In my latest Fan-Fic, I predicted that ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ will both open and close in the present time. And immediately after posting the article, I got to thinking about the big picture. In doing so, I think I may have inadvertently discovered the plot for 2012’s ‘The Avengers’. Oops!
TIMELINE:
-(Origins of) Captain America: The First Avenger
-Iron Man
-Iron Man 2
-Thor / The Incredible Hulk
-(Opening/Closing scenes of) Captain America: The First Avenger
-The Avengers
Now, follow me here; Thor goes to get his hammer from Midgard where he meets Agent Coulson who harasses him just like he did to Tony Stark in the first ‘Iron Man’. Thor’s kinda busy though cause Loki followed Thor to Earth and brought a friend with him too: Destroyer!
So while Loki is off causing some trouble and doing his research on a certain doctor…
Thor has a big epic fight in the desert with Destroyer. After that, Thor looses track of Loki and that’s when he is forced to side with S.H.I.E.L.D. and join The Avengers, as it is his obligation for not only bringing Loki to Earth, but also for loosing him! Cause really, what other reason does a GOD have to join a silly little human club? So Thor informs S.H.I.E.L.D. that Loki has a talent for manipulating people’s minds. And with a loose canon like The Hulk running around beating up Abomination, S.H.I.E.L.D. decides it’s a good idea to run The Hulk out of New York before Loki can find him and offer his ‘help’. (Explaining the un-identified helicopter chasing after Hulk at the end of ‘Incredible Hulk’) Meanwhile, Nick Fury is busy looking for Captain America in the ice,
and Tony Stark is busy earning his keep as a liaison for The Avengers, recruiting Thunderbolt Ross.
So it might seem like that ‘The Avengers’ could just be all about tying up all the loose ends left by ‘The Incredible Hulk’ and ‘Thor’. (Except for The Leader. Maybe.)
And finally, the Grand Finale!!! The ending of ‘The Avengers’:
‘Iron Man 3’ is most definitely gonna feature Mandarin, right? And ‘Incredible Hulk 2’ is most definitely gonna feature The Leader, right? And since his job is done, Thor has no reason to stay on Earth and every reason to go back to Asgard after defeating Loki, right? Hmm…with all these bad guys seeming to appear all around the same time…what else can they do but…split up! How clean and convenient. And believable, too!
I don’t know…it makes a lot of sense for the time line to work like this.