Cosmic, and the antagonists
Carol Danvers
Captain Marvel
Alive, mostly in deep space
- Appearances
- 4
Along the chronological spine
Where the guide talks about them (13)
- Hidden in Norway for centuries, placed there by Odin
- 1942 — Red Skull steals it (The First Avenger, film)
- 1945 — Rogers boards the Skull's aircraft. The Skull touches it bare-handed; it burns a portal through him and transports him away. Rogers never holds it. It burns through the floor and drops into the Arctic
- Howard Stark, searching the ocean for Rogers, finds the Tesseract instead. He never finds Rogers
- It passes to S.H.I.E.L.D., which Howard co-founded, and sits in storage for decades
- 1995 — a S.H.I.E.L.D. researcher uses it to build an engine; the explosion gives Carol Danvers her powers (Captain Marvel, film)
- 2012 — S.H.I.E.L.D. is studying it as an energy source. Loki takes it (The Avengers, film)
The MCU reverses the comics' good-guy/bad-guy assignment here, which is the twist of Captain Marvel.
1995 — Los Angeles. Captain Marvel.
Carol Danvers is a US Air Force pilot who was caught in the explosion of an experimental engine powered by the Tesseract, absorbing enormous energy. The Kree took her, suppressed her memories, told her she was one of them, and fitted an implant to inhibit her power. She spends six years as a Kree soldier named Vers.
The survivors are: Rogers, Stark, Thor, Banner, Romanoff, Barton, Rhodey, Nebula, Rocket, Carol Danvers, Okoye, Pepper Potts, M'Baku, Wong, Happy Hogan — and Scott Lang, stranded and unaccounted for.
Monica Rambeau — Carol Danvers's goddaughter, now grown, gains energy-manipulation powers passing through the Hex.
The mid-credits scene has Wong, Bruce Banner, and Carol Danvers examining them — establishing that Shang-Chi is now on the Avengers' radar.
Strange takes America to Earth-838, where he meets the Illuminati: Mordo, Peggy Carter as Captain Carter, Blackagar Boltagon (Black Bolt), Maria Rambeau as Captain Marvel, Reed Richards (John Krasinski), and Professor Charles Xavier — Patrick Stewart, in the animated-series wheelchair. Wanda kills all of them.
The Marvels (FILM, 2023) — Carol Danvers, Kamala Khan, and Monica Rambeau find their powers entangled, swapping positions whenever they use them. The villain, Dar-Benn, is a Kree seeking revenge for Danvers destroying the Supreme Intelligence and leaving her homeworld dying.
| Character | Premiered | Appeared in | Status now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Stark / Iron Man | Iron Man (2008) | IM 1–3, Avengers, Ultron, Civil War, Homecoming, Infinity War, Endgame | Dead — used the Stones to erase Thanos, 2023 |
| Steve Rogers / Captain America | The First Avenger (2011) | First Avenger, Avengers, Winter Soldier, Ultron, Civil War, Infinity War, Endgame | Lived a full life in the past; returned aged and handed over the shield. D — how, unexplained |
| Thor | Thor (2011) | Thor 1–4, Avengers, Ultron, Infinity War, Endgame, Guardians 3 | Alive, raising Gorr's daughter Love. D |
| Bruce Banner / Hulk | The Incredible Hulk (2008) | Avengers, Ultron, Ragnarok, Infinity War, Endgame, She-Hulk, Brand New Day | Alive as Smart Hulk — Banner's mind, Hulk's body. Has a son, Skaar, on Sakaar |
| Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow | Iron Man 2 (2010) | IM2, Avengers, Winter Soldier, Ultron, Civil War, Infinity War, Endgame, Black Widow | Dead — sacrificed herself on Vormir for the Soul Stone |
| Clint Barton / Hawkeye | Thor (2011, cameo) | Avengers, Ultron, Civil War, Endgame, Hawkeye | Alive, retired to the farm, mentoring Kate Bishop |
| Nick Fury | Iron Man (2008, post-credits) | Most of Phases 1–3, Captain Marvel, Secret Invasion, The Marvels | Alive, aboard the SABER space station |
| Character | Premiered | Appeared in | Status now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thanos | Avengers (2012, post-credits) | Guardians, Ultron, Infinity War, Endgame | Erased from existence by Stark. Both versions |
| He Who Remains / Kang | Loki S1 (2021) | Loki S1–2, Quantumania | Dead, and the character is retired — Jonathan Majors was fired and not recast |
| Ultron | Age of Ultron (2015) | Age of Ultron | Destroyed — and returning in VisionQuest |
| The Collector | Dark World (2013, post-credits) | Dark World, Guardians, Infinity War | Dead, killed by Thanos offscreen |
| The Grandmaster | Ragnarok (2017) | Ragnarok | Alive, deposed, not seen since |
| Arishem | Eternals (2021) | Eternals | Alive — took three Eternals for judgment and never came back |
| Mephisto | Ironheart (2025) | Ironheart | Alive, now loose in the MCU |
| Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel | Captain Marvel (2019) | Captain Marvel, Endgame, Shang-Chi, The Marvels | Alive, mostly in deep space |
| Monica Rambeau | Captain Marvel (2019, as a child) | Captain Marvel, WandaVision, The Marvels | Stranded in another universe — the one with Beast and Charles Xavier |
| Shang-Chi | Shang-Chi (2021) | Shang-Chi | Alive, holding the ten rings. D |
| Xialing | Shang-Chi (2021) | Shang-Chi | Alive, running the Ten Rings organisation |
| Thaddeus Ross | The Incredible Hulk (2008) | Incredible Hulk, Civil War, Infinity War, Endgame, Black Widow, Brave New World | Alive, imprisoned at the Raft by his own choice |
| Samuel Sterns / the Leader | The Incredible Hulk (2008) | Incredible Hulk, Brave New World | Alive, imprisoned |
Tier 5 — not required FILMS: Iron Man 1–3 · Thor 1–3 · First Avenger · Guardians 1–3 · Ant-Man 1–2 · Captain Marvel · Eternals SERIES: Ms. Marvel · She-Hulk · Secret Invasion · Echo · Ironheart · Moon Knight · Wonder Man
Phase Three (2016–2019): Civil War · Doctor Strange · Guardians Vol. 2 · Spider-Man: Homecoming · Thor: Ragnarok · Black Panther · Infinity War · Ant-Man and the Wasp · Captain Marvel · Endgame · Far From Home