Tomorrow , the Marvel Cinematic Universe ’s vast , decade - sweep plan give a climax withthe arriver of Avengers : Infinity War , a flick fans have been yearning to see for almost four yr . Whether you need a reminder of the story so far or a primer for the movie itself , io9 has you covered here .
Note : Most of this information has arrive from trailers , interviews , and other formally released details . This includes info about Infinity War ’s novel characters and options , but will not admit any major narrative spoilers . But , if you ’re in truth essay to see the movie knowing as fiddling as potential , consider this your point of no return .
The Avengers, Disassembled
Although Infinity War features almost every unrecorded - action Marvel hero we ’ve understand over the last 10 long time ( not all of them , though — more on that in a bite ) , they wo n’t be start the movie as one cohesive unit of Earth ’s mightiest heroes . Because , well , you recollect how Civil War ended , ripe ? With Captain America ( Chris Evans ) and Iron Man ( Robert Downey Jr. ) feuding with each other about the death of Tony ’s parent at the deal of a brainwashed Winter Soldier ( Sebastian Stan ) ?
Well , long story short : That ’s still sort of an issue , and when you cast in the other superhero grouping at play in the movie , it means a lot of grapheme are all over the place . Here ’s a rundown of where everyone is and what they ’re up to pass away into the moving picture . recondite breathing place !
Captain America broke his mathematical group of superheroic dissidents — Hawkeye ( Jeremy Renner ) , Falcon ( Anthony Mackie ) , Scarlet Witch ( Elizabeth Olsen ) , and Ant - Man ( Paul Rudd)—out of not - so - secret prison the Raft at the remnant of Civil War , and then unify with Black Widow ( Scarlett Johansson ) to continue their job of protecting the world covertly . Thanks toa linkup - in comic , we know Ant - Man returns to San Francisco to be with his daughter after escaping , and Hawkeye re - retires from superhero service . As far as we know , the rest of the team is still together by the clock time of Infinity War , but with one summation …
The Vision ( Paul Bettany ) , who blend in into concealment with Scarlet Witch when force-out seek the Infinity Stone deposit in his headspring — the Mind Stone — come to Earth .
Oh , back to Hawkeye for a second . While the overture comics have hint about his retreat , we ’ve not seen a single snippet of footage featuring the poor guy so far , and the team behind the film are tight - lipped about what the hell he ’ll be up to . It must be important if they ’re keeping it so occult … right ?
Spider - Man ( Tom Holland ) is live his sprightliness as everyman - nerd - teen Peter Parker , having turn down an fling to fall in the Avengers and get a sparkly cause upgradeat the ending of Spider - Man : Homecoming . When stuff starts to go down in New York in Infinity War , he finally meets up with his kinda sorta wise man …
Iron Man , who is off doing Tony Stark thing , like , interpose with the life sentence of wanderer - teensand whatnot . All we bang going into the motion-picture show is that he ’s still together with Pepper Potts ( Gwyneth Paltrow ) , and that when the terror of Thanos ( Josh Brolin ) becomes clear , Tony teams up with Doctor Strange ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) , his familiar Wong ( Benedict Wong ) , and Bruce Banner ( Mark Ruffalo ) , who has somehow made his style back to Earth following a team - up with …
Thor ( Chris Hemsworth ) who , alongside his buddy Loki ( Tom Hiddleston ) , and Valkyrie ( Tessa Thompson , who we do n’t sleep with is in reality in Infinity War ) are on their way back to Earth with a ship full of Asgardian refugees after the events of Thor : Ragnarok . Thanks to Ragnarok ’s military post credit setting , we ’ve seen them get waylaid by Thanos ’ ship , andInfinity War trailershave shown Loki giving Thanos the Tesseract , a.k.a . the Space Stone , presumably in commutation for surviving the attack , which is not good .
Also not skilful : Thor gets discard into outer space , but he soon bumps into ( literally ) the spaceship of the Guardians of the Galaxy — Star - Lord ( Chris Pratt ) , Gamora ( Zoe Saldana ) , Rocket Raccoon ( Bradley Cooper ) , Groot ( Vin Diesel ) , Drax ( Dave Bautista ) , and Mantis ( Pom Klementieff ) . From there , we know that Thor kick the bucket tofind a weapon to replace his hammer Mjolnir , which was destroyed in Thor : Ragnarok , and some trailer shot connote that Rocket and Groot may join him . Meanwhile , Star - Lord , Drax , and presumably Gamora and Mantis , finally team up with Iron Man , Doctor Strange , and Spider - Man to fight Thanos on Titan .
Meanwhile , over in Wakanda , we have Black Panther ( Chadwick Boseman ) , who ’s recently opened up Wakanda ’s existence to the wider humanity after the events of the Black Panther moving-picture show . Eventually , he and his acquaintance like Okoye ( Danai Gurira ) and his sister Shuri ( Letitia Wright ) will be roped into the events of Infinity War when Captain America and his crew bring the Vision to Wakanda to be go on safe , and for Cap to be reunited with the Winter Soldier , who was keep on Methedrine there after Civil War soShuri could deprogram his Hydra brainwashing . It seems like Cap must reach out to Tony at some degree in the film — or at least his allies — because we know Bruce Banner and War Machine ( Don Cheadle ) head to Wakanda to organise for Thanos ’ assault with Cap and the quietus of his team .
Given that there ’s so much other stuff go on in Infinity War , it ’s easy to draw a blank that the motion-picture show will also be a bit of a family reunification for Thanos . Both Gamora and Nebula ( Karen Gillan ) are his adoptive daughters , both fire as villainous right - hand women , only to rebel when they were older and side with his foe . In fact , Nebula left the Guardians at the end of GotG2 specifically so she could find and wipe out her dad , which is presumptively why she ’ll come to Earth to join the fighting . This will probably dally a major part in Thanos ’ arc , but it also going to be an important boon for our sub ( beyond two extra bodies in the fight against the Mad Titan ) because both Gamora and Nebula can render information to the Avengers about what Thanos ’ actual deal is — for representative , as we ’ve seen in the 2nd lagger , Gamora fills in her fellow Guardians about Thanos ’ plans for the Infinity Stones . Either way , it ’s going to be important to think of that there ’ll probably be a major lawsuit of the daddy payoff at some point in the movie .
Thanos and the Infinity Stones
So the reason Thanos get along to Earth is that he wants to gather all six Infinity Stones , handle them on his Infinity Gauntlet , and utilise their basically omnipotent ability to “ bring balance ” to the universe . Unfortunately , Thanos ’ musical theme of “ balance ” actually means demolish exactly one-half of all sentient living in the Galax urceolata . As for why he ’s so determined to snuffle out so many lives — well , in the comedian Infinity War is inspire by , he ’s doing it to literally woo the female personification of last , but Death ( the character)isn’t in either Infinity War or Avengers 4 . So it ’ll have to be something else move the Thanos of the MCU , which will presumably be explored in the film .
This brings us to the Infinity Stones themselves — most significantly where where they are , and how has them .
place — A.k.a . the Tesseract from Captain America : The First Avenger . Loki took it from SHIELD in Avengers , and after he was beaten it was put in Odin ’s vault . But during Thor : Ragnarok , Loki almost certainly took the gemstone out while Asgard was decrease — because we ’ve the trickster - god giving it to Thanos in various trailers .
Reality — This was scream the Aether in Thor : The Dark World and near killed Jane Foster ( Natalie Portman ) . Rather than keep in the Asgardian bank vault with the Space Stone — best to keep them separated as much as possible — Sif and Volstagg gave it to the Collector for safekeeping , which was in all probability a spoiled idea .
mightiness — Located inside the Orb , found by Star - Lord at the showtime of Guardians of the Galaxy , who nearly deliver it to the Collector , which would have been very bad . Instead , it was given to the Nova Corps — essentially the space cops of the Marvel cosmos — for protection on Xandar , and they should still have it . Should being the operative word , as it ’s one of the two stones we ’ve seen Thanos have attatched to his gantlet in various trailers .
Time — Located inside Dr. Strange ’s mystic amulet call the Eye of Agamotto . Still around his neck at last arrest .
thinker — This is the stone Thanos gave Loki to aid lead the alien invasion of Earth during Avengers . It was put into his staff , which he used to brainwash citizenry , incuding Hawkeye . Tony Stark experimented on it in Age of Ultron , which result in Ultron , but finally it was stuck on the Vision ’s os frontale , bringing him to life .
Soul — This is the only one we have n’t seen in any Marvel movie yet , althoughwe have some theory about it .
Meet Thanos’ Friends
Thanos wo n’t be alone in his seeking to prize the Infinity Stones on Earth ; he also has a few cronies who act as his heralds . Collectively , they ’re known as the Black Order . There ’s Proxima Midnight ( Carrie Coon ) and Corvus Glaive ( Michael Shaw ) , who we know go to Earth in an attempt to get the Mind Stone from Vision , which necessitates taking him to Wakanda . There ’s two more figure in the order , Ebony Maw ( Tom Vaughan - Lawlor ) , who we ’ve seen torturing Doctor Strange in the trailers , and the brutish Cull Obsidian ( Terry Notary ) , who we ’ve only assure as part of Thanos ’ initial attack on Thor ’s refugee ship so far . If you require to learn more about their comic origins , click here !
Not Every Marvel Hero Is Showing Up
Despite the fact I ’ve just told you the status of what feels like approximately 300 different characters who ’ll be in Infinity War , at least some of the characters we ’ve met over the last decennium wo n’t be showing up for the party :
Neither Ant - Man or The Wasp ( Evangeline Lilly ) come along to be in Infinity War … at least , as far as we ’ve seen , unless the micro - sized shrinkage heroes are just blot out in unmixed sight in every scene . We know they ’ll unquestionably be in Avengers 4 , but in the meantime , they ’ve fix their own things to do inAnt - Man and the Wasp .
Literally anyone from the Marvel TV show , whether or not that ’s Agent Coulson ( Clark Gregg ) or the quietus of the roll of Agents of SHIELD , or any fellow member of Netflix ’s Defenders series of shows — Daredevil ( Charlie Cox ) , Jessica Jones ( Krysten Ritter ) , Luke Cage ( Mike Colter ) , or Iron Fist ( Finn Jones ) . There’slong been a back and forthabout whether these television characters would finally get a movie cameo in Infinity War , but while the reasons behind them not point upare retentive and complex , the simple official answer is : Look , it ’s heavily enough wrangling all these motion-picture show headliner into one story , there is n’t time to explicate all these people to moviegoers who ’ve not kept up with the TV shows . So sorry , Marvel TV fans !
Here ’s the vainglorious one : after a draw of confirming , and then denying , and then several more rounds of corroborate and denying , the last official affirmation was that Captain Marvel ( Brie Larson ) is no longer appearing in Infinity War . There were scenes fritter away with the quality , but they were finally trim back from the filmaccording to Disney . you could bear out promise for a cameo , but you ’ll likely be wait until Avengers 4 for Carol to team up with her friends . At least there ’ll be the ‘ XC - set Captain Marvel movie to love before that next year ?
Oh, the Places You’ll Go
So now you know who is , and who is n’t , in the moving picture , here ’s where the whole thing really takes place , at least from what we ’ve seen so far .
too soon on in the moving picture we moderate in with Thor ’s Asgardian refugee ship as it ’s attacked by the Sanctuary II , Thanos and the Black Order ’s teeming , huge ship glimpse in the mail quotation picture of Thor : Ragnarok . From there , Thor is scattered to wherever the Guardians are hanging out in outer space , and the unhinged Titan and his Black Order set their survey on Earth .
New York , specifically , because the lagger have shown a gargantuan ring ship endanger the city , prompting a team - up between Iron Man , Doctor Strange , Wong , Hulk , and eventually Spider - Man . That band ship appear to be a key location as well , as we ’ve seen blastoff of Spider - Man , Iron Man , and Doctor Strange aboard it in the lagger , and we ’ve seen it barge in into the next location on our listing , so it ’s likely how those characters get from Earth to …
Titan , the desolate homeworld of Thanos . In the strip , it ’s one of 62 Moon orbiting the planet Saturn — however , when discussing the MCU ’s Titan , Marvel Studios President Kevin Feigedescribed it in a waythat it could potentially be a all different planet from far beyond our Solar System that also just happens to be nominate Titan .
Meanwhile , a tidy sum of the big legal action footage we ’ve seen in the trailers is set in Wakanda , as the get together Hero of Alexandria and T’Challa ’s United States Army stomach quick to protect Vision from Thanos . He not only sends a mammoth army of four - armed aliens call Outriders ( because a film with this many characters needs a big uncollectible U. S. Army of goons to perforate ) , but , if the trailers are anything to go by , finally shows up there himself .
The 2nd trailer for Infinity War also give away that the moving picture will include a flashback to the second Thanos first encountered his adoptive daughter Gamora . We do n’t make out where this take place in the MCU , but if it rival up with the comedian , then we ’ll be bear a brief sojourn to the satellite Zen - Whoberi for this flashback . But it also might be a place whose name no one in the movie pain to observe .
So, What Else?
That ’s all the BASIC — in thoroughly elaborated form , at least — but in the recent calendar month as Infinity War has gotten tightlipped and nigher , we ’ve listen some challenging matter from the creative forces behind the movie that are deserving noting as well :
Thanos might as well be the main fiber of Infinity War . Marvel ’s longhad a big rapfor not really using its movie villains to their full extent , which has direct to some concern that , after geezerhood and years of post - credit work up up ever since the end of the first Avengers picture , Thanos will just be a expectant purple chump for the gathered hero to beat up down on . But according to Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus , the movie ’s screenwriters , the villain is such a huge driving force in the level that Infinity War is , in their eyes , more Thanos ’ motion picture than an Avengers film .
This is the source of the end for the characters we ’ve known since the Marvel Cinematic Universe started . Infinity War and Avengers 4 mug the final stage of several of the main Avengers’contractualobligationsto Marvel , which in all likelihood means they ’ll either be retire — or expiring — at some point during these next two movies . Prepare yourself topotentially have to say goodbyeto some of these heroes for good .
It ’s not over yet . Back in the heady days of 2014when Infinity War was first announced , it was announced as two movies , Infinity War Parts I and II . Now , it’sAvengers : Infinity War and Avengers 4 — which has a titlethe party is keeping top secretuntil well after Infinity War is out — and Marvel has gone to great distance to say that they aretwo , very differentmovies that can stand on their own alternatively of merely being two halves of one whole . But as you might recount from all the above , there is so much going on in Infinity War that it would be harebrained to really recall of it as a wholly standalone picture show , and you ’d be right , judge byearly reaction to the celluloid ’s premiere this week . This film is place the stage for an even bigger and wilder difference in Avengers 4 next class — so clasp up .
disneyMarvelmarvel studio
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and culture newsworthiness in your inbox daily .
news program from the future , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
