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| Art by George Perez (yes he's my favorite comic book artist). The Infinity Gauntlet has already appeared very briefly in the movie, Thor (the original). |
So if you (like much of the rest of the movie going world) went and saw Thor: The Dark World in all its fabulousness, then you probably stayed for the scenes Marvel always embeds at the end of the credits. One of these had Thor's Asgardian friends Sif and Volstagg step cautiously through a room filled with all kinds of interesting artifacts from around the galaxy. They are delivering a box emitting a faint red glow to a being known as "The Collector," who was first introduced in the comics in "Avengers #28" back in 1966.
"The Collector" is one of the Elders of the Universe. These are aptly named because to be an "Elder" you must be one of the oldest living creatures in existence. "The Collector" is also aptly named as he spends his time hoarding archives of various treasures. He has filled up ten entire planets that have been converted into museums just to house all of his belongings.
So what's in the box? Well it's the aether (which you see in full force in Thor: The Dark World). Since Asgard is already watching over "The Tesseract" (the blue cosmic cube in The Avengers movie) they Asgardians have chosen to separate these two things because its dangerous keeping them so close together.
The aether is one of six infinity stones. Sometimes these "stones" are referred to as "gems," so I'm letting you know that to avoid confusion. Anyway, in the Marvel universe there are six of these stones, and they are pictured mounted on the gauntlet above, which is being warn by Thanos (a super bad-ass villain that wants to destroy half the life in the universe because he wants to gain the affections of Death). Each of the Infinity stones are able to control a different element of the universe: mind, soul, time, power, space, and reality. If you have all of them, you could rule over or destroy all life in existence. Oh the power rush!
In the above series, Thanos defeats many of the universe's most powerful entities. They include Galactus, the Stranger, Kronus, and Eternity. Thanos only really gets defeated because he starts being stupid.
Here is what each of the stones can do in the comics:
1) Soul. Green in color, this one allows the user to steal, control, manipulate and alter souls. It is sentient and has a hunger for souls. It is the gateway to an idyllic pocket universe. This one is owned by Dr. Strange so we can expect it to appear in a Dr. Strange movie!
2) Time. Orange in color, this one allows the user total control over the past, present and future. The one wielding it can time travel, can age and youthen beings, and it can trap enemies or entire universes in a permanent loop of time (think Groundhog Day for everyone). It also grants omniscience.
3) Space. Purple in color, this stone allows the user to exist in any or all locations, move any object anywhere throughout reality and warp or rearrange space. It grants omnipresence.
4) Mind. Blue in color, this stone allows the user to greatly strengthen and enhance mental and psionic power and access the thoughts and dreams of other beings. Backed by the "power gem," the mind stone can access all minds in existence simultaneously.
5) Reality. Yellow in color, this stone allows the user to fulfill wishes, even if the wish is in direct contradiction to scientific laws.
6) Power. Red in color, the power jewel accesses all power and energy that ever has or ever will exist. It can boost the other gems' effects, and allows the user to duplicate almost any physical superhuman ability and grants omnipotence.
So there you have it: the dreaded Infinity Gauntlet Easter Egg planted in Thor: the Dark World explained. I know I just made your day now, didn't I?
You did (make my day). :) Easter eggs are fun.
ReplyDeleteSo are they building that up for Avengers 3 in like 2018? They're really planning ahead.
ReplyDeletemakes you wonder if Ultron will use them or not.
ReplyDeleteThanos made an appearance at the end of Avengers so I was expecting the Infinity Gauntlet to show up at some point, but Avengers 2 is about Ultron. I just hope they don't do the thing when they have too many villains in the same movie like they did with the old Batman and Spiderman movies.
ReplyDeleteThe real Easter egg is that, evidently, the actual Gauntlet is in the Asgardian vault and can be seen in the background in the first movie.
ReplyDelete(My post yesterday talked about the Infinity Stones, too.)
ReplyDeleteSo, the aether looked pretty red, was it the red jewel. And I'm glad you referred to the Tesseract as a cosmic cube too... I thought I was the only one that was doing that. I was starting to doubt what was right before my eyes.
ReplyDeleteThe details and complexities of this imaginary world are astonishing.
ReplyDelete@PT: I think that there's a Guardians of the Galaxy movie coming out with superheroes like Rocket Raccoon and Groot that may have Thanos in it. I'm not certain though. If so, however, then the Infinity Gauntlet will probably make an appearance much sooner.
ReplyDelete@Andrew: I'll have to check it out!
So Marvel has their own version of the Green Lantern-sort of. All the colors having there on powers on a cosmic scale sort of draws a correlation of sorts. :)
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU. Both the hubby and I wished we knew what that was about while leaving the theater, but he's more a gaming geek, and I'm more a LOTR geek. Hey, with all this geekiness we've got the spectrum covered, right? ;)
ReplyDeleteFirst, how great was Thor?
ReplyDeleteSecond, how awesome is it that we can have all these movies (ranging from not bad to awesome) all linked together?
I heard a rumor that this is all a set up for Avenger's 3 and Gaurdians of the Galaxy, which makes sense
Yes, you did actually make my day. I wonder if the movies will use these to build on a huge story arc. Probably not.
ReplyDeleteNow, if you could have only one stone, which one would it be?
@Liz: I would pick the Reality stone. I want to make a few wishes.
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy that explanation. There are so many possibilities of where the next movies will take us.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know any of this stuff, and since I'll probably see Thor it's good to have some background info. I really am in awe of the imagination behind these stories.
ReplyDeleteDr. Strange does not have the soul gem. Adam Warlock is the controller of it. It resides in his forehead. Warlock is blonde while Strange has black hair with gray on the sides. Anyway, warlock ends up getting ALL the gems after Thanos is tricked by Lady Death. I hope they introduce Warlock somehow. He's a cool under rated character.
ReplyDelete@B Dabba: Thanks for the clarifications!
ReplyDelete