It's hard to keep any facts straight about the Marvel superheroes, due to how many different writers have been allowed to use them over the years. This is to say nothing of the various creators who were allowed to use them in animated shows, movies, and video games over the years. The recent DC-style revamping of the setting has made this even more difficult, as you now have to differentiate between different canons and timelines for the Marvel characters.

The fact that so many different writers have been allowed to use the Marvel characters has meant that many stories were planned out which would never come to pass. There are many different reasons for this, ranging from a comic series underperforming and being canceled, with writers being fired and new people needing to be hired at the last minute to replace them. This means that fans would sometimes have to fill in the gaps of the story themselves, without realizing that their guesses were correct all along.

We are here today to discover which fan theories about the Marvel universe were true all along. From the secret debut of Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to the truth about the Mandarin.

Here are Twenty Mind-Blowing Marvel Fan Theories (That Actually Got Confirmed)

20 The Early Spider-Man Cameo

Fans were clamoring for Spider-Man to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so that he could establish the shackles of the terrible Amazing Spider-Man franchise and appear alongside the real superhero movie stars.

There was a scene at the end of Iron Man 2 where a kid in an Iron Man mask confronts a Hammer drone and is saved by Tony Stark. We don't learn the boy's name, but the date/location of the scene suggested to a lot of fans that this might have been a young Peter Parker, but no one was able to officially confirm it due to the fact that the Spider-Man movie rights were still owned by Fox. When Spider-Man was finally allowed to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the truth was finally revealed: Tom Holland confirmed that the young boy at the end of Iron Man 2 was indeed Peter Parker.

19 Nightcrawler's Retirement

X2: X-Men United opened with the incredible action scene that showed Nightcrawler attempting to end the President of the United States of America. It was later revealed that Nightcrawler was under the effects of mind control at the time and was actually a deeply religious person. Nightcrawler didn't return for X-Men: The Last Stand and his absence was not commented on by the cast of the film. This led fans to speculate that Nightcrawler's peaceful nature caused him to retire from being a superhero.

X-Men: The Official Game confirmed this speculation, by showing Nightcrawler's post-X2 missions and his decision to abandon violence.

The real reason why Nightcrawler didn't return for X-Men: The Last Stand was due to Alan Cumming not wanting to reprise the role, due to how uncomfortable he found the extensive makeup that was required to play the character.

18 Pinky & The Howling Commandos

There are many LGBTQ characters in Marvel Comics, though the same cannot be said for the movies. It took a long time before any of the comic characters could come out of the closet, with Northstar being the first. As time went on, more and more heroes & villains were revealed to be gay, including Iceman of the X-Men.

Stan Lee was once asked about the debut of the Rawhide Kid series, in which the main character was openly gay. Lee revealed that Pinky Pinkerton from his '60s Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos were meant to be gay and that it was never an issue at the time. Fans had long speculated that Pinky Pinkerton was gay, due to his flamboyant behavior and dress sense; it just took a long time for Stan Lee to confirm their suspicions.

17 Occupy Genosha

The promotional material for X-Men: The Last Stand pushed the idea that Angel was meant to be one of the most important characters in the film. This turned out to not be the case, as Angel barely did anything in the movie. Angel was one of the characters who did not appear in X-Men: Days of Future Past and his fate was never mentioned.

We didn't see any more of Angel until the revised timeline of the later movies, which suggested that he passed away after X-Men: The Last Stand.

Angel's fate was revealed in 25 Moments, which was a website that featured interactive history lessons about the period before the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past. This website revealed that Angel attended an "Occupy Wall Street" style protest of the mutant cure, where he was slain by the Sentinels.

16 The Doctor Can Join The Avengers

The revival of Doctor Who in 2005 helped the show to become an international success. Doctor Who had more of a cult fandom in the UK before this, due to how long the show had been off the air. The success of Doctor Who and the nature of the space & time traveling aspect of the show has meant that fans have speculated that the Doctor can travel to any reality and crossover with any media franchise.

We know for a fact that the Doctor lives in the same universe as the one from Marvel. This is due to Alan Moore creating characters for Doctor Who comics and then bringing them over into his Marvel UK strips. These include a mercenary group, called the Special Executive, who work for the denizens of Gallifrey, which is the homeworld of the Time Lords from Doctor Who. 

15 The Blind Widow

The vast majority of Marvel fans associate the name Black Widow with the member of the Avengers who is played by Scarlett Johansson. There was actually a different Black Widow who predates the one from The Avengers. She was a woman, named Claire Voyant, who was given her satanic powers by the Devil. The original Black Widow was brought into the modern Marvel universe in a series called The Twelve, where it was revealed that she had been frozen in stasis since World War II.

There were hints that Blind Al of Deadpool fame was the original Black Widow at some point in her life and was actually the one responsible for giving Wade cancer. Joe Kelly has revealed that this was the plan, but there wasn't enough time to give her an origin story.

14 Taku's Secret

While Northstar is commonly regarded as the first gay Marvel character, it took many years before it was actually stated as such in the comics. There were numerous hints concerning Northstar's orientation, but it took a while before the truth could be made public. Marvel fans have suspected that other characters that predate Northstar was intended to be gay, but weren't allowed to come out due to the time in which they were published. There were many hints that Taku and Venomm from Black Panther were meant to be in love, though their relationship wasn't addressed within the story.

Don McGregor has revealed that Taku and Venomm were indeed meant to be gay, but he wasn't allowed to reveal it during his time on Black Panther. The comic was already dealing with a lot of controversial material at the time and adding gay characters to the mix likely would have led to the series being canceled.

13 The Ronin Switch

There have been times when fans have correctly guessed an upcoming twist in a Marvel comic book, which has led to the creators changing their plans in order to make sure they surprise the audience.

Ronin was one such character who had his secret identity changed due to the fans guessing what it was.

Ronin was a ninja with a secret identity who joined the New Avengers and appeared in a lot of the promotional material for the series. The vast majority of the fans guessed that Daredevil was Ronin, due to events that were happening over in the Daredevil comic book. It turned out that Ronin was actually a character named Echo.

Brian Michael Bendis publically denied that Ronin was meant to be Daredevil, but he was lying, as Matt Murdock was indeed meant to be Ronin.

12 The Third Summers Brother

Cyclops of the X-Men and his brother, Havok, were both separated from their parents at a young age. This meant that everyone assumed that they had no other brothers or sisters, as they were never mentioned by anyone with the story.

Mr. Sinister caused shockwaves within the X-Men fan community when he dropped hints that were was another Summers brother out there somewhere. Speculation over his identity was rampant, though one of the most likely candidates was a character named Adam X-Treme, who was related to the Shi'ar royal family.

Fabian Nicieza has revealed that Adam X-Treme was planned to be the original third Summers brother, but he never had the chance to put it into a story. The third Summers brother was later revealed to be a new character, named Gabriel Summers.

11 The Inspiration

The Hellfire Club are some of the most powerful enemies of the X-Men. They are a group of incredibly wealthy villains who used their powers to become dominant in their various fields and banded together with a shared desire for seedy clothes. The fans had speculated that The Hellfire Club members were based on famous actors, with Peter Wyngarde and Orson Welles obviously being the inspiration for Jason Wyngarde and Harry Leland.

Jean Grey's outfit during her brief tenure as a member of The Hellfire Club was inspired by an episode of The Avengers TV series, where Emma Peel was brainwashed and forced to dress in a black leather outfit. This episode was highly controversial for its time, though it was one of the key inspirations for The Hellfire Club.

10 Ozzy Is Gonna Sue Somebody

It is believed that the Marvel Cinematic Universe started with the success of Iron Man, but the truth is that it started with the amazing Iron Man trailer. It was the hype for this trailer that helped set the stage for all that was to come. The Iron Man trailer concluded with the song "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath. The Iron Man movies have confirmed that Tony Stark is a fan of Black Sabbath, as he is regularly seen wearing their tour t-shirts.

It was speculated that Tony Stark took the rather generic Iron Man name from the Black Sabbath song.

This was something that was confirmed in the novelization of Iron Man, as Tony decided to name his superhero identity after his favorite song.

9 Valkyrie's Missing Lover

The Marvel universe has many LGBTQ characters, but the same cannot be said for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Marvel TV shows don't have any problem including gay characters, but the movies are trying to reach a much wider audience, which includes nations where being gay is still illegal. This is an issue that a lot of Hollywood movies have to face, with many blockbusters being forced to tone down or remove scenes that confirm characters are gay for certain international cuts of movies.

Thor: Ragnarok came close to including an LGBTQ character, as Valkryie was implied to be bi in the film.

It turns out that a scene was filmed which would have shown Valkryie's female lover leaving their room. This was cut from the final version of the movie, which leaves Valkryie's orientation more ambiguous.

8 The Quicksilver Ending

Avengers: Age of Ultron offed one of the members of the team, in an act that would have been shocking, had it been someone who a) wasn't a villain half an hour earlier and b) someone who was actually an established member of the team.

Quicksilver perished in Avengers: Age of Ultron, as he was gunned down by a barrage of minigun fire while protecting Hawkeye.

There was speculation that footage existed of Quicksilver surviving so that the producers could keep him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in case the executives got cold feet about offing him. Joss Whedon has confirmed in interviews that an alternate ending where Quicksilver caught the bullets and was seen at the end of the film was made, but ultimately went unused.

7 Wolverine Would Have Easily Beaten Doctor Octopus

Nick Fury inviting Tony Stark to take part in his "Avengers Initiative" was the moment that officially kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its inter-connected plotlines that spanned numerous films. We came very close to having superhero movie crossovers before Iron Man, as the Spider-Man films liked to throw in subtle references to other Marvel characters, such as Doctor Strange. The fact that Spider-Man and the X-Men were the biggest names in superhero movies at the time meant that a lot of fans speculated that they existed in the same setting and that a crossover movie was in the works.

Hugh Jackman has since confirmed that he came close to filming a Wolverine cameo for one of the Spider-Man movies, but no one was able to find his costume in time. Had this scene happened, then we may have seen a Spider-Man/X-Men crossover film.

6 No Cure For Being A Rogue

One of the central aspects of Rogue's character is that her mutant power is deadly to those that she physically touches and she has no way of deactivating it. Her draining touch is always switched on, which means that she cannot touch the skin of another person without causing them harm.

X-Men: The Last Stand ended with Rogue going to take the mutant cure, even though the rest of her teammates were against the idea. She later appeared with her powers fully restored in the Rogue Cut of X-Men: Days of Future Past, where her abilities played an important role in the film. The ambiguous ending to X-Men: The Last Stand led to some fans believing that Rogue didn't take the mutant cure after all. A deleted scene on the DVD of the movie confirmed this theory to be true.

5 The Two Psylockes

Psylocke is one of the most popular members of the X-Men, but she didn't receive a prominent role in the movies until X-Men: Apocalypse. A version of Psylocke did appear in X-Men: The Last Stand, though she was barely recognizable as the character and only had a minor role.

The fact that there are two Psylockes in the X-Men movies has a built-in solution, as there are two Psylockes in the X-Men comics. 

The fans had speculated that the version of Psylocke seen in X-Men: The Last Stand was actually Kwannon, who was the woman who possessed the body that Psylocke eventually stole. This was later confirmed by the screenwriter of the film, who confirmed that the character was always meant to be Kwannon, but had her name changed during production.

4 Doesn't Everyone Keep A Spare Patrick Stewart Lying Around?

X-Men: The Last Stand involved Charles Xavier being disintegrated by the Phoenix. He was able to cheat his demise by using his powers to move his mind into another body. Xavier hinted that he could do this earlier in the movie, so this development wasn't totally out of left field.

Charles Xavier would show up again in his original body in the later films (like Days of Future Past and Logan) without any sort of explanation as to why. The fans had speculated that the reason why he was in his original body was that he had moved into his own twin, as Xavier did have a twin in the comics, though she was a female. The DVD commentary for X-Men: The Last Stand revealed that Charles did indeed move into the body of his twin brother, whose mind was destroyed by Charles' power while they were still in the womb.

3 The True Traitor

Bishop was a mutant who came from a future timeline where the X-Men had been betrayed by one of their own and slaughtered. While the identity of the traitor wasn't known; Bishop suspected that it was Gambit, due to his shady past. The traitor was later revealed to be Charles Xavier himself during the Onslaught event.

It seems that Bishop was right to not trust Gambit, as there were plans for Gambit to betray the team to Mr. Sinister.

The original idea for Gambit was that he was supposed to have been a secret agent whose job it was to infiltrate the X-Men while supplying information to Mr. Sinister. The unexpected popularity of the character changed these plans, though it was later revealed that Gambit had helped Mr. Sinister form the team that was used to end the Morlocks.

2 Blade Vs. Morbius

While Spider-Man and the first X-Men movie are often credited with launching Marvel's cinematic ventures, there is another film that deserves this accolade: Blade. 

Blade followed the titular half-human/half-vampire, who had the strengths of a vampire, but none of the weaknesses.

With Blade being such a huge hit, there was speculation that he would fight Morbius in the sequel. Morbius is a vampire who commonly battles Spider-Man and has had lots of encounters with Blade in the comics. The original ending of Blade featured the title character spotting a white-skinned vampire in the distance. The director has confirmed that this was meant to be Morbius and he would have been the focus of the second movie. He wasn't able to follow through on these plans, as Morbius was locked into possibly being used in the Spider-Man films.

1 The Mandarin Is Real

Iron Man 3 had a huge plot twist that somehow managed to remain unspoiled by the Internet until the film was released. The big twist of the movie was that the Mandarin wasn't a real villain, but was an actor pretending to be one. The Mandarin was actually a British actor, instead of a Chinese guy wearing magical rings.

The fans weren't fond of this twist, as they wanted to see the real Mandarin show up and battle Tony Stark. There was even a group of fans who believed that the real Mandarin was still out there somewhere. A short was created for the Thor: Dark World home releases that confirmed the fan theory concerning the Mandarin. All Hail the King shows the fake Mandarin being apprehended by agents of the real Mandarin, who is angry that someone has been masquerading as him and committing crimes in his name.