Guardians of the Galaxy To Infinity and Beyond: The Thanos Thread

[Joeyjojo72]

Loki did what now at the end of TDW? Totally missed that.

 

[Gr0oT]

Not to mention Loki has already paid his debt to The Other and Thanos by providing them with the Aether at the end of Thor: TDW. So that plot thread has ended.

Damn I'm slow. Although I realized that Loki was posing as Odin I didn't make the connection that it was he who got Sif and Volstagg to deliver the Aether to the Collector in the mid-credit scene!

 

[JC00]

I wonder how many people never made the connection. I made it 5 minutes after the movie.

Was wondering why Volstagg and Sif would just hand it over to the Collector if Bor had it buried deep. Then I remembered Loki was masquerading as Odin.

I'd also imagine Thanos can go pick up the Tesseract whenever he wants now.

 

[Xeno]

Not to mention Loki has already paid his debt to The Other and Thanos by providing them with the Aether at the end of Thor: TDW. So that plot thread has ended.

It was never stated anywhere that Loki repaid Thanos by sending the Aether to the Collector. We don't even know that the Collector and Thanos are working together at this point. Also, Thanos wanted the Tesseract specifically in exchange for the Chitauri army and that is still in Asgard. Since the Tesseract is essential in the creation of the Infinity Gauntlet Thanos will still come to get it from Loki eventually. So that plot hasn't ended, it was just kicked forward a bit.

 

[Savage]

It was never stated anywhere that Loki repaid Thanos by sending the Aether to the Collector. We don't even know that the Collector and Thanos are working together at this point. Also, Thanos wanted the Tesseract specifically in exchange for the Chitauri army and that is still in Asgard. Since the Tesseract is essential in the creation of the Infinity Gauntlet Thanos will still come to get it from Loki eventually. So that plot hasn't ended, it was just kicked forward a bit.

Then why did Volstagg and Sif give away something that Odin would normally lock away in his vault? Better yet, why would Loki give up any power whatsoever? I thought it was a pretty obvious connection to make that Loki ordered Volstagg and Sif to give the Aether to The Collector to give to Thanos. Otherwise the mid-credits scene would be pretty random and confusing.

 

[The Endless]

Why would The Collector give it to Thanos?

 

[fixxxer]

Why would The Collector give it to Thanos?

Popular theories being circulated on the boards as of now...

1. Thanos is The Collector's boss.
2. Thanos is The Collector in disguise.
3. The Collector knows of the Infinity, um, Stones' power and is trying to keep them from Thanos.
4. The Collector has no clue, but just wants to collect these 6 shiny things.

And so on. I'm not leaning one way or another right now, but I wouldn't dismiss The Collector somehow being in league with Thanos, and in fact, collecting the Infinity Stones for Thanos.

The one thing I'm somewhat sure of is that Sif and Volstagg were under orders from Loki, disguised as Odin, to give the Aether (AKA Infinity Stone #2) to The Collector.

 

[Broseph44]

Popular theories being circulated on the boards as of now...

1. Thanos is The Collector's boss.
2. Thanos is The Collector in disguise.
3. The Collector knows of the Infinity, um, Stones' power and is trying to keep them from Thanos.
4. The Collector has no clue, but just wants to collect these 6 shiny things.

And so on. I'm not leaning one way or another right now, but I wouldn't dismiss The Collector somehow being in league with Thanos, and in fact, collecting the Infinity Stones for Thanos.

The one thing I'm somewhat sure of is that Sif and Volstagg were under orders from Loki, disguised as Odin, to give the Aether (AKA Infinity Stone #2) to The Collector.

#2 on that list is just Cherokeesam's theory.

 

[Savage]

I think it's as simple as Thanos having as many lieutenants out there as possible. He has The Other who has Loki and quite possibly more, and then there is The Collector who has Ronan and Ronan has his guys. I don't think it's anything complicated. Just a bunch of dudes scrambling throughout the galaxy looking for these stones, most of them probably not even knowing who is giving the orders from the top.

 

[Gr0oT]

Number 2 really is a number 2 type theory.

 

[Xeno]

Then why did Volstagg and Sif give away something that Odin would normally lock away in his vault? Better yet, why would Loki give up any power whatsoever? I thought it was a pretty obvious connection to make that Loki ordered Volstagg and Sif to give the Aether to The Collector to give to Thanos. Otherwise the mid-credits scene would be pretty random and confusing.

Whatever Loki's motive for sending the Aether to Collector turns out to be, the scene was hardly random. Perhaps he hoped to divert Thanos' attention from himself and Asgard by putting a gem he deemed less important to his own aims in the hands of the Collector. That could put Taneleer Tivan in the Mad Titan's sights, giving Loki room to breathe for a while.

The Space Gem is more valuable to Loki because it suits his needs in ruling/meddling with the Nine Realms. The Tesseract powers the rebuilt Bifrost, for one thing. Loki would surely have preferred to keep both Gems but giving Thanos another target would have meant more to him at this point. He could also be gambling on Odin's power and reputation to deter Thanos from attacking Asgard to get the Tesseract. So long as Thanos is seeking the other four Gems and does not know that Loki has taken the All-Father's place, the trickster is safe.

 

[Savage]

So we can agree at least that Loki gave up the Aether most likely to get Thanos off of his case.

 

[hopeless]

So we can agree at least that Loki gave up the Aether most likely to get Thanos off of his case.

Certainly means Thanos won't be assulting Asgard until he's secured the others.

I'm not so sure the Collector is Thanos's pawn its much more likely his daughter is since I recall she's also dating Korvac but that might be me mistaking the characters since the last appearance in an animated series had Korvac looking for his childhood sweetheart on Earth.

How would you track down the infinity stones?

The Tesseract was sealed away by Odin on Earth in ancient times and protected by an order that nearly managed to thwart the attempts of the Red Skull to locate it, the Aether was apparently sealed away by Odin's father Bor but a convergence allowed it to leak out...

Now it appears a human has located the third Infinity Stone... in every case humanity is involved in some way, Thanos must be thinking back to what the Other said at the end of Avengers and wonder how many more coincedences before he starts taking a closer look at Earth or maybe the Watcher...

 

[Savage]

Holy ****. What if the Watcher shows up in the mid-credits scene of The Avengers: AOU? Or even, what if the Guardians manage to win and keep their infinity stone, only for during the mid-credits scene Gamora hands it over to Thanos? See stuff like this is why I'm more excited for GOTG than Cap.

 

[The Endless]

Hmmm i dunno. I just think The Collector likes collecting things. He obviously knows they are powerful artefacts. But i think it's best that Thanos and Thanos alone knows of their true potential, just like the comics.

 

[cherokeesam]

Whatever Loki's motive for sending the Aether to Collector turns out to be, the scene was hardly random. Perhaps he hoped to divert Thanos' attention from himself and Asgard by putting a gem he deemed less important to his own aims in the hands of the Collector. That could put Taneleer Tivan in the Mad Titan's sights, giving Loki room to breathe for a while.

The Space Gem is more valuable to Loki because it suits his needs in ruling/meddling with the Nine Realms. The Tesseract powers the rebuilt Bifrost, for one thing. Loki would surely have preferred to keep both Gems but giving Thanos another target would have meant more to him at this point. He could also be gambling on Odin's power and reputation to deter Thanos from attacking Asgard to get the Tesseract. So long as Thanos is seeking the other four Gems and does not know that Loki has taken the All-Father's place, the trickster is safe.

Why would giving the Aether to Taneleer Tivan be a "diversion" to get Thanos to focus on the Aether instead of the Tesseract? The Other made it known in no uncertain terms that Thanos wanted The Tesseract. He didn't say a damn thing about wanting the Aether instead. By all counts, Thanos is still coming after that Tesseract that's still on Asgard.

The *only* way the TDW post-credit scene works is if you view it as Loki trying to *barter* with Thanos. Loki knows that The Collector is in Thanos' employ; Loki knows that Thanos sees through "Odin's" disguise (Thanos is omniscient, and the MCU backs this up). So what's going on here is simply Loki saying to Thanos: "Here, I'll trade you the Aether if you'll let me keep the Tesseract. Deal?" And Thanos will most likely let Loki *think* it's a "deal," before he double-crosses the hell out of him and wipes out Asgard.

 

[StarLord]

Walton Goggins for The Watcher.

 

[Wildcard]

It was never stated anywhere that Loki repaid Thanos by sending the Aether to the Collector. We don't even know that the Collector and Thanos are working together at this point. Also, Thanos wanted the Tesseract specifically in exchange for the Chitauri army and that is still in Asgard. Since the Tesseract is essential in the creation of the Infinity Gauntlet Thanos will still come to get it from Loki eventually. So that plot hasn't ended, it was just kicked forward a bit.

Been thinking about all of this lately & they are all big reasons I suspect Loki will have some part in TA 3, whether it's a big role or not.

The fact that they're planning on doubling back to this particular story aspect could be the reason they always had it planned for Ultron to be the villain for part two. Gives them time to perfectly set all of this up while also avoiding overusing anyone in particular, especially the main man behind the scenes.

 

[Bren]

(Thanos is omniscient, and the MCU backs this up)

Seriously? He's all-knowing?
I haven't seen Thor 2 yet csad so I'm assuming the above is made clear in that film?

 

[cherokeesam]

Been thinking about all of this lately & they are all big reasons I suspect Loki will have some part in TA 3, whether it's a big role or not.

The fact that they're planning on doubling back to this particular story aspect could be the reason they always had it planned for Ultron to be the villain for part two. Gives them time to perfectly set all of this up while also avoiding overusing anyone in particular, especially the main man behind the scenes.

It's possible that the thread could be resolved in Thor 3 instead of Avengers 3, but yeah, it's almost certain that Thor 3 will bring Loki back. It's just a question of whether or not the Loki-Thanos conflict gets resolved in Thor 3, TA3, or both.

 

[cherokeesam]

Seriously? He's all-knowing?
I haven't seen Thor 2 yet csad so I'm assuming the above is made clear in that film?

Avengers. Thanos, The Other, and Loki sit around the Mad Titan's throne, watching events unfold literally worlds away. They're not using "viewscreens" or remote control to do it, either. The Other "reaches out and touches" Loki from worlds away. The Other promises that there's "no barren moon," etc. where Loki can hide from Thanos.

An Odin disguise ain't gonna fool Thanos in the slightest. He knows when Loki's sleeping, he knows when he's awake, he knows when he's been bad or good, so.....

 

[fixxxer]

Walton Goggins for The Watcher.

That forehead, 'tis celestial!

 

[Wildcard]

It's possible that the thread could be resolved in Thor 3 instead of Avengers 3, but yeah, it's almost certain that Thor 3 will bring Loki back. It's just a question of whether or not the Loki-Thanos conflict gets resolved in Thor 3, TA3, or both.

I'd shoot for the C option of both considering there's bound to be a lot going on with Asgard alone by the time Thor 3 rolls around.

 

[Bren]

Avengers. Thanos, The Other, and Loki sit around the Mad Titan's throne, watching events unfold literally worlds away. They're not using "viewscreens" or remote control to do it, either. The Other "reaches out and touches" Loki from worlds away. The Other promises that there's "no barren moon," etc. where Loki can hide from Thanos.

An Odin disguise ain't gonna fool Thanos in the slightest. He knows when Loki's sleeping, he knows when he's awake, he knows when he's been bad or good, so.....

That's your proof Thanos is omniscient?
I can suggest all the above points to Thano having impressive espionage technology keeping him well informed and skilled employees who will use fear tactics and threats to ensure Loki does what they want. And the intelligence to successfully utilise all of it.

Maybe we just have a different definition of omniscient...

 

[cherokeesam]

That's your proof Thanos is omniscient?
I can suggest all the above points to Thano having impressive espionage technology keeping him well informed and skilled employees who will use fear tactics and threats to ensure Loki does what they want. And the intelligence to successfully utilise all of it.

Maybe we just have a different definition of omniscient...

That might work if we saw, you know, espionage technology and well-informed and skilled employees delivering reports and dispatches and such. Instead, we saw Thanos and The Other gazing off into the cosmos and "seeing" things unfolding on the other side of the galaxy. And reaching out to Loki on Midgard to *****-slap him astrally.

That doesn't sound like "omniscient" to you?