The road to Avengers: Infinity War has been long and winding for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it has been the longest road for the mad titan himself, Thanos. Teased at the end of Marvel’s The Avengers back in 2012, with appearances in Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron, the character has become a bit of a joke due to his fruitless quest for the Infinity Stones, which to date he still seemingly possesses none of.
Speaking at Brazil’s Comic Con Experience (via CBR), Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige seemed aware of the fan concern for the character and the extensive build-up to his big appearance. He teased:
“Within the first five minutes of Infinity War, people will understand why Thanos is the biggest and baddest villain in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”
He continued, speaking about the character’s long journey, saying:
“You know, we’ve been teasing Thanos since the very first Avengers film. Remember the end of Avengers, the very end of the movie he turns around in the chair and you realize something bad is coming. We’ve been teasing him for years and the trick is when you tease something for that long you have to deliver.”
Only five of the six Infinity Stones have been seen on screen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and they remain scattered across the universe. The Space Stone (aka The Tesseract) is still in the possession of Loki as seen in Thor: Ragnarok, the Reality Stone is in the vault of Benicio Del Toro’s The Collector, and the Power Stone is in the possession of The Nova Corps on Xandar. Two of the stones are on Earth, however, with the Mind Stone embedded in the head of Vision and the Time Stone with Doctor Strange. It seems likely, given the mid-credits scene of Thor: Ragnarok, Thanos will be coming for The Tesseract (which the trailer for the film showed Loki handing over personally), but it’s safe to say that it won’t be a pretty fight.
Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War is slated for a release in theaters on May 4, 2018. Then, the Avengers assemble again for the still-untitled fourth film, set for May 3, 2019.
