We all know for a fact that in Avengers: Infinity War it had changed the lives of the heroes and the entire universe for the worse when the Mad Titan Thanos himself in spite of the efforts of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers, and the entire Nation of Wakanda managed to complete the Infinity Gauntlet and grant his wish to turn half of the entire population of the Universe to dust. What’s confusing is that none of the Marvel shows from different platforms that take place in the same Marvel Cinematic Universe have been affected by the Infinity War this is most obvious when in the Runaways series finale, no mention of the Snap was made and none of the Runaways felt the brunt of Thanos attack (rather they simply suffered from Morgan Le Fay’s attack) however it’s possible that since the timeline was altered one reasonable explanation is that the Avengers successfully managed to defeat Thanos in that time thus half the population was spared and 2028 Chase Stein’s actions to save Gert Yorkes in 2018 created a ripple effect that ultimately caused the Blip to occur (similar to Flashpoint Paradox of DCAMU as the movie led to a horrific tragedy in the finale) another possibility is that the Runaways alongside their parents (aside from Geoffrey Wilder and Robert Minoru) were actually stranded in the Dark Dimension for several months thus enabling them to be spared reasons for this is because time and the laws of physics move differently there. In all honesty it would make complete sense if the Runaways, Cloak and Dagger have at least gotten involved somehow in stopping Thanos especially given Cloak, Dagger, and Nico Minoru’s connections to the Dark Dimension and magic by nature which may have been able to aid the Avengers to some degree in stopping Thanos. The Defenders (should they have survived the attack) could’ve assisted the Avengers in helping bring order to the world considering they’re all superheroes in their own right with unique gifts. Before WandaVision all of the series takes place and abruptly ends before the Blip occurred, yet interestingly none of the heroes or protagonists from those shows were brought up after the Blip in spite of supposedly taking place in the same universe. Cloak and Dagger does not appear to definitively take place after Avengers: Infinity War or Endgame since none of the characters were blipped and it wasn’t referenced in any way.
Even so it would’ve been epic to find Cloak, Dagger, Runaways, or the Defenders participating in the Endgame especially since it all would involve them as well. Or even if Thanos’ actions were teased in either series allowing some of the characters to get involved in the Infinity Saga. Cloak who possesses the ability to manipulate darkness and the dark dimension could have potentially sensed a disruption in the interdimensional plane with Thanos from 2014 arriving and could’ve teleported him and Tandy to the battlefield to assist in stopping the Mad Titan from snapping once more. Doctor Strange and Wong could’ve also teleported the Defenders to the battleground as well. Cloak and Dagger are shown to be extremely powerful as not only can they channel their opposite forces but can also affect a person’s well-being as well by entering, absorbing or amplifying their greatest fears or hopes through touch. Imagine if they were to do this Thanos and easily take away his hopes or amplify his fears enough to leave him in a vegetative or submissive state similar to the empath Mantis’ powers although this wouldn’t be enough to stop his forces from attacking it would at least give everyone a fighting chance considering how powerful many of the heroes on the battlefield are.
At this point, Marvel completely starts to retcon all their past shows with the shows focusing on how characters' lives were altered subsequently after the blip and completely neglects to mention any of the heroes from before the blip. Another possible explanation as to why the Blip does not affect the other MCU shows is because they may take place in a branched off alternate realities Cloak & Dagger and The Runaways just so happened to be shared given their brief appearance and assistance in 2 episodes of the latter (although given how Tyrone can jump (teleport) in between dimensions it is possible that he did so when confronting Nico who was trying to open a rift to the Dark Dimension rather than just teleport from one location to another). The Ancient One (from an alternate reality) explained to Bruce Banner and the viewers that there is a branch of alternate realities and different timelines especially due to the Avengers’ interference in time travel which although alters the past their future still potentially stays the same as it was. Although it was somewhat important in Endgame it was barely explored at least up until the next Doctor Strange film which may give an in-house detail as to why the Marvel shows fail to reference the blip in any way. Also, another interesting plot hole to note is that Doctor Strange keeps a long list of any interdimensional sorcerers or creatures that pose a threat to his reality yet Morgan Le Fay who is an enchanted sorceress managed to give Doctor Strange the slip given her intentions to take over the planet and dominate it by merging the Dark Dimension with earth. One possible explanation is that Strange who possesses the time stone may have known the problem would be handled thanks to Nico and Tina Minoru thus his presence is not needed or perhaps he was dusted by the time this occurred as again the Runaways were trapped in the Dark Dimension for a long time before escaping. She also keeps a copy of the Darkhold which is the same shown in Agents of Shield however as shown in WandaVision, Agatha Harkness (and later Wanda Maximoff) possesses a completely different version of the book thus confirming that Runaways does indeed take place in an alternate reality and in a way retconning the thought that everything takes place in the same universe.
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