Wham Line / Marvel Cinematic Universe

Since Wham Lines are usually done for plot twists, character reveals, and/or major character relevations, the following contains MAJOR spoilers for the MCU and all major entries in the franchise thus far. Read at your own risk.

Phase One

• Iron Man:
  • Obadiah Stane reveals himself as Tony's Treacherous Advisor:
    "Tony, who do you think locked you out? I was the one who filed the injunction against you."
  • Throughout the film, Phil Coulson struggles with introducing his department as the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. At the end of the film, he shortens it with: "Just call us S.H.I.E.L.D.."
  • "The truth is... I am Iron Man." It's not the line itself, but the fact that Tony Stark delivered it in front of a live audience, signaling the MCU's departure from the "secret identity" subplots of the comics.
  • And of course, the line that founded the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe and changed comic book movies forever:
    Nick Fury: “I am Iron Man.” You think you're the only superhero in the world? Mr. Stark, you've become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet.
    Tony: Who the hell are you?
    Nick Fury: Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
    Tony: Oh.
    Nick Fury: I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative.
• In Captain America: The First Avenger, Schmidt is explaining to the SS officers his developments for a powerful weapon when one officer notices the map of locations Schmidt intends to destroy.
  SS officer: Berlin is on this map!
• The Avengers: Nick Fury is trying to keep the other Avengers calm and do damage control for their suspicions about his organization, only for goody-two-shoes Captain America to walk in and reveal his group has been creating weapons of mass destruction.
  "Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the Tesseract to build weapons!"

Phase Two

• In The Stinger of Thor: The Dark World, we get these lines:
  Volstagg: It would not be wise to have two infinity stones so close together.
  The Collector: One down, five to go.
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier:
  • Steve discovers the Winter Soldier's identity:
    Steve: ...Bucky?
    The Winter Soldier: Who the hell is Bucky?
  • Alexander Pierce's true colors shown:
    Alexander Pierce: [to Winter Soldier] Would you like some milk?
  • Steve and Natasha discover that Arnim Zola is not quite as dead as he should be:
    Arnim Zola: I am not a recording, Fraulein. I may not be the man I was when Captain took me prisoner in 1942, but I am alive.
  • A line that throws the past few films into perspective:
    Senator Howard Stern: [whispering] Hail Hydra.
• Guardians of the Galaxy (2014):
  • The main characters deliver the MacGuffin to their client and find out what it really is.
    The Collector: Oh, my new friends. Before creation itself, there were six singularities. And when the universe exploded into existence, the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated ingots. The Infinity Stones.

Phase Three

• Captain America: Civil War:
  • During Steve and Bucky's conversation about Helmut Zemo:
    Bucky: He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where.
    Steve: Why would he need to know that?
    Bucky: ...Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier.
  • When Zemo starts playing the video from 1991:
    Tony: I know that road.
• In Doctor Strange (2016), about the true nature of the Eye of Agamotto:
  Wong: In time, you will learn its secrets. But until then, it's best to leave it here. It's not wise to walk down the street carrying an Infinity Stone.
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2:
  • Ego reveals the answer to a major question in the last film on his first appearance.
    Ego: My name is Ego, and I'm your dad, Peter.
  • A second from Ego is when Peter and he are talking about Peter's mom.
    Ego: I returned to Earth to see her three times, and I knew if I returned a fourth, I... I'd never leave. The Expansion... the reason for my existence would be over, so I Did What I Had to Do. But... it broke my heart to put that tumor in her head.
  • During one of the post-credit sequences, it's revealed that Ayesha is carrying a sinister-looking cocoon-like pod on her ship that has a person slowly being formed inside.
    Ayesha: I think I shall call him... Adam.
• Spider-Man: Homecoming:
  • At one point, when Peter rapidly tries to hold a ferry split in half together by running weblines between structural strongpoints, Karen says, "Well done, Peter. You were 98% successful." Turns out he missed one last one, and the ferry falls apart anyway.
  • This line at the ending from one of Peter's classmates, Michelle.
    "My friends call me MJ."
• Thor: Ragnarok: When Hela has Thor pinned to the balcony- unarmed, wounded, and overpowered- Thor has a vision of Odin with the revelation that defines his powers.
  Odin: Are you Thor, god of hammers?
• Black Panther (2018): An In-Universe example at the tribal council that completely changes, for the elders, the legality of Erik's request to fight T'Challa to become the King of Wakanda.
  Erik Killmonger (in fluent X'hosa): I am N'Jadaka, son of Prince N'Jobu!
• Avengers: Infinity War:
  • After Thor impales Thanos in the chest with Stormbreaker, and it looks like yet another victory for the Avengers:
    Thanos: You should have gone for the head. (snaps his fingers with the Infinity Gauntlet, wiping away half the universe)
  • Peter Parker's survival from Thanos' aforementioned Badass Fingersnap that culled half the universe's population seemed to be a Foregone Conclusion, as two more Spider-Man movies had already been announced. But then...^note Granted, it's still a Foregone Conclusion that he will come Back from the Dead at some point, but the fact remains that the writers had the balls to do it anyways.
    Peter: Mr. Stark? I don't feel so good...
• Late in Captain Marvel (2019), Carol Danvers and her friend Maria Rambeau find a very familiar item.
  Rambeau: That's the core?
  Danvers: According to her research, she called it the Tesseract.
• Avengers: Endgame:
  • An on-screen variant after the Avengers' Pyrrhic Victory against Thanos in the first act; for bonus points, it's dramatically revealed word-by-word:
    FIVE YEARS LATER...
  • Exploited twice in quick succession by Captain America:
    • In the elevator in 2012 Stark Tower, how does present-day Steve convince the S.T.R.I.K.E. agents to give him the scepter? By whispering, "Hail HYDRA".
    • Moments later, 2012 Steve has present-day Steve in a hold, believing he is Loki. Present-day Steve tells his past self that "Bucky is alive!" It's enough of a shock that present-day Steve is able to free himself and use the scepter to subdue his captor.
  • Captain America is alone, staring down Thanos and his entire army, armed with nothing but a broken shield and Thor's hammer. He prepares to go down fighting, when suddenly, he hears an old friend on his comm...
    Falcon: Hey, Cap, do you read me? ...Cap, it's Sam. Can you hear me? On your left.
  • The tide of the battle turns back in Thanos' favor as his ship begins to carpet bomb the battlefield indiscriminately. The heroes scramble for cover when suddenly, it stops. The cannons adjust to fire upward, much to everyone's confusion. When Iron Man asks his AI F.R.I.D.A.Y. about what's going on...
    F.R.I.D.A.Y.: Something just entered the upper atmosphere.
• Spider-Man: Far From Home:
  • After Beck attempts a Heroic Sacrifice against the Fire Elemental, Peter realizes he was the hero and 'the next Tony Stark' Tony was talking about, not Peter, and then gives him E.D.I.T.H. as a sign of trust. After Peter leaves the bar and some of the illusion comes down....
    Beck: See? That wasn't so hard!
  • Peter decides to confess to MJ.
    Peter: MJ, I...
    MJ: ...Am Spider-Man?
  • In the mid-credits stinger, the Madison Square Garden MegaVision shows a video filmed by Quentin Beck, a.k.a. Mysterio, in the minutes leading up to his death. The video frames Beck as a hero who died trying to protect the city from a deranged Spider-Man. It concludes on this line, for the entire island of Manhattan to hear:
    Mysterio: Spider-Man's name... is Peter Parker!

Phase Four

• WandaVision:
  • Near the end of "Now in Color," we get this line proving that a certain side character knows a lot more about Wanda's past than she should in the circumstances:
    Wanda: I'm a twin. I had a brother. His name was Pietro.
    "Geraldine": He was killed by Ultron, wasn't he?
  • In "Breaking the Fourth Wall," Wanda descends into Agnes's basement in search of her sons, only to find a strange castle-like environment filled with strange occult artifacts. It's then that Agnes enters, and what she says turns everything the viewer thought about the series upside-down:
    Agnes: Wanda, Wanda. You didn't think you were the only magical girl in town, did you? The names's Agatha Harkness. Lovely to finally meet you, dear.
  • The last line of "Previously On..." has Agatha reveal the exact nature of Wanda's powers, as well as what that means for the setting, leading to a certain long-awaited phrase finally being said:
    Agatha: This is Chaos Magic, Wanda. And that makes you...the Scarlet Witch.
• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier:
  • In "One World, One People", Karli and Sharon confront one another in an exchange that reveals Sharon's true identity.
    Karli: I'm Disappointed in You.
    Sharon: That's what I was gonna say. I took you in, gave you an opportunity, and you betrayed me.
• Loki (2021): In the end to the Season 1 finale, For All Time, Always, after Loki is sent back to the TVA by Sylvie so that she can kill He Who Remains and she does so, he sits in sadness for a little bit before deciding to tell Mobius and B-15 about what happened and why the cataclysmic aftermath of killing him can't be avoided and Mobius’ response:

  Mobius: Take it easy. You’re an analyst, right? What division are you from?

  Loki: What? What are you talking about?

  Mobius: Who are you? What’s your name?

• What If…? (2021): At the end of the 7th Episode, as Uatu declares that "Party Thor" gets a happy ending, a portal opens up and out walks a bulkier variant of Ultron with Vision’s face with several drones and wielding all six Infinity Stones. How does the Watcher react?

  Uatu: Wait, what?! Oh dear... perhaps, I spoke too soon.

  • In the following episode, which details this variant’s rise to power, Ultron has managed to destroy virtually all sentient life in the universe, briefly realizing that he no longer has a purpose. But then he starts hearing someone talking about him…
    Uatu: The realisation nearly broke the machine. With his mission complete, Ultron was just a program without a purpose. The victor without a war, sentenced to spend all of eternity... alone.
    Ultron: Who...? Who said that?
    Uatu: Basking in the boundless silence of his universe, Ultron ascended to a previously unattainable level of consciousness. (Ultron begins turning towards him) He became aware of another. He became aware of the...
    Ultron: I see you.
• Eternals: An interesting variant: it’s not so much what’s said as who says it. In the post-credit scene, Dane prepares to take the Ebony Blade from its casing and use it in order to rescue Sersi, who was alongside Phastos and Kingo, abducted by Arishem for judgment at the end of the film, before being stopped by an offscreen voice.
  Blade: Sure you’re ready for that, Mr. Whitman?
• Spider-Man: No Way Home: Another variant of the person saying it being the Wham part, after the Green Goblin has just bombed Happy's apartment building to holy hell, with Peter and Aunt May caught in the middle of it, and seeks to unleash terror upon MCU New York with the other multiversal villains. As Peter and May get their bearings together, Peter expresses regret over letting the situation get so out of hand and not just having Doctor Strange send the villains home to their fates. As May reassures him that he did the right thing, she delivers an immortal set of words:
  May: You have a gift. You have power. And with great power, there must also come great responsibility.
• A minor one occurs at the end of Moon Knight (2022), but it does show that Marc and Steven's journey is far from over.
  Khonshu: You wanna know something? Marc Spector truly believed that after he and I parted ways, I wanted his wife to be my avatar. Why would I ever need anybody else, when he has no idea just how troubled he truly is? Meet my friend, Jake Lockley.
  • Earlier, when Steven sees a memory of a young Marc huddled up in his room, he sees the boy suddenly switching to what is essentially a younger him. Steven then takes a look at a poster for a film called Tomb Busters and reads its tagline.
    Steven: When danger is near, Steven Grant has no fear.
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: When Strange goes to Wanda to ask for help fighting the monsters pursuing a multiversal traveler, Wanda makes a minor slip which reveals she knows a lot more about the situation than she's been letting on:
  Wanda: Why don't you bring America here?
• Ms. Marvel (2022) delivers one of the biggest in the MCU so far considering the implications. In the finale "No Normal", before they spend their last night together before he leaves, Bruno informs Kamala that they were wrong about the source of her powers. When Kamala shows obvious confusion, what is his explanation?
  Bruno: Kamala, there's something different in your genes. Like... Like a mutation.
  • Accompanied by the briefest flicker of a very iconic theme tune...

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