The Marvel Cinematic Universe is slowing down in 2024, so it’s a good time to review all the plotlines that need to be cleared up. Of course, not all unanswered questions are created equal, so we’ve broken them down into categories based on potential importance. Category 1 is Low-Level Threats and Non-Threats. Howard the Duck’s post-credit scene in Guardians of the Galaxy would fit in this category – not anything major, but worth remembering as he would later appear in multiple episodes of What If…?.
Category 2 is for Things to Keep an Eye On. Both audiences and the MCU’s heroes should monitor this category, as everything will be important down the road. And Category 3 is for Avenger-Level Threats. This one is self-explanatory, but it’s amazing how many Category 3 plotlines are still hanging around.
16 No One Remembers Peter Parker or Spider-Man
Category 1
Invisibility is a power generally reserved for Miles Morales’s Spider-Man. Still, following the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, one could argue that Peter Parker has also gained the power, or rather curse, of invisibility. After Doctor Strange reversed his spell and sent all the alternate-universe Spider-Men and villains back home, no one in the MCU remembers Spider-Man or Parker. The film ends with Spidey donning a new homemade suit and setting out to put the “Friendly Neighborhood” back in his name.
However, it still leaves the fact that a major Avenger has essentially fallen off the radar of the other heroes. Thanks to Disney’s deal with Sony, Spider-Man isn’t likely to appear in any post-credit scenes. His next appearance might not come until Spider-Man 4 is figured out or in Avengers 5 when he’ll likely rejoin the team with another set of awkward introductions.
15 The World Is Filled with Unemployed Black Widows
Category 1
After Natasha Romanoff and her family took down the Red Room in Black Widow, Yelena Belova set out to free the rest of her Widow sisters from their mind control. The next time audiences see Belova, she is attempting to kill Hawkeye, but little is mentioned about what is happening with the rest of the Widow population.
Have they all been freed? Did the market for highly skilled, covert assassins just quadruple in size? Some answers will likely come in 2025’s Thunderbolts—which recently resumed filming after a strike-induced hiatus—when Belova, her adopted parents, and Taskmaster will return to the MCU.
14 Half of the Eternals Met Thanos’s Brother
Category 1
Eternals: Who Is Eros and How Is He Thanos’ Brother?
Eternals’ Eros and his brother Thanos could not be more different from one another, but that does not stop them from being family.
Eternals will be featured frequently in this list. Despite resting near the bottom of the MCU’s audience rankings, the film offered a ton of important plot threads, one of which came in the movie’s first post-credit scene when Thena, Makkari, and Druig are on their way to warn other Eternals across the universe about their true purpose and origins. The trio is surprised when Pip the Troll appears on their ship and announces the arrival of Eros, who, besides being an Eternal, is Thanos’s brother.
Oh, and he’s played by Harry Styles. That’s a heck of a cameo to drop in at the end, and it gets even more important when Eros informs his fellow Eternals that their friends – who we’ll get to later in the list – are in trouble. There’s no word on when audiences may see the Eternals again, but it’s unlikely Disney will want to save Harry Styles’ star power for too long.
13 Dane Witman Is About to Unsheathe the Ebony Blade
Category 1
The second of Eternals’ post-credit scenes showed Dane Witman unlocking a case containing his family legacy – The Ebony Blade. In the comics, Whitman is one of several characters to hold the title of The Black Knight and this moment, plus a bit of additional foreshadowing during the film, seems to indicate that he’ll do the same in the MCU.
Of course, there’s more than just Whitman in the scene, though audiences only hear the off-screen voice asking if he’s ready for the sword’s responsibility. That voice belongs to Blade, the day-walking vampire that Marhershala Ali will (hopefully) bring to the big screen in 2025. Of course, with Blade come plenty of standard bloodsuckers, so while this is a Category 1 for now, the threat level will soon get a lot higher.
12 White Vision Is Still Unaccounted For
Category 1
Paul Bettany Shares Surprising Story Behind Vision’s Heartbreaking Death Scene
Marvel star Paul Bettany drops a surprising revelation about filming Vision’s death scene with Elizabeth Olsen.
While audiences may still grapple with “The Ship of Theseus” thought experiment, a very pale Vision is currently flying around the MCU. During the finale of WandaVision, Vision’s repaired body, combined with the memories provided by the Scarlet Witch-created version, just disappears.
Rumors have swirled about a Vision television series, so while it seems like the android will return to the MCU. However, there are still plenty of questions like what he’s been up to in the meantime and why he never visited Wanda and stopped his wife from going dark during Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
11 Khonshu Unleashed Jake Lockley
Category 1
By the end of Moon Knight, Steven Grant and Marc Spector finally got on the same page and renounced their service to the god Khonshu. Unfortunately, they needed a unanimous vote to do so and the duo remains unaware of the third personality inhabiting their same body – Jake Lockley. While Spector and Grant try to steer their superhero personas in a more positive direction, the mysterious Lockley proves himself as both murderous and still loyal to the Moon God.
Oscar Isaac has expressed his desire to return to the MCU and interact with some of the other heroes. When that does happen, though, everyone will need to sleep with one eye open because Spector and Grant still have one inner demon named Jake Lockley to deal with.
10 Hulk Has a Son Named Skar
Category 1
She-Hulk’s ending could really land anywhere on this list. Depending on how you look at it, the reveal that an artificial intelligence named K.E.V.I.N. is pulling the narrative strings of the MCU could be a Category 1 threat or an Avengers-level issue. Still, that wasn’t the show’s biggest reveal, figuratively and literally. Hulk has a son!
Conceived during Hulk’s time as a gladiator on the planet Sakaar, Hulk’s son is named Skaar. Beyond the surprising fact that the big green guy is a dad, there’s the fact that Skaar is at least a teenager, even though Hulk has only been off Sakaar for a few years. The rapid growth of the character is in line with his comic origins and, if anything, makes things more interesting for Hulk moving forward. There are no announced plans for a solo Hulk project, but the growth of the green family might be enough to warrant one soon.
9 New-Look Guardians and One Back on Earth
Category 1
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Answers a Crucial Question About Star-Lord
Guardians of the Galaxy revisits Star-Lord as captain of the team. But the movie also raised the question of whether or not he’s still a Celestial.
James Gunn put a satisfying bow on his MCU trilogy with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Half of the team’s characters ended their MCU journey – Gamora rejoined the Ravangers, Drax and Nebula settled down in Knowhere and Mantis embarked on her own adventures – while a new team formed under the leadership of Rocket. This new team, comprised of a bulked-up Groot, Adam Warlock, Kraglin, Cosmo and one of the children rescued from the High Evolutionary, Phyla, set out to continue their mission of guarding the galaxy. Meanwhile, Peter Quill, or as he likes to remind people, Star-Lord, returned to Earth.
After the credits concluded on Vol. 3, audiences were informed that Star-Lord would return, but in what capacity and when is unknown. The same goes for the new Guardians squad. Will Poulter’s turn as Adam Warlock only lasted a single film. Still, the character’s rich comic history paired with Poulter’s rising star would suggest that he, and possibly the rest of his team, will return, perhaps as soon as Avengers 5.
8 The Ten Rings Are Signaling Someone or Something
Category 2
The first Category 2 threat – the kind someone should keep an eye on – came at the end of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings when the titular hero met Wong and, via hologram, Bruce Banner and Captain Marvel. The focus of the get-together was the Ten Rings and the mysterious signal they were emitting.
One of the more surprising MCU developments, or lack thereof, is that Shang-Chi hasn’t reappeared, and no announcement has been made regarding a solo sequel or the character’s involvement in Avengers 5. Not only was Shang-Chi one of the bright spots of Phase 4, but the Rings clearly have a larger purpose. Whether they’re related to a known threat like Kang or something farther off like Galactus has yet to be determined and won’t be explored until Shang-Chi returns to the screen.
7 Hercules Wants to Kill Thor
Category 2
Thor has had the most unique journey in the MCU of the remaining original Avengers. He became a father – a common theme – but also introduced the audience to the wider world of gods in the MCU. Chief among those Thor encountered in Love and Thunder was Zeus.
The pair do not get along, and after a showdown of lightning and thunder, Zeus sends one of his children to kill an Avenger. Of course, the mercenary is not just anyone but the mighty Hercules. Killing a hero is serious business. Killing a god like Thor is something entirely different. Look for this showdown in the next Thor movie, which has yet to be officially announced.
6 Namor Still Has His Sights Set on Conquering the Land
Category 2
Namor’s MCU Redemption Would Have Been Better With Just One Tweak
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever made a rushed move to redeem Namor in the finale, but a key adjustment would have made it land a lot better.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ended with a tenuous alliance between the people of Wakanda and the Namor-led underwater nation of Talokan. While the alliance is good for both nations in the short term, the long-term consequences may differ.
Namor foreshadowed as much when he explained to his cousin that Wakanda needs Talokan more than the other way around. And on the wall behind him during this discussion? A mural Namor was working on depicted him fighting a black panther. It’s safe to say Marvel’s first mutant is still a threat to the Wakandans and anyone living on dry land.
5 A Little Bit of Venom is in the MCU
Category 2
Venom 3 Set Photo Reveals Link to Spider-Man: No Way Home
A new Venom 3 set photo hints at the upcoming threequel picking up right after Eddie Brock’s appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Doctor Strange is not the cleanest of operators. In sending all of the Spider-Man adjacent folks back to their respective universes, no one checked in on Venom. While crossing over from the Sony Spider-Man Universe, Eddie Brock spent all of No Way Home hanging out at a beach bar. He didn’t know who Spider-Man was, but the hive knowledge contained by his symbiote did, which got him a ride on Strange’s spell. Thankfully, it was a two-way ticket, but symbiotes are crafty and messy, and a small amount of Venom was left behind in the MCU.
Perhaps the MCU’s version of Eddie Brock will pick up the little guy, or maybe Peter Parker’s bully-turned-semi-friend, Flash Thompson, will be the chosen host. Either way, this is a unique threat because no one in the MCU knows that an extremely dangerous and volatile symbiote is out in the wild.
4 Kingpin is Getting Political
Category 2
Kingpin is going to run for mayor of New York City. This was alluded to at the end of Echo and would be a very weird thing not to follow through on, given his history of doing the exact same thing in the comics.
And unlike some of the other unresolved storylines in the MCU, audiences know exactly when they can expect this tease to come to fruition when Daredevil: Born Again hits Disney+ in 2025. Kingpin’s mayoral campaign turned into a political war against superheroes that could impact every street-level hero of New York City in the MCU.
3 A Celestial is Considering Destroying Earth…Again
Category 3
Eternals Star Barry Keoghan Pitches a Unique Sequel
Saltburn star Barry Keoghan reveals where he would like to see Marvel Studios take his character Druig next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Eternals left a lot of narrative plates spinning, but the elephant in the room is the fossilized Celestial sticking out of the Indian Ocean. Rumors have begun circulating that Captain America: Brave New World will address that oddity, but the fact remains. Another Celestial is trying to decide if he should destroy the Earth. Arishem – the Celestial who planted his brother’s seed on Earth and has been pulling the strings of Eternals for millennia – wasn’t thrilled when Earth’s Eternals decided to halt the Emergence of Tiamut, whose face and hand are now beachfront property.
Because he’s still larger than a planet, Arishem will decide Earth’s fate after announcing to three of Earth’s remaining Eternals – Cersi, Phastos, and Kingo – that their memories will be used to determine if the planet will be spared. That feels like the kind of moment the Avengers were made for, which is a shame because right now, the only evidence of this happening was Arishem’s gigantic face showing up in the sky over London. With no word on when any of the Eternals will return to the screen, it’s anyone’s guess when this threat will be dealt with.
2 Doctor Strange Created Another Incursion
Category 3
Stephen Strange can’t cast a spell without breaking half the universe and this time, it might not be just one universe he’s put in danger. After Multiverse of Madness, Clea – played by Charlise Theron – visits Strange to inform him that he has again caused an incursion event. As an alternate-universe Mister Fantastic explained so well, “An Incursion occurs when the boundary between two universes erodes and they collide, destroying one or both entirely.”
Generally, it’s a pretty quick process, as depicted in What If…? when Strange Supreme caused an incursion that destroyed his universe, so it’s probably not the primary 616 universe that’s in danger. Still, destroying universes is pretty high on the list of things the Avengers were created to stop, but rather than informing his super friends of the error, Strange portals off with Clea to handle it quietly. Surely, that won’t result in more issues, perhaps as soon as Avengers 5.
1 There Are Skrulls and Kangs All Over the Place
Category 3
The MCU Should Recast Kang the Conqueror With Multiple Actors
Rather than replacing Jonathan Majors with a single actor, the MCU could utilize a wide range of actors to play Kang the Conqueror’s variants.
The major problem facing the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes heading into Avengers 5 is Kang the Conqueror. Unlike Thanos, who relied on might, Kang’s strength lies in his multitudes. However, he’s not the only high-volume threat on or around Earth. For all of its flaws, Secret Invasion did set up one major plot point that will need to be addressed at a high level – there are a million Skrulls on Earth and the United States government declared war on them all.
The miniseries ends with numerous public figures being assassinated due to suspicions that they may have been Skrulls in disguise. That kind of violence towards any group of beings is horrifying. The Multiverse still has a Kang problem, but Earth 616 also has a serious human/Skrull conflict that must be addressed first.
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