Variants are now the most explored concept in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With the introduction of the multiverse in phase four, the concept of Variants has gained importance. According to the Time Variant Authority from ‘Loki‘, variants are people that diverge from a selected main timeline and initiate another timeline with events and history that differ from the original. Since the introduction of the multiverse saga, there are already several variants that appeared during ‘Avengers: Endgame‘.
Here are seven variants that existed in the MCU before the multiverse saga. The fates of some of these variants might change the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, probably even leading to ‘Avengers: Secret War‘.
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1. Loki
The first Loki variant was formed when Iron-man and Scott Lang created an opportunity for Loki to escape using the Tesseract. In ‘Avengers: Endgame’, the Avengers travel through the Quantum Realm to collect the Infinity stones in order to destroy Thanos. Thanos kills Loki in the opening segment of ‘Avengers: Infinity War‘. But when Iron man, Scott Lang travels back to the 2012 events of ‘The Avengers‘, they helped Loki escape resulting in a variant formation.
The God of Mischief gets himself captured by the Time Variant Authority during the multiverse series of Loki. The titular series contributed towards his redemption as he meets his various variants – the female Loki, Sylvie, Kid Loki, Alligator Loki, and President Loki. Only Loki has faced the variant of Kang the Conqueror – He Who Remains thus serving as an important character who will guide the Avengers through the multiverse and the new villain of the MCU.
2. Captain America
The finale of ‘Avengers: Endgame‘ delivered a few heartbreaking moments like Tony Stark’s funeral and Captain America passing down his shield to Sam Wilson. With the plan of retiring from his role as Captain America, Steven Rogers decided to spend his life in an alternative reality during the 1940s with Peggy Carter.
Since Steve Rogers did not stick to the original plan for returning back after placing the time stones in their respective timelines and staying back in the 1940s resulted in the creation of Steve Roger’s variant. Hence, the 616 universe’s Steve Rogers became a variant, as this version of the past didn’t occur in the MCU continuity. Since Rogers got his satisfactory ending, he might not make a comeback in any of the upcoming Marvel sagas.
3. Thanos
The final battle of ‘Avengers: Endgame‘ introduced the fans to the 2014 variant of Thanos. While the original Thanos only wanted to wipe out half of all life in the universe, the 2014 Thanos variant saw the flaws in this plan and created an even more diabolical plan leading to eradicating the entire universe.
The original Thanos went a little easy on the Avengers as it spared Tony Stark’s life but on the other hand, the 2014 variant of Thanos was more brutal and ferocious in the battle against Avengers. At the end of the war, Iron Man used the Infinity Stones to eradicate the 2014 variant of Thanos and his forces, which saved the universe while leaving this Thanos’ original timeline without him as a menace.
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4. Nebula
After collecting the Power Stone from Morag in 2014 during the Time Heist, Rhodey returned to the present day, while Nebula confronted her 2014 variant, leading to her capture. This alerted Thanos about the Avenger’s plan. The 2014 variant of Nebula infiltrated the Avengers and opened the gateway for Thanos and his army leading to the final battle of ‘Avengers: Endgame‘.
Similar to Thanos, Nebula’s 2014 variant was much more brutal and wanted to do right by her father despite destructive consequences. This led the present-day Nebula to kill her own variant, hence establishing her importance and contributing to major character growth in the ‘Avengers: Endgame‘.
5. Gamora
Thanos killed the 616 universe’s version of Gamora on Vormir during ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ in order to retrieve the Soul Stone. 2014 version of the ‘Guardian of the Galaxy‘ Gamora along with Nebula appeared in Endgame. While Gamora was initially on her father’s side, the original Nebula revealed the plan of Thanos sacrificing her to acquire the soul stone made her choose the opponent’s side.
Hence, the Tony Stark snap did not affect Gomora and hence she left for an unknown location, hinting at a future return of Gamora in the MCU. A variant of Gamora was comprised as a member of the Guardians of the Multiverse in ‘What If…?‘, though her solo episode was overlooked from the series’ first season, so not much is revealed about this variant.
6. The Black Order
Other than Nebula and Gamora, Thanos raised several children that he adopted from the planets that he conquered before his quest to find the Infinity Stones. The children of Thanos also known as the Black Order include Ebony Maw, Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive, and Cull Obsidian.
‘Avengers: Infinity War‘ witnessed each member of the Black Order slaughtered by the Avengers, but their variants re-appeared in Avengers: Endgame along with the 2014 variant of Thanos fighting alongside him during the Endgame war and being eliminated by Tony Stark’s snap.
7. Time Heist Variants
While traveling through the Quantum Realm, The Avengers created a new timeline and came into contact with the variants of themselves. The 2012 version of ‘Captain America‘ was told of Bucky’s survival two years before the original was found out, the Ancient One is aware of Doctor Strange’s handover of the Time Stone and the STRIKE teams that Captain America is working for HYDRA. We also witness the epic hand-to-hand combat of Captain America vs Captain America.
In 2013 Asgard, the Reality Stone is no longer inside Jane Foster, and the 2014 timeline does not consist of Thanos. In this way, ‘Avengers: Endgame‘ gave viewers a tease of what was to come in the Multiverse Saga and hinting the importance of different variants.
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