The Blip^[2] was the resurrection of all the victims of Thanos' Snap. It occurred after the Time Heist, in which the Avengers had taken Infinity Stones from different timelines to assemble the Nano Gauntlet, which Bruce Banner used to restore half of the universe's population.

The Blip had sustained aftereffects across the entire universe. On Earth, millions of citizens displaced by the Blip began living as refugees; they fell under the jurisdiction of the Global Repatriation Council, which aimed to return the refugees back to their home countries.

Background[]

When all of the Infinity Stones were collected during the Time Heist and returned to the present, Tony Stark, Rocket, and Bruce Banner began working on the Nano Gauntlet using Stark's nanotechnology but based on their knowledge of the former Infinity Gauntlet. Once the Nano Gauntlet was completed, Rocket asked who was going to be the one to actually use it in order to restore the victims of the Snap.^[3]

Blip[]

Once Tony Stark, Rocket, and Bruce Banner had completed the assembly of the Nano Gauntlet, Thor volunteered to wear the Gauntlet, but Stark, Steve Rogers, and James Rhodes noted that he was neither physically able nor emotionally stable enough to wield such power. Banner warned his teammates that because of the Infinity Stones' unique gamma radiation signature, the Nano Gauntlet could kill anyone who tried to wear it, including Thor.

Banner volunteered himself, explaining that his body would stand to have the best resistance to the Stones' radiation and that it made him the most likely to survive. Readying themselves, Stark ordered F.R.I.D.A.Y. to initiate lockdown procedures across the Avengers Compound in case the Gauntlet's energies proved to be too powerful to contain. Meanwhile, the alternate Nebula began covertly sabotaging the Avengers' Quantum Tunnel as Banner put on the Gauntlet.

Once worn, Banner channeled the power of the Stones through his body, severely scorching himself from his hand up to his shoulder. Despite Thor's plea for him to stop and focusing to the best of his ability despite the intense pain, Banner screamed as he snapped his fingers, which ultimately restored everyone who was a direct victim of the Snap^[3] by safely returning them either to the specific location they disappeared at five years ago or the nearest safe alternative area out of danger.^[4]

As Banner snapped his fingers, a burst of white light flashed momentarily. Overcome by the effort, Banner collapsed to the floor, the gauntlet immediately falling off his hand. Stark rushed to Banner's right side and began spraying him with a substance to treat the burns on his arm and shoulder.^[3]

Aftermath[]

Attack on the Avengers Compound[]

Ant-Man guessed that the mission of restoring the universal population to life worked, as he looked outside and took notice of a flock of birds that appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. At the same time Clint Barton received a phone call from his wife Laura, who had previously perished in the Snap. However, a dazed Bruce Banner looked up and noticed the Sanctuary II hovering above the glass ceiling.

Before Banner could react, the Sanctuary II fired upon the Avengers Compound, destroying it and separating the Avengers in the collapsing rubble. Barton was able to find and recover the Nano Gauntlet during his fall into the tunnels below the Facility. Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, and Thor were the only Avengers to have remained on the ground level floor of the Facility.

They then confronted an alternate Thanos sitting amongst the ruins, who was unimpressed with the results of the initial plan and now sought to use the Stones to reset the universe in his image by shredding it down to atoms and starting over. This confrontation happened concurrent to the alternate Nebula who tricked an exhausted Barton into handing her the Gauntlet. Following a lengthy and violent struggle, Stark and Thor became temporarily incapacitated, leaving Rogers to face Thanos, who summoned his armada in full force.^[3]

Population Return[]

The effects of the Blip then became apparent during the ensuing battle when Steve Rogers received a transmission from Sam Wilson, one of the victims of the Snap, and the rest of those restored to life started appearing shortly thereafter through portals created by the Masters of the Mystic Arts. Ant-Man then became Giant-Man and, upon finding Bruce Banner, James Rhodes, and Rocket buried and drowning under the Avengers Compound's ruins, carried them to the surface for the final battle with alternate Thanos. With the united army of Avengers and allies, Rogers led the charge against Thanos' army and the battle began.^[3]

In the immediate aftermath, the Blip led to a large amount of chaos and panic. In a Louisiana hospital, Monica Rambeau returned from having disintegrated in the Snap to find the hospital in chaos as people were randomly reappearing and everyone scrambled to reach their loved ones and help patients, overwhelming the hospital staff. Rambeau discovered that her mother had survived the Snap, but was later killed by cancer.^[5] Other doctors, such as Karen Oggerton, were lucky enough to also have their patients be killed and then returned at the same time, so they finished the procedure.^[6]

In Midtown School of Science and Technology, the school gymnasium at first seemed to have little-to-no audience with only the players, but then much of the student audience and band players who had crumbled to dust five years ago suddenly been resurrected. Most of the resurrected celebrated their return. Those who survived the Snap had grown five years older in the time it had taken to bring the victims back to life.^[7]

The Blip also led Jack Triconi to attempt an insurance scam, in which he claimed to have been in the middle of a stunt filming for an Extreme Measures movie. Triconi claimed that he was in a stunt jumping off of a sixty-foot building with a fallpad beneath him when he disappeared, and that he came back and hit the floor. He told his fake story to The Daily Bugle, which published it. However, upon further investigation, The Daily Bugle discovered Triconi's scam.^[6]

At the S.W.O.R.D. Headquarters in Florida, one of the large television screens broadcasted WHiH World News and NY1 reporting on the Blip's aftermath with families being reunited with each other.^[8]

However, the Blip was not without repercussions. As a result of the five years between the Snap and the Blip, many of the previous victims were displaced from their homes. The mass displacement of so many people was so acute it caused the United Nations to create the Global Repatriation Council, a supranational organization which was given a mandate to help the returned people get housing and several forms of social security.^[9] In the United States of America, the National Blip Support Hotline was founded for Americans victims of the Snap. In New York City, the Salvation Army sought donations to provide housing for displaced persons, with volunteer May Parker using Spider-Man to draw attention to the fundraising campaign.^[7] In San Francisco, a dating service exclusively designed to pair up victims of the Snap known as Blip Sync was launched.^[10]

Meanwhile, restored students like Peter Parker, Ned Leeds, Michelle Jones, Flash Thompson, Betty Brant, and Jason Ionello found themselves five years behind their 2018 classmates due to not having aged the five years. Since many of Midtown's previously snapped students had failed to go through the entire school year and take finals, they were told that they had to start all over again, notably with Parker's class having to retake junior year during the remnants of the 2023-2024 school year.^[7]

The restoration of Earth's population eventually triggered the Emergence of Tiamut the Communicator, which was previously delayed due to the population being halved five years prior. The Avengers' bravery led Ajak to realize that there was something special about Earth which needed to be protected. Aware that the Emergence would result in the inevitable destruction of the planet, the Eternals took it upon themselves to prevent Tiamut from emerging after the death of Ajak. Ikaris was determined to carry out his purpose and turned against his allies, although Sersi managed to turn Tiamut to stone.^[11]

Behind the Scenes[]

• The term "Blip" originated in Spider-Man: Far From Home and was used to describe half of the population disappearing due to Thanos' Snap, the five-year time period as well as the resurrection five years later.
• The Blip was given as the reason for the Emergence occurring in the trailers of Eternals, although the film itself gives a different reason.
• The Blip is referenced in the Sony Pictures Entertainment production Venom: The Last Dance.

Appearances[]

References[]