It’s unprecedented how intricate and extensive the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become since its inception back in 2008. It seems that every possible plot outcome has become accounted for thanks to the endless innovation displayed by the filmmakers and executives at Marvel Studios. However, as time goes on and the world gets bigger, there are bound to be small things here and there that fall through the cracks, and if there’s anything more attentive than Marvel filmmakers, it’s Marvel fans.
So, here are a few tiny errors in the MCU that have been spotted by eagle-eyed fans. How many did you know about?
The Timeline of the Infinity Gauntlet
There have been several cameo appearances by the infamous Infinity Gauntlet over the years in order to tie the stories together, but the exact origin of the weapon seems to have an air of discrepancy around it. We’ve learned that the dwarves of the planet/star Nidavellir were forced to create the gauntlet for Thanos at some point, but the exact point in time is unknown. The dwarves are said to be under the protection of Asgard, so it would be a huge oversight on the part of Loki, Odin, or whoever was running Asgard to let Thanos ruin the planet and take a deadly weapon from a place under their protection. This isn’t exactly an error, but it does make us wonder how Marvel Studios justified this particular plot question.
The Timeline of Spider-Man: Homecoming
The timeline placement of Spider-Man: Homecoming made the inclusion of Peter Parker in the MCU a little bit confusing. The beginning of the film showed Adrian Toomes, AKA Vulture, creating tech immediately after the first Avengers film, which would place it a few years earlier than Captain America: Civil War. Homecoming claimed that the opening scene happened 8 years prior to the rest of the action, but that would then mean the rest of the events occurred several years into the future. This was simply a small clerical mistake on the part of the filmmakers, but for fans who remember the chronology, this creates a bit of confusion. (Marvel Studios: The First 10 Years, released last year, included a timeline that repositioned Spider-Man: Homecoming only four years after Avengers, in 2016.)
Gamora’s People
In the first Guardians of the Galaxy, Gamora briefly explains her history, saying that Thanos killed her parents as well as the entire race of beings that lived on her home planet of Zehoberei. This seemed like a true enough statement, that is until the flashback scene in Avengers: Infinity War. As we delved into some of the inner mechanizations of Thanos’ mind, we learned that his life’s mission was to “save” planets by eliminating half of the population, as we saw in the scene where he and Gamora first meet. So, unless Thanos went back to Gamora’s planet at an unmentioned later date to kill off the remaining 50% of the population, Gamora is gravely mistaken about the fate of her race and home.
Bucky’s Birthday
We know that Bucky Barnes is old since he was friends with Captain America before he was, well, Captain America. However, the exact age of the friend-turned-villain-turned-hero is a bit of a mystery. At the end of Captain America: Winter Soldier, there’s a brief scene in which we see Steve Rogers visiting the Smithsonian Institute’s exhibit on the fallen soldier (since they didn’t know he was still alive). Eagle-eyed fans have brought to light the fact that the top of the exhibit on Bucky says that he was born in 1916, but the bottom of the exhibit says he was born in 1917. Was there a clerical error at the Smithsonian? Or did Marvel just think no one would care or notice? Either way, the birth year of Bucky Barnes remains unconfirmed.