MCU: 10 Great Examples Of Foreshadowing That Paid Off

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is excellent at having the next 5-10 years of the MCU all planned out, and it’s this excellent planning that allows him to allude to future events in the MCU movies. From Thanos being introduced in The Avengers to Cap “failing to” lift Mjolnir in Avengers: Age of Ultron,  there have been plenty of moments that have foreshadowed key events in the MCU.

Marvel has also used mid- and post-credit scenes in their movies to successfully foreshadow future projects and upcoming characters such as Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Even now, Marvel continues to hint at future events that fans have to look forward to, and they can only hope that these events live up to their mounting expectations.

10 Dust & Blood

One of T’challa’s great lines in Avengers: Infinity War occurs when he, Cap, and Black Widow are at the edge of the Wakanda shield talking to Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian. T’Challa says “You are in Wakanda now. Thanos will have nothing but dust and blood.”

Obviously, fans were unaware at the time, but this may have been clever foreshadowing to half the heroes, along with half of every other living thing in the universe, turning to dust at the hands of Thanos — literally. The energy and emotion that could be felt in every cinema when beloved characters started to disintegrate was unbelievable.

9 “If You Make God Bleed…”

Way back in Iron Man 2, the big bad, Ivan Vanko delivers a line to Tony Stark that was either a great foreshadowing to Avengers: Infinity War or just a happy accident. The line was “If you can make God bleed, people will cease to believe in him.“

The big payoff was in Infinity War when Iron Man became one of the only two Avengers (the other being Thor) to make Thanos bleed by delivering a swift rocket-aided left hook to the face. The Iron Man vs. Thanos battle goes down as one of the greatest amongst fans.

8 Cap & Mjolnir

One of the best scenes in Avengers: Age of Ultron was a calm and friendly gathering of the heroes after Tony Stark’s party in the Avengers tower where each Avenger takes turns trying to lift Mjolnir. After every Avenger tries and fails, Cap takes up the challenge and is the only one to make it budge.

This was definitely a foreshadow to Avengers: Endgame when Steve successfully manages to wield Mjolnir in the fight against Thanos. Even at the time, there was an argument amongst fans whether Steve failed to lift Mjolnir initially, or whether he could lift it, but just chose to stop.

7 “You Think You’re The Only Superhero In The World?”

Calling back to the first post-credit scene in Iron Man where Nick Fury appears in Tony Stark’s living room, one of the first things Fury says is “You think you’re the only superhero in the world?” obviously referring to the other Avengers.

This not only foreshadowed the first Avengers movie but was also alluding to every other hero fans have seen in the MCU since 2008.

6 You’re Not The Guy To Make The Sacrifice Play

In the first Avengers movie, there were seeds of a civil war between Steve and Tony when they initially met. With Steve being the one to follow orders and Tony being very much the opposite, the two naturally clashed.

During their heated argument on board the Helicarrier, Steve says “You’re not the guy to make the sacrifice play.” This sentence was only made sweeter with Tony being the one to ultimately sacrifice himself at the end of Avengers: Endgame in order to save the entire universe.

5 J.A.R.V.I.S’s Stocking

In Iron Man 3, which was set at Christmas, fans can see a stocking in the background that belongs to none other than Tony’s A.I. Jarvis. Was this a potential foreshadowing to Jarvis becoming Vision, or simply a fun prop idea from the crew?

Nevertheless, the colors of the stocking were yellow, green, and red. While being typical Christmas colors, they are also the colors that the Vision ends up being in the MCU, similar to his comic counterpart.

4 Cap’s Vision

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, when the Avengers initially meet Scarlet Witch, she warps their minds making them see visions of their horrors, pasts, and futures. When she gets round to Steve, he is made to believe he is back in the 1940s with Peggy and gets the dance that he missed when he went into the ice in 1945.

This foreshadowing alluded to the culmination of Steve Rogers’ character arc at the end of Avengers: Endgame when he went back in time to 1945 to live his life with Peggy, finally getting to dance in their home.

3 Scarlet Witch

In Avengers: Age Of Ultron, not only were fans introduced to Wanda Maximoff, who ends up being one of, if not the most powerful person in the current MCU, but Ultron’s line to her may have foreshadowed the events of Captain America: Civil War.

When Ultron states “You will tear them apart, from theinside,” fans might not have connected this line to Wanda being the final element that triggered the Sokovia accords in Captain America: Civil War, the documents that were partly instrumental in tearing Cap and Tony’s friendship apart.

2 Thanos’ Ship In Thor: Ragnarok

If there’s one thing that Marvel is great at, it’s using end credit scenes to set up and foreshadow future Marvel projects. In one of the post-credits scenes of Thor: Ragnarok, fans see Thor and Loki standing in the Asgardian refugee vessel which is then dwarfed by Thanos’ ship, signaling that the movie will lead directly into the events of Avengers: Infinity War.

Lo and behold, the opening scene of Avengers 3 was set on board the same refugee ship where Thanos has slaughtered half the Asgardians, killed Loki, and single-handedly defeated the Hulk with ease. The opening scene of this movie was exactly what fans needed to realize why Thanos is the biggest, baddest, and best villain the Avengers have ever faced.

1 Thanos

For the few fans who may not remember, Thanos was initially teased in the post-credit scene of The Avengers back in 2012, signaling that he was going to be the big threat for the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to eventually face. Thanos appeared in Guardians of The Galaxy in full form, where fans got a sense of the Mad Titan’s scale.

What made Thanos arguably the best villain in the MCU was the fact that he truly believed what he was doing was the right thing, compared to villains such as Malekeith who simply wanted to plunge the universe into darkness. Most fans will agree that Thanos’ foreshadowing The Avengers is the biggest pay-off in the MCU to date.

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