What to remember about the Avengers before their Disney+ shows launch

This post contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame, which, seriously? It’s been months. Read at your own risk I guess. 

Disney+ is launching with an impressive back catalog of Disney classics as well as original shows, but fans of the MCU will have to wait for one of the service’s most hyped promises — brand new, canon Marvel shows starring current, former, and upcoming Avengers (and one villain). The first of these shows won’t premiere until Fall 2020, so here’s a guide to refresh your memory on where and when we last left off with the heroes who will appear in their own TV shows. 

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will be the first Marvel Disney+ show launched on the streaming service and should be available to watch by Fall 2020. The show will explore what happens to Captain America’s two best friends Bucky “The Winter Soldier” Barnes and Sam “Falcon” Wilson after the events of Avengers: Endgame. 

One of Endgame‘s more poignant twists happened at the end of the movie, after Captain America returned the Infinity Stones back to their respective points in time and chose to stay in the past to live a full life with Peggy Carter. After missing his check-in with Sam, Bucky, and Bruce Banner, the older Steve Rogers appears to his friends to explain what he did and to pass on his iconic shield to Sam Wilson while Bucky looks on approvingly. 

Bucky and Sam were never close friends in the MCU films, but with Sam wielding the shield and Captain America out of commission it looks like the two will pair up for a new adventure. 

Hawkeye

At the end of Avengers: Endgame, Clint Barton/Hawkeye got half of a happy ending by reuniting with his blipped family while mourning the loss of his friend Natasha Romanov/Black Widow. Descriptions for the Hawkeye Disney+ show reveal that Clint is ready to pass on his knowledge of the bow to a new Hawkeye, comic book character Kate Bishop. 

WandaVision 

Wanda was last seen at Tony Stark’s funeral, commiserating with Hawkeye over losing Tony, Natasha, and her lover Vision. Thanos killed Vision by yoinking the Mind Stone out of his head in Avengers: Infinity War, but since Vision is set to be a character in Disney+’s WandaVision, there’s probably some loophole that brings him back to life. 

WandaVision will reportedly lead into the Doctor Strange sequel Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, so maybe the Vision in WandaVision is from a different universe. Alternatively, Vision was killed while Black Panther‘s Shuri worked to separate his consciousness from the Mind Stone — if she completed her work before temporarily blipping out of existence it’s possible Vision’s mind is alive on a Wakandan hard drive somewhere, just waiting for a body to link up to. 

Loki

Even though Loki is one of the MCU’s most beloved and well-developed villains, the version of the character starring in Disney+’s Loki will be a virtual stranger to the audience. The lovable Loki, who starred in all three Thor films and appeared in both The Avengers and Avengers: Infinity War is definitely dead — Thanos choked him to death aboard Thor’s Asgardian refugee ship. This Loki is a different guy entirely. 

Avengers: Endgame‘s time heist plot intentionally created a plot hole big enough for Tom Hiddleston’s trickster god to slip through and survive by revisiting the events of The Avengers and screwing up badly enough to let Loki escape with the Space Stone/Tesseract. That Loki, who did not experience the redemption arc seen through Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok, and Avengers: Infinity War is still villainous and ready to wreak havoc…and he’s coming to Disney+ in 2021. 

The Wild Cards: A.K.A, the other Marvel shows

Kevin Feige also announced She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and Ms. Marvel Disney+ series at D23 2019, but there’s been no word on which Marvel heroes (if any) will appear in those shows. The following are all wild guesses.  

She-Hulk

If She-Hulk follows the comic origins of its title character, then it’s possible that its lead character will be Jennifer Walters, who developed her own Hulk powers after receiving a blood transfusion from her cousin Bruce Banner. Mark Ruffalo’s Banner was last seen in Avengers: Endgame in his final form as BannerHulk, a living combination of the Hulk’s strength with Bruce’s intellect and reason. 

In the final act of Endgame, BannerHulk was permanently injured when he sacrificed the use of his right arm to wield the power of Tony Stark’s Infinity Gauntlet and snap the missing half of the universe back into existence. Maybe She-Hulk will show a retired BannerHulk showing his cousin the topes, but we won’t know many details about the show for at least another year. 

Ms. Marvel 

The name Ms. Marvel name has been used in the comics by Carol Danvers, but the hero using the moniker in the Disney+ show will be the relatively new character Kamala Khan. Kamala is heavily influenced by Captain Marvel in her comics and calls herself Ms. Marvel as a shoutout to her favorite Avenger, so it would make sense for Carol to show up in the Disney+ show in one way or another. 

Captain Marvel was last seen mourning with the Avengers at Tony Stark’s funeral, but throughout Avengers: Endgame she hinted that she had a lot more work to do on other planets to stick around and support earth’s mightiest heroes. Where she went after the funeral and what she might be up to is a mystery that will probably be explained in Captain Marvel 2, or potentially in other upcoming Phase 4 MCU films. 

Moon Knight

Moon Knight doesn’t have any obvious connection to the current lineup of Avengers or villains. Keep an eye out for any references to Marc Spector (his human alter ego) or any Egyptian gods in Phase 4 of the MCU, but until then we got nothin’.