The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to grow and introduce more superheroes and villains into the billion-dollar franchise’s roster, and did you know? Most of the MCU characters’ first appearances did not even happen in their own solo films!
To reiterate, the ‘Avengers’ mentioned in this article mostly include the heroes who fought with the original six during Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.
Well, here’s a list of each Avenger that debuted before their solo Marvel movie (or series).
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Nick Fury
Though he is not a member of the Avengers, he did make the Avengers team happen. Starting off with Iron Man’s post-credit scenes, Fury built Earth’s Mightiest Heroes with Tony Stark and since then has been recruiting more powerful heroes to add to his roster, before he even (finally) got his own solo series, Secret Invasion.
Clint Barton / Hawkeye
If you’re thinking that Hawkeye made his first appearance in The Avengers, you’re wrong. Clint Barton first entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 2011 Thor film.
At the time, he was working with S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Coulson to prevent Thor from trying to reach his hammer when it crash-landed on Earth.
It was a pretty sweet teaser on getting to see yet another Avenger come into the picture before he met with the others. This, of course, includes Black Widow.
Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow
Black Widow came into the MCU picture when Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. specifically tasked her to keep an eye on Tony Stark in Iron Man 2.
As a result, Natasha Romanoff hid her identity behind 'Natalie Rushman' to become Tony Stark’s personal assistant, which she nailed the moment she showed she wasn’t fazed by how eccentric Tony acted at their first meeting.
Let alone how she even beat Happy in the boxing ring in one swoop.
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Bucky Barnes / The Winter Soldier
Bucky Barnes or James Buchanan Barnes was just Bucky, Steve Rogers’ childhood best friend who first appeared in Captain America: The First Avenger.
That is until she became the hundred-year-old killing machine Winter Soldier in the sequel. Memories wiped off by HYDRA, manipulated into using his Super Soldier-induced build into working for the bad guys.
Although he got his redemption arc for helping the Avengers in Infinity War and Endgame, he could never fully escape his past. Not even in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier series.
Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch
Before we got to know Wanda Maximoff as the one who wreaked havoc over Westview in WandaVision and the Scarlet Witch who hunted down America Chavez in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, she was but a kid who wanted revenge against Stark Industries for killing her family when she was younger.
First introduced in the post-credit scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, she and her twin brother, Pietro Maximoff / Quicksilver, went to fight against the Avengers in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Sam Wilson / The Falcon / Captain America
Sam Wilson or the Falcon made his entrance into the MCU as early as Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which eventually led to him helping Cap in the threequel, Captain America: Civil War.
Sam was one of the first people Steve Rogers ever got to truly connect with since he came out of being frozen, thus why it makes sense how Sam had become the new Captain America in the ever-growing MCU.
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Peter Parker / Spider-Man
Tony Stark found Peter Parker off the internet just in time for his civil war against Captain America. Spider-Man was played off as a surprise rookie hero on his side of the team, much similar to Ant-Man on Cap's team.
It played off really well, considering this was Peter's introduction in his own solo film, Spider-Man: Homecoming, where he was making a vlog of himself on his journey to becoming a part of the Avengers.
T’Challa / Black Panther
The Prince of Wakanda made his debut in Captain America: Civil War, where he and his people gathered together to sign the Sokovia Accords that would prevent the Avengers from repeating their mistake in Lagos.
It was also considered to be a very emotional debut since T’Challa lost his father on that same day, with suspicions quickly drawn towards the Winter Soldier.
Black Panther wouldn’t be siding with Captain America, given that Steve didn’t even want anything to do with the Sokovia Accords, leading T’Challa to side with Iron Man and come up against Bucky Barnes.
There’s a bit of an advantage for the earlier MCU heroes, considering that Marvel Studios was still building their universe from the ground up, thus introducing the characters ahead of their solo movie wouldn’t make sense at all.
But now, as the Marvel Cinematic Universe and their Multiverse continue to expand, this is most likely not going to be their first time debuting more heroes ahead of their solo debuts in the franchise.
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