By now, you’ve either seen Avengers: Age of Ultron, are going to see it, or are reading this as you wait to go see it again. While it’s a fairly self-contained movie, there are a few questions that need answering. Far be it from us not to fill in the gaps…
Okay, so what’s the deal with the purple guy?
That’s Thanos. You might remember him taking a meeting with Ronan the Accuser in Guardians of the Galaxy or hearing from his flunky about how the Avengers screwed up his plans in the first movie. He will be the bad guy in Avengers: Infinity War.
Why is that big-ass glove he puts on at the end of the movie so important?
That’s the Infinity Gauntlet, which turned up waaaaaay back in the first Thor movie. If you look on the knuckles, there are seats for each of the Infinity Gems.
Yeah, Thor mentioned those. What the hell are they again exactly?
Hold onto your butts, here’s where it gets overly elaborate: The Infinity Gems are basically powerful artifacts; holding one gives you incredible power. For example, Loki used the Mind gem to brainwash people. They’ve also been scattered all over the Marvel Cinematic Universe in various shapes and forms. So far, we’ve seen them in…
The Avengers franchise: The Mind gem is what was in Loki’s scepter and is currently in the Vision’s forehead. We’ve also seen the Space stone, which is what Loki used to open a portal to an alternate reality and destroy Manhattan.
Thor: The Dark World: The Reality gem was that red thing Thor was calling the Aether, and that “infected” Jane Foster.
Guardians of the Galaxy: The Power stone was what Peter Quill steals in the opening and they basically spend the whole movie chasing. You might remember that it figures prominently into the finale.
There are two other stones, Time and Soul, which will almost inevitably turn up. Most likely, we’ll see them in Doctor Strange and Thor: Ragnarok.
So, they’re superweapons. Why does Thanos want them?
Well, the movies haven’t really gotten into that, but if we’re sticking with the comic book version, it’s because he’s in love with Death.
He likes killing people?
Well… yeah, actually. But I’m talking about the physical personification of the abstract. The Grim Reaper. It’s a woman in the Marvel universe, and Thanos wants to take her out to a nice dinner. Apparently, the way to do this is to kill the universe.
Man, I hope that changes for the movies.
Me, too, fellow reader. Me, too.
