Every Avengers (2012) Detail That Could Set Up Doom's Revenge in Avengers Doomsday

Going back through 2012's The Avengers ahead of Avengers Doomsday and Secret Wars turns up a huge number of details that either went undiscussed the last time this film was broken down or that only feel meaningful now, with Doomsday on the horizon. This was the original Nexus moment of the Infinity Saga, the film that proved to Marvel Studios that crossover events were the way forward, and revisiting it means catching the small moments that Doomsday could plausibly call back to.

The Tesseract's Opening Scene Sets Up Thanos's Infinity Stone Trade

The film opens on the Marvel Studios logo revealed to be inside the Tesseract, which we later learn houses the Space Stone, and the Paramount logo still appears because this was part of a six-picture deal Marvel made with Paramount even after Disney's 2009 purchase. The voice we hear is the Other, speaking to Thanos, who is not revealed until the end of the film. The Other is an unknown alien working as an emissary of Thanos who also turns up in Guardians of the Galaxy working with Ronan the Accuser, and here he hands Loki the scepter containing the Mind Stone along with a Chitauri army.

Kevin Feige confirmed to the now defunct CraveOnline around this film's release that the Tesseract was the Space Stone, saying, "I don't know when we'll actually divulge that necessarily, but it's the Space Stone." It seems Thanos was willing to send a third stone to Earth via Loki's scepter in order to conquer the planet and grab the two stones already there, the Space Stone in the Tesseract and the Time Stone in the Eye of Agamotto. It is basically a one for two trade deal, though the Mad Titan clearly underestimated how much of a fight Earth would put up.

Project Pegasus and Loki's Arrival Set Up Hawkeye's Mind Control

We jump to Project Pegasus in New Mexico, where SHIELD and NASA have been researching the Tesseract that Howard Stark recovered at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger. Captain Marvel later revealed how Pegasus helped the Skrulls, and it seems likely the Helicarrier's cloaking tech came from them. Fury tells Maria Hill, in her first appearance, to ship out the Phase 2 prototypes, weapons SHIELD is developing from the Tesseract's energy, the same thing Hydra tried under Red Skull, something Fury does not yet realize has infiltrated SHIELD again.

Erik Selvig notes the Tesseract is giving off low levels of gamma radiation, which Fury correctly points out can be harmful. All of the Infinity Stones emit gamma radiation, which is how the Avengers eventually find Thanos on the garden planet in Endgame, and it is the same radiation that turned Bruce Banner into the Hulk. I still theorize that gamma radiation might just be the signature given off by any reality-defying technology, whether that is the stones, the Quantum Bands, or even the Ten Rings, whenever a tear opens in reality.

Clint Barton correctly notes the Tesseract is a doorway that opens from both ends, and that is when Loki arrives, looking paler and more sunken-eyed than in Thor, clearly worse for wear after his time with Thanos. He announces himself with, "I am Loki of Asgard and I am burdened with glorious purpose," a line that echoes forward to the variant Loki whose burden becomes holding the timelines together as the god of stories. Loki uses the scepter's Mind Stone to take Clint's mind, telling him, "You have heart," the same trick that fails on Tony later, seemingly because of the arc reactor in his chest.

Natasha Romanoff's Interrogation Tricks Recur Later in the Film

In Russia, Natasha appears to be Georgi Luchkov's captive, but she is actually interrogating him by playing weak and letting him monologue, the same trick she later uses on Loki aboard the helicarrier. Luchkov appears in the comics as a KGB figure and Black Widow enemy. Among the smuggled items is a religious icon, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, which I assume is a knockoff since the original is enshrined in Rome, though maybe Luchkov really is that good an art thief.

Natasha finds Bruce Banner in Kolkata and notes it has been about a year since his last incident, which places Fury's so called Big Week, covering the events of Iron Man 2, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and the end of The First Avenger, roughly a year before this film. Banner hints at his anger management secret without revealing it yet, and when Natasha briefs him on the Tesseract and he jokes about swallowing it, Fury actually does have Goose the Flerken do exactly that later in Captain Marvel.

The World Security Council Scene Points to a Hidden Phase Two Agenda

Fury meets with the World Security Council, including Gideon Malick, who resurfaces in Agents of SHIELD, and a figure named Holly, who Black Widow will later impersonate in Captain America: The Winter Soldier to stop Alexander Pierce and Project Insight. Malick pushes Fury to focus on Phase Two, the plan to roll out Tesseract powered weapons, which doubles as a wink at Marvel Studios' own Phase Two slate beginning after this film.

Steve Rogers works a punching bag while pop culture references sail over his head, setting up the list of things to catch up on that pays off in Winter Soldier. There was a deleted sequence meant to show Steve struggling to adjust, introducing a waitress character named Beth, played by Ashley Johnson, with a planned Stan Lee cameo that never made the final cut, though Beth still appears briefly during the Battle of New York.

Fury hands Steve an old fashioned paper file rather than a tablet, and the barely readable text at the bottom mentions Mephisto and Infinity Gems, the comics name for the Infinity Stones. Marvel's own redacted release of the file does not match what is on screen, and this paragraph reportedly represented an alternate Infinity Saga backstory that director Joss Whedon pitched and Marvel was considering at the time. Mephisto later appears in the Ironheart series and is reportedly being considered for the planned Ghost Rider film.

Tony Stark's New Tower Points Toward Doombots and the Future Avengers HQ

Tony installs a device to take his new Stark Tower off the grid, using an industrial arc reactor that Loki will later exploit to open his portal, a detail that fits the idea that Stark always builds the instruments of his own destruction. Pepper mentions plans for three more self powered Stark buildings, plans I assume get scrapped once the Avengers become a full time job. This tower is eventually sold before Spider-Man: Homecoming and ends up with Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who turns it into the Watchtower and later the headquarters of the New Avengers, where the Fantastic Four reportedly meet the team after arriving in the 616 in Avengers: Doomsday.

Tony sells Coulson on the idea of Life Model Decoys, android doubles from the comics developed by SHIELD with Stark Technologies, which show up again in Agents of SHIELD, where Coulson himself eventually becomes one. Doctor Doom has his own version of these in the comics called Doombots. Could the 616 Tony Stark have always just been a Doombot made in the image of its creator? Probably not, but it will be interesting to see whether Doombots play any role at all in Doomsday.

Loki's Capture and Coulson's Death Push the Team Together

Loki allows himself to be captured aboard the helicarrier, apparently hoping to free the Hulk and destroy the ship along with his enemies. When he tells Fury, "It burns you to have come so close, to have the Tesseract, to have power, and for what? A warm light for all mankind to share," he says it straight into the security camera, knowing the future Avengers are watching and will realize Fury's intentions with the Tesseract are not as noble as claimed.

Natasha brings up the idea of red in her ledger while questioning Loki, a ledger she does not fully clear until her sacrifice in Endgame. Loki taunts her with Drakov's daughter and the Sao Paulo hospital fire, and the Black Widow film later reveals that Drakov's daughter, Antonia, survived what Natasha thought was her killing and became Taskmaster before dying near the start of Thunderbolts.

Loki escapes, mortally wounding Coulson, who tells him, "You're going to lose," before being blasted. Coulson is later resurrected in Agents of SHIELD through Kree transfusion technology, but his apparent death here is what finally gives the Avengers something to avenge. Fury rubs salt in the wound with Coulson's blood stained Captain America trading cards, a detail Maria Hill notes were found in his locker.

The Battle of New York Hides Callbacks That Echo Into Endgame and Beyond

Tony confronts Loki alone at Stark Tower, deliberately using the glitchy Mark VI to make Loki think he is out of tricks before deploying the surprise Mark VII. When Loki says he has an army, Tony's reply, "We have a Hulk," and the line about there being no version where Loki comes out on top, feels to me like it will get echoed when Victor Von Doom eventually confronts Loki on his throne in Doomsday, and I am a little worried Doom might attempt a similar move to Loki's failed attempt to stab out Tony's heart.

During the fight, Bruce Banner delivers, "That's my secret, Captain. I'm always angry," before his Hulk transformation, one of only two fully shown, well lit Hulk outs in the MCU. Hawkeye directs Tony into a kill box from a rooftop because he sees better from a distance, and a long unbroken tracking shot links Tony to Natasha, to Cap, to Hawkeye, to Hulk, to Thor, visually tying the team together. In the distance during Hawkeye's rooftop leap, a young Kate Bishop reportedly watches from her apartment window, an inspiration later shown in the Hawkeye series, though her apartment location technically sits just outside the perimeter Steve orders the NYPD to hold.

As Tony flies the nuke through the portal into space, he sees Thanos's fleet, a vision that I believe plagues him through Infinity War and fuels both his creation of Ultron and his push for the Sokovia Accords. Only 74 civilians reportedly died in the entire Battle of New York according to Ross in Civil War, which makes it strange that Natasha earlier says Loki alone killed 80 people in two days, meaning Loki did more damage solo than the whole battle combined.

The Post Credits Reveal of Thanos Foreshadows the Infinity Saga's Ending

The mid credits scene reveals Thanos, played here by Damion Poitier before Josh Brolin took over for Guardians of the Galaxy, smiling as the Other warns that to challenge the Avengers is to court death, a possible nod to Lady Death as Thanos's comics love interest. Behind him is a planet cracked in half, foreshadowing his goal of wiping out half the universe, and it is hard not to connect that image to the Earth shattering incursions expected to form Battle World in Doomsday.

The final scene returns to the shawarma restaurant for a quiet, mostly wordless moment, with Chris Evans covering his face because he had grown a beard for his next role in Snowpiercer. The scene was reportedly shot in the few weeks between the film's premiere and its wide release in May of 2012.

Which of these small details do you think Avengers Doomsday is most likely to bring back?