As we all know, the latest Marvel movie “Guardians of the Galaxy” was a huge success, and it finally filled some gaps concerning the identity of Thanos (who only appeared at the very end of the first Avengers movie) as well as the story connected to the infinity gems. There is no doubt that this is a background story which will eventually grow to epic proportions in the third or fourth Avengers movie. Unfortunately, we still have no idea when exactly are these movies going to come out since Age of Ultron (the sequel of the first avengers) is going to be released in 2015. Furthermore, the story of Avengers: Age of Ultron is very unlikely to tackle any of the Thanos or infinity gems issues since the villain of the movie is Jarvis (Tony Stark’s computer) who becomes Ultron and decides that extinction of the human race is the best solution for protecting the world.
About Thanos and infinity gems
Thanos is a galactic overlord who aided Loki in the first Avengers movie, by giving him a portion of his Chitauri army as well as one of the infinity gems. Infinity gems are artifacts of immense power, and there are six of them in existence. So far, the three gems were introduced throughout the movies:
- Avengers – Blue infinity gem, the one which can control minds of other living beings, or simply put Mindgem.
- Thor: The Dark World: Red infinity gem, also referred to as Ether, which has raw power as its domain of influence.
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Purple gem which possesses the power to alter space (Space Gem), its power is not fully displayed in the movie since it can also allow users to teleport, exist simultaneously in more than one place and, at the end, Omnipresence.
There are three gems yet to be introduced in the upcoming movies, and what is to be expected in the final Avengers movie is the all-out battle between the heroes and Thanos (who will very likely have all the gems powering up his infinity gauntlet – an item capable of containing the power of all the infinity gems at once). The following gems are still to be shown in the movies:
- Green gem, with the power to steal and manipulate souls of both living and the dead – its name is the Soul gem.
- Orange, or Time gem, allows its user to time travel, as well as age or de-age any living being. At its full power, the user of the gem gains Omniscience
- Yellow gem, a.k.a Reality gem. It can alter the reality according to user’s will, in other words, it can fulfill wishes, and it is basically the most powerful one.
Marvel Studios has already confirmed the names of the upcoming movies, and we are all hoping for this project to remain as successful as it was during the previous years, so that one day, we can all witness the Avengers movie with Thanos as the final boss.
About the upcoming movies
Back to the confirmed titles – right now we are expecting to see Age of Ultron, Ant-man, Doctor Strange, a third Captain America and a Guardians of the Galaxy sequel. Personally, I believe that only two of the mentioned movies will have something to do with the infinity gems. The first one is Doctor Strange: the sorcerer supreme and the other one is Guardians of the Galaxy. Since the first Guardians managed to tackle the infinity gem subject in a nice manner, I believe that we can expect the second movie to delve into it further. As for Doctor Strange, I also have a feeling that the infinity gem story can be incorporated naturally in his world. Doctor Strange is basically the opposite of Tony Stark, since he is an expert on magic, astral planes, souls, demons etc. but before he became a sorcerer, he was a man of science. Since we know which of the gems are to be included in the plots of the upcoming movies, a Reality and/or Soul gem would fit perfectly into the plot of Doctor Strange. Of course, there is also a possibility that Thanos is already in possession of one, or all the remaining gems, which would mean that the plots of upcoming movies from Marvel studios will have nothing to do with them. Additionally, we all know how the box office works and how producers will milk the titles of the movies until we all get sick of them, in other words, it wouldn’t be a shocking surprise if the whole infinity gem plot is stretched until the year 2025. We must also not forget about the Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D TV show , since it also has a potential to bring additional elaboration to some subjects previously seen in the movies. Another thing that we must not forget is the Avengers members who are yet to be a part of the whole movie franchise. Ant-man and Wasp are getting their screen in 2015, as well as Doctor Strange. But, what about Black Panther, is he perhaps a character to appear in the new Captain America film, considering that he shares the trait of using vibranium forged weapons like Captain Rogers, or will he have a standalone movie? Characters like Spider-man, Wolverine and some of the other X-men and the whole crew of Fantastic Four are also standard members of the Avengers, however, all of these movies are not a part of the Marvel Studios project, meaning their existence in the Avengers universe is still unconfirmed. This is why after the credits scene from Captain America: The Winter Soldier is so provoking. Are they bringing in mutants in the whole story? If yes, is there a whole Xavier’s mutant academy hidden somewhere in that world? To top it all, the most recent news is that there will be no Iron Man 4 movie, once again, begging the question: What are they planning to do with that? Is Tony Stark going to be removed from the Avengers? The only thing that is certain is the excitement and anticipation for all of the movies to come in the following years.