All 5 Marvel One-Shots & What They Add To MCU Canon

The Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s one-shots are a beloved but often forgotten piece of the long-running franchise but are just as important to Marvel’s continuity as ever. While the MCU has generally moved away from the one-off shorts that would often accompany the release of films, the recent surge of Disney+ content has led the franchise to take a similar approach when creating Special Presentations like Werewolf by Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. While it is unclear whether or not Marvel Studios will ever release additional one-shots to accompany projects in the Multiverse Saga, the original five short films are actually quite important to MCU canon.

As the MCU gambled on creating a franchise based around the Avengers throughout Phase 1, the studio released a series of four one-shots, which accompanied several films leading up to 2012’s The Avengers. These films were used for a variety of purposes, including patching plot holes, setting up spinoffs, and teasing upcoming films. These short films typically centered around Clark Gregg’s SHIELD agent, Phil Coulson, but also featured several other returning characters from the MCU. While each one-shot was entertaining, Marvel moved away from these vignettes during Phase 2, with their fifth and final one-shot coming in 2014, playing off the controversial events of Iron Man 3.

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5 The Consultant

The first Marvel one-shot, The Consultant, sees Agent Phil Coulson recommend the Hulk for the Avengers roster, though matters aren’t as simple as he would hope. After the events of The Incredible Hulk, the World Security Council saw Emil Blonsky, the Abomination, as the perfect addition to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes despite his rampage in Harlem. Coulson and Jasper Sitwell conspire in order to keep Abomination off the team, deciding that Tony Stark, their eponymous consultant, should be the one to approach General Thaddeus Ross about recruiting Blonsky, knowing that the two egomaniacal men would fail to make an agreement. Their plan works, and Ross refuses Blonsky’s admittance to the Avengers.

The Consultant has become extremely important in potentially setting up Abomination’s secret role in Thunderbolts, revealing that Blonsky has nearly been recruited for a superhero team in the past. At the time, however, the one-shot was more focused on filling in the plot hole left behind by Tony Stark’s cameo in The Incredible Hulk, which implied that he was visiting Ross in order to recruit the Hulk for the Avengers, despite Ross not knowing where the Hulk was and Tony having no official connection to the Avengers at the time of the film. As was revealed, Tony’s visit was merely a ploy designed by Coulson at Director Nick Fury’s behest.

4 A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor’s Hammer

Iron Man 2‘s end credits scene introduced Thor’s MCU arrival, teasing that Coulson had discovered the Norse god’s mystical hammer in the Nevada desert, setting up the SHIELD agent’s role in the upcoming Thor film. However, the home release of Captain America: The First Avenger included a one-shot taking place between Coulson’s appearances in Iron Man 2 and Thor, entitled A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer. This one-shot, a direct reference to the musical comedy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, sees Phil Coulson gleefully foil a gas station robbery that he happens upon while traveling to the site of Mjolnir’s impact.

While the title of this one-shot references Mjolnir, one of the MCU’s most powerful weapons, Thor’s hammer doesn’t actually have much to do with its plot. Instead, the one-shot operates as a fun aside that allows Phil Coulson’s character to be further fleshed out, earning him a beloved place among Phase 1’s cast of characters. For those who took the time to watch A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer, the expansion of Coulson’s character also served to further the emotional weight behind his death at Loki’s hands during the events of The Avengers, a film that was released only a few months after this one-shot.

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3 Item 47

The climactic third act of The Avengers features the Battle of New York, a vital MCU moment in which Earth’s Mightiest Heroes defeat the invading Chitauri army–but left many loose ends thereafter. Item 47 explores the fallout that occurs when a couple, played by Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Bradford, discover a Chitauri weapon left behind after the Battle of New York and use it in a string of bank robberies. Agents Jasper Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernandez) and Felix Blake (Titus Welliver) are assigned by SHIELD to kill the couple and recover the alien technology. However, Sitwell has a change of heart, deciding to hire the two perpetrators rather than kill them.

Item 47 and the other one-shots helped the MCU spinoff Agents of SHIELD take form, gauging the public’s interest in seeing future exploits from SHIELD and its cast of characters. Ultimately, the success of the short film led to Disney greenlighting the now beloved series, which saw both Hernandez and Welliver return as guest stars throughout the first season. While the events of Item 47 have not directly come into play in future MCU projects, the premise of Chitauri technology being turned into weapons for illegal purposes is a major part of Adrian Toomes’s criminal empire in Spider-Man: Homecoming, leading him to become the supervillain known as the Vulture.

2 Agent Carter

Although Hayley Atwell’s beloved character, Agent Peggy Carter, has had her MCU timeline rewritten on numerous occasions, there was a time in which her exploits were a major part of the franchise’s future, beginning with her one-shot short Agent Carter. The short film depicted Peggy’s life one year after Steve Rogers’s apparent death in Captain America: The First Avenger. Attempting to aid the war effort as a part of the SSR but grows disillusioned when her coworkers are sexist toward her. This all changes when Peggy takes on a mission meant for multiple agents, proving just how skilled an agent she is and earning the begrudging respect of her superiors.

This one-shot led to the creation of Agent Carter, a series centered around Atwell’s character that ran on ABC for two seasons before being canceled. While Agent Carter and other Marvel Television projects aren’t considered MCU canon, each series has maintained a passionate fanbase in the years since its finale. Atwell has returned in projects like Avengers: Endgame and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The original one-shot was even directly referenced in the first episode of What If…?, with Bradley Whitford returning to voice his character who appeared in Agent Carter, implying that the events of the short film may be canon despite the series’ less fortunate fate.

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1 All Hail The King

All Hail the King is a short film that follows Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery in prison after the events of Iron Man 3. After masquerading as the Mandarin, the villainous leader of the Ten Rings, Slattery is interviewed in prison by a mysterious reporter. However, the one-shot surprisingly becomes important to Phase 4 of the MCU when it is revealed that the interviewer is actually a member of the Ten Rings organization. The covert terrorist ends the short film by abducting a confused Slattery and revealing that the real Mandarin “wants his name back,” retconning Iron Man 3‘s most controversial supervillain twist.

The events of All Hail the King prove that it is the most important Marvel one-shot to date, teasing the introduction of one of Iron Man’s most fearsome enemies from the comics. Not only does the short film act as a fun aside following Kingsley’s delightfully eccentric character, but it also introduces the real Mandarin, setting up Shang-Chi’s MCU debut years before Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings hit theaters, bringing with it Slattery’s return. Trevor Slattery is also confirmed to return in the upcoming Wonder Man Disney+ project, hinting that All Hail the King may continue to have rippling effects throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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