Avengers: Infinity War

InAvengers : Infinity War , Thanos will at last assault . And when we say " at last " , we mean it ; the sore Titan has been a lingering presence for over one-half of the MCU yet has only a fistful of appearances and minimal plot impingement . Thanos was first introduce inThe Avengers , revealed in the mid - credits tantrum to have been behind Loki ’s assault on Earth , a bargaining chip so he could learn the Space Stone . He returned inGuardians of the Galaxy , this time manipulating Kree warlord Ronan the Accuser to get the Power Stone in interchange for destroying Xandar . He finally ditch underlings inAvengers : Age of Ultron ’s mid - credits tantrum , vowing to " do it " himself , yet has been completely scatty in the geezerhood since , only popping up again duringThor : Ragnarok ’s cut to ( presumably ) at last get the Tesseract off Loki . register More : Infinity War possibility : prevue Show How [ SPOILER ] DiesWhile the exact passing of time in the MCU is unclear ( long assumed to be in real prison term , movies have been completely out of order in Phase 3 ) , it ’s been six years in the real world since the grin purple giant star was first seen and he ’s made next to no progress : he spent most of phase 1 & 2 lurking in the shadow using puppet , and despite since vowing to commence the Infinity seeking has n’t made any headroom . In fact , if you forefend any post - credit teasing , Thanos has technically only been seen once in a motion-picture show that ’s almost four years old . But is there a reason for this?This Page : What Does Thanos Actually need ?

What Actually Is Thanos' Plan?

As reveal in the latestInfinity Wartrailer , Thanos ' main finish is to bring " counterweight " to the universe by killing half of those active . He plans to do this by collect all the Infinity Stones , giving him God - same power , and -just as in the comics- snapping his fingers to belt down one thousand million . We ’ll take much ' backstoryin the movie itself , but that ’s the crux of what ’s fail on : the Stones are a method for devastation rather than the perfect goal .

That ’s still a sheer program , and one that explains why he first had minions do it : there ’s gamey risk in aim a single Infinity Stone , let alone the full six , and to make a base draw verbatim attention to himself . It ’s easier to have Loki and Ronan - both of whom had their own , personal reason to be getting their various Stones - do the legwork then collect the advantage afterward . keep in the fantasm definitely forge : the only people aware of Thanos at all are the Guardians of the Galaxy thanks toGamora ’s cognition , and even then they do n’t seem to eff what exactly the Mad Titan ’s up to ; Thor run on a two year missionary work to inquire why the Stones had become prominent and did n’t come close to bring out the truth .

It ’s still conspicuous that once Thanos settle to actually make a move , he does nothing . It ’s possible that he has been cautiously contrive out his approach path sinceAge of Ultron- he definitely knows thatEarth , where the majority of the Infinity Stones are , is a task given the presence of the Avengers - but that makes his conclusion to attack now still rather random . Considering the positioning of Earth ’s Mightiest Heroes , it feels funnily convenient . Although those escapade may be the headstone .

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The Protectors Of The MCU Have Died

While the " bigger universe " Nick Fury said Tony Stark was becoming a part of inIron Man ’s post - credits scene take a while to come out , it ’s become clear there are major cosmic forces that dwarf the Avengers even now . Thetimeline of the MCUgoes all the direction back to the jump of world , and across the eighteen movies we ’ve met numerous legendary figures of immense power . However , many of the big guns have begun to drop .

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First , inDoctor Strangewe hear the death of the Ancient One . For millennia , she ’d predominate the Sorcerers and overseen all realities , yet in ( what is presumed to be ) 2016 she was killed by former student Kaecillius , leave behind a young , much - younger Sorcerer Supreme , one who was n’t calling on the powers of the Dark Dimension . Dormammu was also out of the picture thanks to Stephen Strange ’s efforts ( incidentally using theTime Stone ) .

Thanos with Ego Odin and the Ancient One

Technically earlier in continuity but in terms of expiration after cameGuardians of the Galaxy Vol . 2 , which introducedEgo as the last Celestial . The stove and major power each MCU Celestial had is a mystery , but between Ego and Knowhere ’s , we can get a warm idea ; even if they could n’t contain the power of a individual Infinity Stone , they were n’t to be trifled with . And now they ’re gone . Of course , it ’s possible Ego was being self - aggrandizing in an attempt to big him up to son , Star - Lord , but it seems potential the wipeout of the live planet ended this line ; while Peter Quill did develop heavenly powers , it ’s made clear-cut he ’ll miss them after his Father-God ’s expiry .

And , in the end , we have Odin and Asgard . Things had already been precarious for the past few years thanks to Loki ’s bastard - Odin rule , but inThor : Ragnarokit all came literally crashing down ; Odin ended his life andAsgard was destroyedshortly after by his Logos releasing Surtur to bar Hela . The All - Father is beat , supercede by the only recently - proven Thor , and the realm they protected is gone .

In brusk , over the past two year , Marvel has been carefully remove all of its ancient , all - powerful existence from the equation , often passing down the mantle to unsound descendent . If you add inCaptain America : Civil Wardividing the Avengers andBlack Pantheropening Wakanda up to the world under T’Challa ’s newfangled rule , somewhat much all of Phase 3 was passably much tear down the yesteryear , leaving monolithic wounds a unhinged Titan could tap ; Thanos is assail now because he finally can .

Thanos with the Gauntlet in Infinity War.

Thanos Will Take On The Descendants

Now , whether this was intentional on Marvel ’s part is undetermined to debate , but what is n’t is that it ’s happened . WhetherInfinity Warnamechecks these priors events as motivating Thanos or not , it ’s a pretty cohesive theory - not least because it change the narrative at handwriting .

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This does n’t just explicate why Thanos is attacking now , it makesInfinity Warlook like a much more thematically - purposed fight . The foe is almost exclusively the descendants , either those taking on mantle that are new to them or , in the case of Iron Man and Captain America , moving on from their past tense . tiddler , student , new build ; theAvengers 3lineup is all linked through the lost mentor figure . Infinity Warmakes sense to take place now , and its villain ’s defeat feels all the more necessary .

Ancient One Ego and Odin Deaths in the MCU

If Thanos has indeed waited for the great powers in the macrocosm to pass on before assault , he ’s implicitly underestimating their successors - and in doingsetting himself up for frustration . In the comic strip , Thanos ' defeat came at the workforce of Nebula , and the latestAvengers : Infinity Wartrailer pointed towards his past with adopted daughter Gamora would be likewise essential , but it ’s likely going to be a full team effort .

As the Other said to him inThe Avengers , " to gainsay them is to court death " . He should have heed .

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Avengers Infinity War Star Lord and Iron Man

Avengers: Infinity War