10 MORE Incredibly Clever Moments Of MCU Movie Foreshadowing
When you've got ten years and twenty four films, there's no limit to the hints you can work in...
Over the past twelve years it’s fair to say that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has taken the multiplex by storm, with its almost two dozen movies breaking every imaginable box office record - we’re looking forward to Black Widow rounding that number out nicely in the coming weeks. The incredibly ambitious series of interconnected projects have led to innumerable spin-offs, merchandising opportunities, competitors, and rip-offs.
After over a decade in the spotlight, Marvel can even lay claim to critical acclaim as well audience satisfaction, with the decision to hire visionary directors ranging from Black Panther’s Ryan Coogler to Thor: Ragnarok’s Taika Waititi paying off with stellar reviews.
However, the series isn’t without its detractors, and creatives such as Sinister director Scott Derrickson and the man-who-would-be-Ant-Man director Edgar Wright have complained that the studio’s strict adherence to formula stifled their artistic visions. That said, it’s not hard to see why Marvel insists on such a rigid structure.
The sprawling universe of inter-connected projects not only needs to make sense as a cohesive whole but is also stuffed with tiny touches designed to delight long-term fans. As evidenced throughout this list, the Marvel Cinematic Universe rewards obsessive watchers who are on the lookout for clues and Easter eggs hinting at the content of later instalments.
10. Captain America's Vision - Avengers: Age Of Ultron
The visions which besiege the Avengers during Age of Ultron are more than merely nightmarish distractions designed to split the team and push their loyalties past breaking point. The visions courtesy of baddie-turned-eventual Avenger Scarlet Witch can also be read as premonitions for the fate of each character, some cryptic and some explicit—albeit all of them pretty pessimistic projections, given the point of the dreams.
Thor, for example, sees Ragnarok before we did in Taika Waititi’s eventual instalment of the same name, and its destruction mirrors the eventual end of the flick. Iron Man saw the Decimation even more explicitly seems to skip forward to the end of Infinity War, and
Black Widow sees herself unable to escape her past, presaging the eventual sacrifice she makes as outlined earlier in an earlier entry.
Most poignant is Cap’s vision, which sees him going back to the past, a fate which at the time seemed like a cruelly impossible promise—only for it to eventually come to pass come the close of Endgame, as Cap gets the same happy ending for himself that he envisioned.
Except, you know, sans the horrible “this isn’t real” rug pull at the end.