In 2024, it’s probably safe to say that the MCU is in a very different place than it was in 2019. It can sometimes be a sobering experience to think back on the Infinity Saga, before every entertainment site made a cottage industry of wondering what went wrong with the MCU in Phase 4 and beyond. That’s not to say there wasn’t some enjoyment to be found in the likes of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Loki, or the (underrated, in this writer’s opinion) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but the quality of Marvel’s output and their overall reputation have suffered drastic shifts over the past five years.
What was once the most impervious franchise in blockbuster filmmaking across the Infinity Saga has now found itself embattled with too many mediocre projects, all the setup for Kang the Conqueror possibly being derailed by Jonathan Majors’ firing after his conviction for domestic violence, and long overdue conversations about the poor working conditions for VFX artists on MCU movies and shows. But at least for today, we’re looking back on Avengers: Endgame itself, which was released five years ago on April 26, 2019, and how the five-year time jump after Thor kills Thanos in the film has had a bizarrely complex effect on the MCU. This plot point simultaneously adds important weight and gravitas to Endgame both as an individual film and as a finale to the Infinity Saga, while also being detrimental to the world-building and narrative integrity of post-Endgame projects. What exactly happened here? Let’s take a look.
A Great MCU Swerve
It’s easy to take for granted now that everything's wrapped up, but the two-part ending to the Infinity Saga in Infinity War and Endgame truly was a massive gamble. Sure, comics fans may have been anticipating some version of Thanos’ iconic snapping his fingers moment because they knew about the same beat from the 1991 Jim Starlin and George Pérez classic comic, The Infinity Gauntlet, and we also knew the Thanos storyline would be wrapping up in a two-part film adaptation as early as October 2014 when Marvel revealed their slate of films up to the end of Phase 3. But for most people in the audience, comic nerd or not, Thanos winning in Infinity War by snapping away half of all life and rolling the credits as he basks in his victory was one hell of a note for a crowd-pleasing blockbuster to end on.
To not give any indication as to how the snap would be reversed in the next film created great anticipation for Endgame, and the surviving heroes waste no time at the start of that film in kicking down Thanos’ door to get some payback. But the reveal that he destroyed the Infinity Stones, seemingly leaving the good guys with no way to save their friends and the vaporized half of the universe, leads to the incredible gut punch that got audible gasps in the theater: the Five Years Later title card. With three words, Endgame signaled that the second half of this story wasn’t going to be as triumphant as some were maybe hoping for. Instead, Endgame spends a great deal of time with our heroes in a state of defeat, and it’s a better movie for it.
In many ways, the time jump is a brilliant swerve. But did it also have a negative effect? Unfortunately so.
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Exploring the ways the surviving Avengers have adjusted half a decade after suffering their greatest defeat gives actual weight to their grief. It’s not just the personal loss of family or friends, but also the knowledge that their supposed infallibility was a facade. As Ultron predicted, “the earth will crack with the weight of your failure.” Seeing each hero deal with this failure in their own way, whether it’s Hawkeye turning into the vigilante Ronin, Tony Stark retiring and starting a family with Pepper Potts, or Thor crumbling into depression are all dramatic avenues that the significant time jump allows to play out. Seeing these heroes bounce back from their darkest hours and rally behind a plan to restore what was lost is what makes the back half where they finally succeed all the more powerful.
Without marinating in the consequences of Thanos’ actions firsthand, the battle to set everything right and the sacrifices that would require would ring hollow. In many ways, the time jump is a brilliant swerve that helped the film become the pop culture touchstone that it was. But did it also have a negative effect? Perhaps not on the movie itself, but on the wider MCU? Unfortunately so.
Ignoring a Broken World
The simple truth is that the erasure of half of all life for a significant amount of time would irreversibly alter everything about the state of not just our world, but all of reality, even if the disappeared half eventually came back. In the comics, this is a non-issue because the snap is reversed relatively quickly, but in the MCU, the five years between the snap and everyone being resurrected causes irreconcilable friction in regards to world-building. Even after Thanos and his army are erased from existence and all is set right, Earth would not immediately settle back into the old status quo. From borders being redrawn, the inevitable collapse of global infrastructure, and everyone being traumatized, the social and geopolitical ramifications are too numerous to count. But subsequent MCU projects haven’t treated this event with the gravity it deserves.
From Spider-Man: Far From Home hand-waving the snap with a couple of humorous asides in its opening minutes, to the Flag-Smashers in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier wanting to restore the world’s governments to how they operated in the aftermath of the snap without doing the best job of articulating how that would even work, to the Eternals film having to provide a flimsy justification for the eponymous group not doing anything about Thanos’ devastation, pretty much every Phase 4 film and show struggled to explain how and why the world just went back to normal after an event that would have likely rendered it completely unrecognizable. Even when Marvel does occasionally try to meditate on the snap in Phase 4, the focus is more on the personal effects rather than the macro ones. Why can’t the MCU explore what a post-Endgame world would really look like?
The obvious answer: The MCU is a cash cow, and it’s harder to make stories, especially about new characters you’d like to build franchises out of, in a world that the audience wouldn’t have much of a frame of reference for. The Marvel Universe, as far back as the original Silver Age comics from the 1960s, has thrived in part because of how it reflects the world its readers (and now viewers) live in. Movies and shows that tackled a post-Endgame world directly would enter wholly new speculative fiction territory, which would certainly be interesting, but it wouldn’t be the same flavor of easily digestible blockbuster action that Marvel spent more than a decade making into their signature brand. The same big swing that made Infinity War and Endgame work so well also became a hindrance for continuing the franchise.
Is there a way to fix this? Maybe. Perhaps the better question is: If the MCU is going to keep going anyway, is fixing this really something they’ll ever make a priority?
Where Does Marvel Go From Here?
Whatever damage the aftereffects of the snap did to the MCU’s narrative credibility has already happened. The cracks in the foundation have settled in, and they’re not going away. Marvel has tried soldiering on, but the glut of content brought about in Phases 4 and 5 and the downturn of critical and audience goodwill towards the franchise is hard to ignore. And yes, to be clear, not taking into account the full extent of how the snap would change the world of the MCU isn’t the only or even primary reason why the franchise has seen better days, but internal consistency matters. During the careful brick-laying of the early phases, you could buy into the MCU as a coherent space. Now? Nothing could be further from the truth.
Slapdash world-building can be hard to diagnose in the moment because quantifying how much it’s actually affecting the quality of your storytelling is better seen in hindsight. And it’s possible that with enough time away from the events of Endgame and a handful of truly great new projects under their belt, the MCU could swing its reputation back to the old days. But as time goes on, it’s becoming more and more clear that the time jump was a story decision that only made sense in the context of a finale. It’s the kind of go-for-broke stakes-raiser that works perfectly for a conclusion to a decade-long saga, but it’s a terrible choice if you were hoping to keep going in the same continuity. The MCU having made “the same continuity” into its biggest selling point for so long is, ironically enough, precisely what’s made the time jump a problem.
The MCU having made “the same continuity” into its biggest selling point is, ironically, what’s made the time jump a problem.
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If Marvel wanted the version of the MCU we had grown to love since the debut of Iron Man to keep going past Endgame, then they could have used time travel to reverse the events of the snap and erase the five years in the dark timeline. It is the only way a return to status quo makes any kind of logical or emotional sense. Or, heaven forbid, if they wanted to take full advantage of the dramatic potential of the time jump and make the most memorable conclusion possible, they could have let the movie called Endgame actually end things and rebooted the universe afterward. Sure, it would have been a hell of a risk to toss out the world of characters they’d so carefully crafted, but if the alternative was to have that world diluted by such a haphazard creative choice, how much have we really gained versus what’s been lost?
Avengers: Endgame will always be one of the most successful films of all time. It was a critical and commercial smash hit, connected with a global audience, and was a great celebration of Marvel’s massive cast of iconic characters. But it also sacrificed the MCU’s status quo to get there, and Marvel Studios trying so hard to get back to it has been one of their biggest mistakes. Perhaps they’ll find some way to re-center themselves during the Multiverse Saga, whether it’s through incorporating fan-favorite franchises like the Fantastic Four and X-Men, or some other Hail Mary pass. But as Marvel tries to bounce back from their recent stumbles, it’s worth keeping the complicated impact of the time jump in mind. After all, part of what made the MCU such a popular franchise was the strong, consistent world-building of their early phases. If they want to get back to that level again, it’s worth making sure that not jeopardizing that aspect of their storytelling is as high of a priority as possible going forward.
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Carlos Morales writes novels, articles and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Twitter.
