By [ad_1]
A minor moment from Phase One could have radically altered the momentum of the MCU — but Tony Stark failed to realize it.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has grown exponentially across the last 14 years, with the scope always expanding to feature new revelations and threats. But this means the heroes can seem short-sighted for missing them in the first place — especially someone like Iron Man, who bragged about his ability to hack S.H.I.E.L.D. without realizing how seriously he bungled a potentially game-changing revelation.
Tony Stark’s attempts to uncover S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secrets in Phase One could have resulted in him uncovering the full extent of Hydra’s infiltration into S.H.I.E.L.D. — and would have saved the world a lot of trouble in the long run.
In The Avengers, Tony Stark’s doubts about S.H.I.E.L.D.’s intentions lead him to hack into their database. Although Captain America is initially angry with him for this breach, Stark won’t feel safe until he’s combed through the agency’s secrets. Bragging that his hack will produce all of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s dirty laundry, Tony ends up finding some of the powerful weapons that S.H.I.E.L.D. intends to utilize the Tesseract for if they can recover it. Alongside Cap’s own exploration of the Helicarrier, which turns up Hydra weaponry, it reveals the scope of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s plans for the future — as well as proves Tony’s hacking skills. But it also suggests that the automated device only went looking for weapons and missed a lot of other potentially important information.
Among other things, if Tony’s hack had indeed discovered all of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secrets, then he should have discovered evidence of the Hydra conspiracy that had been growing within S.H.I.E.L.D. for decades. As explained by the digital copy of Arnim Zola in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Hydra was able to successfully spend years spreading their influence into the spy organization. Assets, leaders and agents were all indoctrinated into the new Hydra rising from S.H.I.E.L.D., manipulating events to their benefit. They even used the Winter Soldier to eliminate threats to their rule, which directly resulted in the assassination of Howard and Maria Stark, as teased in Winter Soldier and later confirmed in Captain America: Civil War.
If Tony’s hack had fully uncovered all of these S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets, then the heroes of the MCU could have had a saved themselves a lot of trouble. The discovery of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s true intentions could have clued in Nick Fury and his loyal agents to the danger they were in early, and given them more time to strategize a plan against Hydra instead of having to scramble to survive in Winter Soldier. Steve Rogers could have discovered the survival of Bucky Barnes far earlier, giving him the chance to hunt down and rescue his friend sooner in the canon of the MCU. Tony might have even learned of his parent’s fate first-hand instead of being told about it years later, potentially preventing the emotional fallout in Civil War from turning violent and splintering the Avengers ahead of Thanos’ invasion of Earth.
Tony could have helped mobilize the heroes against the threat of Hydra if his hack of the Helicarrier had been as effective as he’d boasted. Doing so could have saved the Avengers a lot of trouble in Phase Two and Phase Three while also potentially saving the lives of all the people killed by Hydra agents in their attempted takeover of S.H.I.E.L.D. It may have also alerted Hydra to the true threat of the Avengers and motivated them into action far faster than they acted in the core MCU. Still, it’s a shame that Tony didn’t get the chance to truly uncover all of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s dirty laundry, as it could have gone a long way towards helping the Avengers save the world.
About The Author
[ad_2]
