MCU: World of the Snap

[M1982]

I think the panic buying

You mean panic looting? Surely you don't expect the surviving half of cashiers to just go back to their jobs.

There'd be weeks during which everythings disrupted because most of the remaining half would be interested in literally everything except for going to do their pre-snap jobs

[Saintheart]

The Bifrost was always controlled from a fixed point, and relies on the operator at the other end being aware of the desire for it to be activated and turning it on.

Then how does Heimdall send Banner to Earth at the start of the film? By that point Asgard had been destroyed.

Googling suggests that the Bifrost is summoned, it doesn't sit at a fixed point.

[Androgeus]

The Bifrost was always controlled from a fixed point,

Would Asguard's "fixed point" actually be Heimdall's sword so the the use at the start of Infinity War makes sense? Or would that be accounted for by Heimdall dying request?

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Androgeus
Would Asguard's "fixed point" actually be Heimdall's sword so the the use at the start of Infinity War makes sense? Or would that be accounted for by Heimdall dying request?

This makes sense, especially since Hela wasn’t able to open the Bifrost without the sword, and she made finding it a top priority.

[Tyndmyr]

One topic I haven't seen addressed and which might be worth speculation: what impact 1,000 Asgardian refugees have on this situation, given they likely bring significantly advanced technology to the mix?

Endgame doesn't show them doing a whole lot with tech. It's a fishing village, essentially. They probably didn't get to carry out a whole lot of technology with them, given that they're two evacuations deep at this point, and have suffered a great deal of casualties. There may be some knowledge locked away, but they are mostly rebuilding themselves, not really in a position to save the world.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Tyndmyr
They probably didn't get to carry out a whole lot of technology with them, given that they're two evacuations deep at this point, and have suffered a great deal of casualties. There may be some knowledge locked away, but they are mostly rebuilding themselves, not really in a position to save the world.

Exactly this.

In Ragnarok, the Asgardians had already fled their homes once to hide in the mountain, and were trying to flee again through the Bifrost, so they had virtually nothing beyond the clothes on their backs.

[Saintheart]

Would Asguard's "fixed point" actually be Heimdall's sword so the the use at the start of Infinity War makes sense? Or would that be accounted for by Heimdall dying request?

This makes sense, especially since Hela wasn’t able to open the Bifrost without the sword, and she made finding it a top priority.

The problem being: Eitri all but says Stormbreaker is capable of the same thing (and again, Googling, the MCU Wiki, and Wikipedia all suggest the Bifrost is a dimensional energy that doesn't require a fixed point to access, merely the right kind of power - whether that's dark magic, Asgardian technology, or strength from the Allfathers):

"This is the plan? We're gonna hit him with a brick?"
"It's a mold. A king's weapon. Meant to be the greatest in Asgard. In theory, it could even summon the Bifrost."
"Did it have a name?"
"Stormbreaker."

There's no mention of a Bifrost fixed point being present on Nidavellir. I think the simpler explanation is that the writers just plain forgot that Thor could rainbow-bridge his way around the universe -- or needed him to not want to do so, in order to depower him sufficiently so his powers don't break the plot of Endgame and/or Infinity War. There's not much reason given on film for why Thor wasn't summoning the Bifrost during the period of the Snap otherwise. Sure, we can bootstrap-levitation it by saying "He didn't, so there must've been some obvious reason why he didn't", but I think 'plothole' is the most obvious one. This is one of those situations where a throwaway couple of lines would've helped:

'Thor, can you teleport us to Thanos's hideout?'
'No. Stormbreaker doesn't have enough energy to summon the Bifrost again.'
'How much energy are we talking about?'
'More than all of your world's nuclear powerplants put out in three centuries combined. That is, a quantity of energy that normally only an infinity stone can provide. Or all the Allfathers' dark magic, which has been used up and will be several of your lifetimes regenerating. Absent that, we would have to be within several hundred lightyears of Asgard or Nidavellir. We're going to have to use the Morons' former ship to get to Thanos.'

[hungrycrow]

It's possible that accessing the Bifrost through Stormbringer takes some skill. Thor wasn't really in a shape to go through a training arc in Endgame.

[Saintheart]

It's possible that accessing the Bifrost through Stormbringer takes some skill. Thor wasn't really in a shape to go through a training arc in Endgame.

He had five years in which to evolve into Fat Thor, which is kinda a while. Nothing says Eitri summoned the Bifrost for him or that he's worthy enough to wield Stormbreaker to do the same thing, the weapon is all but bonded to Thor and possibly Cap.

That said, other handy speculative possibilities include that Thor might've used up a lot of his own personal, inherent strength/lightning/lifeforce to get Stormbreaker to summon the Bifrost, and consequently he wasn't at full, world-destroying strength at Wakanda or throughout Endgame.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Real question: how long can the power grid stay up if workers can't get to power plants?

What are shifts like at power plants? If they’re staffed 24-7 there might already be people there. Admittedly demoralized and disorganized, but present. If not the US, at least, and anyone between New York and whatever timezone Wakanda is in were Snapped during daylight hours.

The fact is that we have built a delicate, highly sensitive support system for ourselves, which is energy-intensive and operates at a massive scale. It’s good at delivering a high volume of product on a predictable schedule, but not good at handling comparatively minor, Covid-style disruptions. And as Tyndmyr points out, the Snap would be hundreds of times worse.

I’m not sure this is an apples-to-apples comparison though; I certainly agree the Snap would be a much bigger disruption, but once it’s over there isn’t any reason not to (try to) get everything as close to functioning as fast as possible; shutdowns would occur because either the people aren’t there or the equipment isn’t, not because it was externally mandated that everyone close.

By whom?

Half the highway workers will be gone. Those that remain will be focused on ensuring the safety of their families.

By doing what, though? If a phone call isn’t good enough to check on their surviving family members - call volume immediately after the Snap is probably prohibitively high - then they need to physically get to their families which will involve unblocking major transit routes, unless everyone in the family lives and works within walking distance of each other.

Remember, most people won’t have any idea what’s happened. No one but the Avengers and a few Wakandans know why half the world is suddenly gone, so most survivors will be wondering if they’ll be disappearing in the next five minutes, or tomorrow, or the day after that. There is no certainly about anything.

So this uncertainty lasts (for everyone with a working TV/internet connection) until the Avengers/Wakandan PR department pull together enough to have a press conference. I feel like that would be days at the most, especially since these are heroes who know that more chaos will ensue the longer people don’t know what happened.

One topic I haven't seen addressed and which might be worth speculation: what impact 1,000 Asgardian refugees have on this situation, given they likely bring significantly advanced technology to the mix?

This did come up in the FATWS thread; the Asgardians don’t actually need to be handing out super tech or flinging around magic to be welcomed with open arms. They are extra warm bodies when those are in short supply, and super strong which, if nothing else, would make it relatively easy to push derelict cars off the road. They’ll be useful, and they have no reason not to be useful.

You mean panic looting? Surely you don't expect the surviving half of cashiers to just go back to their jobs.

If they have bills to pay? Didn’t lose anyone in the Snap (say, single person whose parents either weren’t Snapped or died of something else previously)? Are trying to bury their grief in work? They might. Not necessarily day-of, but some people are more resilient than others.

He had five years in which to evolve into Fat Thor, which is kinda a while. Nothing says Eitri summoned the Bifrost for him or that he's worthy enough to wield Stormbreaker to do the same thing, the weapon is all but bonded to Thor and possibly Cap.

That said, other handy speculative possibilities include that Thor might've used up a lot of his own personal, inherent strength/lightning/lifeforce to get Stormbreaker to summon the Bifrost, and consequently he wasn't at full, world-destroying strength at Wakanda or throughout Endgame.

…could we blame the Accords for this? Maybe Thor agreed not to go opening wormholes without UN say-so in return for his people being accepted on Earth and granted living space? I admit I’m reaching here.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Kareeah_Indaga
…the Asgardians don’t actually need to be handing out super tech or flinging around magic to be welcomed with open arms. They are extra warm bodies when those are in short supply, and super strong which, if nothing else, would make it relatively easy to push derelict cars off the road.

Well, maybe. Do we know when exactly the surviving Asgardians came to Earth?

At the time of the Snap itself, they should still have been drifting in their half of the Statesman, somewhere in deep space. I don’t think they were on Earth during the Snap or its immediate aftermath.

For all we know, it took them a year or two just to reach Earth, so I’m not sure they would have been a factor.

Originally Posted by Kareeah_Indaga
…could we blame the Accords for this? Maybe Thor agreed not to go opening wormholes without UN say-so in return for his people being accepted on Earth and granted living space? I admit I’m reaching here.

That is indeed kind of a reach. Thor himself never dealt with the Accords on-screen. and I can’t imagine he would feel bound by clauses and subparagraphs when there’s hero work to be done.

Also, even crushed and demoralized as the Asgardians are, in practical terms no one is evicting them from whatever plot of land they decide to settle on. They may be polite about it, but they really don’t need anyone’s acceptance or permission, and there’s not much anyone can do about it. They’re famous for being hard to perish, and it’s not like the local National Guard would have much success against them.

[Brother Oni]

Also, even crushed and demoralized as the Asgardians are, in practical terms no one is evicting them from whatever plot of land they decide to settle on. They may be polite about it, but they really don’t need anyone’s acceptance or permission, and there’s not much anyone can do about it. They’re famous for being hard to perish, and it’s not like the local National Guard would have much success against them.

New Asgard is in the village of Tønsberg in Norway in the Marvel universe (not the actual Tønsberg).

The Norwegian government would likely be more than happy to grant them refugee status and and let them settle in a remote village, while hoping that a number of awkward questions like 'Are you the actual Thor? THE Thor Odinson in our legends?" are minimised; Earth physicists are probably still coming to terms with everything they knew about the cosmology of the universe is wrong and that Yggdrasil IS the World Tree that controls access to the 9 Realms.

[Tyndmyr]

I’m not sure this is an apples-to-apples comparison though; I certainly agree the Snap would be a much bigger disruption, but once it’s over there isn’t any reason not to (try to) get everything as close to functioning as fast as possible; shutdowns would occur because either the people aren’t there or the equipment isn’t, not because it was externally mandated that everyone close.

From a strictly logical point, sure. We'd want things functioning.

But there would definitely be a lot of shock and trauma to cope with. Having someone close to you die generally is something that bothers people, and losing roughly half of them at once would put pretty much anyone off their game.

There would be all kinds of ongoing effects, even once people learned that it wasn't happening again. Initially, people might freak out before they know whats happening. All kinds of reactions, not all of them logical.

The MCU didn't delve deeply into this beyond everyone being sad five years later and such, but right away, that'd be...intense.

[M1982]

They’re famous for being hard to perish, and it’s not like the local National Guard would have much success against them.

Not that any government would try it, they'd be rather ecstatic about being the chosen host, but aside from some heavy hitters the rank-and-file asgardians aren't an insurmountable challenge. Tougher than humans in 1:1, but guns and tanks and planes would more than even the field

[Tyndmyr]

Exactly this.

In Ragnarok, the Asgardians had already fled their homes once to hide in the mountain, and were trying to flee again through the Bifrost, so they had virtually nothing beyond the clothes on their backs.

Well, they were evacuated in a ship, but that ship wasn't one of theirs, and therefore may not have been exactly chock full of their tech. It was also chopped in half by Thanos, and at least a lot of the evacuees killed. This happened immediately after the evac, because Thanos's ship is shown in the post credits scene of Thor: Ragnaork.

We really don't see how they get from there to earth, and it honestly is kind of impressive that any of them are alive at all, given that Thanos left Thor for dead until the GotG bumped into him. The Guardians definitely didn't haul the rest of the survivors back, but maybe somehow a later rescue effort was mounted, and a handful were alive in rooms that still held air or something?

The only person we see escape the wreckage via bifrost is Hulk, and we definitely don't see any survivors show up with him, and Eitri died immediately thereafter, so it seems unlikely that that's an out.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by M1982
Not that any government would try it, they'd be rather ecstatic about being the chosen host, but aside from some heavy hitters the rank-and-file asgardians aren't an insurmountable challenge.

We’ve only seen a few of them fight at length, so it’s hard to say.

But even Skurge’s ditzy dates stepped up as shieldmaidens when they had to. I have a feeling that all Asgardians have at least some combat training, which for an Asgardian might mean a few decades’ worth. But Thor does seem to be the only one who can fly, not to mention sparkly fingers and etc.

As for governments, some of them might be extremely nervous having superpowered aliens settling in. They don’t necessarily know that not every Asgardian flies around shooting lightning, and there would be a lot of fear and panic if word got out that alien refugees were camped in Norway. These are the people who built the Destroyer, after all.

And the world in general will probably not be too welcoming to aliens after the Snap. If any one segment of video makes it onto the internet after the Snap, it'll likely be a shot of either the aliens wrecking New York, or the massive horde of four-armed monstrosities swarming into Wakanda.

Originally Posted by Tyndmyr
Well, they were evacuated in a ship, but that ship wasn't one of theirs, and therefore may not have been exactly chock full of their tech. It was also chopped in half by Thanos, and at least a lot of the evacuees killed.

This, indeed. It is impressive that any of them survived that far.

And then remember that after all of that, half of those survivors were lost to the Snap.

Originally Posted by Tyndmyr
The only person we see escape the wreckage via bifrost is Hulk, and we definitely don't see any survivors show up with him, and Eitri died immediately thereafter….

Do you mean Heimdall? He was the one who summoned the Bifrost (or at least its “dark energy”) for Hulk, right before being killed.

.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Well, they were evacuated in a ship, but that ship wasn't one of theirs, and therefore may not have been exactly chock full of their tech. It was also chopped in half by Thanos, and at least a lot of the evacuees killed. This happened immediately after the evac, because Thanos's ship is shown in the post credits scene of Thor: Ragnaork.

We really don't see how they get from there to earth, and it honestly is kind of impressive that any of them are alive at all, given that Thanos left Thor for dead until the GotG bumped into him. The Guardians definitely didn't haul the rest of the survivors back, but maybe somehow a later rescue effort was mounted, and a handful were alive in rooms that still held air or something?

The only person we see escape the wreckage via bifrost is Hulk, and we definitely don't see any survivors show up with him, and Eitri died immediately thereafter, so it seems unlikely that that's an out.

The Russos apparently had a Q&A where it came up, and there were escape pods used.

(Also I'm assuming you mean Heimdall died, not Eitri.) EDIT: Ninja'd!

As for governments, some of them might be extremely nervous having superpowered aliens settling in. They don’t necessarily know that not every Asgardian flies around shooting lightning, and there would be a lot of fear and panic if word got out that alien refugees were camped in Norway. These are the people who built the Destroyer, after all.

And the world in general will probably not be too welcoming to aliens after the Snap. If any one segment of video makes it onto the internet after the Snap, it'll likely be a shot of either the aliens wrecking New York, or the massive horde of four-armed monstrosities swarming into Wakanda.

The Destroyer showed up before superheros went mainstream, how many people - including SHIELD - 1.) Know the Destroyer was of Asguardian make and 2.) Don't know Thor and his buddies helped protect the town it showed up in? And even if it's a significant number, that was several years ago and Thor's had plenty of time to build up good will since then.

While I won't say that no one would panic or give the Asgardians the stink eye for being aliens, Thor is pretty famous and well-known as a hero at this point, so I don't see his people wanting a place to settle going over that badly.

Now if the Outriders were asking for asylum, that would be another story...

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Kareeah_Indaga
The Destroyer showed up before superheros went mainstream, how many people - including SHIELD - 1.) Know the Destroyer was of Asguardian make and 2.) Don't know Thor and his buddies helped protect the town it showed up in? And even if it's a significant number, that was several years ago and Thor's had plenty of time to build up good will since then.

Good points here. Thor has definitely built up plenty of goodwill since his first arrival, since he’s posing for selfies with giggly fans not long before the Snap.

So the Destroyer might not factor into it—but still, aliens visibly wrecked parts of New York and Glasgow right before the Snap, so I think the there would be more post-Snap animosity towards aliens in general.

Originally Posted by Kareeah_Indaga
…Thor is pretty famous and well-known as a hero at this point, so I don't see his people wanting a place to settle going over that badly.

I was just thinking that this might have been Thor’s first and final act as king of Asgard—after beheading Thanos, returning to space to find whoever survived, and then leading them to Earth and negotiating for their settlement. Being Thor would probably give him all the clout he needs in Norway.

Seems like a simple episode, but I’d watch it just to see how it all unfolded.

[M1982]

We’ve only seen a few of them fight at length, so it’s hard to say.

But even Skurge’s ditzy dates stepped up as shieldmaidens when they had to. I have a feeling that all Asgardians have at least some combat training, which for an Asgardian might mean a few decades’ worth. But Thor does seem to be the only one who can fly, not to mention sparkly fingers and etc.

The one civilian that showed up in Agents of Shield showed that they all possess some level of superhuman strength and durability. That's why a human soldier should certainly avoid taking them on in melee combat, but "two to the chest one to the head" from an assault rifle should do them in. So while they're no pushovers, a military unit could certainly take them on .... until Thor shows up.

[Tyndmyr]

This, indeed. It is impressive that any of them survived that far.

And then remember that after all of that, half of those survivors were lost to the Snap.

Given the timeline, it was really a pretty crazy week for them. All of Thor:Ragnarok happens pretty fast, and Infinity War covers only two days.

Do you mean Heimdall? He was the one who summoned the Bifrost (or at least its “dark energy”) for Hulk, right before being killed.

Doh, my mistake. Yeah, Heimdall dies, so bifrost is probably not a viable exit for them.

As for the reception, I would imagine that the Snap ends up being so much bigger of an event that the arrival of a handful of refugees is utterly pushed off the news and treated as nearly irrelevant.

The one civilian that showed up in Agents of Shield showed that they all possess some level of superhuman strength and durability. That's why a human soldier should certainly avoid taking them on in melee combat, but "two to the chest one to the head" from an assault rifle should do them in. So while they're no pushovers, a military unit could certainly take them on .... until Thor shows up.

AoS is in a strange place with regards to canon. I think it's largely been ignored. Loki, for instance, definitely stuck with the "Coulson is dead" thing. I mean, I agree that probably most Asguardians are tougher, and probably have a few combat skills floating around from their long lives, but I don't know that AoS is the most reliable source for it.

Hela explicitly murdered off their military, who are already solidly below Thor, so anyone left is probably not a front line fighter, just someone with perhaps a bit of skills from hunting or something. They definitely don't seem like they're acting as an armed force, just as the refugees they are.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I’m thinking a lot of insurance companies went under once the survivors started filing claims. Life insurance, car insurance, medical insurance, the odd apartment insurance claim from something crashing into it…

[The Glyphstone]

I’m thinking a lot of insurance companies went under once the survivors started filing claims. Life insurance, car insurance, medical insurance, the odd apartment insurance claim from something crashing into it…

Wouldn't most insurance companies have added some sort of 'Act of Metahuman' clause to their policies, especially after the Battle of New York?

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Kareeah_Indaga
I’m thinking a lot of insurance companies went under once the survivors started filing claims. Life insurance, car insurance, medical insurance, the odd apartment insurance claim from something crashing into it…

Indeed, plus half their staff would be gone, and the remaining employees—those who still came in—would likely be completely overwhelmed, and with an impossible backlog building up.

And if they’re reliant on new applications for their income, that may be a worse problem, since most people will probably be more concerned about food, gas, shelter and safety—assuming that inflation doesn’t render most currencies worthless.

Even if those concerns are somewhat allayed in the weeks or months after the Snap, the initial lack of new money may cause many insurance firms to go bankrupt. I could definitely see the whole industry hollowing out, and only slowly rebuilding in subsequent years.

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone
Wouldn't most insurance companies have added some sort of 'Act of Metahuman' clause to their policies, especially after the Battle of New York?

Maybe, but no one will have any idea what the Snap was or who did it for days or weeks afterward, if not longer. And even then, Thanos was no ordinary metahuman—he was in a category all his own.

As for acts of metahumans in general, this always reminds me of a classic X-Men fight with Juggernaut in a bar, with customers watching from the sidelines. One of them says, “Good thing your insurance covers superhero fights,” and someone adds, “These days, inna Big Apple, you can’t live without it.”

Originally Posted by Tyndmyr
Loki, for instance, definitely stuck with the "Coulson is dead" thing.

True, but I don’t know if Loki would have had any way to learn that Coulson was still alive.

Loki was in custody in Asgard while Coulson was going through the Tahiti procedure, and then he was (mis)ruling Asgard in Odin’s guise. He was sitting in his bathrobe eating grapes, more or less, and doesn’t seem to have been paying any attention to Midgard during that time. Loki probably assumed he’d killed Coulson, full stop, and wasn’t interested in checking into whether the random little guy with the heat-ray gun had somehow survived.

Originally Posted by Tyndmyr
They definitely don't seem like they're acting as an armed force, just as the refugees they are.

They’re certainly not a structured military when they’re on the Statesman, no. But I still think it’s reasonable to assume that every Asgardian has received some form of military training, probably as part of their normal education. They may have been homeless, but I’d say they were far from defenseless—at least against non-Infinity-Stone-powered assailants.

[Tyndmyr]

True, but I don’t know if Loki would have had any way to learn that Coulson was still alive.

Loki was in custody in Asgard while Coulson was going through the Tahiti procedure, and then he was (mis)ruling Asgard in Odin’s guise. He was sitting in his bathrobe eating grapes, more or less, and doesn’t seem to have been paying any attention to Midgard during that time. Loki probably assumed he’d killed Coulson, full stop, and wasn’t interested in checking into whether the random little guy with the heat-ray gun had somehow survived.

The TVA is apparently pretty omniscient, and when they go over the flashback of Loki's life with them, Morbius discusses Coulson's death.

That's a pretty ironclan confirmation of canon death, I think.

They’re certainly not a structured military when they’re on the Statesman, no. But I still think it’s reasonable to assume that every Asgardian has received some form of military training, probably as part of their normal education. They may have been homeless, but I’d say they were far from defenseless—at least against non-Infinity-Stone-powered assailants.

I don't know how militarized standard education on Asguard is, honestly. Or even how standardized it is. There seems to be significant variation among the people we see. It may be that other people focused as strictly on craftsmanship or art as, say, Thor did on combat. The long life probably gets at least a bit of incidental familiarization, as anyone living that long is bound to learn a fair bit, I think.

That said, the Thor/Loki/Hela trio is clearly...quite a ways above the warriors three, who are again vastly better than the average military folks, who are presumably better trained than the average population. And none of the military survived against Hela. The power scaling appears pretty steep.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Tyndmyr
The TVA is apparently pretty omniscient, and when they go over the flashback of Loki's life with them, Morbius discusses Coulson's death.

That's a pretty ironclan confirmation of canon death, I think.

I’d forgotten that little moment, yes.

Spoiler

Show

In the last season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., it seemed more than probable that they had all ended up in another timeline. It would be nice to think that this might be additional confirmation of that—but the TVA doesn’t play well with alternate timelines, so more likely this is just another case of the MCU not wanting to deal with AOS.

Originally Posted by Tyndmyr
That said, the Thor/Loki/Hela trio is clearly...quite a ways above the warriors three, who are again vastly better than the average military folks, who are presumably better trained than the average population. And none of the military survived against Hela. The power scaling appears pretty steep.

Not saying there aren’t differences among the Asgardians, but rather that even an ordinary Asgardian civilian would still be more than a match for any dozen average human soldiers, at least in terms of strength and durability. Whether they’re all as bulletproof as Loki is the main unanswered question.

And absolutely no one survived against Hela except Thor and Valkyrie, and they wouldn’t have survived much longer if they hadn’t run away and let Surtur’s giant sword do the talking. I’d say the differential between Hela and all other Asgardians (less only Odin) is orders of magnitude greater than the differences among the Asgardians. Like Thanos, she’s in a class of her own.

Hela vs. Thanos would make for a great What If, though doubt if we’ll ever see that. But if puny human Stark can punch his way to a little scratch on Thanos, Hela and her infinite edged weapons should be able to make a lot more progress.

[M1982]

But if puny human Stark can punch his way to a little scratch on Thanos, Hela and her infinite edged weapons should be able to make a lot more progress.

IMHO they had no consistent level that Thanos was at. Like so many comic characters he was always "as strong as the story needs him to be right now, no matter how much that clashed with previous portrayals".

Gamora found it totally plausible that her spear stab would kill him. Nebula believed her mission to kill Thanos not only to be possible, by his own words she indeed nearly succeeded before being overwhelmed and captured.

So he's either some godlike titan or just a tough big mortal guy, whatever the story needs him to be right now.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Maybe, but no one will have any idea what the Snap was or who did it for days or weeks afterward, if not longer. And even then, Thanos was no ordinary metahuman—he was in a category all his own.

Also, where do you draw the line? Getting Snapped and turning to dust is very definitely a Thanos-caused death, but if your spouse died because the resulting traffic jam kept them from making it to the hospital before dying of injuries, is that still counted as a metahuman-caused death for insurance purposes? I bet a good lawyer could make a case for it either way.

[DavidSh]

The TVA is apparently pretty omniscient, and when they go over the flashback of Loki's life with them, Morbius discusses Coulson's death.

I keep reading that as the Tennessee Valley Authority, but I suppose you mean something else by "TVA".

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I keep reading that as the Tennessee Valley Authority, but I suppose you mean something else by "TVA".

"Time Variance Authority" from the Loki series, whose job it is to make sure time continues on a predetermined path.

[Talakeal]

Hela vs. Thanos would make for a great What If, though doubt if we’ll ever see that. But if puny human Stark can punch his way to a little scratch on Thanos, Hela and her infinite edged weapons should be able to make a lot more progress.

I have long wondered how Infinity War would have played out if Thor and the people of Asgard had respected Hela’s claim to the throne.