The MCU is separated into “Phases,” with three under its belt at the moment and The Avengers.
Tony builds the Iron Man suit
What caused critics to draw parallels between 2008’s its first installment was surprisingly grounded.
It was set in the real world, in the center of the conflict in the Middle East, and its hero didn’t just magically acquire his powers. We saw the trial-and-error process that led to the creation of his suit. He continued to tweak and update the suit’s technology over the years, and in the end, with the invention of the Iron Gauntlet, that technology would save the universe – twice.
Howard Stark gives Cap his shield
In Captain America: Civil War, when Howard’s son Tony found out that Cap knew his friend Bucky had killed Howard and his wife and kept it from him, he took back the shield.
Then, in Avengers: Endgame, after forgiving him, Tony gives the shield back and tells Cap, “He made it for you.” Later, Tony and Cap travel back in time to 1970 and Tony gets one final moment to talk with his dad about being a parent.
“The Tessaract is where it belongs. Out of our reach.”
This Nick Fury quote from almost destroy Earth with an alien invasion.
Aside from being an Infinity Stone, which made it integral to the Thanos storyline, the Tesseract will continue to appear in the MCU, since Loki used it in Endgame to disappear into an alternate timeline during the Avengers’ “time heist.”
The Hulk attacks Black Widow on the Helicarrier
In Black Widow’s untimely death on Vormir.
By this point, he had found the middle ground between Banner and Hulk and become “Professor Hulk” (also known as “Smart Hulk”), so he wasn’t having any more outbursts that put his fellow Avengers in danger.
“You think you’re the only superhero in the world?”
At the end of 2008’s all the characters that ed the franchise throughout “the Infinity Saga.”
In the Battle of Earth at the end of 36 main characters fighting and hundreds more soldiers hailing from Wakanda and Asgard. By this point, Tony is blatantly aware that he’s not the only superhero in the world – but he is the one to give his own life to save everyone else’s.
Odin places an enchantment on Mjolnir
In the first Avengers: Endgame.
For all the humor that Cap finds that he is also worthy.
Iron Man saves a young Peter Parker
The kid wearing the Iron Man mask that Tony Stark rescues in a sort of surrogate father-son relationship.
They became so close that in Endgame, when Tony sacrificed himself to save the universe, it wasn’t Pepper or Rhodey who spent the most time at Iron Man’s side as he died – it was Peter. He told his beloved father figure, “We won,” and moviegoers across the world had to wipe away tears.
The Avengers assemble
Fans had to wait 11 years to hear Captain America utter his immortal words, “Avengers, assemble!” on the screen. But we saw the team assemble long before that. It’s arguable that there still hasn’t been as memorable a shot in the MCU as the sweeping pan around the Avengers during the Battle of New York.
Back then, the team only consisted of Cap, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, the Hulk, and Hawkeye. Cap wouldn’t utter the phrase until Endgame, when the team had added the Masters of Mystic Arts, the armies of Wakanda and Asgard, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and a handful of other superheroes.
Cap and Peggy make a date
Right before he gunned Red Skull’s plane into the ice to stop his weapons of mass destruction from destroying the world, Captain America said a tearful goodbye to Peggy Carter. They’d spent the movie falling in love and even arranged a date to go dancing, so there was an added poignancy to Steve Rogers’ sacrifice.
He ended up spending 70 years cryogenically frozen before being thawed out, Endgame, we see Steve finally have that dance with Peggy.
“I am Iron Man.”
Robert Downey, Jr. improvised this line from 2008’s Iron Man, but it ended up setting the tone for the entire MCU. The idea that the world at large knows who all the superheroes are would become a common theme throughout the franchise (except for Spider-Man).
It also became the line that says, “Yeah, and I am Iron Man,” and snaps his fingers, sacrificing himself to save the universe.
