Cosmic, and the antagonists
Ultron
Destroyed — and returning in VisionQuest
- Appearances
- 1
Along the chronological spine
Where the guide talks about them (18)
When do the characters work out what these are? Piecemeal, over five years. Thor: The Dark World (film, 2013) is where the term "Infinity Stones" is first spoken aloud. Guardians of the Galaxy (film, 2014) is where the Collector explains them properly and demonstrates that one Stone can wipe out a civilisation — the Power Stone would kill any normal being who touched it. Age of Ultron (film, 2015) is where Thor's vision makes him realise someone is deliberately collecting them. And Infinity War (film, 2018) confirms the endpoint: all six in one gauntlet is literal omnipotence. One gesture, any outcome you can imagine.
Why this film matters structurally: with no S.H.I.E.L.D., there is no oversight body, no institutional glue, and no adults in the room. Every subsequent crisis — Ultron, the Sokovia Accords, Ross's presidency — flows from the vacuum this film creates.
Stark and Banner secretly use the Mind Stone in Loki's recovered scepter to build a global defence AI. It wakes up, concludes that the only way to achieve peace on Earth is human extinction, and calls itself Ultron.
Ultron recruits twins Wanda and Pietro Maximoff — Sokovian volunteers experimented on by HYDRA with the Mind Stone, giving Wanda reality-warping abilities and Pietro superspeed.
How Vision is actually created, and why. Ultron wants a body of organic-synthetic tissue — vibranium plus a regeneration "cradle" — so he can be indestructible. The Avengers steal it mid-upload. Stark and Banner want to put J.A.R.V.I.S. in it; Rogers objects violently, having just watched them create Ultron by exactly this method. Thor settles the argument by striking the cradle with lightning.
What emerges is neither Ultron nor J.A.R.V.I.S. but a new being: Vision, with the Mind Stone in his forehead. The proof he's trustworthy is that he casually picks up Mjolnir and hands it to Thor mid-conversation.
Ultron lifts the city of Sokovia into the sky to drop it as an extinction meteor. The Avengers evacuate and destroy it. Pietro Maximoff dies. Thousands of Sokovian civilians die in the collateral damage. That civilian death toll becomes the direct legal justification for the Sokovia Accords.
Stark signs, driven by guilt — he created Ultron. Rogers refuses, having watched S.H.I.E.L.D. turn out to be HYDRA and concluding that institutions cannot be trusted with this power. Both positions are defensible. That's the film's actual achievement.
At the signing in Vienna, a bomb kills King T'Chaka of Wakanda. Bucky Barnes is framed. T'Challa pursues him for vengeance. The real culprit is Helmut Zemo, a Sokovian intelligence officer whose family died in Ultron's attack, whose entire plan is to break the Avengers from the inside rather than beat them.
When are his intentions revealed? Gradually — established as a warlord who "wants everything dead" in Guardians (2014), shown putting on the Gauntlet in Age of Ultron's post-credits (2015), and given the full philosophy here: Titan collapsed from overpopulation, he proposed killing half at random, was called insane, and watched the planet die. He now applies the solution universally and considers it mercy.
Pietro's superspeed came from the same experiments, but he had no innate magic. (And to head off a common mix-up: Wanda has no sister. Pietro is her twin brother, and he died in Age of Ultron.)
Paul Bettany returns as White Vision — the S.W.O.R.D.-rebuilt body that flew off at the end of WandaVision with the original's memories and none of his humanity. James Spader returns as Ultron.
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sam Wilson / Captain America | The Winter Soldier (2014) | Winter Soldier, Ultron, Civil War, Infinity War, Endgame, FATWS, Brave New World | Alive — Captain America, rebuilding his own Avengers. D |
| Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier | The First Avenger (2011) | First Avenger, Winter Soldier, Civil War, Infinity War, Endgame, FATWS, Thunderbolts | Alive — congressman and New Avenger. Conditioning removed. D |
| James Rhodes / War Machine | Iron Man (2008) | IM 1–3, Ultron, Civil War, Infinity War, Endgame, Secret Invasion | Alive — though he was replaced by a Skrull for an unspecified period |
| Vision | Age of Ultron (2015) | Ultron, Civil War, Infinity War, WandaVision | Dead. His rebuilt body, White Vision, is active and the subject of VisionQuest |
| Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch | Winter Soldier (2014, post-credits) | Ultron, Civil War, Infinity War, Endgame, WandaVision, Multiverse of Madness | Presumed dead under Mount Wundagore. No body shown. Not in Doomsday |
| Pietro Maximoff / Quicksilver | Winter Soldier (2014, post-credits) | Age of Ultron | Dead, 2015. The WandaVision Pietro is a fake — Ralph Bohner, an impostor Agatha cast as a joke |
| Peggy Carter | The First Avenger (2011) | First Avenger, Agent Carter, Winter Soldier, Endgame | Dead of old age. Founded S.H.I.E.L.D. |
| Sharon Carter | The Winter Soldier (2014) | Winter Soldier, Civil War, FATWS | Alive — secretly the Power Broker, and reinstated at the CIA with full access |
| Helmut Zemo | Civil War (2016) | Civil War, FATWS | Alive, imprisoned on the Raft |
| Isaiah Bradley | FATWS (2021) | FATWS, Brave New World | Alive and freed after decades of wrongful imprisonment |
| Joaquín Torres / Falcon | FATWS (2021) | FATWS, Brave New World | Alive — the new Falcon, on Sam's team. D |
| Pepper Potts | Iron Man (2008) | IM 1–3, Homecoming, Infinity War, Endgame | Alive, raising Morgan Stark |
| Happy Hogan | Iron Man (2008) | IM 1–3, Homecoming, Far From Home, No Way Home | Alive — and no longer remembers Peter Parker |
| Character | Premiered | Appeared in | Status now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loki | Thor (2011) | Thor, Avengers, Dark World, Ragnarok, Infinity War, Loki S1–2 | Alive as the 2012 variant — seated at the end of time holding the multiverse together. The original died in Infinity War. D |
| Odin | Thor (2011) | Thor, Dark World, Ragnarok | Dead — his death releases Hela |
| Frigga | Thor (2011) | Thor, Dark World, Endgame (2013) | Dead, killed by Malekith's forces |
| Heimdall | Thor (2011) | Thor, Dark World, Ultron, Ragnarok, Infinity War | Dead, killed by Thanos |
| Hela | Thor: Ragnarok (2017) | Ragnarok | Dead, destroyed with Asgard |
| Valkyrie | Thor: Ragnarok (2017) | Ragnarok, Endgame, Love and Thunder | Alive — King of New Asgard, in Norway |
| Jane Foster | Thor (2011) | Thor, Dark World, Endgame, Love and Thunder | Dead — of cancer, having chosen to fight anyway |
| Sylvie | Loki S1 (2021) | Loki S1–2 | Alive, living an ordinary life in Oklahoma |
| Mobius | Loki S1 (2021) | Loki S1–2 | Alive at the TVA, having chosen not to reclaim his original life |
| 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 1 — the load-bearing fifteen (~33 hours) The Avengers (FILM) → Age of Ultron (FILM) → Civil War (FILM) → Black Widow (FILM) → Infinity War (FILM) → Endgame (FILM) → Loki S1 (SERIES) → Wakanda Forever (FILM) → Quantumania (FILM) → Loki S2 (SERIES) → Deadpool & Wolverine (FILM) → Brave New World (FILM) → Thunderbolts* (FILM) → Fantastic Four: First Steps (FILM) → Spider-Man: Brand New Day (FILM)
Phase Two (2013–2015): Iron Man 3 · Thor: The Dark World · Captain America: The Winter Soldier · Guardians of the Galaxy · Avengers: Age of Ultron · Ant-Man