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The first trailer for Avengers: Infinity War was released five years ago, and a lot has happened in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since then. The MCU kicked off in 2008 with Jon Favreau’s Iron Man, and as it gradually introduced its main superheroes and formed the original Avengers team, it also set up the biggest conflict of the Infinity Saga: Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) quest for the Infinity Stones and his plans to use them to wipe out half of life in the universe.

Thanos finally got all six Infinity Stones along with the Infinity Gauntlet in Avengers: Infinity War, and even though all then-active characters in the MCU joined forces to stop him, he fulfilled his plans of snapping his fingers and making half of life in the universe disappear. The trailer for Avengers: Infinity War was a highly expected one, and it teased the battles of all those characters against Thanos, without giving away the movie’s heartbreaking ending. Looking back now, the trailer for Avengers: Infinity War reveals a bunch of major MCU changes – and here they are.

Iron Man & Black Widow Are Dead

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All members of the original Avengers team survived Thanos’ snap in Avengers: Infinity War, but not all of them survived the events of the following event. Avengers: Endgame saw most of the surviving MCU heroes joining forces to bring back those who vanished as a result of Thanos’ snap, and for that, they traveled back in time to get the Infinity Stones before Thanos did. Unfortunately, to get the Soul Stone, which was guarded by Red Skull in Vormir, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) had to sacrifice someone they loved. Black Widow ended up sacrificing herself so Hawkeye could take the Soul Stone and wouldn’t have to leave his family, and as her death wasn’t a result of Thanos’ snap, she couldn’t be brought back.

Later on, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) ended the Battle of Earth between Thanos and his armies, and all heroes and allies in the MCU, by taking the Stones from Thanos and mounting them on his own suit. Iron Man snapped his fingers and got rid of Thanos and company, but the power of the Stones was too much and Tony Stark died minutes later.

Steve Rogers Is Super Old

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After breaking his fellow Team Captain America members free from The Raft, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) went on the run. Steve Rogers returned in Avengers: Infinity War to help Wanda and Vision (Paul Bettany), and they later joined Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and the Wakandans in the Battle of Wakanda. Steve survived Thanos’ snap and the Battle of Earth, but the Time Heist and his brief encounter with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) led him to take a controversial decision: stay in the past after returning the Infinity Stones so he could have a normal life alongside Peggy. However, he returned minutes after leaving but now as a very old man, only to give his shield to Sam and thus pass on the mantle of Captain America to him.

Vision Is Now White Vision

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Vision was powered by the Mind Stone, which made him a target of Thanos when the Mad Titan was looking for the Infinity Stones. After Thanos’ army attacked Wakanda while Shuri (Letitia Wright) tried to safely take the Mind Stone from Vision’s forehead, Vision asked Wanda to destroy the Stone even if that killed him, and so she did. However, Thanos used the Time Stone to reverse time, bring Vision back, and take the Stone, killing Vision in the process. Vision’s body was taken by S.W.O.R.D. and experimented on, bringing him back to life as a sentient weapon known as White Vision. At the end of WandaVision, after fighting Hex Vision, White Vision declared he’s the true Vision and flew away from Westview.

Thanos Has Become A Punchline

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Thanos was the big villain in the MCU’s Infinity Saga, and his triumph at the end of Avengers: Infinity War made him an even scarier character, but Phase 4 has made sure to turn the Mad Titan into a punchline. Phase 4 had the whole “Thanos was right” movement, and it slowly made sure to show how insignificant he and the Infinity Stones truly are with the introduction of the multiverse, variants, and more. Thanos is no longer a name that provokes fear, and instead, he has become a punchline in movies and TV shows, showing the MCU has finally moved on from him and his actions, but at the same time, this diminishes the hard work of the MCU’s heroes in Infinity War and Endgame.

Scarlet Witch Broke Bad

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Wanda Maximoff’s actions are what made way for the Sokovia Accords and thus triggered the Civil War conflict, but that was only the beginning of her problems. After Thanos resurrected and murdered Vision, Wanda was one of the victims of Thanos’ snap, and joined the Battle of Earth in Endgame after Hulk (Bruce Banner) undid Thanos’ snap. Unable to cope with grief from all her recent personal losses, Wanda unleashed her Chaos Magic and created Westview, where she had the life she always wanted alongside a recreation of Vision. To further complicate this, fellow witch Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) infiltrated Westview with the purpose of harnessing Wanda’s magic. In the end, Wanda defeated Agatha and reclaimed all of her magic, becoming the Scarlet Witch.

Scarlet Witch was the trigger of the main conflict in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as she wanted to take the power of America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), while she continued to be corrupted by the Darkhold, which allowed her to hunt America through different universes. In the end, she destroyed the Darkhold Castle and every copy of the Darkhold in the multiverse, and she was trapped in the remains of the castle.

Shuri Is The New Black Panther

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After failing to take the Mind Stone away from Vision’s forehead before Thanos attacked Wakanda, Shuri became one of the victims of Thanos’ snap. After being brought back in Endgame, Shuri joined the Battle of Earth, but her story went through a radical change shortly after. The death of Chadwick Boseman forced Marvel to make changes to the story of Black Panther, and so Black Panther: Wakanda Forever saw the rise of Shuri as the new Black Panther, along with the personal struggles she went through.

Falcon Is Captain America Now

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Sam Wilson was one of the victims of Thanos’ snap, and after arriving right on time for the Battle of Earth in Endgame, he got a big surprise at the end. As mentioned above, Steve Rogers passed the mantle of Captain America to Sam Wilson, who after some struggles, finally decided to officially become the new Captain America in the TV series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Sam will lead his first movie as Captain America in 2024 thanks to Captain America: New World Oder, though plot details remain unknown.

Loki Atoned For His Tesseract Mistake (Both Of Them)

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Avengers: Infinity War opened with the attack of Thanos and his people on the spaceship where Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Heimdall (Idris Elba), and Hulk were carrying the surviving Asgardians. In an effort to distract Thanos and kill him, Loki offered him the Tesseract, but Thanos was quick to notice Loki’s plan and killed the God of Mischief in front of Thor. Loki was brought back after his 2012 variant escaped with the Tesseract in Endgame, and he went through a whole journey after that as he was caught by the TVA and witnessed the beginning of a massive multiverse problem when his variant, Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), killed He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), the creator and leader of the TVA.

Wong Has More Authority Than Strange Now

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In an unexpected turn of events, Wong ended up becoming the MCU’s Sorcerer Supreme, as unlike Doctor Strange, he survived Thanos’ snap in Infinity War. Because of this, someone had to take the role of Sorcerer Supreme, and as five years passed between Thanos’ snap and the Hulk bringing everyone back, Wong was chosen as the Sorcerer Supreme. As such, Wong has now more authority than Doctor Strange, even if the latter constantly chooses to ignore him. Wong later led the Masters of the Mystic Arts in defending Kamar-Taj from Scarlet Witch and oversaw the rebuilding of the temple.

No One Remembers Peter Parker

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One of the most surprising and heartbreaking changes in the MCU happened in the third act of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Spider-Man met Doctor Strange and the Guardians of the Galaxy in Infinity War as they teamed up to fight Thanos in Titan, and he was one of the many victims of Thanos’ snap. After joining the Battle of Earth and seeing his mentor, Tony Stark, die, he continued his superhero journey and faced Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Unfortunately, Mysterio revealed Spider-Man’s identity to the whole world and framed him for his death, leading Peter to ask Doctor Strange to cast a spell that would make everyone forget he’s Spider-Man. The spell was botched, and it opened the gates of the multiverse, bringing villains from past Spider-Man movies and two Spider-Man variants into the MCU.

The only solution to this was casting a spell that would make the world forget Peter Parker, and so Doctor Strange successfully cast this spell. At the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter was left all alone and was shown starting over again, moving to a small apartment and making a new Spider-Man suit, while coming to terms with his friends and colleagues not knowing who he is anymore.

Thor's Guardians Of The Galaxy Run Came & Went

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Avengers: Infinity War also saw Thor meeting the Guardians of the Galaxy, making way for an unlikely team-up and a fun “rivalry” between him and Star-Lord (Chris Pratt). At the end of Endgame, Thor left Earth with the Guardians, and Thor: Love & Thunder showed the God of Thunder going on a personal journey to find himself while also joining the Guardians on a couple of missions across space. His time as Ravager Thor came to an end when he learned of Gorr’s (Christian Bale) many murders, and it’s unknown if they will join forces again.

Bruce Banner Controls His Hulk Form

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Bruce Banner was, to everyone’s surprise, unable to transform into Hulk in Avengers: Infinity War and had to use the Hulkbuster to join the Battle of Wakanda (of course, Marvel hid this in the trailer by replacing the Hulkbuster with Hulk). Banner survived Thanos’ snap, and in the following years, before the Time Heist, he worked to merge his consciousness with Hulk’s body, becoming Smart Hulk. Banner later built the Hulk Inhibitor Device to return to human form so his arm, which was damaged by the Infinity Stones, could heal, but he can still go back to his “Smart Hulk” form, showing that, after all these years, Bruce Banner has finally succeeded in controlling his Hulk form.

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