As the Marvel Cinematic Universe grows bigger by the year, the massive, widespread stories and villains are becoming a bit harder to follow. So with all the time spent getting the big picture in place, some confusing, hilarious, or just plain awesome mistakes have managed to slip into the finished movies. We’re willing to bet fans have missed plenty, so here are 10 Editing Mistakes Marvel Movies Hope You Missed.
Captain America: The First Avenger
He may be an American hero, but movie fans in the Bahamas were just as excited to see their own cameo in the movie - in the form of the Bahamanian flag, flying between the Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack at the World Expo. There’s one problem: the flag wasn’t created until 1973. Someone must have noticed, since it completely disappears in the next shot.
The Avengers
In Hollywood, continuity isn’t taken lightly, with people specifically hired to keep sets, costumes, and props exactly where they were in the previous shots. So when Cap takes a serious shot during the final fight of The Avengers, his suit is destroyed, and remains battle damaged into the next scenes. But those who thought the damage added some badass cred to Cap’s bright costume don’t have long to enjoy it - the suit is back to normal in the final scene, when it seems like it probably should be there to show how hard the battle really was.
Thor
When the god of thunder first realizes he can no longer lift his famous hammer, he’s taken into custody by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. At least, in the story he is. In the movie, the sound effects of metal handcuffs can be heard clearly, but when the camera switches to the overhead shot, not only is it just a white band on his wrists, but so loose, actor Chris Hemsworth’s hands almost slip out completely.
Ant-Man
Scott Lang’s time as a superhero is almost cut short when the movie’s villain has a gun to his head, but his trusty ants save the day, jamming the gun’s hammer to keep it from firing. Which would be a pretty cool moment, if the entire scene leading up to it hadn’t shown they were using Glocks, without external hammers. They didn’t bother getting the actual gun that would make sense, so were clearly hoping viewers weren’t paying close enough attention.
Iron Man
Problems with science are nothing new for Marvel, but if there’s one thing that’s nagged the movies from the very start, it’s the speed of sound: the fact that a distant explosion is always seen before it’s heard, since sound travels slower than light. Those disappointed to see the Jericho missile in Iron Man detonate a split second AFTER they heard it have hopefully gotten used to it. Since Thor’s hammer still rattles ear drums when it launches a sonic boom, no matter how far away it really is. Somewhere at Marvel, there’s a science buff tearing their hair out.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Most fans are willing to forget that it wouldn’t really be possible for Arnim Zola to live on as an artificial intelligence thanks to a sea of magnetic tape, since the scene it makes possible is a pretty important one. The footage from the first Captain America that he shows to Steve and Natasha is just as much of a leap, but we have to draw the line at being able to broadcast black and white film reels and HD newspaper scans on the green-and-black monochrome monitors actually found in the base.
The computer monitors might annoy techies in the audience, but for those who rely on maps or GPS, The Winter Soldier is even worse. When the coordinates are shown for the satellite launch ship in the Indian Ocean, both latitude and longitude are given in degrees NORTH, when latitude should be given in East or West. It’s a weird mistake, since the numbers actually make sense, just not the directions, and it’s made again when we see the SHIELD Triskellion, with both coordinates given in NORTH and SOUTH.
