When one thinks about pure box office dominance in today’s film world, there is no other franchise or studio that dominates the box office like the MCU and Marvel Studios. The MCU is home to some of the most successful films of the past 10 years and the recently released films, Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War have already managed to claw their way into the top 10 highest grossing films of all time at #9 and #4 respectively as of the time of this writing.
Now with 10 years and 19 films under its belt, the MCU has larger and larger with each entry and of course some of the finer (and larger) details are sure to be lost in the mix eventually. There is so much content that it is very understandable if many viewers begin to lose track of the smaller details in the films as well as some of the behind the scenes logistics. Therefore, 25 things that everybody gets wrong about Marvel movies is very easy to understand.
On top of the MCU there exist the non-canonical Marvel movies made by other studios, such as the X-Men and pre-Spiderman: Homecoming Spider-Man films, made by Fox and Sony respectively. In addition, there are also the pre-MCU Marvel films such as Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and 1986’s Howard the Duck. Now let’s take a deep dive into some the lost facts of the history of Marvel films and see if you guys were aware of any of these.
25 Stan Lee Cameos In Every Film?
Stan “The Man” Lee is a national treasure and one of the most beloved icons of the geek world. He has become synonymous with Marvel and every time we go to see the newest film we always sit in our chairs, anxiously anticipating what funny quip or moment that Stan will have when he shows off his newest cameo. While he has appeared in every MCU film to date, he hasn’t appeared in most pre-MCU films such as the Blade films, X2, and even post-MCU's X-Men: Days of Future Past. As well as 2015’s Fantastic Four, though nobody noticed since nobody saw it.
24 The End Isn’t Permanent?
There is an understandable amount of skepticism that appears whenever a superhero bites the big one. Historically, superheroes have had a harder time staying down than they do staying alive, and a lot of fans seem to think that concept has made its way into the world of Marvel’s films.
Most of the “ends” that make viewers question the legitimacy of any character actually going weren’t actually gone, to begin with.
Obviously, I’m referring to characters such as Nick Fury, Winter Soldier, and Loki (the first two times). While the characters who actually perish (aside from Phil Coulson who is another story entirely) actually remained gone such as Groot, Quicksilver, Yondu, Heimdall, and Peggy, just to name a few.
23 Every Film Is A Banger?
Contrary to popular belief, not every one of Marvel’s films has been a blockbuster sensation. Of course, with the inception of the MCU, the films have only seemed to get better and better, with the flops becoming few and far between. Perhaps the most obvious film to not perform was 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. Other films such as both The Punisher and Punisher: War Zone failed both critically and commercially. Other films that didn't fare so well were X-Men: Last Stand, all 3 Fantastic Four films, and even Ant-Man didn’t do so well at the box office in comparison to other MCU Phase 2 films.
22 Marvel Characters Are Never Re-Cast?
To date, there have been several re-castings in the MCU, some obviously larger than others. These include War Machine, who was played by Terrence Howard in Iron Man and then by Don Cheadle ever since. Fandral, originally played by Josh Dallas, and later re-cast with Zachary Levi. Thanos now played by Josh Brolin, Old Howard Stark who is now played by John Slattery.
Red Skull who was originally played by Hugo Weaving was recently played by Ross Marquand in the character's long-awaited return.
And perhaps the largest re-casting was the Incredible Hulk himself who was originally played by Edward Norton but was replaced with Mark Ruffalo after conflict surrounded Norton. Which leads to my next point…
21 The Incredible Hulk Is Non-Canon?
Many people out there seem to think that 2008’s The Incredible Hulk is a separate film and is just a sequel to 2003’s Hulk. There are several reasons that this is a common thought. Perhaps the most obvious one is the recasting of Edward Norton to Mark Ruffalo as the gamma beast himself.
This has lead to many not realizing that the characters are the same.
It can also be attributed to the fact that there have been little to no connections made from the rest of the MCU to The Incredible Hulk aside from General Ross making recent appearances again in Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War.
20 Marvel Holds The Film Rights To ALL Their Characters?
It’s no secret that Marvel has had many legal hoops to jump through over the last 20 years in order to get the rights to all of their characters back. Once the start of the MCU began, Marvel continued to regain their character rights and mostly succeeding. However, several remain unaccounted for or aren't primarily held by Marvel. Obviously, the most popular recent example comes in the form of the Sony deal, which allowed Marvel to use Spider-Man but allowed Sony to remain the primary holders of the rights.
19 The Netflix Shows Are Separate From The MCU?
The MCU received a much-needed upgrade when Marvel announced they would be expanding the MCU into television with Agents of Shield. Following that, they announced they came to a deal with Netflix for several shows based around street level heroes which would culminate into a Defenders show.
While the MCU largely ignores the events of the Netflix shows, this does not mean they don’t exist in the same connected universe.
The Netflix shows largely reference the events happening in the MCU, such as Loki’s attack on New York.
18 The Movie Ends When The Credits Roll?
As with most films, it is commonly understood that when the credits begin to roll, the film is pretty much over and exiting will not cause you to miss anything further.
However, when it comes to Marvel films, you can always pick out the newbies to the superhero genre by who gets up when the credits begin to roll.
True fans know that when the credits roll you stay seated and wait for the small teaser scenes that are sure to come and show tidbits and samples of the future films coming soon. However, that wasn’t always the case...
17 They Have Always Had Post Credit Scenes?
I know it’s hard to think of a time before the MCU and the X-Men Universe, but before these film goliaths, there were much smaller films made singularly about the heroes in them with rarely anything else to tie into.
With the days of superhero film dominance far ahead of them, they hadn’t begun including the staple Marvel facet consistently until the MCU began, 2008’s Iron Man gave us our first look at Nick Fury and we heard the words “Avenger Initiative.” Obviously, the geek world exploded and the post-credit scenes became a mainstay in the films to this day!
16 Deadpool Is Separate From The X-Men Films?
While it was commonly believed that the Deadpool films took place separate from the X-Men films do in part to the obvious lines of dialogue from Wade Wilson stating it’s strange that the mansion seems to only house Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead. This was proven untrue in Deadpool 2 when Wade made yet another comment about the missing X-Men unaware they were in the study right behind to which Beast slowly walks over and closes the door. Obviously, this causes some strange and nonsensical timeline plot holes, but this is far from the first timeline issue with the X-Men universe.
15 X-Men: The Last Stand Is Non-Canon?
Despite what everyone wants to believe, X-Men: The Last Stand did in fact happen and it is something we all had to endure so that eventually we could have the prequel series of films which as a whole have been more favorably reviewed. Even with the timeline rewrite that occurs with Days of Future Past's ending, the film still happened and was a part of the universe. While it no longer has happened in the universe, it is still a part of the timeline of events that occurred which led to the rewrite. Trust me, I wish I could forget that Juggernaut too.
14 Guardians Of The Galaxy Was The Debut Of Howard The Duck?
Surprisingly, the younger folks may need to ask their parents about this one. When we get a look at the Collector’s massive collection of curios and oddities from across the galaxy, we are certain there are amazing things stored away.
However, it isn’t until the post-credits scene after the Collector's place has been ravaged by the Power Stone that we see the man himself, Howard the Duck, just chilling and enjoying a drink. Older fans likely immediately recognized the feathered friend as he actually had an abysmal film of his own back in 1986, which you can go watch if you want. But why would you do that to yourself?
13 MCU Actors Never Play Two Roles?
In order to maintain the consistency of the shared universe and to allow for full immersion, actors generally only play one role in the MCU. However, this is not always the case, as there have been several actors who have played multiple roles.
While most involve a role in a film and one in a TV show, there are still a few who have jumped around on the silver screen.
The most prominent of these actors is Benedict Cumberbatch who not only played the hero in 2016’s Doctor Strange, he also played the film's primary antagonist, Dormammu.
12 Black Panther Was The First Black Marvel Hero With A Film?
Black Panther is, without a doubt, not only one of the greatest films of the year, but it is among the greatest films of all time. It goes places no superhero film has ever gone. However, T’Challa is not the first black hero to get his own movie. It may be the first to be a commercial home run, but back in 1998, another hero roamed the streets to save us all from a supernatural threat. The Daywalker himself, Blade, played by Wesley Snipes, is by far one of the most action-packed flicks and was followed up with Blade II, which is almost universally loved by superhero fans.
11 Deadpool Was Ryan Reynolds' First Marvel Role?
When we think of the Merc with the Mouth today, he is synonymous with Ryan Reynolds. While the actor worked for years to get Fox to greenlight the R-rated project it was not his first foray into the Marvel Universe.
He had a large supporting role as Hannibal King back in 2004’s Blade: Trinity. The film was awful and was likely the reason we never got another Blade film. But it all worked out for Reynolds in the end, as he brought a character to life that fans have always wanted to see properly on the big screen.
10 Wanda & Pietro Are Mutants In The MCU?
The comics, as well as the X-Men films, have portrayed the children of Magneto as mutants, since that’s what they are. However, one could be forgiven for believing the same to be true within the MCU. Due to legal limitations, this is not the case.
They are experiments of Baron Von Strucker and they gained their powers from the Mind Stone within Loki’s Staff instead of a genetic mutation.
The Quicksilver that exists in the X-Men universe is a mutant, however, just to make that clear.
9 Chris Evans Was The Only Choice To Play Captain America?
Of course, no one could think of Captain America today without thinking about Chris Evans. But what if I told you he almost wasn’t the patriotic hero of justice? One of the front runners before Chris Evans got the role was actually none other than Jim from The Office, John Krasinski.
He even made it as far as a costumed audition before taking himself out of the running when he saw a ripped Chris Hemsworth in his Thor costume.
Which lead him to realize that the superhero film wasn’t for him.
8 Scarlett Johansson Was The First Choice To Play Black Widow?
In the same way John Krasinski was almost Captain America, his wife Emily Blunt was also up for the role of Black Widow. Due to a scheduling conflict, she had to remove herself from the running which allowed Scarlett Johansson to secure the role that she has been playing ever since her arrival to the MCU back in 2010’s Iron Man 2. It will go down as one of those great what-if stories for years to come as the MCU only gets larger.
7 The X-Men Timeline Makes Sense?
I know this sounds crazy, but there are people out there that genuinely believe that the timeline of the X-Men films makes sense. Even with the retcon of the universe following the events of Days of Future Past, there are plenty of inconsistencies if you look well enough. The most obvious one being the prequel series jumping a decade with each film, and yet the actors don't appear to have aged in the slightest. There is also the fact that despite taking place in today's age, Deadpool shares the screen with the X-Men team that should be existing about 30 years in the past.
6 Aldrich Killian Is The Mandarin?
Love it or hate it, Iron Man 3 did great at the box office despite the predominate hatred surrounding the Mandarin twist. People were incredibly annoyed that instead of facing off against a mystical terrorist, they got a dude who was angry he got stood up years prior by his man crush. However, this may have lead people to believe that Killian was indeed the MCU version of the Mandarin, but we get confirmation in the One Shot “All Hail The King” that the real Mandarin is out there and he is unhappy that his name was used as a publicity stunt. Here’s hoping we get to see him someday.