The Blip
The Blip is a fictional major event and period of time depicted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Blip began in 2018 when Thanos, wielding all six Infinity Stones in the Infinity Gauntlet, exterminated half of all living things in the universe, chosen at random, with the snap of his fingers. The Blip ended five years later, on October 17, 2023, when the Avengers utilized time travel to collect the Infinity Stones from prior points in the timeline and, with a second snap by Avengers member Bruce Banner, restored all those previously killed by Thanos.
Aspects of the Blip have been featured in Phases Three, Four, and Five of the MCU, most notably in Avengers: Infinity War, which is when the first snap occurred, and Avengers: Endgame, where the second snap took place. In addition, a variety of other MCU films and television series have referenced or depicted aspects of the Blip. The consequences of the Blip were substantial and far-reaching. Some were portrayed for comic effects, such as "blipped" school band members reappearing in the middle of a basketball game and "blipped" characters now being years younger than their own "unblipped" previously younger siblings. Others were portrayed for dramatic effect, such as blipped characters returning to general chaos and confusion, finding that loved ones had died in their absence, their homes and life savings were repossessed, and their jobs had been filled by others.
The Blip inspired the creation of a real-world event on the website Reddit, in which a randomly selected half of the members of a highly popular subreddit would be banned, simulating the effects of the Blip. The ban of over 300,000 accounts, which included Infinity War and Endgame co-director Anthony Russo, was the largest in Reddit's history. The Blip, as an event within the MCU, has been compared to the COVID-19 pandemic as something that has a sustained effect on people all over the world. Since the Blip in Infinity War, many scientific articles have been published analyzing various aspects of the event, including whether it would even be possible for Thanos to snap his fingers while wearing the Infinity Gauntlet.
Etymology
Following the release of Avengers: Infinity War, the event was dubbed by fans as "the Snap", "the Snappening", or "the Snapture". In the tie-in novel Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War: The Cosmic Quest Volume Two: Aftermath by Brandon T. Snider, the event was referred to as "the Decimation", but this naming was not used in any other related media. The event was referred to as "the Blip" in Spider-Man: Far From Home, but Kevin Feige later clarified that "the Snap" referred to Thanos' finger snap in Avengers: Infinity War while "the Blip" referred to Bruce Banner's finger snap in Avengers: Endgame. Despite Feige's comments, both events were collectively referred to as "the Blip" in MCU projects such as WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and The Marvels, and the term also appears to reference the five-year gap between the two snaps during which half of the universe's population was wiped from existence, such as used in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Secret Invasion uses both "the Blip" and "the Snap".Known victims and survivors
Victims
The Blip wiped out 50% of all living creatures. Memorials to the "vanished" victims were erected in communities across the universe. Among the victims were:Survivors
Those known to have survived the Blip include:- Bruce Banner
- Clint Barton
- Kate Bishop
- Sharon Carter
- Carol Danvers
- Brad Davis
- Wilson Fisk
- Goose
- Roger Harrington
- Tyler Hayward
- Happy Hogan
- Howard the Duck
- Korg
- Cassie Lang
- Scott Lang
- Maya Lopez
- William Lopez
- M'Baku
- Miek
- Karli Morgenthau
- Matt Murdock
- Nakia
- Nebula
- Okoye
- Christine Palmer
- Pepper Potts
- Maria Rambeau
- Ramonda
- James Rhodes
- Rocket
- Steve Rogers
- Natasha Romanoff
- Marc Spector
- Tony Stark
- Toussaint / T'Challa II
- Talos
- Thanos
- Thor
- Joaquin Torres
- Valkyrie
- Varra / Priscilla Fury
- Wong
Depictions
Infinity Saga
In Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos obtains the six Infinity Stones and places them within a Gauntlet built by Eitri, so that he can snap his fingers and eliminate half of all life in the universe, which he believes will bring a balance that will prevent greater catastrophes from fighting over resources. The Blip occurs at the end of the film in Wakanda, where numerous characters are blipped, including Bucky Barnes, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Wanda Maximoff, Peter Parker, Stephen Strange, T'Challa, Sam Wilson, Peter Quill, Groot, Drax, and Mantis. The Russo brothers also revealed that, despite not appearing in Infinity War, Betty Ross and Sif were blipped as well. The Blip is shown by characters slowly turning into dust and disappearing.In a mid-credits scene in Ant-Man and the Wasp, Hank Pym, Hope van Dyne, and Janet van Dyne are blipped, leaving Scott Lang stranded in the Quantum Realm. In a subsequent post-credits scene, a nationwide broadcast of the Emergency Alert System is shown on a television in Lang's house.
In a post-credits scene of Captain Marvel, the Avengers are surveying reports of worldwide population losses at the Avengers Compound, when Carol Danvers abruptly appears, having received a distress signal from Fury that he sent through a pager before he blipped.
When asked how the sixth season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., set one year after the events of the fifth season and Infinity War, would connect to the then-upcoming Avengers: Endgame, Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb suggested in March 2019 that the one-year time jump between the previous season of the series and this one was part of the series's tie-in to that film. After Endgame was released in April, the showrunners and Loeb revealed that the series would not directly depict or reference the Blip for several reasons. They began production on the season without knowing all of Endgame plot or how Far From Home would be depicting a post-Endgame MCU. They were also unsure when the season would be released in relation to Endgame and how much they would be allowed to reveal if they had begun airing before the film was released. They wanted to focus on telling their own story rather than be "shackled too much to the universe-changing events from the films". While acknowledging that this meant the series seemingly no longer lined up with the films' timeline, producer Jed Whedon stated that the writers had an explanation for this that made sense to them even though they did not plan to "burden the audience" with it. A line referencing the Blip and how the Quantum Realm could be used to avoid it was filmed for the series finale but was ultimately cut from the aired episode.
In Avengers: Endgame, Clint Barton's family, Erik Selvig, Shuri, and Jane Foster are confirmed to have been blipped. In the Avengers Compound, Sharon Carter and Scott Lang are also listed as blipped, though Carter went rogue to establish her identity as the Power Broker in Madripoor and Lang was unaccounted for due to being trapped in the Quantum Realm. Some of the surviving heroes travel to the planet where Thanos has gone to attempt to recover the Infinity Stones and undo the Blip, only to learn that Thanos had destroyed the Stones to ensure that his work could not be undone. Five years later, the effects of the disappearances are explored, with many characters having experiences resulting from the event. For example, Barton is distraught at the loss of his family and takes on a new identity as Ronin, travelling the world to massacre organized crime figures involved in the drug trade and child trafficking. Rogers leads a support group in New York City for those dealing with the loss of loved ones in the Blip. Thor, who blames himself for failing to kill Thanos before the initial snap, becomes an out-of-shape alcoholic. Urban decay is apparent in cities such as New York City and San Francisco. Danvers tells the Avengers that the chaos happening on Earth is also occurring on other planets.
In the meantime, Scott Lang is freed from the Quantum Realm, having only experienced five hours instead of years. He comes across a memorial park listing names of the vanished, including himself, then reunites with his daughter Cassie, who had been a young girl when he last saw her and is now a teenager. Lang informs the remaining Avengers and allies about his discovery: the Quantum Realm can allow time travel. While they soon determine that the nature of time travel means that they cannot simply go back in time and stop Thanos from either causing the Blip or destroying the Stones in the first place, they are able to use Pym Particles to travel through the Quantum Realm to retrieve the Infinity Stones from alternate timelines in the past. Upon returning to the present, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and Rocket develop a Gauntlet composed of Stark's nanotech that is capable of harnessing the power of the Stones. Due to the powerful emission of gamma radiation resulting from the Stones' use, Banner volunteers to wear the Gauntlet and successfully restores the blipped victims in the condition they had vanished. The Avengers are then attacked by an alternate version of Thanos who intends to destroy and recreate the universe. A final battle ensues and Stark ultimately wins the battle by using the Stones to destroy Thanos and his army, at the cost of his own life. Following a funeral honoring Stark's sacrifice, Rogers travels back in time to return the Stones to their original time periods.
In Spider-Man: Far From Home, the Blip is discussed in a school news broadcast at the beginning of the film, which is the first instance in any medium of the name. The broadcast shows Midtown School of Science and Technology band members reappearing in the middle of a basketball game. The film reveals that several more characters had been blipped and restored, including Peter's aunt May Parker and his classmates Ned Leeds, MJ, Betty Brant, and Flash Thompson. Parker's teacher Roger Harrington complains that his wife had pretended to have been blipped in order to leave him. As part of a viral marketing campaign to promote the home media release of Far From Home, a real version of the fictional TheDailyBugle.net website was created that featured testimonials from supposed victims of the Blip, including one complaining that they disappeared in a dangerous situation and were seriously injured when they reappeared. This contradicted a statement by Feige saying that anyone in such a situation would have reappeared safely. Several days after this was pointed out, the website was updated to say this story was faked for an insurance claim.