An Alternate MCU without THE CONSULTANT

[Shoppy]

I think I once posted something like this before but I've given it another run as it's just come up again in relation to whether or not TIH is canon...

Marvel One-Shots: The Consultant is an extended version of the post-credits scene from The Incredible Hulk, featuring General Ross from that movie, Tony Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents Coulson and Sitwell.
It references both the events of TIH that led to Blonsky's incarceration AND the nature of S.H.I.E.L.D's relationship with Tony Stark as developed in Iron Man 2.

It is THE most pivotal scene in the MCU in my book, as if it wasn't for that interaction between Ross and Stark during which Stark rubbed Ross up the wrong way and he refused to release Blonsky as a result, then Blonsky would have been on the team and Stark would have been overlooked in favour of Rhodes giving us an initial Avengers team of Captain America, Abomination, War Machine, Hawkeye and Black Widow...

Loki would have taken out Rhodes if he was there in place of Iron Man and Thor would have returned Loki to Asgard without the portal even being opened...
Iron Man 3 then plays out differently without Rhodes and we lose Stark...
Coulson wouldn't have "died" and his team wouldn't have been formed...
(Thor 2 might have played out much the same but Selvig would have been a much more stable character)

...and then we get to Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the HYDRA takeover, which Coulson's team played a big part in stopping. That team wouldn't be together and HYDRA would have the added asset of Blonsky to play with. All in all this adds up to more chance of a success for HYDRA...

...Cap's Avengers would then be on the run before the events of the second Avengers movie, Ultron would never have been created without the collaboration between Stark and Banner, the twins wouldn't have their powers without Loki's scepter and Vision wouldn't have existed so the events of that movie aren't happening, Instead we're eventually at the Cap's Avengers vs HYDRAs Avengers stage with a fugitive team of Captain America, Black Widow, Falcon, and probably Hawkeye (It's at this point our heroes would be wise to try and recruit Hulk and some Pym tech which would be Wasp if Lang hadn't been recruited to raid the Avengers compound under the belief it was a Stark warehouse), plus the likes of Sharon Carter, Nick Fury Maria Hill and Phil Coulson...
...taking on a HYDRA controlled team of Winter Soldier, Abomination, Brock Rumlow and others (including a War Machine and a Yellowjacket maybe?) and with the likes of Pierce, Strucker and others all still active.

What could/couldn't happen from here?

 

[Shoppy]

Tony Stark and James Rhodes have both been killed off, as has Stephen Strange who was considered a threat by Zola's algorithm, and Hank Pym without Lang's involvement.

Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff and Scott Lang don't have powers, and Vision never existed...

Spider-Man wasn't recruited by Tony Stark (though he still has his powers, but not the Stark suit) so he's now more in the street-level world of the Defenders characters who are still emerging on the scene in NYC...
T'Challa is already Black Panther, but still Prince of Wakanda as events never involved him and his Father who is still King...
Thor is on Earth searching for the Tesseract (which HYDRA-SHIELD have) and Eye Of Agamatto (in the possession of The Great One)...

Take the airport battle from CA:CW but now we have a different location and set of teams.
Cap's Avengers are not in Germany but in India, to recruit Banner who was never taken out of there to join the team before, and it is to there that HYDRA (who now control SHIELD and also the nation of Sokovia, and have all their upper hierarchy still around) send their "Dark" Avengers team.

Captain America vs Winter Soldier
Hulk vs Abomination
Falcon vs War Machine(HYDRA operative)
Wasp vs Yellowjacket(HYDRA operative)
and Hawkeye vs Brock Rumlow
...are all pretty even match-ups, but then who else would HYDRA be adding on to their team?
Black Widow vs Absorbing Man
...that swings the balance there, even if our surviving SHIELD allies are providing what little backup they have left to offer.

One might expect Thor to seek help in the world's most advanced nation, Wakanda, home of the Black Panther in his search for the stones and travel to Asia in search of the Great One so that puts them into the mix as being not too far when the battle happens and HYDRA start throwing in a few more powered villains to try and give themselves more of an advantage.

What's HYDRA's next move going to be there with the options at their disposal?
What significant possibilities arise from Coulson's SHIELD team not having been around?
How is the world we saw in the Netflix MCU different?
What next for Peter Parker without the events of Homecoming being a direct result of the Battle Of New York which didn't happen?
.....and what of Thanos' plans?