The following contains spoilers for Hawkeye through Episode 5.In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thanos snapping his fingers in Avengers: Infinity War is a defining moment. The entire MCU can be divided into before and after as the landscape of the movies and TV changed with half the universe gone in a literal snap. The idea of the return of those who lost five years of their lives is now being explored more deeply in the MCU thanks to shows on Disney Plus. WandaVision, The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, and Hawkeye have all explored the return, or the Blip, of the population differently though.

Both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame depict the Snap and the Blip in the middle of a massive fight with Thanos, but that’s not how the rest of the world would have experienced those moments. After reintroducing Black Widow’s Yelena Belova in Episode 4, Hawkeye’s fifth episode opens with the Widow just before the Snap. The audience gets to see as Yelena experiences Thanos’ Snap without being on a battlefield where she would understand just what’s happening. The scene is a quick way to set up what her life has been like after the events of Black Widow, but it also provides the audience with an interesting look at the moment of the Blip since it’s so different from what’s been shown before now.

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WandaVision Shows The Audience Chaos

Monica Rambea speaks to a doctor after her Blip experience in WandaVision

Monica Rambeau is one of the first victims of Thanos’ Snap that the audience gets to see return. When WandaVision flashes back to her disappearance, it’s while she was sitting by her mother’s side at the hospital. Her return is showcased as though her life literally rushed back to her as she hears dialogue from the existing MCU - and then she rushes into a chaotic hospital from the room where her mother was five years earlier.

The hospital is in shambles as patients, visitors, and doctors are all scrambling to figure out just what’s going on. There are people rushing around, not understanding that time has passed, trying to figure out where others have gone. The one moment of calm (and of course, heartbreak), is Monica running into her mother’s doctor only to be told that Maria Rambeau died years earlier while she was “missing.” That take on the Blip has been largely what’s defined it until now, when the audience got to see a different point of view.

The Falcon And The Winter Soldier Explores The Consequences

The Flag Smashers grab Bucky Barnes on the top of a vehicle in The Falcon And The Winter Soldier

Though The Falcon And The Winter Soldier looks at the aftermath of the Blip, it doesn’t show anyone physically returning to the world. The majority of the main characters - Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, and various members of the Flag Smashers - all disappeared during the Snap and have to deal with a changed world after the Blip.

Rather than demonstrate the immediate chaos of the return, the series explores the long-term effects of the Blip. The show reminds the audience of the people lost, the people displaced, and the people who have grown accustomed to a world without the half of the population that vanished. The show deals with larger themes of grief and inadequacy as a result, but it doesn’t allow the audience a glimpse into Bucky and Sam’s return to an empty Wakandan battlefield. It’s an effective emotional tactic for the series because it allows the audience to sympathize with the Flag Smashers as much as they root for the title characters.

Hawkeye Demonstrated A Completely New Point Of View

Yelena Belova turns to ash during the Snap flashback in Hawkeye

Hawkeye takes place in the few days leading up to Christmas. It’s far enough removed from the Blip that it doesn’t have to delve into the long term effects in the same way that The Falcon And The Winter Soldier does. While plenty of audience members speculated that Kate Bishop herself might have been Blipped, it’s Yelena Belova who they get to see experience it instead.

Yelena’s experience with the Snap and the Blip is a fascinating one because she’s completely alone when it happens. After meeting with another former Widow, Yelena excuses herself to the restroom. While looking in the mirror, she suddenly turns to ash, only to reform for the camera what seems like an instant later as the wallpaper and fixtures in the room change.

The audience, logically, knows that it’s been five years, but they’re placed directly into Yelena’s shoes, for whom it’s been only an instant. It’s one of the best takes on the Blip the MCU has shown so far as it’s immediately apparent how disorienting it is for the person reappearing, not just everyone else around them. Yelena, of course, immediately decides she needs to contact Natasha Romanoff upon learning it’s been five years, adding a tragic element to the previous stunning visual sequence.

As each reference to the Snap and the Blip in the MCU demonstrates, the issues surrounding the two moments are complex for the characters. Getting to see the different reactions and situations unfold only fuels the idea that the MCU shouldn’t just move on from it, but further explore it.

WandaVision, The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, and Hawkeye are all currently streaming on Disney Plus.

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