20 Biggest Wasted Opportunities In The MCU
The greatest Marvel fumbles of them all, from Secret Invasion to the Hulk.
Over the years, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has offered audiences an obscene amount of stories and characters to enjoy, but it hasn't always got things right.
It's easy to forgive the franchise some mistakes - after all, making two or three dozen inter-connected movies and TV shows is always going to lead to some flaws, issues, and glaring omissions for fans to scrutinise and question.
But even so, Marvel Studios has made plenty of fumbles over the years that are much less understandable, leading to a large number of plot holes, disjointed narratives for major characters, and beloved comic book storylines that have been severely underdeveloped when they've finally been given the big screen treatment.
Whether it's a beloved character whose storylines have left their development in the dirt, or plotlines that were inexplicably abandoned despite their narrative potential, these missed opportunities range from mildly frustrating to deeply annoying, squandering the MCU's capacity for reaching its highest potential.
With that in mind, before the release of Avengers: Doomsday later this year, here are the 20 biggest missed opportunities in MCU history, with MAJOR SPOILERS and potentially controversial opinions throughout!
20. Introducing The X-Men
Marvel has plans for bringing a new X-Men roster into the MCU, with the likes of Sadie Sink and Kit Connor landing key roles in the team for future movies.
But genuine question: Why has it taken so long?
With Avengers: Doomsday, the franchise is bringing back the old X-Men guard (Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen), and some previous films have seen the return of Hugh Jackman and Kelsey Grammar, but until Sink's debut as Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, we've never been given a real answer to the MCU's X-Men.
Given the X-Men's pedigree, it's a wonder why Marvel wouldn't have tackled something sooner. Of course, the mainline Fox X-Men films were running until 2019, when the MCU was already in full swing, but even so, no attempts were made to bring the two together or shake things up with new faces until now.
Whatever the reason, we now live in a world without any of the MCU originals forming a bond with Marvel Comics' most famous team, and that feels like a major loss. We'll have to see what the future holds, I guess.