THE UCM has hosted some particularly dark twists and turns over the past 16 years. This should come as no surprise considering the size of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with 34 films and 13 shows (and counting) in its repertoire. The darker events in these MCU films are also a testament to the franchise’s ability to provide grounded representations of some otherwise strange characters and stories.
Meanwhile, Marvel Studios’ liberal use of creative license makes it impossible to predict certain twists as the MCU pivots from narratives established in Marvel Comics. These unexpected twists help make the MCU so compelling, drawing in audiences both familiar and unfamiliar with the source material and leaving both equally impressed. Still, despite their narrative value, these harrowing examples are more likely to linger in the mind for more unpleasant reasons.
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Wanda’s control over Westview is revealed
Wanda Maximoff’s descent into villainy begins in WandaVision
The precise nature of the Westview anomaly was shrouded in mystery in the first few episodes of WandaVision. It was then steadily revealed that Wanda herself was using her powers in a particularly egregious way, turning the innocent civilians of the original Westview into slaves, stripping them of their free will so she could live a happy family life. This culminates in WandaVision ending when Agatha frees the minds of the Westview residents, after which they reveal the mental torture that Wanda’s magic forces them to endure.
This MCU twist is especially dark as marks the first step in Wanda’s descent into villainy. While being contaminated by the Darkhold underscores this sinister twist, the seeds were sewn when Wanda defiantly countered Vision’s insistence that she release her victims in WandaVision episode 5. Although Wanda’s motives are sympathetic, Vision vocalizes the uncomfortable feeling that Wanda’s fans would have felt about her actions in WandaVision.
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Thanos returns in Avengers: Endgame
The Avengers were painfully close to fixing the snap
After the devastating loss in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame began with a palpable sense of hopelessness among the Avengers, emphasized by Pyrrhus’ victory over Thanos after he had already destroyed the Infinity Stones. Without this version of Thanos, it would take five years for the Avengers to discover a glimmer of hope. Tooth-and-nail success in collecting the stones from the past would see Smart Hulk instigate the blip, but at the cost of Black Widow’s life. Then, Thanos returns anyway.
Thanos’ success in traveling from 2014 to 2023 was a crushing development so soon after the Avengers achieved victory from the jaws of defeat. His subsequent subjugation of the MCU’s Big Three evoked the desperate fights with Thanos on Titan and in Wakanda in Avengers: Infinity Warthreatening to even result in yet another loss. This intensified the impact of his bittersweet victory as Tony Stark fulfilled his role and made the ultimate sacrifice, finally putting an end to Thanos’ Infinity Saga tyranny.
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Bucky Barnes kills Tony Stark’s parents
The revelation cemented the rift that would lead to the Avengers’ defeat
Captain America: Civil War sees Iron Man fight Captain America in an ideological battle that turns into an all-out feud orchestrated by Baron Zemo. After forming a truce with Cap and Bucky, Tony Stark connects with them at a HYDRA facility containing video evidence that Tony Stark’s parents were murdered by the Winter Soldier – a brainwashed Bucky Barnes. The dark turn was exacerbated by the brutality of the executionwhich Stark witnesses with palpable shock that turns into unbridled yet understandable rage.
The twist was also overshadowed by the rift it generated between two of the most prominent Avengers, whose bond developed over the course of several cataclysmic events.
The twist was also overshadowed by the rift it generated between two of the most prominent Avengers, whose bond developed over the course of several cataclysmic events. It would also divide the Avengers with terrible resultsas Thanos was able to overpower the disparate group and cause the Snap. Bucky’s guilt over his brainwashing actions as the Winter Soldier, however, still haunts him despite his heroism since regaining control of his mind.
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Ego killed Peter Quill’s mother in the worst way
Ego quickly became one of the MCU’s most hated villains
Despite being ostensibly among the MCU protagonists without superpowers, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 revealed that Peter Quill had the potential to be one of the most powerful after debuting his father, the Celestial Living Planet, Ego. Upon learning of his Celestial heritage, however, Ego reveals that he implanted the fatal brain tumor in Meredith Quill’s headciting that the love she made him feel would have been very disturbing. Unsurprisingly, this causes Quill to immediately turn against his father and ultimately renounce his celestial powers.
Peter Quill’s origins are dark enough, but learning that his estranged father – one of the most powerful beings in the MCU – was the one who caused Meredith Quill’s insidious death is particularly horrifying. Ego’s blasé admission, which belied his affable personality up to that point, quickly turned him into one of the MCU’s most reviled villains. Quill’s visceral reaction was easy to sympathize withsomething he doubled down on by choosing his family over his celestial powers, turning him into one of the MCU’s truest – if least powerful – heroes.
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Project insight went from dark to darker
The design insight was questionable at first, before HYDRA made it much worse
Project Insight was revealed in Captain America: The Winter Soldier as SHIELD’s response to the turmoil of the Battle of New York. The project was designed to eliminate individuals who posed a threat to a set of Helicarrieres after analyzing their behavior with a specialized algorithm. The operation was hijacked by HYDRA after it was revealed that the organization had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. changing the algorithm to eliminate threats to HYDRA instead of. If they had succeeded, the results would have been devastating.
One could also argue, however, that the original function wasn’t much better, with the twist simply obscuring what was already an obscure function.
Almost succeeding in mass murder on a global scale is certainly a disturbing near miss. One could also argue, however, that the original function wasn’t much better, with the twist simply obscuring what was already an obscure function. Technically, SHIELD would target innocent civilians – no matter how airtight your future prediction algorithm was. This is a concern perfectly summed up by Steve Rogers, who stated in response to the project “I thought punishment usually came after the crime.“
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Thanos reverses the sacrifice of vision
Vision’s second death was one of the most desperate moments in Avengers: Infinity War
The despair felt by the Avengers in their final fight in Avengers: Infinity War culminated in the agonizing decision to remove the Mind Stone from the equation and Vision along with it. The fact that this task could only be accomplished by Wanda Maximoff was a harrowing observation, though its success provided at least a small glimmer of hope that Thanos’ plans were thwarted at the last second. Tragically, however, the Time Stone allowed Thanos to reverse the processrestoring the Mind Stone and Vision before Thanos brutally killed him again, ripping the stone from his head.
It’s also impossible to imagine what this would have been like for Vision, whose second death would undoubtedly have wracked him with guilt in his final moments.
When it comes to dark MCU twists, Wanda Maximoff’s MCU arc is almost unfairly targeted for some of the darkest – but it’s also what makes her character so compelling. Yet, the grim sequence of events that forced her to kill her lover only for the ordeal to become meaningless moments later is especially hard to swallowemphasizing the hopelessness surrounding Thanos’ victory. It’s also impossible to imagine what this would have been like for Vision, whose second death would undoubtedly have wracked him with guilt in his final moments.
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The Truth Behind Nicholas Scratch on Agatha All the Time
Agatha Harkness now has a particularly tragic story The entry below discusses the death of a child.
Agatha all the time did much to humanize the titular villain-turned-antihero, especially in regards to his son, Nicholas”Nicky” Scratch. The mystery surrounding her missing son was pervasive throughout the series, with all signs pointing to a nefarious deal made by Agatha to exchange him for the Darkhold. The truth, however, was revealed in Agatha all the timeending: this Nicky was marked for death as soon as he was bornfinally succumbing to an unspecified illness just six years later.
It’s difficult to say which of Nicky’s fates – the supposed or the real – is darker. After all, being switched to the Darkhold may have made Nicky protected by a nefarious being – but he likely would have survived. On the other hand, although the truth is tragic, it punctuated Agatha all the timereasons for the inevitability of death and its importance in the cycle of life, with Nicky’s death being beautifully portrayed as painless and serene as Rio Vidal reluctantly fulfilled his cosmic duty.
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What happens to branching timelines
TVA removes free will on a universal scale
Avengers: Endgame both completed the Infinity Saga and created the Multiverse Saga, specifically because it showed 2012’s Loki becoming a variant by escaping his fate after the Battle of New York. Loki The first season begins with the aftermath of his escape, as the TVA debuted by apprehending the now-variant Loki and setting up a reset charge to prune the branching timeline he created. The details of this routine would later come to light: that the TVA aims to disintegrate the inhabitants of entire timelines.
It would later be revealed, of course, that victims of the TVA Reset Fees are simply sent to the void at the end of time rather than killed. Still, as Loki would underline in season 2, The TVA’s ancient tyranny over free will is difficult to reconcile witheven with He Who Remains’ justification that it helps prevent a multiversal war. Loki seemed to agree, as it would guarantee the free will of the multiverse, ensuring his place as the living temporal loom at the end of Loki season 2.
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After all, Rocket is a raccoon (with the darkest history)
Rocket’s achievement is a painful reminder of his past
Rocket’s appearances in the MCU have seen him repeatedly dismiss the notion that he is a raccoon, despite physically resembling one in every way. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would finally confirm that he was wrong — but also that the whole truth was particularly harrowing. The exciting revelation came at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3when Rocket discovered cages full of baby raccoons alongside a menagerie of other animals who were ostensibly doomed to undergo ordeals very similar to those in his tragic story.
The twist that the rocket is biologically a raccoon makes it a permanent reminder of the High Evolutionary’s hideous megalomania and the suffering he inflicted on the animals he forced to become sentient.
Rocket was the most central character in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3which detailed his torturous childhood as a creation of the High Evolutionary, as he spent almost the entire film on the brink of death. The twist that the rocket is biologically a raccoon makes it a permanent reminder of the High Evolutionary’s hideous megalomania. and the suffering he inflicted on animals he forced to become self-conscious. Meanwhile, the rescue of the animals who would have faced the same fate was a moving portrait of how Rocket now embraces his identity and the agonizing story that made him,
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The MCU experiences the snap
The effects of the snap still linger in the MCU
One of the darkest and most consequential twists in the entire MCU came with a conclusion that turned established storytelling tropes on their head. Avengers: Infinity War ends with Thanos’ victory and the utter failure of the MCU’s many established heroes when he acquires all the Infinity Stones and wipes half the universe out of existence, despite the best efforts of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Countless trillions die at his hands in an instant, with a large portion of the MCU’s top superheroes among the victims.
The shocking turn of events could only be met with stunned silence, raising the question of what recourse, if any, the surviving heroes have to make amends for their loss. Of course, they would find a way to reverse the Snap a year later – but its effects still linger in the MCU today. As destructive, painful, and consequential as it may have been, Thanos’ victory remains one of the best twists in history. UCM with a shock value that will always be hard to beat.