Top 10 Times Marvel Tricked Everyone

“Spiderman: Homecoming” (2017)

Tom Holland’s Spider Man has gotten ample opportunities to do what previous iterations of the character haven’t. One of these opportunities was to fight alongside Tony Stark in a solo film. Fans were very excited when the trailers dropped for this movie showing Iron Man flying alongside our favorite web-slinger. This led many to believe there was a crime-fighting team-up in the works for “Homecoming’s” finale! Upon release, the film was well-received, but the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist was a minor player that never fought with Peter. Director Jon Watts later stated that the shot is only viewable in trailers and never found its way into the edit. At least they made up for this cut scene by having them team up in future films.

“Iron Man 3” (2013)

The Mandarin’s a big archenemy to Tony Stark within Marvel Comics and had been considered as the villain for drafts of “Iron Man” and “Iron Man 3”. So, fans were hyped to hear award-winning actor Ben Kingsley would bring a threatening presence to the film. Once Tony infiltrated the Mandarin mansion with ad-hoc weaponry, he found an actor who liked to party hard. It turns out Kinglsey was playing an British guy named Trevor who was just pretending to be The Mandarin. This 180 completely surprised and divided audiences. Fortunately, the “Marvel One-Shot: All Hail The King” revealed the real villain was active elsewhere. And he’s definitely in the “Shang-Chi” movie. But Marvel had us convinced the Mandarin didn’t exist for a second there.

“Thor: Ragnarok” (2017)

When Thor and Loki try to locate their father Odin, Doctor Strange points them towards a cliffside in Norway. It’s there that he speaks to his sons one last time before fading away, allowing Hela to return and confront her brother Thor. In the trailers, the siblings appeared to clash in an alley in New York. The scenery supported the rumors that Odin would roam around and live as a homeless man in the back alleys in the big apple. However, the choice was made to move this scene to Norway during the production. Although our initial New York impressions were wrong, it’s still possible to see Odin in the city in a deleted scene.

“Thor: The Dark World” (2011)

Being the God of Mischief, Loki has a habit of leading us on. That’s why it makes perfect sense that he survived falling into space in the first “Thor” film. (xref) After the Battle of New York, Loki teams up with the God of Thunder to defeat the Dark Elves. During the battle, the god of mischief receives a fatal blow from the villain Kurse. We watched Thor mourn the loss of his brother in a quite dramatic sequence. But as it turns out, Loki was alive and well! He hid in plain sight by impersonating his father. Given how brutal his demise appeared to be, you’d be forgiven for thinking that he was really gone that time. But Loki and Marvel tricked us yet again.

“Avengers: Infinity War” (2018)

“Avengers: Infinity War” was one of Marvel’s biggest events of the decade. All of our favorite heroes across the entire MCU were gathering together to defeat Thanos. So, we definitely expected the big green man with breathtaking anger issues to make an appearance. In fact, we saw him in trailers running alongside the rest of Avengers. But in the actual movie, Hulk got a bit screen-shy and didn’t want to come out after being thoroughly beaten by Thanos. Banner was originally planned to transform into Smart Hulk during the film too. But that scene was ultimately omitted. Instead of either scenario, Banner suited up in the Hulk-Buster in the final film and left fans wondering if we’d see “the other guy” again!

“Avengers: Infinity War” (2018)

The Infinity Gauntlet is an incredibly powerful weapon, even when it’s armed with only one Infinity Stone. During the lead-up to the film’s release, a lot of imagery pointed to Thanos only having two stones when he confronted Iron Man on Titan. This made us believe that earth’s mightiest heroes could’ve stopped him during this battle. But in the final cut, the Mad Titan had accumulated 4 out of six stones by the time he fought Iron Man and crew on Titan. The amount of power he had stacked the odds firmly against the Avengers. This is probably why the Russo Brothers didn’t reveal this in the trailers and let us think the heroes had a fighting chance.

“Avengers: Infinity War” (2018)

After watching several Avengers fall to big bad Thanos, Wanda is forced to destroy the mind stone embedded in Vision. It was the last resort to stop Thanos from wiping out half the universe because it would cost the Avenger his life. This moment was incredibly emotional and left us shocked to see a relatively fresh character go so soon. But we had to relive that drama all over again when Thanos used the time stone to reverse the mind stone’s destruction. The mad titan brought Vision back to life, pried the stone out of his head and made us watch the Avenger perish again. No one expected the mad titan to fail only to pull the rug out from under us moments later.

“Spiderman: Far From Home” (2019)

In the wake of Thanos being defeated, everyone was eager and waiting for the next big bad to be revealed for Phase 4. When trailers started featuring Quentin Beck saying he was from another alternate universe, the fanbase was shook. The idea that there were many earths presented opened up so many possibilities. We could get different versions of superheroes and villains, the return of deceased characters, and new storylines. This is why some were disappointed when it was revealed Mysterio was just pulling everyone’s legs about the multiverse. He created the ruse to steal tech from Peter. Ironically enough, Mysterio wouldn’t be the last person to make us fall for an MCU multiverse trick.

“Falcon and the Winter Soldier” (2021)

Finding someone to replace Steve Rogers is a huge task. Before Cap handed the shield off to Sam, many thought that Bucky would be the next in line. A deleted scene in “Civil War” even supported that notion. So, when Sam gave up the shield in the “Falcon and Winter Soldier” show and trailers, everyone was wondering who would dawn the red, white, and blue shield. Audiences were then surprised to see John Walker take over the mantle. While this facade didn’t last for long, the show dealt with Sam’s debate over whether to wield the shield brilliantly. The hard conversations he had about taking the role made him accept it into a satisfying reveal. This was a time where fans didn’t mind being deceived.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Miek Doesn’t Make It, “Thor: Ragnarok” (2017)
The Sharp Alien Seemed to Be Gone Before He Came Back for the Finale

Height Differences, “Various MCU Films”
Certain Actors Wear Platform Shoes & Other Accessories to Appear Taller

Bucky Falls to His Doom, “Captain America: The First Avenger”
Instead of Being Gone Forever, He Was Reborn as the Winter Soldier

“WandaVision” (2020)

Although lots of weird things happened in Westview, no one expected Quicksilver to come knocking at Wanda’s door. We were doubly shocked to see the hero played by actor Evan Peters. Since he played Quicksilver in the Fox “X-Men” films, his appearance in the show led many to believe that the MCU had crossed over with another cinematic universe. A Disney+ audio description even claimed he was “the Pietro from the X-Men Films”. After this reveal broke the internet, it turned out there were no multiverse shenanigans. Peters was playing an actor that always lived in the MCU and had simply been enchanted. Whether this reveal is unsatisfying is up to each fan. But it’s unquestionably one of the greatest times Marvel tricked us.