After watching The Avengers for the fifth time this week I have decided to watch the first five movies of the MCU again. A few questions have come to mind as I now have seen the full collection of movies.
My first thoughts came to me as I was watching the end credits scene of Iron Man. Nick Fury's line "you think you're the only superhero in the world?" made me think about the continuity of the rest of the films. At this point in the MCU timeline we know that Thor has not appeared as he is due to arrive near the end of Iron Man 2, and forgive me if I am wrong but I don't believe Cap has been unfrozen at this point either. Following along with this chronological maze we also know that Emil Blonsky(Abomination) has not taken the super-soldier serum or mutated into the Abomination. Maybe, Nick Fury has considered Hulk for the team because Widow tells Banner in The Avengers that Fury "trusts him". With Iron Man that makes two superheroes by the time Fury makes his pitch for The Avenger Initiative. In my opinion two people do not make a team. I suppose an argument could be made that he intended to include Hawkeye and/or Widow on the roster but I would not really call them superheroes, mainly because the actors playing have stated they are not super, just highly skilled.
I realize that Marvel could not plan this whole thing perfectly and tried not paint themselves into any corners but this does make me wonder if they plan to address or use this in any way to introduce characters in prequel type movies. Edgar Wright had at one point said that Ant-Man would take place in the past. While I would prefer this not to be so, that could be one possible way to address this. If a Black Panther or Sub-Mariner movie ever gets out the door these could also be a way to introduce characters that had been on S.H.I.E.L.D.s radar and had been considered for the Initiative.
Marvel may or or may not ever address this point but as a fan of the Universe they created I like to see how things are sewn together. Please let me know if I have missed any body you think could fit with the established continuity.