Mistakes That Are Hard To Ignore In Avengers Movies
The Avengers movie franchise has been making headlines and breaking records ever since Earth's Mightiest Heroes first teamed up in 2012. With cast lists longer than the average CVS receipt and a combined production budget of over $1 billion, it's no wonder that even people who don't consider themselves fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have opinions about the films. After all, the franchise claims two of the top five highest-grossing movies ever made.
Since the release of the first team-up, appropriately titled The Avengers, the MCU filmmakers have set a precedent for action-packed fight scenes, dramatic character development, and loads of awesome Easter eggs. As a result, creating these superhuman blockbusters takes an incredible amount of time and extreme attention to detail by every member of the cast and production crew. The larger the fan base, the more pressure there is to put out a perfectly polished product. However, the Avengers movies are so massive that even an army of professionals is capable of committing simple human errors that go unnoticed until after a film premiers. So let's take a closer look at some of the mistakes that are hard to ignore in Avengers movies.
Handle that Space Stone with care
One of the most powerful objects in the MCU, the Space Stone has popped up multiple times in the franchise, and in 2012's The Avengers, it shows up in the form of the Tesseract. Before Loki uses the powerful energy of the Tesseract to make a dramatic entrance on Earth, we see a lab technician poke at the cube with a metal tool. The energy emitted from the activated Tesseract creates a spark as the metal tool recoils back towards the technician. But just moments after Loki's entrance, we see Nick Fury pluck the cosmic cube from it's containment vessel and place it into a briefcase with only the use of his gloved hand.
As he handles the cube there are no obvious signs of energy recoil or physical discomfort until he releases it from his grasp. The lackluster display of energy on contact could be explained away by the fact that the Tesseract had just released a massive amount of its power during the transportation of Loki from outer space. However, at the end of the film, we see Banner handle the cube with what appears to be specially designed metal tongs, so why isn't the Tesseract reacting then? The more we learn about this stone the more questions we have.
Bulletproof glass in The Avengers
In the opening scenes of The Avengers, Agent Maria Hill is on the case as she chases after Loki and the hypnotized Hawkeye. On her mission to retrieve the Tesseract, we watch her shoot through her own windshield during a speedy chase through the winding tunnels of the Joint Dark Energy Mission Headquarters. But just moments later, we see her continue the chase with a sparkling, hole-free windshield. It's a mistake that's impossible to explain away, unless S.H.I.E.L.D. has developed some sort of magical glass, and you know what? We kinda doubt that happened.
Black Widow's mirror mistake
Natasha Romanoff and Bruce Banner's story begins in The Avengers as they meet in Calcutta during a S.H.I.E.L.D. retrieval mission. Natasha's goal is to convince Banner that his help is needed to retrieve the Tesseract from Loki and save the planet. During their conversation, we see Banner standing with his back to a dirty mirror. As Natasha speaks, her reflection in the mirror doesn't match up with the words that are coming out of her mouth. Perhaps the mirror was placed in the background to create what was meant to be an artistic shot, or maybe its presence was overlooked by the producers. Either way, this dusty piece of glass creates a distracting audiovisual mistake.
So how does vibranium work?
During the action-packed battle scenes that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become known for, the audio effects can be just as compelling as the visual effects. However, using audio effects can get filmmakers into trouble with the fans when they aren't backed up by the storyline. During the forest battle scene in The Avengers, where we see two of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes clash with Asgardian royalty, Cap's vibranium shield and Mjolnir create quite the clank. While some people may write off this sound as the power of Mjolnir, the science of it all leads us to believe that if Cap's shield is truly made of pure vibranium, then any object hitting the shield shouldn't make a sound.
See, when the shield makes its first appearance in Captain America: The First Avenger, Howard Stark himself says, "It's completely vibration absorbent." The vibration of the clash should be absorbed by the shield. What we don't know is whether or not the impact of an object on the vibranium creates a sound before the vibration is fully absorbed. If an impacting object does create an initial sound before the vibration is absorbed, then this could explain why such a dramatic scene is created upon impact.
An aircraft error in The Avengers
In an act of pure rage, the Hulk gets busy smashing and takes down a souped-up F-35 Lightning II in The Avengers. However, this particular aircraft isn't entirely accurate. The fighter jets from the film's era are usually equipped with a single gun on the bottom of the body in the center. The one taken down by our not-so-jolly green giant appears to have two guns built inside the inlets that power the internal combustion engine. This problematic design was likely added on by the special effects crew for a dramatic visual effect. When it comes to S.H.I.E.L.D. innovations, we've learned to expect the unexpected, but this design seems a little unlikely.
No helmet necessary
After saving the Earth from Loki and a flying army of Chitauri in the final battle featured in The Avengers, we see our heroes quite literally riding off into the sunset for a little peace after fighting in a war of the worlds. Steve Rogers rides off alone on his motorcycle sans any sort of helmet. As he makes his way briskly through the city, we expect to see his growing locks blow in the wind as the landscape flies by behind him. However, his hair moves only slightly. It's strange that in a film that uses effects to accentuate the flowing locks of Loki and Black Widow as they soar through the sky that Steve's hair wouldn't be given a similar treatment during his heroic ride to freedom.
What's up with that phone booth in Avengers: Age of Ultron?
Scarlet Witch flexes her powers quite a bit in Avengers: Age of Ultron. In the moments following the acceptance of her role as an Avenger, we watch her take out a handful of flying robots. However, there's some sort of witchery happening in the background, too, as there's a telephone booth seen in multiple locations. In such a desolate environment, this shifting background element creates quite the visual distraction. While this phone booth isn't in the shape of a blue box, one can't help but wonder if this continuity mistake is thanks to a certain teleporting Time Lord.
Subzero Sokovia
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, we see the titular robot attempt to wipe out the world's lifeforms by building a machine to lift the fictional city of Sokovia thousands of feet into the sky so he can use it as a meteor against Earth. As the city rises higher, our heroes act faster, attempting to save as many lives as possible while taking down an army of deadly flying robots. Even the humans still trapped on the landmass accelerating through the sky are shown running for their lives.
Through this display of complete chaos, we can't help but wonder why no one is showing any signs of being even slightly cold. After all, they're getting pretty high up in the sky. At one point, Captain America notes that they oxygen level in the air has decreased, but no one shows any physical signs of this. Perhaps the film's $365 million budget didn't leave enough room for the proper set design, or maybe rescuing passed out civilians on a floating landmass would've been too easy of a task for our heroes.
A shifting spear in Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Infinity War begins where Thor: Ragnarok ends, on board the massive craft known as the Statesman. We see a ship full of slain Asgardians, and Ebony Maw and Corvus Glaive are walking among the bodies as Thanos decides the fate of Thor and Loki. Corvus Glaive carries his double-sided weapon in his grip, and as he and Maw shuffle through the corpses, we see him holding his glaive with the stone-extracting side pointing up. The same shot from a different angle is shown seconds later, and we see that his glaive is being held in the opposite direction. For such a somber, slow-moving moment, it's not plausible to believe that Corvus Glaive had the time to move his spear with enough swiftness that would be required to end up in this new position. Filming the same scene from several angles gives viewers a complete view of the drama, but it also exposes some pretty eye-catching continuity errors.
Spider-Man's alarming mistake
Peter's best friend Ned comes to his rescue in Avengers: Infinity War as he inadvertently creates a distraction on their bus, giving Peter just enough time to swiftly sneak out through the emergency exit window. The problem with this great escape is that any functioning bus emergency exit would set off an alarm as it opens. Why didn't our young Spider-Man worry about his exit triggering the alarm? Perhaps he'd planned ahead for a moment similar to this, or maybe he knew that the Queens public school system had some alarm-disabling budget cuts. Either way, fans can't ignore this alarming mistake.
Troublesome technique in Avengers: Endgame
At the beginning of Avengers: Endgame, we see Hawkeye teaching his daughter how to properly shoot an arrow. She must've inherited her dad's steady arm because she lands a bulls-eye on her first shot. However, if we take a closer look and think back on how Hawkeye has expertly deployed every single arrow in the MCU so far, we can't help but notice that his daughter's arm was angled incorrectly as she pulled back the bow. Hawkeye himself reminds her to "mind your elbow." This inaccurate technique would've made it nearly impossible for her arrow to hit the bulls-eye, and it definitely wouldn't have earned praise from her sharpshooting father.
The gravity of the situation
In order to make films visually appealing, screenwriters sometimes take it upon themselves to cheat science when doing so creates a more dramatic effect. Often times, bad science can be overlooked by fans, but in the case of Tony Stark in Avengers: Endgame, we can't help but ask some follow-up questions.
In the aftermath of Avengers: Infinity War, we find the unlikely pair of Nebula and Stark lost in deep space aboard the Benatar after their escape from Titan. Stark explains how the ship ran out of fuel, and after about 22 days, they're running out of oxygen. Those details check out okay, but what doesn't make sense is how they came to such a slow stop. If they had run out of gas while attempting to get home, then the ship should still be moving in the same direction until it got pulled into another planet's orbit or until something hit it with enough energy to knock it off course.
Instead, we see the Benatar calmly floating in place with no other planets or ships in sight. This oversight, and Tony's explanation of the events that led them there, don't quite add up. Perhaps we should cut the super genius a break since he did just experience an immense emotional loss and his brain is running on fumes. However, the shoddy science work by the screenwriters isn't as easy to forgive.
What's going on with Thanos' sword?
Fanboys and girls got to experience quite the moment in Avengers: Endgame when Captain America was officially deemed worthy enough to wield the epically powerful Mjolnir. In the unforgettable scene, we watch as Thor appears nearly helpless on the ground while Thanos has both hands firmly on Stormbreaker. Just as the ax begins to pierce through Thor's armor, a very unsuspecting Thanos gets knocked off course by the soaring hammer. In a swift moment, Thanos looks back to see who sent the mighty Mjolnir his way, but in his hands, he has his double-bladed sword at the ready. This is the same sword that Thor had knocked across the battlefield just seconds before Thanos started his attack with Stormbreaker. There's no way the Mad Titan could've recovered the blade right after Cap knocked him off of Thor. It seems like a silly oversight in such a climactic scene.
Hairy history lesson
Whenever time travel is involved, filmmakers have the extra task of making sure that everything in the scene is set in the correct time period. Avengers: Endgame does an excellent job of visually taking us back in time, but during a particular scene set in 1970, fans are left with a pop culture reference that sparks a few questions. While at the Camp Lehigh Army base, Stark's beard is described as being a Bee Gees "hippie beard." This is a surprising comparison since the Bee Gees didn't become popular in the United States until the mid-'70s. While their music hit the American soundwaves in 1970 and the top of the charts for the first time in 1971, not very many people would've known what the members looked like until the late '70s when they reigned in the era of disco.
Captain America's shapely shield
The final battle of Avengers: Endgame took a massive amount of time and manpower to create, and it won't be soon forgotten by fans of the MCU. With well over a couple dozen heroes and waves upon waves of intergalactic baddies, it must've been quite a task to keep track of the tiny details involved in every character's appearance. But now that the dust has settled, we've all have had some time to start taking a closer look at the details of this epic showdown.
Just before the battle begins, we see a wide shot of our heroes as the portal-filled battlefield begins to fill with Avenger allies. Captain America is seen battered but not quite beaten to the far right of the shot, shield in hand. Even though the scene is filled to the brim with our heroes, you can clearly see that Cap's shield is fully intact. This is a quite the glaring mistake since in the fight leading up to this scene, Thanos shredded half of the nearly indestructible vibranium shield with his double-bladed sword.
A giant mistake in Avengers: Endgame
It wouldn't be a complete list of mistakes without including the tiny and yet giant continuity mistake that fans were quick to spot shortly after the release of Avengers: Endgame. After Ant-Man and the Wasp make it to their souped-up, time-traveling van and begin their repairs, giant Ant-Man is seen in the background fighting alongside the rest of the Avengers. So unless Scott Lang has an identical super twin that we don't know about, this is a pretty glaring mistake. Still, the final battle scene is so epic that the error doesn't take away from the on-screen awesomeness.
How did Thanos not notice the stones were gone?
A lot takes place in the moments before Tony Stark makes the ultimate sacrifice and saves the world in Avengers: Endgame. We see Thanos swat Thor and Captain America away like flies, and with a little extra help from the Power Stone, we see Captain Marvel flung across the battlefield, as well. These actions by Thanos are completely believable since he has the power of Infinity Stones at his disposal. What some fans have a problem with happens right before Thanos attempts his final snap. How is it possible that he didn't notice when Iron Man had taken possession of the stones?
After replacing the Power Stone into the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos takes a few moments to admire his fist before tossing Stark aside and attempting the snap. It just doesn't seem plausible that he doesn't notice that something is off. His body glowed with power just moments before when he put the Gauntlet on, so shouldn't the absence of power flowing through him cause some sort of reaction? Was he just so caught up in the moment that he didn't notice that something was amiss? Why have him look at his fist before attempting the snap at all? These are all questions we'll just have to live with.