Marvel Cinematic Universe: 10 Biggest Retcons Made By Marvel Studios

2008's Iron Man introduced Agent Coulson, an eager government agent who it was ultimately revealed was working for the "Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." He spent almost the entire movie trying to track down Iron Man with little success, and his conversations with Pepper Potts indicated that S.H.I.E.L.D. was newly formed.

After all, he told Pepper that they were working on the name, but later Marvel Studios movies would reveal that S.H.I.E.L.D. had, in fact, been part of the MCU for decades!

Howard Stark was even a founding member (leaving fans to wonder how Pepper had never heard of them), while Captain Marvel emphasised what the spy organisation had been doing to protect the Earth. It seems like the original plan was for S.H.I.E.L.D. to have been formed in response to the emergence of Iron Man and The Hulk, but that may have been too complicated to delve into.

Whatever the case may be, given them a little more history proved to be no bad thing in the long run.