By Spencer Connolly Published 2 minutes ago
The MCU’s Infinity Saga (especially Avengers: Infinity War) pulled heavily from Marvel Comics’ Infinity Gauntlet, however, it left out 1 major battle.
Summary
- The Blip, based on Infinity Gauntlet, was a five-year period where half of all life vanished in the MCU.
- Thanos' snap devastated the universe, leading to a period of silent suffering revealed in Avengers: Endgame.
- An Annihilus-like invasion during the Blip could have added a thrilling subplot to the MCU, enhancing overall satisfaction.
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The Blip is easily the most impactful time in the MCU’s Infinity Saga, an event based on the Marvel Comics storyline Infinity Gauntlet. While half of all life was originally erased as well in the comics, that was only the beginning of the fallout. Marvel Comics included one huge battle the MCU decided to cut, one which would have made the Blip feel much more satisfying.
The Blip is the name of the five-year period where half of all life in the universe was erased from existence following Thanos’ Infinity Snap. The event itself occurred in the MCU’s Avengers: Infinity War, which detailed Thanos collecting the Infinity Stones, housing them in the Infinity Gauntlet in order to control each (or all) of them at will, and then ultimately using them all at once to achieve the Infinity Snap, aka the Blip.
While trillions ceased to exist roughly at the moment Thanos snapped his fingers, the real impact of the Blip wasn’t felt until some time later. In Avengers: Endgame, it’s revealed that the Avengers were unable to undo what Thanos had done, and they had to sit in their failure for five years before a solution finally came to them. During that time, the world silently suffered. But, as hellish as it was in the MCU, humanity had it much worse in Marvel Comics.
Annihilus Launched an Invasion of Earth During Infinity Gauntlet
Infinity Gauntlet #5 by Jim Starlin and Ron Lim
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This issue of Infinity Gauntlet essentially details the extent of the heroes’ failure to stop Thanos. Most of Marvel’s heroes were either erased from existence upon Thanos’ Infinity Snap, or they were killed by his hand when they launched their attack. However, their deaths would have been worth it if the plan to swipe the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos’ hand while he was in the heart of battle had worked. Unfortunately, it did not, and the universe continued to suffer.
One of the more concentrated areas of that suffering was on Earth, as it was under attack by Annihilus, who used the chaos of this time to cross over from the Negative Zone. While the battle is only briefly touched on in this book, the subsequent Annihilation event shows how detrimental Annihilus and his forces truly are, and paints a bleak picture of what the defenseless survivors on Earth really went through during Infinity Gauntlet with no heroes fighting to protect them.
An Annihilus-Like Invasion During the Blip Would’ve Been an Epic MCU Subplot
While the Avengers and practically every available superhuman/cosmic entity was busy with Thanos immediately following the Infinity Snap in Marvel Comics, that wasn’t the case in the MCU. The snap was Thanos’ endgame in the MCU, meaning after he did that, he was no longer a threat. For five years, the Avengers simply festered in their loss — but what if they didn’t? What if an Annihilus-like invasion of Earth happened during that five-year period that the original Avengers would have had to stop?
The biggest difference between the comics and the MCU as far as the Infinity Snap is concerned is that, in the MCU, nothing else happened. It almost makes this once cosmically epic event seem a bit empty. While that may have been the point, it wasn’t the most satisfying, especially for fans of the source material. However, if the MCU included this one huge Marvel Comics battle in its Infinity Saga, it may have made the Blip feel much more satisfying.
