We’ve all seen the trailers, and we all have heroes we’ve seen over the course of these 20 films we are excited to see in this huge team-up film. Avengers: Infinity War has an impressive cast, spanning the 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a two-hour and 36 minute run time. Here’s some of the stuff we’ve seen, or rather not seen in the trailers. And it’s led us, and the rest of the internet, on our own quest of questions about their whereabouts. If we’ve missed anything (I’m sure we have), sound off in the comments or give us a shout out on social media!
10. Sidekicks/Secondary Characters
Other than Okoye, Shuri, Ayo, and M’Baku we haven’t seen any of the supporting characters for the Avengers. Missing are Pepper Pots, MJ and Ned Leeds, Sharon Carter and Maria Hill, Harold “Happy” Hogan, Jane Foster, any of the Ross family, Hank Pym.. The list goes on. Each of the main characters had sidekicks or supporting characters to back them up either from a remote location or if things got rough, on the field of battle itself. Things are rough, so maybe seeing a scene with these characters who albeit very human, are doing their very best to help out the heroes would raise the stakes all the more.
Their absence doesn’t take away from the hype of the trailer. In fact, I think maybe just a little flash of them on scene with their respective hero counterpart would give their characters a nod to who is at risk. Adding their sacrifices to help spare life on earth would add a very human element to the film, and help the audiences connect even more with the Avengers’ struggle against Thanos. The very human lives that the heroes are trying to save, ultimately fall to the same fate as the heroes themselves.
9. Thor’s New Hammer
The toys have it. The promotional artwork has it. The comics have had it for quite a while. There’s even a place in Thor’s hand during the second trailer for it. So where is Stormbreaker?
Stormbreaker is the hammer of Beta Ray Bill, and it looks like a half-axe, half-ball peen hammer. It’s size is a little bigger than Thor’s head, and could easily be a weapon to go toe-to-toe with the massive Thanos. What I don’t understand is how they plan to incorporate this object into the MCU. It was originally a hammer Odin had made for Beta Ray Bill after his son was defeated by the former in fair combat. Bill was found worthy of wielding Mjolnir as much as Thor was, but the hammer already had an owner in Odinson. The half-axe/half-hammer was constructed out of the same mysterious metal that Mjolnir was, with many of the same enchantments.
This version takes the name, but a different shape overall. Now that we’ve seen it in some official merchandise, where is it in the trailers? After Thor: The Dark World, we weren’t as excited to see Odinson return as a fan favorite. That is until Thor: Ragnarok, where he loses an eye, his hammer Mjolnir, his father, and ultimately his home world. What hammer could possibly replace the things he has lost? The official merchandise indicates that the handle is made from a tree, accented with a leaf that if you press could make lightning noises. Seeing Thor is with Groot and the Guardians of the Galaxy, fans have speculated that the hammer is linked with our Ent-like Space explorer (apologies for the Lord of the Rings reference).
8. New Character Teases
Remember how in Captain America: Civil War, there was this rumbling in the background about the inclusion of Spider-Man in the film? There were talks going on at Sony, and Disney was involved, yada- yada- yada- Robert Downey Jr. tweets an image of Spider-Man’s reflection in his armor, and fast forward to a final trailer revealing the web-slinger stealing Captain America’s shield.
In the recent Avengers: Infinity War trailer, there are the same rumblings of a Fox/Disney deal and the acquisition of long-sought IP in the X-Men and Fantastic Four. There are speculations about Namor and where his IP truly is during this whole thing. We don’t hear a lot of chatter on the executive side about the deal, or any IP usage, and there’s legitimate concern there. By the time Avengers 4 hits theaters, the Fox/Disney deal will either be green lit or stopped by government intervention. We could see the Fantastic Four in the MCU along with mutants, or we could see the properties fall back onto Fox’s lap. What these trailers indicate to us is that we are going to see a huge team-up effort, but no teases of new characters.
Which might be better for the franchise, if you think about it. We’ve been teased before like this. No one knew about Nick Fury showing up at the end of Iron Man. But there was Samuel L. Jackson, talking about the Avengers. This was 10 years ago. Now, here we are and maybe they’re deciding to leave that juicy bit until the end like in the movies of old. I’m not complaining, I’m just saying they might want to tease us a little bit more.
7. Elders of the Universe
So we’ve gotten the unofficial clip of the Collector being interrogated, but nothing in the trailers indicate he is even present in the movie. We know that unofficially the Grandmaster has taken up residence with Daryl, whose previous roommate was Thor.
Where are these guys, really? All jokes aside, there are a lot of questions about how the elders of the universe have faired against the Mad Titan. They certainly aren’t as immortal as Hela or The Living Tribunal, but they have an extended lifespan that reaches to antiquity. The Collector’s role in the movie will hinge on the inclusion of the Aether, the Reality Stone. What secrets does the brother of Taneleer Tivan have? The Grandmaster En Dwi Gast had an Infinity Stone as well. At least in the comics, the Grandmaster had the Mind Gem for a period of time, and together with the other elders of the universe attempted to defeat the Mad Titan. The plan failed ultimately, and the gem was forfeited to a power-seeking Thanos. Perhaps the Marvel Cinematic Film version of the Grandmaster will have the Soul Stone. Or maybe his brother the Collector gave the Aether to him for safekeeping.
6. Reality Stone
We’ve all seen the clip of Thanos interrogating The Collector about the location of the Reality Stone, the Aether. Yet in all of the trailers for the film, he isn’t sporting it at all on the gauntlet. Which means, there’s a bit of post-production editing magic that’s hiding the third stone on Thanos’ glove, or he doesn’t have it yet. Other than that wild speculation, we haven’t seen the thing since Thor: The Dark World. So where is it?
The audio from an exasperated Collector indicates that he sold the Aether. However, Taneleer Tivan’s goals are to preserve the universe, and Thanos wiping out half of it are antithetical to that purpose. So, the Collector begins his quest in gathering living beings in the universe, that if the universe were to be destroyed, he would simply repopulate it with his collections and pass on to them the cultures and knowledge from the past.
How his origin story and goals play out in Infinity War are hard to be seen. He is collecting the stones, and was successful in obtaining the Aether. So for him to nonchalantly sell the Infinity Stone would be out of character for him. If he did sell it, did he see it as a threat to his existence that he had to remove, because the Power Stone had already caused him enough grief? Or is he hiding it in one of his otherworldly museums?
5. Soul Stone
There are a number of theories, some more realistic than others, about the location of the final stone to complete the set of six. From what we’ve seen in the trailers, Thanos already obtains the Power Stone and Space Stone. He smashes the Tessaract to get the latter, while the former was probably obtained prior to his meeting with Thor and Loki. The location of the Aether is unknown at this point, but at least we’ve seen its existence. The Time Stone is with Doctor Strange. The Mind Stone is embedded in the head of Vision. This final elusive piece has been vaguely referenced but never implicitly talked about in all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films.
There are more serious theories about the stone being in Wakanda, hidden in the Vibranium meteor that crashed on the earth centuries ago. Then there are some other theories out there speculating that Heimdall has it. There has been a more recent theory that Tony Stark is the Soul Stone, and Howard Stark somehow obtained the stone to create Tony. This posits the theory that Howard and his wife were unable to conceive, and used the stone’s powers to create life. Backing up this theory is the fact Tony created two artificial beings in Age of Ultron, Vision and Ultron. Plus in Avengers, the power of the Mind Stone had no effect on Tony.
4. Ant-Man/Wasp
The miniature duo is already slated for their own film later this year. However, with a threat looming in the sky over New York and a danger to all the Universe, what hope can the small fighters provide in the battle?
How Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lily would contribute to the fight would be an amazing spectacle. Audiences were amazed at Rudd’s appearance in Captain America: Civil War and the center-stage moment he took when he reached Giant-Man sized proportions to fight against Team Iron Man. The Wasp would add a badass dynamic to the battle, as she is more savvy in hand-to-hand combat than Lang. She also carries a diverse arsenal of tech developed by Pym.
Fans are looking forward to Ant-Man and the Wasp later this year to be sure. But a cameo appearance by the two in Avengers: Infinity War would fuel the hype all the more.
3. Heimdall
Everyone and their mother was talking about Idris Elba’s character being the holder of the Soul Stone. Even without this, his character’s ability to speak to others over great distances and share his vision with them was an uncanny power. Not one to be underestimated.
Spoilers for anyone who hasn’t seen Thor: Ragnarok.
Heimdall was part of a resistance against the new leadership of Loki in Asgard. While Loki posed as Odin, Heimdall was opposed to the recent changes in the policies of the imposter king and abandoned his position as guardian of the bifrost bridge. By Loki’s decree, Heimdall became an outlaw and effectively disappeared before he could be put to trial.
When Hela began her assault on Asgard, Heimdall came to the rescue of his people by providing them safe passage to an underground hideout. He fought off Hela’s berserkers and came to the aide of Thor and Loki when the goddess of death threatened the remaining Asgardians. The people of Asgard escape the destruction of their realm, as Surtur plunges his flaming sword to its core. In tow were Korg, Loki, Hulk, Thor, and Heimdall along with the rest of the Asgardians, minus the Warriors Three. So, we’ve seen what’s happened to the Asgardians in the Infinity War trailer, their bodies strewn about the ground as Ebony Maw steps over them. Where amongst them is Heimdall? The lack of his character being in the trailer coupled with his ability to see what’s going on in the nine realms has brought about a lot of questions from fans.
What his fate might be when the movie comes out will most likely surprise us, so we’ll all just have to wait and see.
2. Nick Fury
The former S.H.I.E.L.D. head teased us at the end of Iron Man, and has been with us in two of the Avengers movies and a bit in Captain America: Winter Soldier. Yet, we haven’t seen him appear since. We know we’ll see him in Captain Marvel, along with some other folks like Agent Phil Coulson and Ronan the Accuser. But will we see him come out from hiding when the big purple menace hits earth?
Last we saw the grizzled soldier, he was under threat from his own division, taken over by Hydra. He had faked his own death so he could root out forces of HYDRA embedded in S.H.I.E.L.D’s inner workings. We’ll see him again, with both eyes, in Captain Marvel, but will we see the eyepatch team up with the eyepatch of Thor in Infinity War? So far, none of the promotional art, posters, or clips seem to indicate it. But we’ve seen Marvel throw us for a loop before when they didn’t want major spoilers for an upcoming movie to get out too soon. With the roster of heroes we’ve seen in the trailers so far, maybe it’s only a tip of the iceberg.
1. Hawkeye/Ronin
Clint Barton has been part of the group since the beginning. Yet, he’s missing from the trailers, the promo art, and the posters. Yet, his absence from much of the merchandising has been a looming question in the minds of many Marvel Cinematic Film fans. Witty Redditors and artists have done their work since, photo shopping Hawkeye almost hilariously into the existing promotional works. The Russo’s have commented that Hawkeye’s role will be significant, in that he will appear more as the Ronin personality, a hand-to-hand combat expert more than an arrow trick master, during the film.
If he is so integral to the plot of this Avengers film, why isn’t he in any of the shots we’ve seen thus far? Our guess is that he will show up at a pivotal point in the film. His appearance might actually give away too much of the plot, so they are keeping everything about his character under wraps. We haven’t even seen many set photos other than a few hinting that he will be wearing the Ronin suit.
In the prelude comics leading up to Infinity War, we discover that Clint Barton has officially retired from the superhero gig. Barton is broken out from the Raft by Steve Rogers at the end of Captain America: Civil War. Since then, he is hiding with his family. A threat to the universe might change his retirement plans. We’re hoping that we at least get to see every bit of badass of Clint Barton we saw in Captain America: Civil War.
Anything else?
Like we’ve said, there’s probably some things we’ve missed. Let us know in the comments below or keep in touch with us on social media! We’re looking forward to the lively discussion before the film comes out.
Avengers: Infinity War is officially out in theaters on April 27th.