Thanos and the Quest for Stones
"Fine...I'll do it myself." -Thanos, Age of Ultron (2015)
Thanos (Josh Brolin) will grace us all with his major on-screen presence very soon. Avengers Infinity War (AIW or IW) hits theaters May 4, 2018 and it is certain that the Mad Titan will make his presence known. In this article, I'll go over my predictions for the lead-up and some of Infinity War. Spoilers for those who haven't watched all of the MCU-canon yet!
---Thanos Quest (sort of)---
"Humans... They are not the cowering wretches we were promised. They stand. They are unruly, and therefore cannot be ruled. To challenge them is to court death." -The Other, The Avengers (2012)
I believe the opening scene of AIW will be Thanos talking to Lady Death, trying to win her love. She will not acknowledge his existence. Thanos will mention he could become omnipotent and kill the universe, to prove his love to her. This makes her turn her head to his direction, setting the plot in motion.
He begins by collecting the Aether (Reality Stone) from Taneleer Tivan, The Collector (Benecio del Toro). Tivan will likely be collecting the stones for himself and NOT Thanos. He is The Collector, after all. Taneleer will not give it away without quarrel, thus resulting in Thanos getting the upperhand and landing a killing stroke on him and taking the Aether. During the fight, Adam Warlock's pod is hit and left cracked. I think this will be "Enter Warlock". As Thanos departs, Adam will break out of his cocoon and approach Tivan. The Collector's dying words will be something along the lines of "He's after the stones..." Giving Warlock time for preparation. (If Marvel goes this route.)
Now equipped with one stone, it is time for Thanos to turn his sights to Xandar, home of the Nova Corps. He travels to the planet and uses the raw power of the Aether to retrieve the Power Stone from the vault of the Nova Corps with ease. He then departs, and charts a direct-course to Asgard.
---Momentary shift to Thor Ragnarok---
"The Tesseract is already on Asgard, it is not wise to keep two Infinity Stones so close together" -Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Thor: The Dark World
The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), who is holding the gladiator-style fights, will be the possessor of the Soul Stone. In the comics, he was the owner of the Mind Gem. He could have previously lost it to Thanos, but I find this unlikely (though I hope to see Goldblum return in IW). I believe that Adam Warlock had the stone stripped from him, by the Grandmaster. Adam was then encased in his cocoon-y prison and eventually sold to Taneleer Tivan. Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth) will end up with the Soul Stone in his possession by the conclusion of Thor Ragnarok. This will once again put two stones on Asgard.
---Back to our regular scheduled programming---
Now that he has the Reality and Power stones, Thanos will terrorize Asgard. He will show the Allfather (Anthony Hopkins) and all of Asgard his unrivaled power. This scene will feature stunning visuals. Thanos will make it to Odin's Vault and retrieve the Tesseract (Space Stone) and the Soul Stone (whose vessel has yet to show up, hopefully Warlock). The Space Stone will allow the user to teleport wherever they want. He has waited longer for the Tesseract than all of the other stones. He needed the "chess pieces" to be placed correctly, so that he may retrieve each stone (piece) with relative ease and now that he has the Space Stone; the rest will come easily. The Space Stone has the unique ability to transport its wielder wherever they wish. The powers of each stone are amplified when they are near the others.
Thanos has four of the six stones and can use them to locate the other two. They are conveniently located on the same planet, Earth. He will seek the Time Stone (Eye of Agamotto) first, since it is wielded by the new Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). There is a couple of ways this could go.
1. He could simply take it from Strange with a minor fight (he does have four stones...). This way is boring, so I'm going with #2.
2. He could "kill" Doctor Strange, trapping Strange within the Soul Stone, where he meets Adam Warlock, who was previously trapped inside the Soul Stone. Together, they escape the stone, gaining their bodies and alerting the Avengers to Thanos's presence on Earth. (If this is the case, my predictions about Warlock earlier mean nothing)
Bringing us to the last stone, the Mind Stone. As we all know, Vision (Paul Bettany) has the Mind Stone embedded in his forehead like a hideous rhinestone. Thanos, armed with five stones, is near unstoppable at this point. However, The Vision gives him his most difficult fight so far. They trade beams and punches, but ultimately, Vision is defeated and loses the stone.
(If Marvel decides to stick to the Infinity Gauntlet storyline, and is unable to acquire the rights to certain pertinent characters, they will need substitutions. Vision could be the Silver Surfer equivalent. I would much rather see Norrin Radd on screen though.)
"He's really going to do it." -Mephisto, Infinity Gauntlet (Starlin, 1991.)
Thanos, now equipped with the full Infinity Stone Gauntlet, will teleport back to Sanctuary, his domain to begin his reign over the galaxy. He will start by gazing into the infinite abyss that is space. Deciding to show his resolve to Death, he snaps his fingers. This snap will cause half of the population of the entire universe to simply not exist. There will be a quick flash to Spider-Man (Tom Holland) on a rooftop in downtown New York. All of a sudden, his senses will overload him, nearly rendering him unconscious. When he regains composure, he observes something supernatural, as crowds around vanish from existence. This, paired with Vision, will have the Avengers ready to battle with the Mad Titan.
---Guardians of the Where?---
"I will bathe the starways in your blood" -Thanos, Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Multiple reports have said that neither Thanos nor the Infinity Stones will make an appearance in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy 2. I believe they will instead, use GOTG2 as a gateway into the power cosmic side of the MCU. Eternity, Entropy, Death, and Infinity will certainly make appearances or be alluded to. The Guardians will not join the fight against Thanos immediately. They will discover what he did to Xandar and the Nova Corps. This massacre will cause the Guardians to do what their name implies: guard the galaxy. They will swiftly head to Sanctuary (Gamora (Zoe Saldana) was his "favorite daughter", she knows its location).
---Action!---
After being easily defeated quite easily by Thanos, the teams regroup. Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and Tony Stark (RDJ) will have an amazing banter back and forth. Star-Lord will have heard of Captain America (Chris Evans) and be awestruck, much like Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) was in Captain America: Civil War. They will argue amongst themselves while figuring out a plan to take out Omnipotent Thanos.
While the teams are regrouping, we will see the resolution of Strange and Warlock's story. They will teleport, using Strange's spell, to his Sanctum Sanctorum. Upon arrival, they will be shocked to see Vision laying, badly beaten. The Vision explains he knows of the Sanctum Sanctorum due to being an Avenger. Warlock and Strange are warned by Vision of Thanos. Vision, still damaged from his battle with Thanos, will play the Surfer's role (from the comics).
At this time, it's challenging to determine if Nebula, Mephisto, Terraxia, or Eros will make an appearance. They all played vital roles in Infinity Gauntlet (Starlin, 1991.), with Nebula's being exceptionally substantial. Will we get a surprise from Marvel? Seeing Galactus, Silver Surfer, and the Fantastic Family ensembled on screen, would be a dream come-true for most. For the sake of this article, they will be emitted.
The action sequences involving the completed Infinity Gauntlet will surely bring a tear to some comic fan's eyes. I'm full expecting the Russo brothers to blow our minds with a comicbook cinematic masterpiece comparable to The Dark Knight, The Avengers, GOTG, Captain America: Winter Soldier, and Civil War. I do think that IW will end on a cliffhanger.
What do you think will happen? Am I way off? Am I spot on? Do I have some of it right, but most of it wrong? Who am I to even make such predictions?Please comment your thoughts! This is my first article. Thanks, Kenny!