One of the MCU’s Strangest Avengers Decisions Wasn’t Explained Until 2 Years Later

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is all about characters making tough choices. It all starts in Iron Man when Tony Stark finds himself at the mercy of the Ten Rings. Instead of accepting his fate, Tony builds a miniature Arc Reactor and the Mark I armor and escapes. He realizes the errors of his ways and shuts down the weapons manufacturing wing of Stark Industries. Turning over a new leaf puts Tony on Nick Fury’s radar, and after the hero defeats Iron Monger, he becomes part of the Avengers Initiative. Fury calls on his roster of heroes in The Avengers, and it proves to be a pretty smart move.

With Loki unleashing the Chitauri on New York City, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes come together for the first time and save their home from total annihilation. An organization that’s supposed to be on their side, S.H.I.E.L.D., doesn’t make things easy for them, though, making a strange decision that risks countless lives. Well, it turns out there is a good explanation for S.H.I.E.L.D.’s wild request.

The World Security Council Goes With the Nuclear Option in The Avengers

As soon as Loki makes his way to Midgard and uses his scepter to mind-control Clint Barton and Erik Selvig, Fury knows there’s no time to waste. He brings in Tony, Steve Rogers, and Bruce Banner to help track the God of Mischief and retrieve the Tesseract. Of course, Loki prepares for this scenario and gets himself captured so he can unleash the Hulk and put the pieces in place to open the portal for the Chitauri. The heroes are not in a good place after Loki’s escape, as Phil Coulson dies while they’re dealing with other things, but they still want to fight. They all head to New York City, where Loki and his lackeys are setting up shop.

Once the portal opens, all hell breaks loose in the city. There’s no time to fight Loki or grab the Tesseract because there are just so many aliens. The World Security Council, which Fury has to answer to, orders their subordinate to nuke the city to protect the rest of Earth. Fury doesn’t understand the decision and ignores it, but the Council moves forward and sends a missile toward Manhattan. Fortunately, Iron Man intercepts it and uses it to destroy the Chitauri flagship, saving millions in the process. Fury eventually gets his bosses to admit they made the wrong choice, but it turns out some of them have ulterior motives.

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The World Security Council doesn’t appreciate that Fury lets Thor take the Tesseract and Loki back to Asgard after the Battle of New York. It wants to monitor super-powered beings and keep developing weapons with the powerful object, but Fury believes the Avengers are all the world needs now. That scares at least two members of the World Security Council, Gideon Malick and Alexander Pierce, who are both secretly members of HYDRA. They’ve been trying to rein in Fury for years and get him to do their bidding, and putting all his eggs in the Avengers basket isn’t good for their bottom line.

It’s fair to assume, then, that Malick, who pushes Fury to send the nuke, is looking to destroy not just the Chitauri, but also the Avengers. With Fury’s heroes out of the picture, it will be easier for schemes like Project Insight to get off the ground and give HYDRA more influence. It takes Fury until Captain America: The Winter Soldier to realize that HYDRA has been growing right under his nose, and he almost dooms everyone by backing Project Insight and helping send three helicarriers with the ability to kill people from miles away into the air. Fortunately, the trust that Fury has in the Avengers pays off when Captain America comes to his aid and puts HYDRA in the ground for a second time. Fury may not be an easy guy to read, but he almost always makes the right play.

The Avengers is streaming on Disney+.

Were you surprised by the World Security Council’s decision to nuke New York in The Avengers? Does it make more sense after the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier? Let us know in the comments below!