how they’re super powerful, and it kind of looks like they might fit nicely into that gauntlet, don’t you think? That’s as much as we know about him at this point, but even casual viewers have started to step back and go, wait a second, this guy seems pretty important and pretty powerful, what is he up to? And these stones keep getting mentioned, are they connected? Don’t forget the announcement Marvel made about Infinity War, which had a quick few seconds of footage showing Thanos wearing the gauntlet with all of the stones in place. 

Yes, as comic readers have been pointing out since his first appearance, Thanos is planning to use the infinity stones in the infinity gauntlet to take over the universe. But we don’t really know that, based on what the movie’s have explained thus far. Marvel is keeping their Thanos card in their hand for now, waiting to play it for the final act of Phase Three, with Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and Part 2, in which we know Thanos will take on Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in a battle to end all battles. What, exactly, Thanos hopes to achieve by collecting all these stones and using them within the gauntlet, is still a mystery. What kind of power will he yield? How can anyone hope to stop him? 

Possible Answer: some of Thanos’ plan might be vaguely explained in Thor Ragnarok or Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but the full picture likely won’t come to light until Avengers: Infinity War Part 1.