Now that the first year of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is coming to an end, many are looking back on what the sprawling franchise has given us. This has been a unique year for the MCU as many of their characters made the jump to a longer TV format. With five shows and four movies, there was quite a lot for fans to sink their teeth in.
As with many MCU projects, most of these shows and movies took the opportunity to set up plot threads for the next year and beyond. Since the amount of MCU that was released increased dramatically, so did the number of threads left hanging at the end of this first year.
Billy & Tommy Maximoff
It appears that her children are, somehow, alive. Many speculate that they’re lost in the multiverse and this is how she ends up in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. The question is how are they alive though? They were created from Wanda’s magic and they couldn’t exist outside of it. Could this be some trap that someone is setting for her?
White Vision
Vision may have been the main character throughout WandaVision but technically he was dead the whole time. As it was revealed throughout the series, the Vision that was married to Wanda was a creation by her magic, and the organization S.W.O.R.D. had the real one the whole time.
S.W.O.R.D. intended to turn the Vision’s body into a weapon, so once they were able to activate it, the white-colored Vision went after Wanda. After the “fake” Vision talks the white Vision down, he unlocks the white Vision memories of the life he had before Thanos killed him. After this, he just flew away and out of the show. It’s unclear where he’ll show up next or if he and Wanda will be reunited.
Monica Rambeau
Audiences were first introduced to Monica Rambeau as a little girl in Captain Marvel, but in WandaVision she’s reintroduced as an adult and an agent of S.W.O.R.D. After coming back from the Blip, she threw herself into her work and tried to help Wanda before Director Hayward could kill her.
Monica went through the barrier of Westview so many times that it altered her DNA giving her some sort of power. It’s likely her powers are the same as her comic counterpart but as of now, they’re ill-defined. A Skrull appears to Monica to tell her that someone, likely Nick Fury or Talos, needs her help. Secret Invasion is coming sometime in the next year, so audiences probably won’t have to wait long to see Monica again.
The Power Broker
Sharon Carter, niece of Peggy Carter and former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Falcon and the Winter Soldier revealed that after the events of Captain America: Civil War, Sharon had to go on the run and ended up in the criminal city Madripoor. During Sam and Bucky’s time there, they heard about a mysterious figure known as the Power Broker.
At the end of the show, Sharon is revealed to the audience as the Power Broker and the only person who knows, Karli, is killed before she could say anything to anyone. When she is reinstated into the CIA with a full pardon, she makes a call that reveals this was all part of some nefarious plan. Considering the writer of Falcon and the Winter Soldier is writing the untitled fourth Captain America film, this thread probably won’t be revisited until then.
Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine
Not much is currently known about who Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, or Val, is but she made herself known in a big way in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. After John Walker redeems himself, Val gives him a new outfit and dubs him the U.S. Agent. She also appears to have Yelena working for her, by the way, the post-credits scene of Black Widow plays out.
So far, Val has hired John Walker and Yelena for some reason. She doesn’t appear to be working with the United States Government and she seems too shady to be working with Nick Fury on whatever he’s doing. With only two brief appearances, audiences are still left wondering what her motivations are. Is she putting some sort of team together? and if so, then why?
Kang
He Who Remains reveals that he has been pruning variant timelines to prevent an evil version of him from existing and that he has been doing this for a very long time. The end of the series sees He Who Remains to die, despite Loki’s efforts, and a new version of the TVA is created. What the ramifications of this are anyone’s guess but it’s only a matter of time before Kang clashes with the Avengers.
Wong
It seems Wong has been busy since audiences last saw him in Avengers: Endgame. Thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home, we now have more context for it, he’s the Sorcerer Supreme, but his first appearance in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings still raises some questions.
Wong is seen fighting The Abomination in a fight club run by Shang-Chi’s sister. After Wong defeats The Abomination, the film shows them as friends as he returns The Abomination to his prison cell. Wong has been operating behind the scenes of the MCU throughout Phase 4 for some purpose, but what could he want Banner’s first nemesis for?
The Ten Rings
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings finally introduced audiences to the real Mandarin and with him, the Ten Rings. In the movie, the Ten Rings are reimagined to be ten large bracelets that you wear on your forearm, giving you some extra power. But where did they come from?
In the comics, the rings were created by space dragons known as the Makluans, the famous Marvel dragon, Fin Fang Foom is from this species. The movie doesn’t go into the origins of the rings, just that the Mandarin found them and they are the only thing that can free the Dweller-in-Darkness. At the end of the movie, Wong appears and notifies Captain Marvel, Bruce Banner, and Shang-Chi that the Ten Rings have sent a beacon deep into space. Perhaps this could lead to the MCU arrival of Fin Fang Foom?
Arishem the Judge and the Celestials
Celestials have been around in the MCU, going back to Guardians of the Galaxy. Ego the Living Planet even claimed to be one. But the Celestials finally got a proper introduction in Eternals, where they were revealed to have populated planets in the Universe to birth more Celestials. The Eternals learn of this and kill the Celestials that are being born from the planet Earth.
With only a few Eternals left on Earth, Arishem the Judge arrives in orbit to take them away. As punishment for killing a Celestial, Arishem informs the Eternals that he will judge whether or not the people of Earth deserve to live. That’s a pretty major plot thread to leave dangling. With no more Eternals on Earth, it’s not going to be easy for Earth’s remaining heroes to fight off a Celestial should Arishem decide to destroy the planet.
The Black Knight
Dane Whitman was an average man that Sersi had been dating by the time of the events of Eternals. He doesn’t do much in the actual story of the film but by the time Arishem pulls the Eternals off Earth he claims to have discovered something from his family’s past, something that he thinks could help in the future.
Comic fans would recognize Dane as the Black Knight, the wielder of the ebony blade. In the post-credits scene, Dane is contemplating whether or not to pick up the famous sword before a voice from off camera asks if he’s ready for it. That voice was none other than the comic book character Blade. What Blade was doing there and what he could be interested in the future Black Knight remains a mystery.
About The Author
