A couple of days ago I watched a Marvel marathon on TBS consisting of Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame…yeah, the Holy Trinity. I had a blast, to say the least, as I let Marvel Studios occupy my day into the night while simultaneously watching the extended editions of the 2nd and 3rd Hobbit movies on my laptop. (I was…busy.)

And as I watched Avengers: Infinity War I found myself so happy (which is expected considering that it’s my favorite MCU movie) but mainly impressed by how much it has affected the events of the MCU. When Endgame happened and the heroes changed things and defeated Thanos it seemed like Marvel Studios had every chance to kind of walk back the trauma caused by Infinity War and make it seem like everything would be okay. But it’s become very clear that the events of Infinity War will most likely affect the events of Phase 4 for a while.

Think about Wanda Maximoff. When she got brought back she didn’t find solace in her fellow Avengers. She instead wallowed deeper and deeper into her grief without Vision and created a whole new reality for herself, causing years of trauma for Westview’s citizens and becoming a bit of an anti-hero. Now she’s the Scarlet Witch and according to the Darkhold (you know, that book) it’s her destiny to destroy the world. Uh-oh.

Vision was killed and his corpse was used as a weapon against Wanda. Soul Vision (that’s what the creators of WandaVision call Wanda’s vision) gave him his memories but that doesn’t mean anything. He’s been programmed by Hayward, not Tony Stark, Banner, Thor, and the Mind Stone so his directive is very different. White Vision is very robotic and may not even harbor feelings for Wanda…hence the Vision that died in Infinity War really feels like he’s gone. You know, like Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy who actually died and the Groot that we have now is a different version.

Iron Man’s death has undoubtedly left an impact and his protege, Spider-Man, has become pretty much his replacement. Steve Rogers is gone and now his legacy has been left to his best friends, two individuals who have to fit into this new blipped world. Gamora is back but who knows how she’s fitting in. She’s definitely not with the Guardians of the Galaxy anymore. Monica Rambeau got brought back only to discover that the person she treasured most in the world, her mother, had died. Black Widow died. And Hawkeye will forever have to live with his dark deeds when he went Ronin on everyone.

Infinity War changed the entire scope of the MCU in really impactful ways and I can’t wait to see how these upcoming shows and movies delve into the lasting trauma Thanos’ actions have left on these characters.

I thank you for reading and I hope you have a fantastic day.