10 Biggest Controversies In The Marvel Cinematic Universe

5. Resurrecting Phil Coulson On TV

Agent Coulson
Marvel Studios

The MCU is famous for killing its characters, then bringing them back to life almost immediately.

Nick Fury in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Loki in Thor. Bucky Barnes, who died in The First Avenger but came back in The Winter Soldier. And, of course, the big one; Agent Phil Coulson.

Coulson was killed off in The Avengers after being stabbed in the back by Loki, but was later brought back to star in his own TV show, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

It wasn't just the fact that Marvel had brought another character back to life (which only made future deaths in their movies feel unimportant) but because Coulson's death was the moment that helped unite The Avengers in the first place; if he'd lived, the team might not have come together in the same way.

So to instantly resurrect him felt cheap, and it undercut one of the most important dramatic story beats in the entirety of the MCU, trivialising the concept of death and diminishing the impact of that moment were The Avengers finally banded together to kick Loki's ass and save the world.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.