The Blip
Half of all life vanished, then returned five years later.
The Blip, also called the Decimation or the Snap, is a pivotal event in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It started in 2018 when Thanos, using all six Infinity Stones in the Infinity Gauntlet, wiped out half of all living beings in the universe with a single snap. This period lasted five years, ending on October 17, 2023, when the Avengers traveled through time to retrieve the Infinity Stones from earlier moments in history. Bruce Banner then performed a second snap, bringing back everyone Thanos had killed.
The event appears across MCU Phases Three, Four, and Five, most notably in *Avengers: Infinity War* (2018), which shows the first snap, and *Avengers: Endgame* (2019), which depicts the second. Many other MCU films and TV series reference or show aspects of the Blip. Its consequences were wide-ranging. Some were played for comedy, like blipped school band members reappearing mid-basketball game, or blipped characters being years younger than their unblipped younger siblings. Others were dramatic: returning characters faced chaos and confusion, discovered loved ones had died while they were gone, lost their homes and savings, and found their jobs taken.
The Blip inspired a real-world event on Reddit, where half the members of a popular subreddit were randomly banned to simulate its effects. This ban of over 300,000 accounts was the largest in Reddit’s history, and *Infinity War* and *Endgame* co-director Anthony Russo participated in the event (though he was not banned). As an MCU event, the Blip has been compared to the COVID-19 pandemic for its lasting global impact. Since *Infinity War*, many scientific articles have analyzed the event, including whether Thanos could even snap his fingers while wearing the Gauntlet.
**Etymology**
After *Avengers: Infinity War* (2018), fans called the event “the Snap,” “the Snappening,” or “the Snapture.” In the tie-in novel *Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War: The Cosmic Quest Volume Two: Aftermath* by Brandon T. Snider, it was named “the Decimation,” but this term wasn’t used elsewhere. The name “the Blip” appeared in *Spider-Man: Far From Home* (2019). Kevin Feige later clarified that “the Snap” refers to Thanos’s snap in *Infinity War*, while “the Blip” refers to Bruce Banner’s snap in *Endgame*.
- Start year
- 2018
- End year
- 2023
- Cause
- Thanos's snap with the Infinity Gauntlet
- Resolution
- Bruce Banner's snap with the Infinity Gauntlet
- Affected population
- 50% of all living things in the universe
- Duration
- Five years
- First depicted in
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Lore & Background
The Blip occurred at the end of Avengers: Infinity War (2018) in Wakanda, where numerous characters were blipped, including Bucky Barnes, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Wanda Maximoff, Peter Parker, Stephen Strange, T'Challa, Sam Wilson, Peter Quill, Groot, Drax, and Mantis. The event is shown by characters slowly turning into dust and disappearing. In a mid-credits scene in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Hank Pym, Hope van Dyne, and Janet van Dyne are blipped, leaving Scott Lang stranded in the Quantum Realm. A post-credits scene of Captain Marvel (2019) shows Carol Danvers appearing at the Avengers Compound after receiving a distress signal from Fury sent before he blipped.
In Avengers: Endgame (2019), Clint Barton's family, Erik Selvig, Shuri, and Jane Foster are confirmed to have been blipped. Five years later, the effects of the disappearances are explored: Barton becomes the vigilante Ronin, Rogers leads a support group, Thor becomes an alcoholic, and urban decay is apparent in cities. Scott Lang, freed from the Quantum Realm after experiencing only five hours, reunites with his now-teenage daughter Cassie. The surviving Avengers use the Quantum Realm for time travel to retrieve the Infinity Stones from alternate timelines, and Bruce Banner performs the second snap that restores the blipped.
The Blip has been featured in Phases Three, Four, and Five of the MCU, including in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), WandaVision (2021), The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021), Hawkeye (2021), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), The Marvels (2023), She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022), and Secret Invasion (2023). The Eternals survived the Blip because they were artificial, not biological, beings.
Reader's Guide
The Blip is a pivotal event in the MCU, marking the climax of the Infinity Saga and reshaping the narrative landscape for subsequent phases. Its consequences were substantial and far-reaching, portrayed both for comic effect—such as blipped school band members reappearing in a basketball game—and for dramatic effect, including characters returning to chaos, lost loved ones, repossessed homes, and filled jobs. The event inspired a real-world Reddit event where a randomly selected half of a subreddit's members were banned, affecting over 300,000 accounts, including co-director Anthony Russo. The Blip has been compared to the COVID-19 pandemic for its sustained global effect. Scientific articles have analyzed aspects of the event, including whether Thanos could snap his fingers while wearing the Infinity Gauntlet. The term 'the Blip' was used in Spider-Man: Far From Home, though Kevin Feige clarified that 'the Snap' refers to Thanos's snap and 'the Blip' to Bruce Banner's snap; however, subsequent MCU projects collectively refer to both events and the five-year gap as 'the Blip.'
Did You Know?
- The Blip inspired a real-world Reddit event where over 300,000 accounts were banned, the largest in Reddit's history, including co-director Anthony Russo.
- Scott Lang was in the Quantum Realm during the Blip; only five hours passed for him while five years passed outside.
- The event was referred to as 'the Decimation' in the tie-in novel Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War: The Cosmic Quest Volume Two: Aftermath, but this naming was not used in other media.
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