What You Need To Know For The Infinity War
The Infinity War Is Coming
The release of the Doctor Strange movie marked the 14th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU. All these films will culminate in the heroes facing off against their worst enemy yet, the god Thanos. The Infinity War is named such due to the driving force of the MCU films, the Infinity Stones. The writers of all these films have been steadily weaving these stones into their stories since Phase I of the MCU.
The Infinity Stones
There are six different Infinity Stones. Each one has it’s own, unique properties. Let’s run down where we’ve seen them and where they have ended up.
1. The Space Stone.
When this stone is first introduced to us, it’s by a different name. This is in the movie Captain America: The First Avenger, as the object called the Tesseract. Although it has the power of interdimentional travel, the Red Skull wants to try to harness it’s power for his own ends, like fancy ray guns for all his Hydra buddies and more power for himself. By the close of the story, he’s stopped and the Tesseract is lost somewhere in the deep with that Heart of the Ocean jewel from Titanic. Fast forward to the first Avengers movie, and we see it as the thing that Loki uses to open a portal between the vast reaches of space and New York (interdimensional travel, remember?). The whole shebang ends with the Tesseract getting locked up in Odin’s vault on Asgard.
2. The Reality Stone.
Speaking of Asgard, the Reality stone is shown to us in the second movie for Asgards favorite son, Thor. In this film, it isn’t a stone at all, but rather the aether. Yes, the red mist that gets into Jane Foster is actually an Infinity stone. In this movie, the Dark Elves want to control it. It has the ability to change matter into dark matter. Ultimately, it gets out of Jane Foster, and into a box that is left in the Collector’s museum of intergalactic oddities.
3. The Power Stone.
Number three on our list is the tiny purple orb from The Guardians of the Galaxy. During the story, we meet the aforementioned collector and learn that the stone has the ability to destroy anything organic. That’s people, planets, trees, salamanders, penguins…everything. Despite this, it was once held by a group, but ultimately they succumbed to its power and were destroyed. Immediately after this tale, we see that destructive force firsthand as the Collector’s assistant endeavors to use the power of the stone to free herself from being a slave to the Collector’s will. By the conclusion of this movie, the group saves the day and the stone is left safely in the vault of the Nova Corp.
4. The Mind Stone.
This stone can alter perception and is featured in several movies, so far. First, it appears in The Avengers in Loki’s staff. Loki uses it to brainwash anyone he wants on his side. He uses it to alter the victim’s perception and sway them to his own point of view. Later, the staff returns in The Age of Ultron. Along the way, Ultron frees the mind stone from the staff and incorporates it into the forehead of the body that will ultimately become Vision. Here it remains and can be seen in the Civil War movie and certainly others yet to come.
5. The Time Stone.
Our latest reveal has been the Time stone. It is Doctor Strange’s relic, the Eye of Agamoto. This one is used, with great success, to loop time in the finale of the Doctor Strange movie. This is because, surprise, surprise, the Time stone manipulates time. At the close of the movie, the Eye of Agamoto is still in the care of Doctor Strange.
6. The Soul Stone.
Anyone who has read the comics or done a quick Google search knows that the last stone to be found is the Soul stone. Speculation, at this point, is abundant as to where it is. One theory is that it is hidden in plain sight, in the likes of the character Heimdall, from the Thor movies. Being that it is the Soul stone and Heimdall makes references to the number of souls he can see, this could be a just guess. Another idea is that the location of the stone has yet to be shown. This is a good guess too, considering that the other stones have been doled out slowly. Yet another concept is that the stone will be used to introduce the character of Adam Warlock. This is a good possibility as, in the comics, the character has strong ties to the Soul stone.
The Infinity Gauntlet
All this time, we’ve been getting so caught up in these stones that we’ve not taken notice of the gauntlets that go with them. Yes, you read that right, gauntlets, as in two. Believe it or not, we’ve already seen them both, too. In the extra scene at the end of The Age of Ultron, Thanos puts on the left gauntlet and relegates himself to collecting the stones on his own. A second look shows that his left gauntlet has no stones in it. As for the right gauntlet, it can be seen in the first Thor movie. Really, it’s there. It’s in the background of Odin’s vault. If you blink, you’ll miss it, but it’s there. What’s more is that not only does Odin have the right gauntlet, but it’s loaded with a full compliment of six Infinity Stones. This is kind of funny because of the scene where Sif and Volstagg deliver the Aether to the Collector. When he asks why they want him to keep it, Volstagg says that they already have the Tesseract and it isn’t wise to keep two Infinity Stones so close together, but they have six others in that gauntlet!
Who Will Fight the Infinity War?
I think the obvious answer to this question is that it will be the Avengers versus Thanos. The not so obvious answer comes by way of my latest theory, Thanos versus Loki. I know, I know. Why? Well, Thanos is already set up as the bad guy. For all his godlike power, he still farms the work of gathering the Infinity Stones out to the myriad of villains in the MCU. It’s like he’s in charge of some bizarre bad guy union. Although he will certainly be opposed by the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider Man, and whoever else we meet along the way, short of destroying some key players and artifacts, Thanos won’t have all the stones to fill his gauntlet. He will, however still be a force to be reckoned with, in terms of power.
Loki, on the other hand, has been set up as “a” bad guy, but not necessarily as “the” bad guy. In other words, Loki has a good side. In the first Avengers movie, there is a great shot during the Chitauri invasion of New York that demonstrates this. Thor tries to win Loki over to his side and there is a moment where it seems as if Loki is willing to consider it, before convincing himself that it’s too late. At the end of the second Thor movie, Thor has a wonderful heart to heart with Odin. In the end, Odin speaks of how much he loves Thor and wants him to be happy with Jane Foster. Then, we find out it’s really Loki on the throne of Asgard, using his skills of deception to take power. The question then becomes, “where is Odin?” That’s a theory for another time. The thing to notice here is that Loki could have used the power of the throne to overthrow Thor, but instead allows him to go be happy and in love.
Lastly, is the actor who plays the part of Loki, Tom Hiddleston. Right away, he became a fan favorite. He has a likeability and charm that has endeared him to the audience. He really was a perfect choice for the role. Now that it’s clear how much people like him, it isn’t too far fetched to think that the writers might give him a role that, in the end, redeems Loki. The best reason for him to turn on Thanos would be either to achieve the open ended chaos that would come from it, or simply to usurp power for himself. Even if he sits by and watches Thanos win this fight, it won’t be long before the battle is brought to him. As a tactician, it makes sense for Loki to side with the heroes of the cause. Plus, he would get to ride in and save the day. As far as Asgard is concerned, he isn’t Loki, he’s Odin. He could walk right in to the vault and put on the right Infinity Gauntlet, then use all six stones worth of power to turn the tide against Thanos. This would redeem Loki, and if it’s done right, could even set up Thanos to learn a lesson and become a hero, too.
Final Thoughts
That about wraps up where we are at this point in the Infinity War. There is one stone left to be found before Loki takes the fight to Thanos. Wow. The short version is really short. One fun idea is that the form of each stone spells out Thanos. T-Tesseract/H-Heimdall/A-Aether/N-Necklace/O-Orb/S-Staff. This, of course, assumes that the Soul stone is in Heimdall. Be sure to share this with your friends on social media. And, as always, if you feel like something was left out or is wrong, leave your take in the comments section!
For an Infinity Gauntlet of your own, try these affiliate links for Amazon. Thanks for reading, and enjoy!