ALL THE MCU'S ONE-SHOTS ARE NOW ON DISNEY+, HERE’S A PRIMER ON WHAT THEY ARE AND WHERE THEY FIT

Jan 21,2022

As of this month, each of the MCU's eight "One-Shot" short films has finally arrived on Disney+, and they've even got their only little section under the "Marvel" banner on the streaming platform. If you're still relatively new to the MCU, or you've watched every film without ever delving into the physical media side of things, there's a chance you missed a few of these when they first arrived. So, to celebrate their wide, collective streaming availability, let's take a look back at these delightful, bite-sized entries into a massive universe, and examine what each film does, and where it fits in the greater Marvel tapestry.

The Consultant

Long before the days of Disney+, Marvel Studios executives were experimenting with using smaller stories to introduce characters, ideas, and timeline additions to the MCU without the expense of a full-length feature film. This led to the "One-Shot" program, named for comic book issues that feature self-contained stories separate from any ongoing series. The first of these, The Consultant, arrived on the Thor DVD/Blu-ray release, and served as a follow-up to both Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk.

Essentially an expanded version of the post-credits scene you saw in The Incredible Hulk, the short follows SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) as he tries to stop the release of Emil "Abomination" Blonsky from prison because the World Security Council would like to try and make the Abomination into an Avenger (yes, really). To make this happen, he needs to dissuade General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt), and decides to send none other than Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in to get the job done. Thanks to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, we now know this wasn't the end of Abomination's story, but The Consultant still serves as an interesting depiction of the earlier years of The Avengers Initiative, as it shows how divided various movers and shakers were over who did and didn't deserve to be included.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer

Another short picking up on a post-credits scene, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer is set between Iron Man 2 and Thor, and follows Phil Coulson just before he shows up at the site in New Mexico where Mjolnir fell to Earth. Even by One-Shot standards, this is a pretty self-contained adventure, as it follows Coulson into a gas station in New Mexico, where he witnesses a robbery and decides to do something about it. That's it, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining. In the days before The Avengers would change the character's trajectory, this short was a nice insight into what Coulson was capable of as a standalone character, and helped pave the way for the days of Agents of SHIELD.

Item 47

Perhaps the most influential of the One-Shots, Item 47 picks up after the events of The Avengers in the wreckage of New York City, and follows a couple named Claire (Lizzy Caplan) and Bennie (Jesse Bradford), who pick up a Chitauri weapon and decide to use it rob banks. Naturally, this eventually draws the attention of SHIELD, and Agents Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernández) and Blake (Titus Welliver) are sent in to retrieve the artifact and the couple. The weapon is secured, Claire and Bennie are recruited into SHIELD, and that's seemingly the end of it.

Only it wasn't the end of it, at least not in terms of wider influence. Item 47 was one of the key building blocks of Agents of SHIELD, a TV series that largely began with the premise of SHIELD agents picking up after various superhero-level events into the MCU, including various artifacts. Agent Blake even made his return to the universe via the series, and while the show later evolved into something much different, Item 47 had a hand in letting executives know that a SHIELD-focused show could work. Plus, the idea of ordinary people picking up Chitauri weapons and using them for criminal gain later became a key plot point in Spider-Man: Homecoming, as Chitauri tech became a key driver behind the success of The Vulture (Michael Keaton). Interestingly, while Sitwell and Blake are both recurring MCU characters, we have yet to see Claire and Bennie again. Which of course, doesn't mean we never could...

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