Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will finally take on Thanos next year in Avengers: Infinity War.
Here are the important story lines to remember.
This article comes fromDen of Geek UK.
This article contains spoilers forThor: Ragnarok, and various MCU movies before it.
Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have written the script, with Joe Russo and Anthony Russo handling the direction.
WithInfinity War, they are working with a bigger stable of heroes than ever before.
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Who is Thanos?
In the comics, Thanos was an alien Eternal born on the planet Titan.
He was born mutated, with a giant body and hide-like skin.
As a child, Thanos became obsessed with death.
Thanos decided to acquire more power to make himself a worthy companion to Death herself.
As of yet, the heroes of the MCU have not faced a threat this massive.
What are the Infinity Stones?
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has its own colorful gems, of course, known as the Infinity Stones.
InGuardians Of The Galaxy, Benicio del Toros Collector explained that there are six of these stones.
They were originally singularities, which predated the creation of the known universe.
Four beings known as the Cosmic Entities forged the singularities into six color-coded stones.
So far in the MCU, weve seen all but one of these stones.
First came the Tesseract, which was located and utilized by HYDRA duringCaptain America: The First Avenger.
Earths mightiest heroes banded together to defeat him.
The Tesseract went into Odins vault on Asgard.
Its heavily implied that Loki stole it back at the end ofThor: Ragnarok.
Lokis sceptre, also seen inThe Avengers, was later revealed to contain another Infinity Stone.
As things stand, thats where it remains.
The purple Orb, used by Lee Paces Ronan duringGuardians Of The Galaxy, is also an Infinity Stone.
Strange used it to warp time and defeat Dormammu.
Strange remains the current owner of the stone.
There is also one called the Soul Stone, which hasnt shown up in the films yet.
This is what Thanos wants to do.
Thanos owns another Infinity Gauntlet, which is acting like genuine.
Thanos beef with Earth
Lets backtrack a bit, and remember Thanos story so far.
He might not have any Infinity Stones right now, but he did own a few in the past.
And the humans, what can they do but burn?
They are unruly, and therefore cannot be ruled.
To challenge them is to court death.
Thanos let out a little smile at this announcement.
Either way, hes clearly keen to have another pop at our planet.
Instead of burning, the human race with help from Thor stood up to Loki and thwarted his plans.
Plus, a lot of his foot soldiers were killed, all thanks to the Avengers.
Thanos revenge has been a long time coming.
Thanos was next seen in the firstGuardians Of The Galaxymovie.
Once again, he was the puppet master pulling the strings of the films main villain.
This time, Thanos was working that blue Kree chap, Lee Paces Ronan.
Star-Lord brought the Orb to Xandar, hoping to sell it to the Broker.
Thanos sent his favorite daughter, Zoe Saldanas Gamora, to intercept the Orb.
Thanos had been known to torture his kids, providing Gamora with motivation.
For the second time, Thanos was left without an Infinity Stone and down a lot of soldiers.
Plus, both of his daughters had gone AWOL.
At the end ofAvengers: Age Of Ultron, Thanos showed his face again.
He donned his Infinity Gauntlet and said, Fine, Ill do it myself.
Also inAvengers: Age Of Ultron, Thor had a vision quest in a cave.
He saw the Infinity Stones whizzing about in space, spliced in with some images of destruction.
At the end of the movie, Thanos vowed to leave Earth to get to work it all out.
I have no choice, he explained to his Avengers teammates.
Its not a coincidence.
Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us.
Loki doesnt seem to be in any hurry to clue his brother in about the purple-faced menace, either.
In the first ofRagnaroks two post-credits scenes, a giant spaceship intercepts the newly homeless citizens of Asgard.
This large ship has been confirmed to be Sanctuary 2, Thanos new ride.
(Sanctuary 1, apparently, is the pile of rocks where his throne is based.)
Perhaps Loki did steal the Tesseract from Odins vault during the third act ofRagnarok.
This would certainly chime quite nicely with what we know aboutInfinity Warfrom the footage screened at D3.
Having been defeated inThe Avengers, this villainous duo seems to be really upping their game.
It will be interesting to see what the relations are like between all of these superheroes.
Theres also a mention in one of those descriptions of the Hulk-buster armour.
Has Tony whipped it out to use against Thanos, or is he fighting the Hulk again?
Of course, well just have to wait and see to find out how all these pieces slot together.
Its also worth remembering thatInfinity Warwill not be the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Its even been confirmed that the sequel toSpider-Man: Homecomingwill arrive in July 2019.
