To Infinity and Beyond: The Thanos Thread

[Chewy]

He has to come to Earth. Just thematically speaking, if he's obsessed with death and with the Avengers he'd want to see their deaths first hand

[jaqua99]

But if The Gauntlet is in the MCU, which it is, and if there is an Infinity Gauntlet type story, which it will be, in the comics, its of SUCH power, that it can't be down graded THAT much, to make him just want to come and kill the avengers.

When Thanos is involved, it IS going to be on a much bigger scale, we already know his scale will be universal. It was said so in the first film lol

Where ever it takes place, its more than likely going to be about the Avengers trying to stop Thanos from destroying the universe, or something. To have a Thanos movie, where he wields the gauntlet, and then just have it be him trying to destroy earth, or kill the avengers..well,

personally as a BIG Thanos fan, that is just a slap in the face. And I am sorry if I am the only one who feels that way. Don't mean to be the party pooper

[cherokeesam]

Originally Posted by jaqua99

But if The Gauntlet is in the MCU, which it is, and if there is an Infinity Gauntlet type story, which it will be, in the comics, its of SUCH power, that it can't be down graded THAT much, to make him just want to come and kill the avengers.

When Thanos is involved, it IS going to be on a much bigger scale, we already know his scale will be universal. It was said so in the first film lol

Where ever it takes place, its more than likely going to be about the Avengers trying to stop Thanos from destroying the universe, or something. To have a Thanos movie, where he wields the gauntlet, and then just have it be him trying to destroy earth, or kill the avengers..well,

personally as a BIG Thanos fan, that is just a slap in the face. And I am sorry if I am the only one who feels that way. Don't mean to be the party pooper

You're not the only one who feels that way.
Thanos has much, MUCH broader vision beyond the Earth and its Mightiest Heroes. Death isn't impressed with him just wiping out a whole planet....*any* generic megavillain can do that.

[Chewy]

Maybe they have the Avengers protecting one of the gems on Earth. Idk. He clearly takes a personal interest in them and Earth, given the coda.

All I know is that any Avengers film has to be focused squarely on the Avengers themselves. You make it universal and you make them cogs in the machine and structurally, thematically it's not their movie any more, it's Thanos's. The movie didn't work because it was about a team called the Avengers, the movie worked because it was about Iron Man and Captain America and Hulk and Thor.

Which isn't to say they can't go to space at some point during the movie.

[jaqua99]

Originally Posted by cherokeesam

You're not the only one who feels that way.
Thanos has much, MUCH broader vision beyond the Earth and its Mightiest Heroes. Death isn't impressed with him just wiping out a whole planet....*any* generic megavillain can do that.

Exactly.

Originally Posted by Chewy

Maybe they have the Avengers protecting one of the gems on Earth. Idk. He clearly takes a personal interest in them and Earth, given the coda.

All I know is that any Avengers film has to be focused squarely on the Avengers themselves. You make it universal and you make them cogs in the machine and structurally, thematically it's not their movie any more, it's Thanos's. The movie didn't work because it was about a team called the Avengers, the movie worked because it was about Iron Man and Captain America and Hulk and Thor.

Which isn't to say they can't go to space at some point during the movie.

The point is, the movie can focus on the avengers without the threat being JUST earth. People seem to not grasp that concept.

They are using Thanos, the scale HAS to be huge. That is his character. They are not going to have him just attack Earth. It's Thanos The Mad Titan for christ's sake. All his schemes involve death on a universal scale, basically.

And what makes you think he has taken a personal interest in the avengers and Earth?

Lets take a look at what he got here. Loki meets Thanos. We know what Thanos wants at the time is the tesseract, now, for whatever reason, we don't know, whether he wants it in asgard so he can get there to take the gauntlet, Don't know. But The Other and Thanos give Loki the army, and the scepter to take over earth, in exchange for the tesseract. At this point, the only interest he has in Earth is that the tesseract there.
Fast forward, and Loki is defeated. The humans of earth, and their heroes defeated him. Was this apart of Thanos' plan? He used Loki's arrogance and anger to set him up for failure, thus getting the tesseract back to asgard. Mere speculation. The Other informs Thanos of Loki's failure, and that to challenge Earth is to court death. Thanos then smiles.

Now to me, that smile doesn't mean that he is interested in attacking earth. Especially when we know he wants something much bigger. Why abandon something big, to just attack Earth?
The reasons for that grin can be multiple things.

1. Sure, he wants to attack earth, given what little we know about him and The Other, I find this very unlikely.

2. They are more powerful than I thought, I could use a good challenge in my quest to destroy life

3. Fear not, although our Ally failed, everything is actually going according to plan, and I am currently not worried about the threat of the so-called avengers.

It can be anything, so to say that he seems to have a strong interest in Earth, just doesn't sound right, especially since all we know about him is that he smiled at the word, and that the other seems to think that he wants to basically own the universe, "The world will be his, the universe, yours, and the Humans, what can they do, but burn". Given that, and given what we know about the character of Thanos himself, I am MORE THAN WILLING to give him the benefit of the doubt and go ahead and say, he doesn't have a direct interest in Earth itself, other than the fact that that they may try to stop him in his quest for death/universal domination.

The movie can take place everywhere, where it is known at the point of the movie that Thanos' goal is destroy life, not just simply Earth. It can still center around the avengers, even though they are trying to stop him.
Also, who is to say they can't make an ally? Such as Drax, and Warlock? With their help, just two other people, it can still be about the avengers, trying to stop Thanos from destroying all life, or ruling the universe, whatever they chose his motive to be.

The point is, it can work. Now, Thanos has been introduced. Given what we know about the character, his goal won't be to just attack earth and beat the avengers. It wont. They can't. Like I previously said, doing so would be a HUGE slap in the face and a let down to any big fan of the character.

I'd be willing to bet, regardless of where the avengers go, who else is in the movie, regardless of all that, Thanos' motive WILL be on a universal scale. Period.

[Chewy]

Originally Posted by jaqua99

E1. Sure, he wants to attack earth, given what little we know about him and The Other, I find this very unlikely.

2. They are more powerful than I thought, I could use a good challenge in my quest to destroy life

3. Fear not, although our Ally failed, everything is actually going according to plan, and I am currently not worried about the threat of the so-called avengers.

I'm not saying the first. I'm saying the second.

Yes Thanos has greater aspirations beyond just destroying the Earth. But within said aspirations there's time to make a point of destroying the Earth in person. They defeated his army, they nuked one of his warships, and he smiled when he was told that to challenge them was to court death.

It's not a giant leap in logic that he wants to destroy them in person. And with a fully gemmed gauntlet it would take him a second to get to Earth. Not arduous.

[jaqua99]

Originally Posted by Chewy

I'm not saying the first. I'm saying the second.

Yes Thanos has greater aspirations beyond just destroying the Earth. But within said aspirations there's time to make a point of destroying the Earth in person. They defeated his army, they nuked one of his warships, and he smiled when he was told that to challenge them was to court death.

It's not a giant leap in logic that he wants to destroy them in person. And with a fully gemmed gauntlet it would take him a second to get to Earth. Not arduous.

I agree, but I just feel his plan to destroy all life will probably flourish. I mean, if his aspirations are THAT big, his story can't end with his ultimate defeat being on Earth. Sure, he could go there, as long as he defeats them temporarily and more happens after. I would want to see him come close to his goal. Something big, some big level of destruction, or close to it, we haven't seen in a comic book movie yet. And the climax of the story would be the avengers try to stop him in a last bit effort to save the universe, opposed to the climax being Thanos attacking the avengers, during his quest.

[Captain Marvel]

It's not a giant leap in logic that he wants to destroy them in person. And with a fully gemmed gauntlet it would take him a second to get to Earth. Not arduous.

With a fully gemmed gauntlet he doesn't need to get to Earth. He can snap his fingers and wipe out all existence. Why would he care about facing them in person? If Thanos gets the gauntlet then the fight will have to come to him.

[Chewy]

Originally Posted by Captain Marvel

With a fully gemmed gauntlet he doesn't need to get to Earth. He can snap his fingers and wipe out all existence. Why would he care about facing them in person? If Thanos gets the gauntlet then the fight will have to come to him.

Of course he doesn't need to, power-wise. But in terms of making the story relevant to the Avengers and the Avengers relevant to the story, he does.

[Captain Marvel]

That's not the only way to make it relevant to the Avengers, particularly if they knew beforehand that he was after the Infinity Gems, or if he did something afterwards (like, I don't know, wiping out half of all life on Earth with a snap of his fingers) which'll attract their attention. There's plenty they could do storywise to make the Avengers want to go after Thanos that doesn't involve Thanos pointlessly showing up on Earth.

[Chewy]

Well first of all, Marvel is not going to put out a movie where a character wipes out half of all life on Earth. lol

That said, it's not pointless. They defeated his army, they nuked one of his warships. His lieutenant told him not to take them lightly. Even if he doesn't take that thought seriously (and presumably he doesn't), he'll want them to know they trifled with the wrong being, and he'll want to prove to his men that the Avengers are nothing to him. He'll likely think of it as not much more than a pitstop on his death lap, but one he'll enjoy.

Or Marvel could just have one of the gems be stashed on or brought to Earth. Which would allow him to do all of the above while adding an extra layer of motivation on top of pettiness.

[Captain Marvel]

That was an example based on the Infinity Gauntlet comic series, in which he did kill off all life on Earth. The power of the Infinity Gems was then used to undo that act, so those people didn't stay dead.

As for the rest, Thanos wouldn't care what the Avengers think or what his men (who're obviously completely disposable) would think. Particularly once he has infinite power. The only being whose opinion he cares about is Lady Death's. He doesn't give a flip about imagined score cards.

[jaqua99]

I can see him attacking the Avengers, but thats it. He attacks them, and beats them down, to basically show them that he is their superior. Like Chewy said, it can be a pit stop. But more has to happen after. The story can still be relevant to the avengers without him being the one to attack earth just to prove something.

If it comes down to The Avengers are the only ones who can stop Thanos, how is that not about them?

Like I said, yes, it is an Avengers movie, but they are not going to do the character of Thanos a disservice that much by simply having his climax be to attack the earth, and have his story end there. Something bigger will happen. They are building something big, with the gauntlet, with guardians, and with his general telling him the universe will be his. With all that built up, they aren't going to have him stopping to take on the avengers, be the story that's told on screen.

He has big plans, then attacks the avengers for the heck of it to prove something, then looses, and that's it? It will have to keep going. They will learn of his plans probably after, or when he gets the gauntlet and then they go after him to save the universe.

that is still an Avengers story

Whenever the avengers go against Thanos, the reason should not be because of them or the earth, it should be because the universe is in trouble

[Chewy]

Originally Posted by Captain Marvel

That was an example based on the Infinity Gauntlet comic series, in which he did kill off all life on Earth. The power of the Infinity Gems was then used to undo that act, so those people didn't stay dead.

As for the rest, Thanos wouldn't care what the Avengers think or what his men (who're obviously completely disposable) would think. Particularly once he has infinite power. The only being whose opinion he cares about is Lady Death's. He doesn't give a flip about imagined score cards.

Look, I get who Thanos is and what he cares about in the comics. You don't have to tell me. But in terms of making him a memorable character to audiences, in terms of making him the ultimate villain in the Marvel film universe, he needs to have some connection to the heroes. It can't be one-sided. Otherwise he's a plot point, and not a great one.

I have no doubt Whedon will handle him superbly.

[Chewy]

Originally Posted by jaqua99

I can see him attacking the Avengers, but thats it. He attacks them, and beats them down, to basically show them that he is their superior. Then more happens after The story can still be relevant to the avengers without it being on Earth.

If it comes down to The Avengers are the only ones who can stop Thanos, how is that not about them?

Like I said, yes, it is an Avengers movie, but they are not going to do the character of Thanos a disservice that much by simply having his climax be to attack the earth, and have his story end there. Something bigger will happen.

I never said his climax would be attacking the Earth. Just that, at some point, he has to visit the Earth. Even if it's just to, say, retrieve one of the gems and beat the snot out of the Avengers. And then go back into space, to prepare to wipe out half the universe.

[jaqua99]

Originally Posted by Chewy

I never said his climax would be attacking the Earth. Just that, at some point, he has to visit the Earth. Even if it's just to, say, retrieve one of the gems and beat the snot out of the Avengers. And then go back into space, to prepare to wipe out half the universe.

oh, okay then. Then I completely agree with you then haha.

I thought you meant that he was going to attack the avengers, and that was going to be it, in terms of his story and climax being told on screen.

Since I miss understood, what I expect is that for him to just take on all the avengers, and then his plan will continue, and the avengers will THEN have to stop him from destroying the universe, or whatever he is going to do. This is basically more or less what you are saying then? cause if it is, we are on thee same page haha.

I thought you just meant that he has his plan, he stops, and then comes to earth and fights the avengers, and his story becomes simply an avengers/earth vs thanos story, straying away from him trying to destroy the universe. gotcha

[jaqua99]

Originally Posted by Chewy

Look, I get who Thanos is and what he cares about in the comics. You don't have to tell me. But in terms of making him a memorable character to audiences, in terms of making him the ultimate villain in the Marvel film universe, he needs to have some connection to the heroes. It can't be one-sided. Otherwise he's a plot point, and not a great one.

I have no doubt Whedon will handle him superbly.

that's assuming whedon comes back :/ here's hoping he does

[Chewy]

He always talks about how much he loved Thanos as a kid. And he's the one who decided to have Thanos in TA. I'm pretty sure he'll come back.

And having recently watched Buffy for the first time, the thought of Whedon writing a Thanos arc makes me all tingly

[jaqua99]

Originally Posted by Chewy

He always talks about how much he loved Thanos as a kid. And he's the one who decided to have Thanos in TA. I'm pretty sure he'll come back.

And having recently watched Buffy for the first time, the thought of Whedon writing a Thanos arc makes me all tingly

So you think the whole "I have not decided on filming Avengers 2 yet..." and the whole undecided thing is just him playing the Holywood game?

I think he needs to direct it. The man clearly knows what makes a comic book movie work...clearly. Having someone else direct it would give me the same feeling I had when I read the first Thanos comic Jim Starlin didn't write.

I know Whedon loved Thanos and his favorite story ark was the death warlock. Hopefully we get both of them. Avengers AND Warlock stopping Thanos is the best thing that could be done.

I think Whedon will be back. gah, so many more years down the road

[Chewy]

Haha yeah. He probably wants to do something of his own first, since he could get funding for just about anything right now

[jaqua99]

He sure could.

So thoughts guys?

Infinity Gauntlet, when will we first know about it, and when will Thanos obtain it?

[cherokeesam]

Originally Posted by jaqua99

He sure could.

So thoughts guys?

Infinity Gauntlet, when will we first know about it, and when will Thanos obtain it?

Honestly, I hope Thanos (or at least The Other) next appears in the prologue of Thor: The Dark World. That is such a perfect setup at the end of Avengers, and could lead directly to the start of TDW. Even if Thanos isn't able to get the Gauntlet right away, there should at least be the matter of Thanos or The Other coming to collect that debt from Loki, as promised....

[jaqua99]

I agree. I was just doing a google search, and I stumbled upon an article someone wrote, from..."the site" on how they think the MCU will pan out. Personally, I don't think it will pan out AT ALL like this guy wrote, but its still an interesting read, and would love for it to play out this way, given some tweaks of course.

now I can't link the site, so I'll just post the article

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

Let's think. You're Marvel. You have just made cinematic history by bringing together a multi-franchise cast of characters to gather in one film, Marvel's The Avengers. What should you do now? Making an Marvel's The Avengers 2 is invertible but is it all of Phase 2? Lets see what we can piece together.



Naturally most of you have heard about a little film called Guardians Of The Galaxy by now. As announced at the last SDCC, Guardians Of The Galaxy is headed to a theater near you in 2014. Okay, so this means that Peter Quill, Rocket Raccoon, Drax, Gamora, and Groot are all going to appear in Marvel's The Avengers 2? No, of course not, that's silly and stupid. But if you take it that Marvel Cinematic Universe is framed around the Avengers that's what you'd have to think. Marvel's The Avengers 2 already will have its hands full of characters it needs to add to the roaster, with Ant-Man (Scott Lang), Giant Man (Hank Pym), Wasp (Janet van Dyne), Ms Marvel (Carol Danvers), Black Panther (T'Challa), and Vision, being just a few of the fan favorites and some of the more famous Avengers. But what if the Avengers are only part of the story? What if they aren't the biggest story in Phase 2?



The first time I started thinking this way, I was wondering how they could sum up the whole Infinity Gauntlet story arc in an Avengers film. The conclusion I finally came up with was, they couldn't. The Avengers alone would be so out gunned by Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet it would be ridiculous, even throwing the Guardians of the Galaxy in there it wouldn't add to the threat much. More on that later. So is Marvel either going to do a half-cooked adaption of the Infinity Gauntlet or are their plans bigger than The Avengers?


I then thought of Inhumans. There has been some talk about doing an Inhumans movie for some time. Now before you say Inhumans are dumb characters I recommend you read this story arc here. You don't need any prior knowledge of the characters etc. that story arc will introduce them to you and show you why they're interesting. Kevin Feige has stated many times that these characters were possible candidates for their own film. And according to It'sOnTheGrid the story synopsis is thus.

Aliens who were put on Earth as sleeper cell aliens to eventually call back their race to take over the planet. Ultimately, the group of aliens fully assimilates and don’t want to cause war.

Obviously the story has been somewhat changed in this synopsis but I would say that it would fit nicely in the MCU this way and done right, it could be a better adaption to their very confusing origin story. It would give good ways to introduce the Kree, possibly have Captain Marvel play a part in it and/or have a Ms Marvel cameo as her origin story is very Kree based.



My next thoughts were, “Well what about all the movies for Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Namor, Nova and even the possibility of a new Incredible Hulk movie?” They have all been talked about by Marvel, so what do they have in common? Well, let's think. Do they belong to a team? Yes, The Defenders.



Building the franchise not unlike Marvel's The Avengers, with each character having their own solo movie, then building up to a team movie, would be the best direction to go with these characters. Who would be the villain for all the Defenders to team up against? Annihilus. They could do an adaption from the Annihilation story arc with Annihilus trying to take over the Galaxy, and having Nova (Richard Rider) becoming the last of the Nova corps. This type of story would easily fit the sort of haphazard like team the Defenders are. Because they are not really a team, they're more just people thrown together at the last minute to defend us.



Now, if Marvel is going ahead with all these team films, what is their plan? Now, I think would be a good time to talk about Thanos. Yes, this is where I think the MCU is headed. How can Marvel do the Infinity Gauntlet story arc? Build up all these teams, then have the teams team up against a threat to the Universe. What I mean is an adaption of the Infinity Gauntlet story arc which would bring the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Inhumans, and the Defenders together in a team up of teams which would be in a two part movie.

Need more explanation? Here is what I'm guessing is the big picture line up of the MCU.

2008
Iron Man
The Incredible Hulk

2010
Iron Man

2011
Thor
Captain America: The First Avenger

2012
Marvel's The Avengers

2013
Iron Man 3
Thor: The Dark World

2014
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Guardians Of The Galaxy
Ant-Man

2015
Black Panther
The Incredible Hulk 2
Marvel's The Avengers 2

2016
Doctor Strange
Inhumans
Namor

2017
Iron Fist
Nova

2018
The Defenders

2019
The Infinity Gauntlet Part 1

2020
The Infinity Gauntlet Part 2

This is what I could see happening. This would give plenty of time to see more of Thanos, to build his character and his story before he gets the Gauntlet. It would also give enough time to introduce most if not all the needed characters by the time the Infinity Gauntlet movies came around.

Read more

[Chewy]

That article is a perfect example of why we shouldn't link to that site

Putting the world building above the characters, the exact problem Marvel must do everything in their power to avoid. The universe Marvel is building is fun but if you lose sight of the actual characters at its heart, in favor of stuffing as many teams into a film as possible, you produce one hell of a cluster****

[jaqua99]

Originally Posted by Chewy

That article is a perfect example of why we shouldn't link to that site

Putting the world building above the characters, the exact problem Marvel must do everything in their power to avoid. The universe Marvel is building is fun but if you lose sight of the actual characters at its heart, in favor of stuffing as many teams into a film as possible, you produce one hell of a cluster****

Agreed. If they do an infinity gauntlet type story, I think it is save to say that, like Sam said, in the MCU the big story with the IG already happened, hence it being in Odin's treasure room right now. It will probably be of Thanos trying to take it back, and wanting to destroy life with it or something.

All these characters aren't necessary. With the avengers we got now, with the addition of maybe say, 2 or 3 more, and then throwing warlock in there, and maybe one or two members from the guardians, that is more than enough people to get a Thanos IG story going for the big screen. Comics are comics.