After the events of Avengers: Infinity War , the world was left with half of the population remaining and a post-apocalyptic reality was upon them in the blink of an eye. The "5 Years Later" glimpse of what the world became was eerie but even more impactful now with the COVID-19 pandemic happening in the real world.
Once Hulk snapped his fingers in Avengers: Endgame and the people who had dusted away were brought back, life had seemingly been restored. However, this event they coined "the Blip" in Spider-Man: Far From Home , left a lot of repercussions that will still be faced in the MCU. Similar to real life, these global events will remain relevant for years to come, even after they're resolved.
NEWS
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige recently sat down with Variety , where they asked him how the current pandemic would relate to the MCU storytelling. Feige said, "the real-world connotations are shockingly and somewhat depressingly relevant now between our worlds." Here's Feige's full quote:
"I will tell you, because it’s a very good question, that about a year and a half ago, as we were developing all these things — maybe two years ago, I don’t remember — I started to say the Blip, the Thanos event that radically changed everything between Infinity War and Endgame, that gave this global universal galactic experience to people, would only serve us so well, that we need to just keep looking ahead and keep going into new places.
Feige revealed that he is "wary" of the Blip becoming the next MCU event that is referenced constantly.
I was wary of it becoming like the Battle of New York, which was the third act of Avengers one, which ended up being referenced as an event kind of constantly, and some times better than others. I was wary of that.
He mentions the parallels viewers will see in their upcoming MCU projects, "it will very much seem like people are talking about the COVID pandemic:"
As we started getting into a global pandemic last March and April and May, we started to go, holy mackerel, the Blip this universal experience — exactly as you described it — this experience that affected every human on Earth, now has a direct parallel between what people who live in the MCU had encountered, and what all of us in the real world have encountered. And it has been quite interesting, as you will see, in a number of our upcoming projects, the parallels where it will very much seem like people are talking about the COVID pandemic. Within the context of the MCU, they’re talking about the blip. But it really revitalized that notion in a way that made it substantive.
Feige teased that giving more meaning to the Blip could mean "leaving it behind and coming up with new things:"
My nervousness was it just being an event that we reference constantly between things. I wanted it to have more meaning behind it. And if that meant leaving it behind and coming up with new things, that was it. Of course, we always come up with new things as well from the comics, but the real-world connotations are shockingly and somewhat depressingly relevant now between our worlds."
WHAT THIS MEANS
Similar to the real world, the MCU wants to move on from their catastrophic global event. It is incredible to think that an event that destroyed life "on a scale hitherto undreamt of” in a comic book film is now being compared to real-life events.
However, this could give us a new-found perspective on the MCU, especially knowing it will " seem like people are talking about the COVID pandemic." This could lead to more of an emotional impact, as now both universes have lived through a tragic universal experience.
Feige's fear of not making the Blip the next Battle of New York is interesting. The events of the first Avengers film seemed to tie the universe together in a cohesive way, but Feige seems to think they shouldn't have relied on it as much as they did. As Phase 4 is set to begin this week, only time will tell how long it'll be until the Blip is a distant memory.
