Throughout the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the idea of nexus events haven’t been truly established until Loki; which fully introduced the new term to its audience. There are also tons upon tons of questions regarding these nexus events. For instance, what are they? Why are they so important? Why haven’t they been established earlier on in the MCU? Well, we’re here to answer these exact questions, and even more!
Nexus events are best defined as a threshold that certain characters cross, ultimately resulting in new realities branching in the sacred timeline. This sacred timeline, first established in Loki, is basically the collection/absorption of all realities that were eventually kept contained after the Multiversal War by He Who Remains (Kang the Conqueror and his eldest, most successful variant).
MCU NEXUS EVENTS (UPDATED: SHANG CHI: And the Legend of the Ten Rings)
Rather than giving specific examples of nexus events in the MCU, because most people already know what some generic examples could be, here are the 9 major MCU nexus events that will be further explored in the MCU.
Nexus Event 1:
Avengers: Infinity War- Doctor Strange looks ahead at the 14,000,605 future outcomes, using the Time stone.
Nexus Event 2:
Marvel’s Avengers/Loki- Loki, after Stark gets thrown from the staircase door after Hulk cannot take the stairs, gets ahold of the tesseract and uses it to ultimately become a variant.
Nexus Event 3:
Loki- Loki and Sylvie make contact, which ultimately creates the most unprecedented nexus event. This was the major cause in all of the branches forming towards the end of Season 1 of Loki.
Nexus Event 4:
Sylvie kills Kang’s variant (He Who Remains)- This resulted in the major spike of the splinters in the sacred timeline. Leaving the audience after the first season of Loki shaking their heads in disbelief.
Nexus Event 5:
Avengers: Endgame- The Avengers, using the nano gauntlet, snap back the victims of Thanos’ initial infinity gauntlet snap. This is quite interesting because in the Eternals trailer(s), they explained that this particular nexus event created an energy surge that triggers the arrival/emergence of the Celestials.
Nexus Event 6:
WandaVision- Wanda creates the WestView hex reality/absorbs the magic and power of Agatha Harkness in order to become the Scarlet Witch.
Nexus Event 7:
WandaVision (Post Credit)- Scarlet Witch proceeds to read the Darkhold, an ancient book of legendary sins.
Nexus Event 8:
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings- Shang-Chi uses the ten rings to kill the dweller in darkness. This, explored in the post credit scenes, alerted Kamar-Taj, and Wong in particular. Bruce, Wong, Carol, Shang-Chi, and Katie eventually notice a beacon in the rings, alerting some sort of unknown presence not discovered yet.
Nexus Event 9:
Spider-Man: No Way Home- Doctor Strange, under the influence of Spider-Man and Peter’s request to make everybody forget that he is the man under the mask, uses his magic to cast a spell that, initially, erased everybody’s knowledge of Peter being Spider-Man.
WHY ARE THESE NEXUS EVENTS SO IMPORTANT AND UNIQUE?
These events are unlike anything that we have ever seen in the MCU so far from the infinity saga. We obviously know that they influence whether or not the multiverse is kept maintained, but what we don’t know is how all of these events will negatively affect what happens in the future of phase four. With exciting and highly anticipated projects like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the Eternals coming into the MCU’s phase four shortly, we should most definitely get a more explained and thorough answer to all of our questions regarding what exactly will happen to the sacred timeline after everything that has happened.
PERSONAL THEORIES REGARDING THE NEXUS EVENTS:
After everything listed here, here is my personal opinion on what will be further explored in the upcoming projects involving the multiverse.
I believe that in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange will ultimately realize the importance behind the multiverse. He will acknowledge through his reckless actions that the idea behind the multiverse is no joke. Without a doubt, Spider-Man: No Way Home will lead into Doctor Strange’s second film. And I believe that, in Strange’s second film, the outcome of Spider-Man: No Way Home, WandaVision, Loki, etc. will all be explored very highly. This will more than likely be the “Avengers” film that we will not get in phase four. With Scarlet Witch, Mordo, Loki, Sylvie, and even Mobius being reported to make a unique appearance, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness should be the final showdown in the battle of the multiverses. Literally nobody knows what will happen, which is why it’s so highly anticipated. Anyone can make an appearance, it’s up to the return of Sam Raimi (Original Spider-Man trilogy direct: now directing Strange’s sequel) to decide.
I am also very interested in what the MCU will do in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, as Kang the Conqueror is expected to have a major role in that film as well as have a well-known presence from the Loki series. I believe that Sylvie’s actions will shadow what occurs in this film as well as Doctor Strange’s sequel. It will for sure be something to look forward to, as Kang is a very interesting and unique villain.