10 MCU Retcons That Prevented Major Movie Problems

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Summary

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has relied on retcons to maintain continuity and avoid major issues in its shared universe storytelling.
Retcons like destroying Asgard's fake Infinity Gauntlet and altering Loki's bio have helped the MCU overcome narrative obstacles and develop characters.
Minor retcons, such as Steve Rogers' revised romance with Peggy Carter and Wanda's transformation into a mutant, have successfully resolved potential inconsistencies in the MCU.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe might be one of the best examples of shared universe continuity, but the franchise has actually needed multiple retcons to prevent major issues. The movies of the MCU make up one of the biggest and most successful cinematic universes of all time, but the price to be paid for such remarkable interconnectivity is a complicated continuity. Squaring each new entry into the franchise away with previous stories and planned future projects is a delicate tightrope, and it's not always the most straightforward task. Often, one MCU entry will establish an element of the franchise's story, only to risk contradiction further down the line.
When this happens, the MCU is required to address the problem. The simplest and most common way to overcome the obstacle is to retcon the offending article: revising the continuity or cleverly writing away the problem after the fact in order to move forward as intended. The MCU's movie timeline is actually filled with minor retcons, many of which were designed specifically to avoid issues of conflicting continuity. For such a massive shared universe, canon is everything, and preventing major mistakes is crucial. With that in mind, here are 10 MCU retcons that prevented major movie problems.
10 Asgard’s Infinity Gauntlet Was A Fake Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

One of the MCU's most exciting Phase 1 Easter eggs saw the addition of an Infinity Gauntlet to Odin's vault on Asgard. However, when it came time to explore the culmination of the Infinity Saga arc, the Gauntlet being inside one of Asgard's most secure structures prevented an additional obstacle to Thanos' quest to gather and use the Infinity Stones. A remarkably simple retcon offered an easy solution: when Hela first arrives on Asgard in Thor: Ragnarok, she dismisses the Gauntlet as a fake and destroys it. It's a simplistic way to quite literally destroy the potential narrative issue before it became a problem, but it was certainly effective.
9 Loki Was Influenced By The Mind Stone Marvel Changed Loki's Official Bio

In Phase 1, Loki is introduced as Thor's jealous and ambitious brother with few redeeming qualities. However, after realizing the character's potential, he was subtly rewritten as something of an antihero, enabling the franchise to give him his own solo project in one of the MCU's TV shows. The retcon that eased this transition actually tapped into a popular fan theory, with the character's bio on Marvel's official website explaining that the Mind Stone influenced Loki during the events of The Avengers. By retconning his most villainous decisions, the MCU was able to absolve him of some blame for his actions and make him a hero of sorts.
8 Steve & Peggy Were Together All Along Avengers: Endgame (2019) Close One of the longest arcs in the MCU's timeline is the romance between Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter. After meeting in the 1940s, Steve is frozen and then thawed out in the present day. Reconnecting with Peggy, he learns that she married and her husband passed away years prior, confirming that he missed his chance to be with her. However, the ending of Avengers: Endgame subtly retconned Peggy's dead husband, instead giving Steve a happy ending by having him return to her in the past. As Steve is shown to survive to the end of Endgame, the minor retcon helped avoid the issue of an unsatisfying to their arc.
7 Wanda Was A Mutant From The Start WandaVision (2021) Close When Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were first introduced into the MCU, Marvel didn't own the rights to the X-Men or its affiliated characters. As a result, the characters were written as gaining their powers from the Mind Stone, rather than their traditional mutant origins. However, once the rights reverted to Marvel, the MCU retconned the Mind Stone angle, with WandaVision explaining that Wanda had possessed latent magical powers all along. The reveal was clearly designed to act as an early set-up for the MCU's X-Men, hinting that the X-Gene played a role in Wanda's magical abilities all along.
6 Korg’s Original Appearance Wasted The Character Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Thor: The Dark World is often considered one of the MCU's worst movies, but it actually introduced a fan-favorite character. Korg briefly appeared in The Dark World in a battle scene, only for Thor to destroy him with relative ease. However, recognizing the potential of the character, he was revived for Thor: Ragnarok, with his previous appearance glossed over entirely. Though the potential mistake wouldn't have initially been clear, the comedic element Korg brings to the MCU is incredibly valuable, and his minor cameo and subsequent death would have prevented it from coming to pass.
5 The MCU’s Mandarin Retcon Finally Paid Off An Old Villain Tease Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) Close Iron Man confirmed the existence of the Ten Rings, hinting at the Mandarin's eventual inclusion. However, Iron Man 3's underwhelming twist painted the iconic villain as a persona created by Aldrich Killian, thoroughly wasting an important Marvel villain. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings retconned the ill-advised twist, introducing the real Mandarin and even having him interact with Iron Man 3's impostor. Including the character introduced a whole new facet to the MCU, finally paying off an Iron Man tease that seemed destined to go unfulfilled.
4 The Tesseract Wasn’t Always The Space Stone Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

The Tesseract was the driving force behind most of the MCU's Phase 1, but it wasn't always as important as it seemed. Originally, the Tesseract was based on the Cosmic Cube from the comics, but once the Infinity Saga arc was introduced, the notion was revised. In Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos finally gets his hands on the Tesseract, only to crush it and reveal the Space Stone housed inside. From a narrative perspective, it combined two separate ideas from the comics, subtly retconning the Cube's initial purpose in order to further the franchise's overall plot.
3 The MCU Was Forced To Retcon A Spider-Man Timeline Mistake The Official MCU Timeline Had To Be Changed

Perhaps one of the most well-known MCU retcons involves a simple mistake that threatened to break the MCU's entire timeline. Spider-Man: Homecoming begins with a scene showing Adrian Toomes salvaging Chitauri tech after the Battle of New York, then jumps ahead with an "Eight years later..." card that shows him becoming the Vulture. However, it was later pointed out that this timeline would coincide with the Blip, in which Spider-Man had been removed from existence. Marvel later officially retconned their mistake to fix the broken continuity, confirming the events of Homecoming to be set four years after its opening scene.
2 The Bifrost’s Destruction Was Retconned To Keep Thor Involved In MCU Stories The Avengers (2012)

The ending of 2011's Thor saw the titular God of Thunder destroy the Bifrost in order to prevent Loki from destroying the world of Jotunheim. The film establishes the Rainbow Bridge as the only means of travel between Asgard and Earth, and explains that its destruction will prevent Thor from returning. However, The Avengers sees Thor do just that, explaining away the plot hole with a vague mention of "dark energy." The retcon is important, though, as otherwise, Thor wouldn't have been able to join The Avengers, and his place in the MCU would have been far less integral as a result.
1 Tony Stark’s Short-Lived Retirement Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

The end of Iron Man 3 sees Tony Stark promising to scale back his hero work and ordering Jarvis to destroy all of his suits. However, Avengers: Age of Ultron sees Tony once more donning his Iron Man armor, employing a range of different suits, drones, and other tech that contradicts his Iron Man 3 promise. Though the retcon isn't actively mentioned, it's important: had Tony Stark retired as Iron Man, he wouldn't have been present for Age of Ultron, Civil War Infinity War, or Endgame. In other words, it's a retcon that was entirely necessary for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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