Over the past few weeks, we’ve gotten a slew of news about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). From surprise movie reveals at San Diego Comic-Con, to TV trailers and animated teases at D23, we now have somewhat of a better idea about what’s up with Marvel Studios for the next few years. But with those reveals comes the sinking feeling that some of the MCU end credits scenes, cliffhangers, and teasers that have been dangling since the end of Avengers: Endgame might never be resolved. When will we get resolution to all those MCU Loose Ends?
Mind you, there are still a lot of unknown Marvel movies on Disney’s release calendar. And there’s plenty of space to drop surprise TV shows and specials here and there. At the same time, there’s also a lot of unfinished business in the MCU. And without getting too dramatic, if these plot threads don’t get tied up by the closing credits of Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027, I will simply die.
Just kidding, I’ll be fine. We’ll all be fine! Life will go on. But at the same time, let’s break down all 23 loose ends the MCU has going at the moment… As well as when they might actually get tied up.
1. The Eternals get kidnapped at the end of Eternals
At the end of the not-so-hit movie Eternals, some of the Eternals are captured by a Celestial named Arishem. They’re taken away for judgment, after killing the Celestial who had been using the Earth like a big ol’ egg.
When will this be tied up? Probably never? Eternals is almost definitely not getting a sequel. The characters could show up elsewhere, like Secret Wars. But this is the definition of “The Eternals died on the way back to their home planet.”
2. The Black Knight tease from Eternals
In an end credits scene for Eternals, Dane Whitman (Kit Harrington) pulls out the Ebony Blade. That’s the cursed sword his character The Black Knight uses in the comics. And speaking of Blades, Blade (Mahershala Ali) speaks to him off-screen.
When will this be tied up? Probably never as well, but the best chance at seeing Harrington as Black Knight is if Ali’s Blade movie ever gets off the ground… Which is a big question in and of itself, since it’s been in various stages of development since 2019. The other option is if Marvel tries some sort of superhero mash-up like Midnight Suns, which was rumored for a while. But that’s even dicier than Blade. Pun intended.
3. Harry Styles’ Eros and Patton Oswalt’s Pip revealed in Eternals
Wow, there sure are a lot of dangling plotlines from Eternals. In the mid-credits scene, we meet Eros, aka Starfox, played by Harry Styles, and Pip the Troll, voiced by Patton Oswalt. They’re there to help get the rest of the Eternals back.
When will this be tied up? See above re: “never” in terms of following up on this plot. However, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for the duo to show up in some form in Secret Wars.
4. What about that big Celestial sticking out of the ocean? Why does nobody talk about that?
One of the big plot points of Eternals was that a Celestial named Tiamut was hatching out of the Earth. The Eternals stopped that, and he got turned to stone. Then, pretty much every day since the movie opened on November 5, 2021, someone has posted “Hey why is nobody talking about that giant Celestial sticking out of the ocean?” on social media. It’s been so fun. So, so fun.
When will this be tied up? Great news, this will be tied up in Captain America: Brave New World, which opens in theaters on February 14, 2025. While exact circumstances are to be seen, it turns out Celestials are made of Adamantium. President Ross (Harrison Ford) wants to harvest the Celestial, and some sort of big battle happens around it with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez). Sad day for the engagement farmers, tbh.
5. Moon Knight’s third personality
After neatly wrapping everything up at the end of Moon Knight on Disney+, it was revealed that the character has a third personality, Jake Lockley, who is working for the moon god Khonshu. As for how that all works? Well, we don’t know yet.
When will this be tied up? Let’s be clear, there are some “dangling plotlines” here that are just “the end of the movie or TV show.” In this case, a second season of Moon Knight has been discussed, we just don’t know if it’s happening or not yet. Moon Knight will return in animated form in What If…? Season 3. But it’s doubtful that will provide answers about Jake Lockley.
6. The piece of Venom that Eddie Brock left in the MCU
In an end credits scene from Spider-Man: No Way Home, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) left a little bit of the Venom symbiote behind at a resort bar in the MCU, after his brief sojourn there (literally the length of that end credits scene).
When will this be tied up? In classic Sony fashion, they have decided to pick up on this thread in the most complicated way possible. While we don’t know the exact circumstances here, in a scene in the trailer for the upcoming Venom: The Last Dance, we see the same bar, except this time the bartender (played by Cristo Fernández) is the customer. And he’s about to touch the Venom goo before it’s taken by a secret agency. So this doesn’t actually pay off on the tease because it takes place in Sony’s universe, which is different from the MCU. And not only that, it also contradicts what happened in that end credits scene. Chaos reigns!
7. Skaar from She-Hulk
In one of the weirdest bits in the She-Hulk: Attorney at Law finale, we briefly meet Skaar, son of Hulk, played by Wil Deusner.
When will this be tied up? I guess he could show up in Captain America: Brave New World, which seems to be a stealth Hulk movie. The other option is if Marvel does move forward with a Young Avengers movie, which still seems like something they could lead up to in some way. But most likely it’s Secret Wars or nothing.
8. Where are Shang-Chi’s rings really from?
In the end credits of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) discovers via Wong (Benedict Wong) that there’s a strange signal emitting from his rings. And that’s the last we heard of that!
When will this be tied up? Shang-Chi 2. While nothing is certain, all signs point to a likely Shang-Chi sequel, which director Destin Daniel Cretton has been developing for a while. Also just to note, there was a not-so-stealthy connection built up in Ms. Marvel between that title character’s bangles, and the rings. So we may get more on that, as well.
9. …And what about the Ten Rings organization?
Shang-Chi ends not with “Shang-Chi will return” but “the Ten Rings will return.” They have yet to return! To be clear, this is referring to the crime organization now run by Xu Xialing (Meng’er Zhang), not Shang-Chi’s Ten Rings.
When will this be tied up? Shang-Chi 2. While I’d speculate that perhaps there were more plans for the Ten Rings at some point, I’d bet we won’t see them again until the Shang-Chi sequel.
10. What’s Hercules up to?
The end credits for Thor: Love and Thunder revealed a surprise character: Hercules, played by Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein. And he was tasked by Zeus (Russell Crowe) with destroying Thor.
When will this be tied up? …Thor 5, question mark? Love and Thunder wasn’t universally beloved, putting this all in doubt. If there isn’t a Thor fivequel on the docket, we could see Hercules again in Secret Wars. Or more likely they may drop this entirely.
11. Where is Clea taking Doctor Strange?
Another end credits tease, Clea (Charlize Theron) shows up to take Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to the Dark Dimension, home of her father Dormammu.
When will this be tied up? …Doctor Strange 3, question mark? The last Doctor Strange movie made just under a billion dollars, so chances are there are discussions about a third Doctor Strange movie. That seems the most likely place to pick up this Clea plotline. That said…
12. Speaking of which, what about Mordo killing all sorcerers?
So, if you think all the way back to the first Doctor Strange movie in 2016, Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) turns to villainy, tracks down Benjamin Bratt’s character Jonathan Pangborn, and takes his magic away. Mordo tells him that Earth has “too many sorcerers,” setting up a big confrontation for the sequel that… Never happened.
When will this be tied up? Again I’d say Doctor Strange 3, if that happens. But by that point, it will have been a decade since this tease, so they may drop it entirely.
13. Where did the White Vision go?
At the end of WandaVision, the original Vision’s body — called White Vision, because he’s all white — flies away to figure out who he is now. Where’d he go?
When will this be tied up? The new TV series White Vision, which is in development, is where he went. Showrunner Terry Matalas is working on the WandaVision spinoff, which was at one point called Vision Quest, and is tentatively scheduled for 2026. It also may not actually be called White Vision.
14. How long has Rhodey been a Skrull?
In the finale of Secret Invasion, it’s revealed that Rhodey (Don Cheadle) has been replaced by a Skrull for a long, long time. How long? Who is to say? Not I! Definitely after Captain America: Civil War, because the real Rhodey can’t walk when he’s rescued.
When will this be tied up? This is supposed to be tied up in Armor Wars, which was once developed as a TV series, then redeveloped as a movie, and now perhaps is being developed into a coaster for resting one’s coffee on while reading other scripts. Meaning, this might be another “never resolved” deal, unless it’s a joke in Secret Wars or something.
15. The Legendary Star-Lord will return! But when?
The tease at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 was that the Legendary Star-Lord, aka Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill, will return.
When will this be tied up? This is another “they just haven’t gotten to it yet” ending. It certainly seems like this could be a Disney+ series, or at this point more likely a movie. And with Chris Pratt being one of the most reliable movie stars working today, chances are something will happen with this, at some point. At the very least, I’m pretty confident they’ll aim to bring back Pratt for the fifth and sixth Avengers movies.
16. What’s up with the Council of Kangs?
After Kang (Jonathan Majors) was beaten at the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, we cut over to the Council of Kangs, thousands of Variants of the character including Immortus, Scarlet Centurion, and more. Uh oh, that seems really bad for the MCU, right?
When will this be tied up? I would bet one million dollars Avengers: Doomsday begins with Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) standing over the dead, CGI-ed bodies of the Council of Kang, all face-down so Marvel doesn’t need to pay Majors likeness rights.
17. Who bought Avengers Tower?
Remember in Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017 how a major plot point was the Avengers moving from Avengers Tower to upstate New York? Well, who bought Avengers Tower?
When will this be tied up? Probably Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis Dreyfus), and we will probably discover this fact in Thunderbolts*. To do a triple “probably” this is also most likely because the asterisk at the end of Thunderbolts is hiding that the movie is teeing up the next Avengers team, and the real name of the team will be revealed at the end of the movie. That name will be “Avengers” if that wasn’t clear.
18. When will the MCU deal with literally all of Agents of SHIELD, but particularly Coulson being alive?
Hey, remember Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? The MCU sure doesn’t. And in particular, Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) dying in Avengers was the impetus for the team getting together for real. What will they do now that he’s alive?
When will this be tied up? I guess they could show up in Secret Wars, but more likely this is a bear better left unpoked. Sorry to the “Quake is in [insert upcoming MCU project]” truthers.
19. Ms. Marvel is putting together a team with Hawkeye! Okay?
In the end credits of The Marvels, Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) does her best Nick Fury impersonation and tells Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) she’s putting a team together.
When will this be tied up? This is clearly setting up a Young Avengers movie or show, which is great. I would love to watch that! However. With the announcement of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, chances are Marvel and Disney are saving the “Avengers” name for those movies to generate as much excitement as possible. So my guess is we won’t see a Young Avengers movie in the mix anywhere, but we could see those younger characters as a team alongside other characters in one or both of the Avengers sequels.
20. What’s up with Monica Rambeau in the X-Men universe?
Also in The Marvels end credits, Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) is stuck in the X-Men universe with Beast (Kelsey Grammar) and Binary (Lashana Lynch).
When will this be tied up? Almost definitely in Avengers: Doomsday. This is speculation based on the comic books but in Jonathan Hickman’s and Esad Ribić’s 2015 miniseries Secret Wars, a series of events called Incursions brought about the destruction of the multiverse, and the creation of Battleworld, a patchwork planet ruled by Doctor Doom. Currently, the MCU has three main universes established: the X-Men universe; the Fantastic Four universe (to be introduced in Fantastic Four: First Steps); and the main MCU. There are others, but we’ll likely see things come down to those three, before everyone loses and Doom creates Battleworld — where Secret Wars will be set. So it would make sense to have Monica in the mix somehow on the X-Men version of Earth, as our window character there.
21. When will Sharon Carter make her move as the Power Broker?
In the finale of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) gives herself up to the CIA, after the reveal that she’s the Power Broker — a villainous info dealer based in Madripoor. Except, she’s still the Power Broker, and planning on using her position in the CIA to sell secrets. Oh no!
When will this be tied up? Unclear. It would make sense to have the character in either Captain America: Brave New World and/or Thunderbolts*. But as is, we don’t have any confirmation that VanCamp will appear in the MCU ever again.
22. Will anyone remember that Skrulls are illegal now?
Forgot to mention earlier, but Secret Invasion ends with the president of the United States declaring war on Skrulls, with a montage of the aliens being slaughtered all over Earth. Bummed out, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) leaves the planet. Then in The Marvels, Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) sends a bunch of Skrulls to Earth to keep them… Safe? Huh?
When will this be tied up? Hopefully never, honestly. It was a bleak ending, the president from Secret Invasion has been replaced by Ross in Brave New World, so there’s no reason for it to continue. Maybe Ross says “I reversed Ritson’s anti-Skrull legislation” at some point to satisfy the super-fans? But that’s it. Let us never speak of this again!
23. What’s up with that Hulk blood that leaked into Samuel Sterns’s head?
The longest-standing dangling thread from the MCU is Bruce Banner’s (Edward Norton) blood dripping into Samuel Sterns’s (Tim Blake Nelson) head in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. We see his head start to bubble, Nelson looks directly into the camera, and that’s been it for 16 years.
When will this be tied up? Proving this list entirely invalid because anything can be followed up after any length of time, Nelson returns as Sterns, aka The Leader, in Brave New World. Case closed!
