History MarvelCinematicUniverse / TropesBToF

* CorruptPolitician: The United States government seems to be full of traitorous politicians. Vice President Rodriguez allies with A.I.M. to assassinate the president. Secretary of Defense Alexander Pierce is also the leader of [=HYDRA=] and plans to assassinate, among thousands of others, the president and the Avengers in order to subjugate the world. Senator Stern of Pennsylvania is also an agent of [=HYDRA=]. Senator Christian Ward of Massachusetts is an [[AbusiveParents Abusive Parent]]. Senator Randolph Cherryh of New York is a member of Wilson Fisk’s crime ring. Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross previously attempted to capture Bruce Banner in order to weaponize the Hulk, and has no compunctions about imprisoning a number of the Avengers. Councilwoman Mariah Dillard of Harlem, New York has deals with her cousin Cornell Stokes and ''his'' crime ring. Senator Ellen Nadeer of New York has ties to a RightWingMilitiaFanatic group out of a shared hatred of Inhumans.

** WordOfGod has explicitly confirmed that the official events of the MCU aren't canon for the shows that aired on ''Creator/{{Netflix}}'' between 2015 and 2019. Despite this, the actors will be reprising their roles for future MCU projects, most specifically for the ''Creator/DisneyPlus'' platform. This makes sense, considering that Disney doesn't want its MCU projects to be as [[DarkerAndEdgier dark]] and [[BloodierAndGorier ridiculously violent]] as the Netflix shows were.

** The situation was almost as bad with the TV shows before Marvel Television was dissolved. After the first season of ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', there was almost no communication between Marvel Television and Marvel Studios, in part due to a very difficult working relationship between Studios head Kevin Feige and Marvel president Ike Perlmutter, and partly due to the very different production timelines for film and television. The result is some excellent television (and some crappy television) with almost no references in the film productions.

** ''Film/CaptainMarvel'': A flashback (specifically, Carol's FlashbackNightmare) at the start of the movie shows her surviving a plane crash, then a Skrull moves in to shoot her, but her boss Yon-Rogg shot the Skrull before the latter could attack. Later on, however, after some time on Earth, the same flashback plays... but with her piloting mentor, Wendy (a Kree in disguise), being shot by Yon-Rogg. The flashback at the start turns out to be a [[FakeMemories faked memory]].

** Betty Ross was Bruce Banner's love interest and a major character in ''The Incredible Hulk''. She hasn't been seen or mentioned since, and Bruce is instead shown being interested in Comicbook/BlackWidow in ''Avengers: Age of Ultron''. Even her father, Thunderbolt Ross, got [[TheBusCameBack a bus ticket back]] for ''Captain America: Civil War''. The only major factor even defending her canonicity to the MCU in the Infinity Saga is that [[spoiler:she was cited as one of the victims of Thanos' snap]]. It was very much a surprise when the trope was ultimately subverted, where she was revealed to be part of the cast for ''Captain America: New World Order''.

** Comicbook/{{Thanos}}' servant, The Other. While his death in ''Guardians of The Galaxy'' would obviously prevent him from appearing in the present of ''Avengers: Infinity War'' or ''Avengers: Endgame'', he does not appear in the former's flashback to Thanos taking Gamora's planet (Ebony Maw is shown in his place), nor does he appear [[spoiler:when an alternate timeline version of Thanos and his entire army from a point in time where he would still be alive come to the main timeline for a final battle, where the Black Order is still shown]]. Although, [[spoiler:the alternate Thanos does quote the Other slightly when he recognizes the Avengers and calls them "unruly wretches"]].

** In ''Avengers: Age of Ultron'', Helen Cho has built a "regeneration cradle" that can heal grievous injuries by creating synthetic tissue and bonding it to the victim's cells. Apparently, nobody thought to use this on [[spoiler:Comicbook/WarMachine]] after a serious fall cost him the use of his legs in ''Captain America: Civil War''. Heck, the movie even has a scene where doctors are shown examining him after the accident, and Helen isn't even ''mentioned''. Justifiable, considering that [[spoiler:there seems to only be one cradle, which was severely damaged in ''Ultron'', when Vision awakened and exploded out of it violently enough to knock Thor across the room]].

** ''The Defenders'' is the self-contained type. It is an eight episode miniseries that sees Matt Murdock, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Danny Rand team up to fight the Hand, a villainous organization built up in ''Daredevil'' season 2 and ''Iron Fist'' season 1. The crossover has lasting repercussions for the next phase of the Netflix shows, as [[spoiler:Matt's "death" in the climax, and subsequent turning up at a convent, sets up the third season of ''Daredevil'' to do a loose adaptation of the renowned ''ComicBook/DaredevilBornAgain'' storyline]].

* EvilCounterpart: Many of the heroes go up against people that have similar powers ''but are evil!'' Examples include Iron Man and Iron Monger; Hulk and Abomination; Captain America and both Red Skull and Winter Soldier; Ant-Man and Yellowjacket; Doctor Strange and Kaecilius, [[spoiler:Mordo (though mainly offscreen)]], and [[spoiler:Scarlet Witch]]; Black Panther and Killmonger; Scarlet Witch and [[spoiler:Agatha Harkness]] (though [[spoiler:in hindsight, it's hard to say which one of the two is more evil]]); and Shang-Chi and Wenwu. More details can be found on [[EvilCounterpart/MarvelCinematicUniverse their own page]].
** Subverted when ''[=WandaVision=]'' sets up another counterpart battle alongside Wanda's and pits Vision against [[spoiler:another Vision]], only to find after a bit of fighting that [[spoiler:the second Vision isn't evil, just following programmed orders; both Visions are equally peaceful and they're able to talk things out]].
** In a more thematic sense than in terms of superpowers, Iron Man is also opposed by Justin Hammer who is his Evil Counterpart in business rather than superpowers; Loki is this to Thor as gods. Taskmaster also contrasts Black Widow, with both being [[spoiler:women exploited by the Red Room]]. ''The Defenders'' portrays the "Black Sky" ([[spoiler:Elektra]]) as one to the Iron Fist, as both are {{Human Weapon}}s meant to destroy the faction the other belongs to.

* CliffhangerWall: A brief one. ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' hit theaters only a year after ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', but ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'' and ''Film/CaptainMarvel'' released in the intervening time and took place before the events of ''Infinity War'' (''Captain Marvel'' taking place before most MCU films chronologically for that matter).

** Betty Ross was Bruce Banner's love interest and a major character in ''The Incredible Hulk''. She hasn't been seen or mentioned since, and Bruce is instead shown being interested in Comicbook/BlackWidow in ''Avengers: Age of Ultron''. Even her father, Thunderbolt Ross, got [[TheBusCameBack a bus ticket back]] for ''Captain America: Civil War''. The only major factor even defending her canonicity to the MCU is that [[spoiler:she was cited as one of the victims of Thanos' snap]].
** ''The Incredible Hulk'' also introduced Samuel Sterns, aka The Leader, who was the Hulk's ArchEnemy for years in the comics. At the end of the movie, some of Bruce's gamma-irradiated blood drips into a gash on his head, which starts swelling like his comics counterpart. Outside of a tie-in comic that establishes he was taken into custody by S.H.I.E.L.D. shortly after the events of the film, he's never been seen or mentioned again.

** After being a big part of the first two ''Thor'' movies, Lady Sif doesn't show up in ''Thor: Ragnarok''. WordOfGod made an excuse that [[spoiler:Loki]] had exiled her in order to explain her absence.

* FantasyKitchenSink: The MCU has fantastic beings and items from all genres. Science-fiction is the most prominently featured with such things like PoweredArmor, superbots, aliens and spaceships of all sorts, incredible technology that [[IncredibleShrinkingMan allow people to shrink to subatomic levels]], and as of ''Endgame'', [[spoiler:time travel]]. On the other side, we get Norse Gods that use magic, as well as secret societies of wizards protecting earth from supernatural threats and spiritual planes where the King of Wakanda can visit his dead ancestors. It's to the point where the universe has AncientAstronauts style immortal alien beings that [[Film/{{Eternals}} served as the inspiration for various gods and mythological beings]]...whilst ''also'' having those gods and mythological beings being [[Series/MoonKnight literally]] [[Film/ThorLoveAndThunder real]] [[Film/BlackPanther as well]].