One day I had quite a lot of fan theories and speculation on my mind regarding things one might consider plot holes or just unanswered questions. So I decided to write them down and since I don't really have anywhere else to put them, I decided why not just have them put to the test and give to other MCU fans to see what they thought about them.
If you have any other headcanons I'd love to hear them. Now on to the speculation.
In Agents of Shield Season 5, we get a joke nodding to SWORD, though Coulson states he isn't familiar with the organization.
At that time, it was because the rights were tied with the X-Men, and therefore the organization was with Fox. In Phase 4 not only do we learn that that SWORD was formed years ago, after the events of Captain Marvel, but by Monica's mom.
This begs the question, why wouldn't Coulson know? especially after becoming director of SHIELD. I believe that it's because SWORD's existence is not known to the public, because it was meant to avoid infiltration.
Consider this, they are both in the space travel and weapons business, and as such, would be in the interest of groups like either HYDRA or Kree.
With that in mind, Maria would've asked Skrulls for techniques on discovering infiltrators, so that the organization couldn't be brought down from the inside.
Still that doesn't mean the organization couldn't be run by incompetent people (see Wandavision) but they at least weren't seemingly affected by the Hydra Uprising.
If you don't remember, Ms. Marvel had a nod towards the Ninja Turtles. This is kinda weird considering how Frank Miller's run on Daredevil was a major reason for the TMNT's creation, and in universe, Daredevil has existed only recently, ie. the 2010s.
One possibility is that in the MCU, the creators simply made the turtles had no influence from Miller or maybe they read an equivalent character.
But consider this, the Hand, the organization that inspired the Foot in the TMNT comics, is considerably older, and as such, could have been an urban legend or conspiracy theory like the Illuminati (the legend not the comics group). So, what if...the duo that created the Turtles took inspiration from the real life group of villains?
Remember that rack of comics on GLK&H? If we go by original comics' logic, the reason why they're there is because they are used as anecdotal evidence of events.
If that is also the case in the MCU, then does that mean that the events of these comics happened in the MCU as well? Because the covers showcase the return of Baron Strucker as an LMD (which, we've seen LMDs and Strucker before), and more interestingly Count Nefaria (whose daughter Madame Masque appeared on Agent Carter). And if we were to read the inside of the comics, there are Avengers that have yet to debut on the silver screen. Plus there's the whole question as to whether or not they were published in their original time of publication. Either that, or the comics industry really improved their drawing and writing skills exponentially.
Also worth noting that by having Agent Carter one shot for the SHIELD 50th Anniversary, which was a part of other one-shots, like those for Mockingbird and Quake, they are acknowledging the Agents of SHIELD and Marvel TV side, since, without Agent Carter, that one-shot wouldn't have happened.
It's interesting to see several comic covers and pages during the She-Hulk 4th Wall scene in the finale, especially because it has nothing to do with her ending. Still, a few couple issues are worth noting.
On the She-Hulk side, we see some from the Byrne run and some from the newest one. But one that was notable is one where she fought the Leader. Now granted it was part of a deleted plot, but who says that line from Kevin wouldn't indicate her return on Cap 4?
Additionally, we see Mark Waid's run on Daredevil represented on some columns, but one notable one is an early issue where Matt's identity goes public. Maybe an indicator of how Kingpin will ruin his life?
One final comic worth noting is the Korvac saga being there, as rumors suggested a while ago that Korvac would be featured in a future movie (The Marvels), but those have since died down. So it is curious why it is still there. Perhaps we'll see something akin to the events of the Lego Marvel 2 game where Korvac is an enforcer for Kang?
So, before his proper debut, Man-Thing was mentioned in Agents of SHIELD and referenced in Thor: Ragnarök. We know he's survived to this point, so the question is how is he returning. Well, we know that Jack has at least found him before once, but what if Man-Thing escaped because of Jack the last two times?
Jack could've used the chaos of the Hydra uprising to find and help save Ted from imprisonment, maybe even opening doors for other prisoners and causing a riot. And once Man-Thing found himself on Sakaar, Werewolf traveled there and fought the Grandmaster's forces to liberate Ted. Hopefully not alone, because that wouldn't be the safest.
This is the most fan theoryiest of the bunch, and it has to do with something simple.
We know that good ol' Howard did try and make movies, ironically adapting western comic books, made by Timely Comics. So, it wouldn't be a stretch to think that rather than buy the licensing rights to just Kid Colt, he bought the whole of Timely Comics, and after that, its chronology stayed the same, except for maybe the whole superhero comic boom.
We know that there were also Patsy Walker comics, so maybe the industry stayed in the romance dramas for a while, and although DC did create Superman and Batman, Marvel did not. That is until Iron Man and all the new era of superheroes.
Additionally, stuff like Runaways show items based on Spider-Man, so it would seem someone has the rights to Spider-Man's likeness. The same thing can be said about the toys. We see Avengers toys on Season 1 of Agents of Shield, but it is until Ms. Marvel that we see other superheroes besides the core 6 Avengers are sold, with the Marvel logo. And since Pym Tech is no more, someone must be creating those products.
