Avengers: Endgame left many loose ends from the MCU’s Infinity Saga, some of which haven’t yet been resolved in subsequent Marvel Studios projects.
The MCU’s Infinity Saga came to a close with the epic Avengers: Endgame, though the Phase 3 project left many loose ends unresolved. Marvel Studios spent over a decade building up to the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, with every project from 2008’s Iron Man onwards informing the dramatic storyline that unfolded over the Russo Brothers’ two-part Infinity Saga spectacular. The Phase 3 films neatly wrapped up many storylines, specifically those involving the six original members of the Avengers, but Endgame also set the stage for the onset of the Multiverse Saga and left a lot up to audience interpretation.
Avengers: Infinity War saw the Mad Titan Thanos embark on his quest to collect the six Infinity Stones and wipe out half the population of the universe, opposed by the combined might of the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy. While Earth’s Mightiest Heroes put up a fair fight, Thanos succeeded, and the universe was thrust into five years of uncertainty and trauma, detailed in the opening moments of Avengers: Endgame. Thankfully, the remaining Avengers were able to reverse Thanos’ devastation and eliminate the villain from existence, but Avengers: Endgame also set up several teases for future MCU projects that haven’t yet been paid off.
Where Is Steve Rogers After Avengers: Endgame?
As the conclusion of the MCU’s Infinity Saga (aside from its epilogue in Spider-Man: Far From Home), Avengers: Endgame focused intensely on the stories of the original six Avengers members, including Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, the Hulk, Hawkeye, and Thor. Each of these heroes saw massive developments over the course of Infinity War and Endgame, with perhaps the most attention being given to Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. While Iron Man lay down his life in Endgame’s third act, sacrificing himself by using the Infinity Stones to decimate Thanos and his army, Captain America’s Endgame journey left a few more questions unanswered.
Chris Evans debuted as Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America, in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger and went on to become the leader of the Avengers and eventually a fugitive after renouncing the Sokovia Accords. Avengers: Endgame, however, saw him realize his true potential, finally wielding Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, and eventually passing on the shield and Captain America mantle to Sam Wilson. Rogers’ mission to return the Infinity Stones to their original timelines has been a storyline that many wanted to see adapted for the MCU, and the status of the older version of Rogers is still unknown, so Evans could return to the MCU to conclude these missing stories.
7Are The Infinity Stones Still Important In The MCU’s Multiverse Saga?
Marvel Studios built up the mythos of the Infinity Stones over a multitude of projects in the MCU’s Infinity Saga before finally bringing them all together in Avengers: Infinity War. Over their appearances in films such as Captain America: The First Avenger, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Doctor Strange, the Infinity Stones were cemented as being paramount to the survival and balance of the universe. Avengers: Endgame solidified this idea by having Bruce Banner engage in an intense conversation with the Ancient One during the Avengers’ time heist, during which she explained that a universe without the Stones would be subject to dark forces and immense danger.
Banner seemed to heed this warning, ensuring that the Infinity Stones would be returned to their original timelines following the Battle of Earth. While this would protect the tampered-with timelines, the protection of the MCU’s main continuity is another question, as Thanos was revealed to have destroyed the Infinity Stones after his Infinity War snap. This means that the Infinity Stones are missing from the current MCU timeline, but Banner seems to have neglected to spread the Ancient One’s warning, so it’sunclear what dark forces could emerge. With the threat of Kang the Conqueror growing, this could be a dire side effect of the Infinity Stones’ destruction.
6What Happened To Gamora After Avengers: Endgame?
Zoe Saldaña debuted as Gamora in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, the adoptive daughter of Thanos who went rogue and joined Star-Lord and the gang to protect the galaxy instead of endangering it. James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel explored the budding romance between Gamora and Peter Quill and the growing family dynamic between the entire Guardians team, but Avengers: Infinity War saw Gamora meet her demise at the hands of her father, who sacrificed her to retrieve the Soul Stone. This was an emotional ending for Gamora but created the opportunity for a multiversal variant to take her place in the main MCU timeline.
The 2014 version of Gamora journeyed with Nebula, her adoptive sister, and their father into the MCU’s present-day during Avengers: Endgame, but while Thanos tried to destroy the Avengers and the universe as a whole, Gamora turned her back on her father’s philosophy. This meant that she survived Iron Man’s snap in Avengers: Endgame, leaving the battlefield to places unknown while the Guardians set out to find her. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will see Saldaña return as this version of Gamora and hopefully explore her actions following Endgame that led to her leading a faction of the Ravagers and eventually meeting her old family again.
5Will Pepper Potts Return As The MCU’s Rescue?
Avengers: Endgame included many twists, turns, and surprises with storylines such as the debut of Tony Stark’s daughter, Morgan, Bruce Banner becoming Smart Hulk, and Steve Rogers retiring in the past with Peggy Carter. One of these surprises involved Pepper Potts suiting up in her own Iron Man-like armor, assuming the moniker of Rescue. Gwyneth Paltrow portrayed Potts in a variety of MCU projects since 2008’s Iron Man, but Endgame, aside from suiting up for protection in Iron Man 3, marked the first time she had been seen in her own armor, yet there’s been no mention of it since.
It could be that Avengers: Endgame marked the end of Pepper Potts’ MCU story, especially since she had been intrinsically tied to Tony Stark, who died during the Phase 3 film. However, Potts’ Rescue has the perfect opportunity to continue Iron Man’s legacy in the MCU and could join other armored heroes such as War Machine, Ironheart, and potentially Iron Lad (should he be introduced). Marvel Studios’ upcoming Armor Wars film might be the perfect place for Potts to make her return, as it’s not hard to imagine James “Rhodey” Rhodes paying a visit to his late best friend’s family, so Rescue could return sooner than anyone expects.
4Okoye Warned Black Widow About An Earthquake Under The Ocean
Several hints at future MCU projects and potential storylines were dropped during Avengers: Endgame, and though some have already been paid off, others are still leaving many confused. One of these hints came quite early during Endgame, where the Avengers were holding a holographic meeting with Natasha Romanoff at Avengers HQ. This meeting involved new Avengers members Nebula, Rocket, Captain Marvel, and Okoye, the then-General of Wakanda’s all-female army, the Dora Milaje. A throwaway line from Okoye could have teased one major future MCU plot line but this seems to have been forgotten.
An Easter egg in Iron Man 2 seemed to uncover the MCU’s Atlantis beneath the waves off the coast of West Africa. This hinted at the introduction of Namor in the MCU and was backed up in Avengers: Endgame when Okoye mentioned that there had been “a mild subduction under the African plate,” referring to an earthquake beneath the sea. This could have been perfectly paid off during Tenoch Huerta’s debut as Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but the location of his underwater nation, renamed Talokan, was moved to the Yucatán peninsula, so it seems these African-set Easter eggs will be forever forgotten in the MCU.
3What Happened To Xandar & The Nova Corps?
Xandar was a location featured prominently in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy and was the center of the Nova Empire and home to the Nova Corps, an intergalactic peace-keeping organization. After the events of Guardians of the Galaxy, the Power Stone was housed within the Nova Empire on Xandar, which unfortunately made the planet the first target on Thanos’ quest for the Infinity Stones. Upon meeting the Guardians of the Galaxy in Avengers: Infinity War, Thor reveals that Thanos decimated Xandar to collect the Power Stone, leaving the fate of the remaining Nova Empire unclear.
In March 2022, it was announced that a project was in development in Marvel Studios that would be focused on Richard Rider, a.k.a. Nova, a character associated with the Nova Corps in Marvel Comics. While not many details have surfaced about the upcoming MCU project, it has the perfect opportunity to finally reveal what happened during Thanos’ attack on Xandar, and so could see the return of the Power Stone and Thanos himself into the MCU. There’s currently no release date for the MCU’s Nova project.
2Peggy Carter Teased Brian Braddock In The MCU
The Avengers’ Time Heist in Endgame harked back to some iconic storylines in the MCU’s history, including the 2012 Battle of New York, Jane Foster’s visit to Asgard in 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, and Peter Quill’s memorable opening dance sequence in Guardians of the Galaxy. However, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark also traveled to a completely new MCU era, finding themselves at SHIELD’s early base at Camp Lehigh (the “birthplace” of Captain America) in 1970. This enabled the return of a few familiar faces, including Howard Stark, Hank Pym, and Rogers’ lost love, Peggy Carter.
While trying to acquire spare Pym Particles, Steve Rogers enters Carter’s office and overhears a conversation in which she claims that someone named Braddock hadn’t checked in recently. In Marvel Comics, Brian Braddock was a British superhero who debuted in 1976 and took up the moniker of Captain Britain, a super-powered soldier and member of the multiversal Captain Britain Corps. Avengers: Endgame provided the first tease at Braddock’s MCU debut, and the Multiverse Saga is the best place for him to finally show up, so it’s curious that he and the Captain Britain Corps are still missing from the MCU’s current roster.
1How Did Bruce Banner Become The Smart Hulk In Avengers: Endgame?
Bruce Banner is one of the MCU’s oldest characters, introduced by Edward Norton in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk before being taken over by Mark Ruffalo from 2012’s The Avengers onwards. Banner, a.k.a. the Hulk, has seen more character development than most of Marvel Studios’ heroes, taking him from the uncontrollable monster to gladiator in Thor: Ragnarok and finally to his Smart Hulk form in Avengers: Endgame. This was an unexpected surprise, especially since there was no explanation as to how Banner managed to combine his two personas into one body.
This became a major point of discussion in the early episodes of Phase 4’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, which revealed that Banner and Tony Stark had spent a great deal of time working together to bring the Banner and Hulk personas together. Even so, Banner neglected to go into detail about how this occurred, but this is only one of many questions that audiences still have about what went down during Avengers: Endgame’s five-year time jump, known as the Blip. There have been calls for upcoming Marvel Studios’ projects to explore what happened during the Blip, but until then, these Avengers: Endgame questions and many more will be left unanswered.
