SPOILERS for Avengers: Endgame ahead.
Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame finally acknowledges the TV side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the appearance of Edwin Jarvis (James D’Arcy) from Agent Carter. When the MCU kicked off with Iron Man in 2008, the plan initially only included movies. But in 2013, the MCU broke new ground with the premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC. A spinoff from 2012’s The Avengers, the show followed Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his team at S.H.I.E.L.D., dealing with the fallout from the events of the movies and battling their own enemies.
Marvel TV continued to expand their side of the MCU, with the Captain America: The First Avenger spinoff Agent Carter on ABC as well as the slew of TV shows on Netflix. However, fans grew increasingly irritated the MCU movies failed to acknowledge all that occurred in the television series, as Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb’s regular refrain of “It’s all connected” started feeling more and more hollow. At a certain point, fans had to accept that the Marvel movies and TV shows were separate, despite ostensibly taking place in the same universe. Now, though, Avengers: Endgame finally gives a little recognition to the Marvel TV side of the MCU.
When the heroes in Avengers: Endgame time travel to the past to collect Infinity Stones as a way to bring back those who were decimated by Thanos at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) travel to 1970. There, Tony runs across a younger version of his father, Howard Stark (John Slattery), and Howard’s butler, Edwin Jarvis. Although the moment may not mean too much for those that didn’t watch Agent Carter, this is the first instance of a character being cast for one of the Marvel TV shows appearing in an MCU movie.
Certainly, characters have crossed over from the films to the TV shows in the past - and a few have even gone back to the movies - like Coulson, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), the Howling Commandos and Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander). However, a character who first appeared in a Marvel TV show has never crossed over to the movies until Jarvis in Avengers: Endgame. This is likely the result of the disconnect between Marvel Studios and Marvel TV, but fans aren’t necessarily aware of the behind the scenes machinations of the MCU, they just know that these two sides of the universe aren’t as connected as they were initially lead to believe.
As a result, it’s heartening to see Avengers: Endgame finally acknowledge a Marvel TV show, even if it’s Agent Carter, which was cancelled in 2016. Jarvis showing up in Avengers: Endgame makes sense for the storyline of the movie. After all, he was Howard Stark’s butler and an important part of Howard’s life at the time Tony visits. However, Jarvis is far from the Marvel TV character fans would most like to see in the MCU movies. Heroes like Daredevil, Luke Cage, The Punisher and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Quake would have likely gotten a bigger fan reaction, but they’d also make less sense since they have no connection to the Avengers.
Still, perhaps Agent Carter’s Jarvis in Avengers: Endgame is a hint of what’s to come: more connection between the TV shows and movies. Fans would no doubt like to see more proof that “it’s all connected,” but with Marvel Studios launching their own TV shows on Disney+, it seems likely the series produced by Marvel TV will become even more disconnected, not less. So Jarvis may be the first - and last - Marvel TV character to cross over into the movies, but hopefully that won’t be the case.
Next: Avengers Endgame: 30 Things You Completely Missed
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