10 MCU Plot Holes That Aren't Actually Plot Holes

THIS is why Thanos gave Loki the scepter...

Loki Scepter The Avengers
Disney

With a series spanning sixteen movies, several one-shots and countless hours of television, it would be virtually impossible for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to get away with zero contrivances, questionable plot developments or straight-up mistakes.

There are a few, all of which are fair to point out - the most recent example being Spider-Man Homecoming's absolute butchering of the franchise's timeline, which is quite bizarre to behold - but on the whole, given Marvel's keen attention to detail and their focused planning of movies that are years in the future, the MCU is as watertight as it gets.

But that hasn't stopped people pointing out several problem areas that would seem reasonable to argue at first glance, but after a closer look at the issue in question, aren't really problems at all.

Sure, the movies don't always explain everything in perfect detail, but that doesn't mean there's a gap in logic or a continuity-destroying problem. Occasionally, we'll have to dig a little deeper or think a little longer to find the answers, and that's certainly the case with the following ten points of contention...

10. Electricity Affects Iron Man's Armour Differently - The Avengers

Loki Scepter The Avengers
Marvel Studios

In Marvel's 2012 superhero team-up The Avengers, the titular squad doesn't assemble without first hashing out their differences, with Iron Man and Thor being one of the first pairs of heroes to come to blows.

At one point in their fight, Thor fires a huge bolt of lightning directly at Iron Man, but instead of this winning the battle for Thor, Tony's suit absorbs the lightning and becomes more powerful, unleashing a devastating attack that knocks Thor off his feet.

But in Iron Man 2, Tony is shown to have great difficulty with Whiplash's electric whips, with his suit suffering a massive amount of damage and very nearly being destroyed. Why does his reaction to electricity change from one film to the next?

On the surface, this may seem like a continuity problem, but it actually isn't.

For starters, Tony is always improving and refining his technology - he has at least one new suit in every single Marvel movie - so, after discovering that his suits were weak to this type of attack, he would have focused on making his future suits more shock-proof.

Or, to put it another way, the smart, brilliant Tony Stark (whose intellect has been displayed on many occasions) would be aware of any weaknesses his suits have, and would fix them. Remember when he solved his suit's freezing problem in Iron Man?

Also, consider that Whiplash's whips were powered by an arc reactor, meaning that his electric attacks would be slightly different from the lightning attack that Thor uses. This makes it extremely likely the Iron Man suit would react differently to each, with one nearly destroying it and the other giving it a boost.

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WhoCulture Channel Manager/Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture. Can confirm that bow ties are cool.