12 Biggest Retcons In The Marvel Cinematic Universe

I'm mostly going to avoid talking about links between the movies and the TV series as they're becoming increasingly removed in terms of story and mythos, and to do so takes us down some crazy paths (Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has revealed Hydra was actually created well before Red Skull's Nazi offshoot in an attempt to resurrect an ancient Inhuman). But one that definitely needs talking about, especially because at the time it was treated as canon, is the resurrection of Agent Phil Coulson.

Coulson was obviously killed by Loki in The Avengers, but when Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. premiered a year later there he was front and centre as the team's leader. What gives?

The short, real-world answer is that Joss Whedon liked Clark Gregg enough to say "f*ck you" to continuity and brought him back, but in-universe it became this series-spanning mystery that involved alien blood, cranium reconstruction and dreams of Tahiti (it's a magical place, apparently).

To Marvel's credit, the explanation works pretty well in both the show and the wider world it inhabits, and made the somewhat iffy first part of the run a lot more enjoyable, but there's no avoiding how seismic a retcon it is.