10 Most Confusing Lines In The Entire MCU

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Summary

Some of the most iconic quotes in the MCU have been impactful and memorable, but others have been confusing and out-of-place.
Villains like Ultron and Thanos have delivered quotes that weakened their intimidating nature and didn't align with their actions.
Continuity errors and confusing moments have been reinforced by quotes in projects including Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers: Infinity War, causing confusion for viewers.

Some of the most iconic heroes and villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have delivered the most confusing quotes in the history of Marvel Studios' franchise. Since the MCU kicked off with 2008's Iron Man, Marvel Studios has produced over forty connected projects spanning film, TV and animation, introducing dozens of vibrant Marvel Comics characters into live-action. Throughout this expansive shared universe, some of the most memorable quotes in cinema history have been delivered, marking huge milestones in the MCU that have been spoken about for years since. However, not all the MCU's quotes have actually helped advance the franchise's storylines, as many have felt out-of-place, awkward, uninformed and confusing.
Quotes such as Nick Fury's "there was an idea," Tony Stark's "I am Iron Man," and Steve Rogers' "I can do this all day" will go down in history as some of the most impactful moments in the MCU. However, not all quotes in the MCU can be so strong, as certain lines reinforce major continuity errors in the MCU, confuse storylines, lead to nothing in subsequent projects, or simply don't fit the character. This problem hasn't only plagued the MCU's heroes, but many villains have also delivered some of the MCU's most awkward and confusing quotes, though this hasn't impacted the overall success of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Related 10 Most Profound MCU Quotes, According to Reddit Sometimes, the Marvel Cinematic Universe gets a little bit heavy. Some quotes from the franchise have proven to be incredibly deep.
10 "Men Of Peace Create Engines Of War. Invaders Create Avengers. People Create... Smaller People? Uhh... Children! I Lost The Word There." Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015)

James Spader voiced the titular villain, Ultron, in 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron, introduced as an artificial intelligence borne from the Mind Stone who threatened the extinction of humanity in an attempt to bring peace to the Earth. Shortly after his awakening, Ultron downloaded a wealth of information regarding Earth, humans and the Avengers, learning everything he needed for his plan. Despite this knowledge, Ultron still seemingly forgot the word "children" when discussing his ideals with Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. While this was played as a joke, giving the villain some semblance of personality, this weakened the intimidating nature that he'd built up during his first altercation with the Avengers.
9 "Eight Years, Not A Word From The Feds, Nothing From Those Halloween Wearing Bozos Up There In Stark Tower." Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) Close One of Marvel Studios' biggest continuity errors was delivered in the opening moments of 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming, which suggested that the events of the Phase 3 film happened eight years after The Avengers, despite only four years having passed in the MCU's official timeline. Unfortunately, Homecoming's "8 Years Later" title card was far from an isolated incident, as this mistake was reinforced by Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes, a.k.a. the Vulture, only moments later, when he suggested that his crew had gone "eight years [with] not a word from the Feds." The actual timeline of Spider-Man: Homecoming has since been rectified, but this confusing mistake is still difficult to ignore.
Marvel Studios' The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline, a book detailing the official timeline of the MCU's Phases 1 through 4, proves that The Avengers' Battle of New York occurred in 2012, and the events of Spider-Man: Homecoming take place shortly after Captain America: Civil War in 2016, four years later.
8 "Fine. I'll Do It Myself." Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015)

The Infinity Saga's overarching supervillain, Thanos, was first glimpsed in the post-credits scene of 2012's The Avengers, and made another appearance in 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy before he went on to deliver this confusing quote. During Avengers: Age of Ultron's post-credits scene, Thanos finally wielded the infamous Infinity Gauntlet and suggested that he'd "do it [himself]," it being collecting the six Infinity Stones. However, it would be three years before he would actually begin his quest, and even then, he mostly sent the Black Order to collect the Infinity Stones for him - not doing it himself. Retrospectively, this quote feels wholly out-of-place.
7 "Because We Didn't Think Of It." Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Avengers: Infinity War is regarded as one of the MCU's strongest projects, yet even Infinity War contained some confusing moments. One of these saw Shuri and Bruce Banner discussing how to remove the Mind Stone from Vision, with Shuri noting that Banner should have "[reprogrammed] the synapses to work collectively." Banner notes that he and Tony Stark "didn't think of it," but this is a lie. Banner and Stark had no involvement in building Vision's body in Age of Ultron, and the fact that Marvel Studios tried to make Shuri look smart by belittling Banner - who has seven PhDs and is a bona fide genius - was disappointing.
6 "They Will Never Know What You Sacrificed For Them." WandaVision (2021)

Phase 4's WandaVision on Disney+ explored a huge transformation for Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff, as she finally embraced her identity as the Scarlet Witch after imprisoning the entire town of Westview, New Jersey, in her sitcom-style Hex. During WandaVision, it was revealed that Vision and the pair's children, Billy and Tommy, were connected to the Hex, meaning when Wanda brought it down, they too disappeared. In a tender moment shared between Wanda and Monica Rambeau, the latter suggests that Wanda "sacrificed" a lot to save Westview's residents, but Wanda was the one to trap them in the Hex to begin with, so releasing them doesn't constitute much of a sacrifice.
5 "The Mind Stone Is The Fourth Infinity Stone To Appear In Recent Years." Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015) Close Yet another moment of confusion in Avengers: Age of Ultron came towards the end of the Phase 2 crossover film, after the Avengers had defeated Ultron. Age of Ultron leads directly into Thor's mission to track down the Infinity Stones - which he has promptly given up by the time Thor: Ragnarok begins - after he notes that four Infinity Stones have recently appeared. However, Thor and the Avengers would surely only know of three Infinity Stones: the Space Stone, the Mind Stone and the Reality Stone. Guardians of the Galaxy introduced the Power Stone, but Thor had no knowledge of these events, so this quote simply doesn't make sense.
The Space Stone, housed in the Tesseract, was introduced in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, the Mind Stone was revealed to be inside Loki's scepter from 2012's The Avengers, and Thor dealt with the Aether, a.k.a. the Reality Stone, in 2013's Thor: The Dark World. Thor would have had no knowledge of 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy, and Doctor Strange's Time Stone and Avengers: Infinity War's Soul Stone hadn't yet been seen in the MCU during Avengers: Age of Ultron.
4 "Anyway, Before I Was So Rudely Interrupted, At That Time, I Was A Federal Express Man." Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Legendary Marvel Comics' figurehead Stan Lee became a core part of Marvel's live-action projects, having cameos in almost every adaptation of Marvel Comics' storylines. Initially, Stan Lee's Marvel cameos seemed disconnected, and this added to their magic, but 2017's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 suggested that Stan Lee had portrayed the same character in every appearance, which doesn't add up. During one of Vol. 2's post-credits scenes, Stan Lee references his cameo in Captain America: Civil War as a "Federal Express man" while speaking to the Watchers, but this leaves the huge mystery of how he could be in so many places and under so many different guises.
3 "Nivadellir." Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

After Mjolnir was destroyed in Thor: Ragnarok, Thor needed a new weapon for Avengers: Infinity War. Employing the assistance of Guardians of the Galaxy members Rocket and Groot, Thor traveled to Nidavellir, a forge powered by a dying star. Nidavellir is the home of the Dwarves in Norse mythology, and an important location in the MCU's Asgardian history, yet Thor didn't even know how to say it. On two occasions while discussing the legendary forge, Thor pronounces it as "Nivadellir," swapping the "D" and "V". What may be an easy mistake for an average human surely wouldn't have been delivered by an Asgardian who is well-versed in these complex words.
2 "The Royal Prince Of Titan, Brother Of Thanos, The Knave Of Hearts..." Eternals (2021)

2021's Eternals became one of the MCU's most divisive projects following its Phase 4 release, but took huge strides in explaining more about the history of the MCU and expanding on the franchise's cosmic storylines. Eternals' post-credits scene did this by introducing Harry Styles and Patton Oswalt as the Eternal Eros and Pip the Troll, respectively. However, Eros was introduced as the "brother of Thanos," which caused a great deal of confusion. Eternals revealed that the titular species had been synthetically created by the Celestials, so it's unclear how Eros could be related to Thanos when there had been no mention of the Mad Titan being an Eternal himself.
In Marvel Comics, the Eternals are biological beings borne from a Celestial experiment on early humans. Thanos is an Eternal in the comics, though carries the Deviant gene, which gives him his grotesque appearance. This backstory has seemingly been changed for the MCU, as the Eternals are no longer biological, having been created by the Celestials in the World Forge.
1 "If You Go Into The Past, That Past Becomes Your Future, And Your Former Present Becomes The Past, Which Can't Now Be Changed By Your New Future." Avengers: Endgame (2019) Close Perhaps the MCU's most confusing quote ever was delivered by Mark Ruffalo's Smart Hulk during 2019's Avengers: Endgame. In the wake of Thanos' Infinity War snap, the remaining Avengers embarked on the Time Heist, so the rules of time travel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe evidently needed to be explained for the audience. While the time travel rules laid out by Smart Hulk were certainly confusing, they at least made a little sense. What makes this quote so jarring, however, is that several subsequent projects, including Ms. Marvel, Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, have blatantly broken these rules, making Smart Hulk's time travel explanation practically meaningless.
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