Part of what makes the Marvel Cinematic Universe
fun is how plotlines pay off over multiple movies. But that doesn't
mean every storyline gets a proper ending. Here are some that completely disappeared.
At the end of "The Incredible Hulk," Tim Blake Nelson's Samuel Sterns is
coerced into giving Emil Blonsky a medical procedure that turns him into The Abomination.
As Blonsky charges out of Sterns' office, he sends the scientist flying into a wall,
and a small drop of Hulk's blood falls from a nearby table onto a wound on Sterns' forehead.
The man's head begins to bubble and, just like that, the origin story of Marvel Comics villain
The Leader is put into motion. The producers of this project were hoping Sterns could
return in an "Incredible Hulk" sequel with The Leader's green skin and enormous cranium.
However, "The Incredible Hulk" didn't light the box office on fire, and there were also
rights issues regarding further solo "Hulk" movies, leaving a reappearance by The Leader
in limbo. More than a decade after "The Incredible Hulk," other characters from that Marvel Cinematic
Universe entry, such as General "Thunderbolt" Ross and even The Abomination, have come back to play
a part in newer movies. But the origin story of The Leader has never been followed up on,
and it doesn't appear to be something that'll get expanded on anytime soon.
In "Thor: The Dark World," a comic relief character got her own comic relief sidekick.
Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster's humorous intern from the first "Thor" film, got an assistant to help
her lug things around in the form of Ian Boothby. The two have a mildly conflict-ridden dynamic
throughout the adventure, before abruptly kissing during the invasion of London by the Dark Elves.
Ian's role in the MCU was extremely short-lived.
He, like Jane and all of Thor's Earthbound cohorts, did not return for "Thor: Ragnarok."
"Sorry to hear that Jane dumped you."
"She didn't dump me, you know. I dumped her. It was a mutual dumping!"
In the years since, however, Jane Foster has managed to land a comeback in "Thor:
Love and Thunder" while Darcy returned in "WandaVision" as a full-fledged doctor.
Yet Darcy made no mention of Ian. Their romance, and the character of Ian altogether,
was apparently just not meant to last very long in this franchise.
In the middle of "Captain America: Civil War," Tony Stark drops a bombshell on Steve Rogers:
he and Pepper Potts are taking a break. After the character was absent from "Avengers:
Age of Ultron" due to her duties to Stark Industries, this confirmed that Stark was
officially single again, thanks in part to his non-stop adventures with the Avengers. It was a
significant development that also helped explain why Potts was suddenly M.I.A. from the franchise.
"Is Pepper here?"
"We're taking a break."
But this development was abruptly upended in "Spider-Man: Homecoming," when Pepper
Potts not only reappeared but was being intimate with Stark as if
nothing had ever happened. There was even a gag about Stark popping the question to Potts in lieu
of introducing Spider-Man in his Iron Spider outfit to members of the press. The sudden loss
of Potts in Stark's life never got referenced in the following two "Avengers" movies either,
making this a strange unexplained detour in the love life of two principal MCU figures.
In the wake of "The Avengers," "Thor: The Dark World" finds scientist Erik Selvig
struggling to maintain a proper psychological state. Having had Loki control his mind for
an extended period of time, Selvig is now fit to bouts of strange behavior,
like wandering around Stonehenge naked. He's even been locked up in a psych ward,
which Darcy and Ian must break him out of to assist Thor in his quest to defeat the Dark Elves.
The lingering aftereffects of Selvig getting his brain scrambled in "The Avengers" wouldn't
last forever, however. When Thor went to recruit his help in "Age of Ultron," Selvig
was seen walking out of a college that he teaches at. Not only had he returned
to his regular day job, but he seemed to have fully recovered from his encounter with Loki.
At the end of "Iron Man 2," weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer is arrested by police officers.
As this happens, he calls back to Pepper Potts that it isn't over.
"I'm gonna be seeing you again, real soon."
Perhaps that was originally the plan. MCU films don't just keep any villain alive and well,
after all. Keeping Hammer alive and thirsting for vengeance
had to be thought of as a way to set up future installments.
However, for whatever reason, Hammer has not re-emerged in the MCU. "Iron Man 3" had no place
for Hammer, replacing him with Killian, while other movies starring Tony Stark, like "Captain
America: Civil War," also found no room for him. The most peculiar part of this is that Rockwell's
profile has increased substantially since "Iron Man 2" came out. Having won a Best Supporting
Actor Academy Award and getting another Oscar nomination in the same category, one would think
Marvel Studios would be scrambling to bring him back. Instead, Rockwell's entire presence in this
franchise has been limited to "Iron Man 2" and a tiny cameo in the short film "All Hail the King."
In "The Incredible Hulk," viewers aren't just introduced to the Hulk.
They also get a first glimpse of the franchise's version of the romance between Bruce Banner and
Betty Ross. This is a relationship complicated by Banner watching out for his heart rate quickening,
out of fear of turning into the Hulk. This dynamic was established as a crucial part of Banner's life
and was even used as a signifier that there may be more of Banner in the Hulk than there appeared.
However, Betty has never resurfaced in the MCU despite her father, General "Thunderbolt" Ross,
managing to re-emerge as a recurring presence in recent entries in the saga.
The character hasn't even been referenced again, either by her father or by Banner.
Instead, Banner took up a romance with Black Widow in "Avengers: Age of Ultron,"
which seemed to close the book on this initial love affair for the Hulk's alter-ego.
The only post-"Incredible Hulk" nod to the character in the MCU was through the initial
codename for the Hulkbuster armor AI in "Age of Ultron" being Veronica, a nod towards the
Archie Comics character of the same name who had a rivalry with a lady named Betty.
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" ends with a genuinely
interesting beat. After faking his death earlier in the film,
one would expect Fury to just return to his regular day-to-day duties by the end of the
feature. Instead, Fury makes the conscious choice to remain deceased to the general public. The
viewer even gets a glimpse at his headstone in a Washington D.C. cemetery. As Fury walks off-screen
in "The Winter Soldier," the possibilities for what he could be up to next are limitless.
Strangely, then, "Age of Ultron" brings things right back to their original status quo. While
initially Fury is depicted as someone who's been off the grid for a while,
he's eventually shown to be manning a Helicarrier in his traditional leather garb to help Sokovian
civilians get to safety. Rather than a shadowy individual believed to be dead by most,
Fury is once again a public figure that everyone knows
is alive and well. It's a strange move that undercuts the ending of "The Winter Soldier"
and all the narrative possibilities that Fury remaining dead could have brought.
In the initial "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie,
Xandar is an important planet. It's where four of the five titular superheroes meet up,
as well as home to the headquarters of the Nova Corps organization, and the backdrop for Ronan
the Accuser's massive final battle to execute his vengeance against the planet's occupants.
Given all that and the fact that it housed an Infinity Stone at the end of "Guardians of the
Galaxy," fans might expect such a location and its characters, including Nova Prime
and Rhomann Dey, to reappear throughout future MCU adventures, particularly cosmic-based ones.
Instead, the planet hasn't reappeared at all in subsequent films. The Nova Corps gets
name-dropped in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2", while Xandar also gets mentioned in "Thor:
Ragnarok" and "Avengers: Infinity War." That's the extent that this planet has
factored into the franchise post-"Guardians of the Galaxy," with even its destruction by
Thanos happening entirely off-screen. Xandar started as a seemingly important place,
but it's been largely brushed aside in the mythology of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Starting with the show's second season, Bobbi Morse was a critical
part of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." and its ever-expanding mythology. However,
she and her love interest Lance Hunter eventually left "S.H.I.E.L.D." in the third season episode
"Parting Shot." In-universe, they were forced to leave to keep Coulson and company safe. However,
beyond these fictitious confines, Morse's sudden absence was done to allow herself
and Hunter to headline a spin-off show entitled "Marvel's Most Wanted."
"They're not coming back. They've been disavowed."
"What're you talking about?"
"There were no good options."
However, those plans hit a snag when ABC opted to pass on "Most Wanted," leaving the two characters
in a state of limbo. Though Hunter managed to return in a guest appearance capacity in a later
episode of "S.H.I.E.L.D.," Morse remained M.I.A. for the rest of the program's run.
Part of this appears to be due to scheduling conflicts for actress Adrienne Palicki,
who eventually found a lead role on the Fox sci-fi series "The Orville." However,
no official reason has ever been given for her sudden departure.
Whatever caused the character's absence, a hole was left in the "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."
mythology that kept all storylines related to Morse awkwardly unresolved.
For "Ant-Man and the Wasp," the two titular tiny heroes faced off not against Thanos, or He Who
Remains, or Ultron, but rather Ghost, a woman who can move through objects and constantly looks like
she's glitching in and out of reality. Ghost turned out to be a morally complicated figure,
one who merely wanted to cure her condition, not destroy the world. While she wasn't above doing
bad things, she was also somebody whose life wasn't defined by acts of malice.
A scene at the end of "Ant-Man and the Wasp" suggested that she and her surrogate father
figure Bill Foster would be sticking together for whatever came next. But Ghost has ended up being
absent so far from the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Despite Ant-Man even
name-dropping her during the mid-credits scene of "Ant-Man and the Wasp," Ghost has never appeared
in another MCU entry. It also doesn't look like Ghost will get her storyline resolved in the
upcoming "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" either — there's been no news on Ghost star
Hannah John-Kamen getting cast in that film, plus she's committed to starring in "Red Sonja."
In the middle of "Spider-Man: Homecoming," the young webcrawler's inexperience with properly
handling criminals is made apparent through the bungling of his attempt to stop a weapons
sale on a ferry. This transaction involves the henchman of the film's primary villain,
Adrian Toomes, aka The Vulture, but it also entails Mac Gargan a criminal who, in the comics,
is also known as the supervillain The Scorpion. Here, Gargan is depicted as just a regular person,
albeit one with a scorpion tattoo on his neck. He quickly vanishes in the chaos
of Spider-Man's botched attempt to stop the crime.
The mid-credits scene of "Homecoming," in which a battered and vengeful Gargan
confronts Toomes in prison and asks him if he knows the secret identity of Spider-Man,
seemed to be setting up the idea of Scorpion as a recurring threat to Spider-Man. However,
Gargan has made no further appearances in either "Spider-Man: Far From Home"
or other Sony/Marvel productions like "Venom." There's also been no word on him appearing in
future productions like "Spider-Man: No Way Home," while a rumored presence in
the feature "Silver and Black" went nowhere once that film got canned in pre-production.
While Gargan was useful in showcasing Spidey's inexperience in "Homecoming,"
the seeming lack of interest in further exploring the character
indicates his usefulness in the MCU may have come to a close.
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