When a dedicated fandom springs up, fan theories usually come with it. These fan theories can range from the plausible to the flat-out bizarre. No matter the fandom, there are fans who continually look for confirmation of their theories. Sometimes, we learn that these theories are true. Usually, the confirmation comes from actors, the creators or within the universe itself. Now there are a lot of fandoms and a lot of fan theories out there, though there is probably none quite like the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
With almost twenty movies, six television shows, and a decade worth of content, it’s not a huge surprise that the MCU has a ton of fan theories attached to it. With those multiple fan theories, however, comes the wait to see if they’re confirmed. Is the Soul Stone in Wakanda? Will Pietro be resurrected at some point? Will the Reality Stone alter the MCU in order to cast new actors in familiar roles? All good questions. All are, currently, unconfirmed theories.
With this in mind, it’s time to look at those fan theories that did get confirmed. Here are 18 Mind-Blowing Marvel Fan Theories (That Were Confirmed).
Daredevil Season Three Will Be Born Again
While this hasn’t been outright confirmed by Marvel, this theory has been all but confirmed in casting announcements and hints from series star Charlie Cox. For those of you unaware, Born Again is a popular Daredevil story by Frank Miller. In it, Kingpin (Wilson Fisk) learns that Matt Murdock is Daredevil. He then proceeds to go after Murdock and everyone he cares about in order to destroy him mentally, spiritually, and physically. After this, he plans to do away with Murdock for good.
For obvious reasons, it won’t be a straight adaptation. Karen Page is not a substance addicted, ex-adult movie star in this one, and we’re probably not going to see Captain America appear. The set up with Fisk figuring out Matt’s identity in season two and Maggie Murdock’s casting points to elements of this. While it won’t exactly be like the comics, it’s good enough for us.
The Real Mandarin Exists In The MCU
Sometimes, fan theories spring up because you just really hate what happened in the actual plot. The Mandarin twist is one of the most despised amongst Marvel fans. In the comics, the real Mandarin is an evil magic user who is Tony Stark’s greatest nemesis. In the movies? He’s a creation of Adrian Killian and played by some guy named Trevor.
Or is he? Following the release of Iron Man 3, some fans speculated that real Mandarin was hanging around in the MCU; that Killian had to get the name from somewhere to exploit it. As it turned out, Killian did.
The confirmation for the existence of the Mandarin comes in the Marvel One Shot All Hail The King. He’s not at all happy his name was being used in such a way either. Of course, it’s the first and last time we hear the mention of him really existing, even if it’s canon.
16. Doctor Strange Features Infinity Stone
In the lead-up to Avengers: Infinity War, a lot of eagle-eyed fans have been keeping track of the Infinity Stones - who has what and where. A lot of fans began to theorize where the stones would turn up. One of the most popular theories in the lead-up to Doctor Strange, was that an Infinity Stone would be featured in that movie. It makes sense. After all, Doctor Strange deals with some pretty powerful forces on the regular, and very few things are as powerful as the Infinity Stones.
In the movie, the Eye of Agamotto turns out to house the Time Stone. It also becomes a pretty key part of Strange’s victory over Dormammu. It’s also yet another Infinity Stone on Earth.
Loki Took The Space Stone In Thor: Ragnarok
This one has pretty much been confirmed in the latest trailer for Avengers: Infinity War. Right before Loki lights the fire of Surtur in Thor: Ragnarok, he stops in front of the Tesseract. The Tesseract has been identified as something holding an Infinity Stone, most likely the Space Stone. Loki stops and stares at it for a moment before the scene cuts. It does feel like a full circle moment as it was the Tesseract that Loki was after in 2012’s The Avengers. It makes sense that it would be the stone he grabs going into the final Avengers movies.
This has led to practically everyone and their mother agreeing on Loki taking the Tesseract, which is why Thanos is bearing down on them all in the mid-credits scene. Now will Loki stay or betray? That remains to be seen.
Spider-Man Joins The MCU
For years and years, fans held this theory close their to hearts and wished it to be true. Why? Well to a lot of people, Spidey is just one of those characters meant to belong in a greater universe. In Marvel Comics, he pretty much knows everyone even though he gets a bum rap. During the brief The Amazing Spider-Man period, the Avengers Tower appearing in the movie meant to connect the two properties. The Oscorp building was supposed to appear in The Avengers, but the rights just didn’t go through in time for either movie.
Still fans held onto hope. With the confirmation that Spider-Man was going to appear in the MCU, everyone held their breath for his first appearance - the final scene in Ant-Man confirmed Spidey’s existence.
Skye Is Daisy Johnson
This is an oldie but a goodie for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans. With Skye’s past being one huge question mark during the first season of the show, fans began to wonder just who she was. A lot of fans assumed that she had a comic counterpart after all. They wouldn’t make her identity that big of a plot point if she wasn’t, right?
With the reveal of Skye’s father, clever fans started to connect the dots. Her dad is a doctor with anger issues and super strength? It sounds like supervillain Mr. Hyde, who is Daisy Johnson’s father in comics. Johnson’s a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in the comics, which Skye eventually also becomes. When she undergoes terrigenesis, Skye gains Johnson’s comic powers, and everything was confirmed.
Stan Lee’s Cameos Are Connected To The Watchers
The Stan Lee cameo is a quintessential part of any Marvel movie. It’s the easiest Easter egg for the most casual of fan to spot, and he usually appears in some pretty interesting places. A popular fan theory for years was that Lee is actually Uatu the Watcher - the assigned cosmically-powered entity for Earth in the comics. Some fans did not buy that theory, even if they did believe that Lee’s cameos connected with the Watchers in some way.
It was eventually confirmed that Lee wasn’t Uatu. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, however, his Watcher connection was confirmed. During the multi-jump scene with Rocket, Groot, Yondu, and Kraglin, the ship passes over a deserted planet. Surprisingly enough, we find Lee and three Watchers as he tells them about his Captain America: Civil War cameo. Clearly, he’s some sort of Watcher agent for Earth.
Quantum Realm in Doctor Strange
Who knew Ant-Man would lead to so many fan theories being confirmed or started? The irrepressibly silly movie did so in both its lighter and heavier moments. When Scott sacrifices himself to go in between the molecules, we all saw some pretty interesting stuff. One of those things to sharp-eyed Marvel fans was about to look very familiar come November 2016.
Scott and the audience saw a vast nothingness of geographic shapes that continuously folded in on themselves. Dedicated Marvel fans theorized that this was the Quantum Realm where “all concepts of space and time become irrelevant.”
Since Doctor Strange promised to travel through various dimensions, many believed that the realm would make an appearance in the movie. When the Ancient One sent Stephen on that very weird journey, he did appear in the Quantum Realm.
Misty Knight Will Have Her Bionic Arm
Misty Knight represents a true breed of hero in Marvel Comics as one half of the Daughters of the Dragon team. Fans were delighted to see her cast in Luke Cage, because Misty is the coolest. One thing that threw more recent comics fans off, however, was the fact that she had both arms.
After losing her arm to a bomb attack in the comics, Misty acquires a brand new bionic arm. Many fans, however, theorized that we will see Misty lose her arm, which was also strongly hinted at when she got shot in Luke Cage.
For most fans, it remained a matter of time for the theory to come true. In The Defenders, Misty loses her arm in a fight against Bakuto. In the hospital, Danny promises to get her an excellent prosthetic, which he seemingly did. In Luke Cage season two photos, Misty is sporting her bionic arm.
The Original Guardians Reunite
The Guardians of the Galaxy is one of those teams that went through multiple iterations in the comics. In fact, Star-Lord and his crew are one of those subsequent iterations. Yondu, though, comes from the first team to bear the name Guardians of the Galaxy. With his involvement in the movies, fans speculated that the original line-up would reunite in some way in a future movie.
Cut to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, where Yondu’s past receives some fleshing out. Sylvester Stallone’s character from Yondu’s past is revealed to be Starhawk. When the Ravagers show up to give Yondu a proper send-off, the team looks very familiar to fans. Why? They’re Aleta Ogord, Charlie-27, Vance Astro, Martinex, and Nikki - the original team reunited again.
Peter Parker Was The Kid In Iron Man 2
With the addition of Peter Parker to the MCU, fans retroactively attempted to piece together his timeline within the franchise. One things they figured out was that Peter was old enough to be in Iron Man 2, which in turn, gave the theory that Peter Parker was the kid wearing the Iron Man costume some traction.
Apparently, Tom Holland heard about the theory. He loved it so much that he asked Kevin Feige if it was true, which he confirmed that yes Peter was that kid. Holland ended up confirming the theory. However, some aren’t thrilled that he confirmed it because they thought the kid was being silly. If you’ve seen the child in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, then it could just be a running theme.
Kilgrave Returns To Jessica Jones
One of the most satisfying moments in the history of television was Jessica Jones snapping Kilgrave’s neck in season one. For fans, it was a cathartic and fitting end to the character. Some, however, weren’t convinced that he was all the way done. Loss in comics isn’t as permanent as life is. Other fans theorized that Jessica will be dealing with actually ending someone’s life in the second season. Phantom Kilgrave became a possibility.
Needless to say, a huge chunk of the fandom agreed that Kilgrave was going to appear in season two, as he was a major part of Jessica’s trauma. Like it or not, it stays with people. The set photos definitely confirmed Kilgrave’s return, although as the show proves, he’s very much gone. Instead, we have him representing Jessica’s darkest thoughts about herself. It’s a good way to bring back a character no one wants to see come back to life.
Grandmaster Becomes Darryl’s Roommate
One of the recent additions to the MCU was learning about Darryl, Thor’s Earth roommate. In the short directed by Taika Waititi, fans fell in love with the dry humor and exasperation of Darryl’s character. Now with Thor having to lead his people in the aftermath of Thor: Ragnarok, who will help pay the rent? Darryl should not be left out in the cold!
Fans theorized that the deposed Grandmaster would need a place to stay. Why not room with Darryl? Taika Waititi loved it so much that he filmed a sequel to the original short, officially making the Grandmaster Darryl’s new roommate. One has to wonder how Darryl keeps finding these people. Maybe there’s some sort of superhero website that he keeps checking, looking for roommates.
Wakanda’s Major Role In The MCU
To the most eagle-eyed fans, Wakanda popped up in the Easter eggs of the MCU ever since Iron Man 2. Around that time, fans believed that the franchise would eventually head to the richest nation ever to exist. It really gained traction with the news that Ulysses Klaue would be a character in Age of Ultron. Then in 2014, Marvel announced Boseman’s casting in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Black Panther.
Fans took it as a sign that Wakanda was going to be a big part of things to come. Following the massive success of Black Panther, Kevin Feige confirmed that Wakanda was going to play a major role in future movies in the franchise. We’ve also seen Infinity War photos showing the heroes preparing to throw down in the country.
Asgard’s Destruction In Thor: Ragnarok
This is something that everyone with basic mythological knowledge was expecting. Still Taika Waititi did wring out every bit of emotion from the audience in the process. The theory follows some pretty simple logic, after all. This theory remains one of those rare ones that everyone agrees on. Thor is based on Norse Mythology, and in said mythology, Ragnarok is the end of days. Therefore, Asgard will be destroyed in Ragnarok.
It has happened in the comics with Ragnarok destroying Asgard in order for it to be reborn. Needless to say, fans pretty much knew going in that the end of days would hit Asgard. Even though the place is gone, it still lives on in its people - if Thanos hasn’t done away with them all first, that is.
Luke Cage And Danny Rand Will Team-Up Post-Defenders
Ever since the Marvel-Netflix shows were announced, people waited for a Luke Cage/Danny Rand team-up. It’s easy to see why - there are very few comic book duos more iconic as Power Man and the Iron Fist. Danny and Luke’s friendship has lasted since the ’70s. Feelings about Iron Fist’s first season aside, fans still hoped to see the two partner up in The Defenders. Many of the fans, before and after the miniseries, thought that they would team-up in either one of their respective shows.
After all, Danny and Luke were both the Heroes for Hire. It appears as though that’s what Luke plans to go to with Pop’s in season two. The pair meeting up was officially confirmed when some released pics showed Danny and Luke together in the second season.
Steve Rogers Will Become Nomad In Avengers: Infinity War
In Captain America: Civil War, Steve officially and symbolically drops his shield and his title, which ultimately, doesn’t seem like that big of a surprise. At the end of the movie, turns his back on the title of Captain America, disillusioned by the Avengers. So if he’s not Captain America at the end of the movie, then does he take a new hero name?
The Captain America name swap happened once in comics - Steve became Nomad, who had a truly impressively amazing costume. This revelation led to many fans believing that Steve would become Nomad in Infinity War.
It looks like that has been confirmed thanks to Chris Evans and Infinity War directors. While he wouldn’t totally resemble Nomad, it does look like he will be Nomad-like. At this point, we’ll take anything we can get.
Heroes Will Be Lost In Infinity War
Behold the saddest confirmed theory on the list - when Avengers: Infinity War hits, some of the characters we’ve come to know and love will perish and stay that way. Currently, there’s a rush of fans debating on who will meet their end in the final Avengers movies. For years, fans speculated this would happen. After all, contracts were ending for most of the actors in those movies.
It does make sense that at least one of our favorite long-running characters’ lives will end in the upcoming movie. With this confirmation from Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, fans can only begin mourning their favorite character. At least fans know to pack tissues for when they’re sitting in the theater, watching tragedy strike.
What other theories do you think will get confirmed in Infinity War? Let us know in the comments!
