10 MCU Moments That Don't Quite Fit
5. Agent Sitwell's Name Drop - Captain America: The Winter Soldier
This scene has been the source of much debate by fans online. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, SHIELD/HYDRA agent Sitwell confesses to Captain America that Dr. Zola developed an algorithm that could calculate if someone is a threat to Hydra based on their past actions. Sitwell specifically names Tony Stark, Bruce Banner and Stephen Strange.
The issue is that the events of Winter Soldier take place in 2014. Stephen Strange doesn't begin his training in the mystic arts until 2016. Marvel Studios has tried to explain this, stating that the algorithm names POTENTIAL targets. Fans defended the line, saying that the algorithm was so advanced that it knew what Stephen Strange would become. What has been dismissed as just a fun Easter egg to foreshadow Dr. Strange's arrival in the MCU feels like a continuity error that had to be cleaned up after the fact.
It's possible that there was no mistake, and what happened was exactly what was intended. If so, the onus is either on the writers of Winter Soldier for putting the line in, or the writers of Doctor Strange for not addressing it. Even a small explanation would be enough to let us stretch our disbelief a little bit further. As is, the scene feels like a small hole that was never filled.