Loki Gives Up an Infinity Stone

In the first trailer Loki is seen holding the Tesseract in his hand. Thor is shown with his head in between Thanos’ hands. Many have theorized that Loki gives Thanos the Tesseract, because he is trying to save Thor’s life. That theory itself is made more credible when you see that Thanos is holding the Tesseract in his hands and then crushes it to get the Infinity Stone.

Loki giving up the Tesseract just shows his character development since “Thor” came out in 2011. Moviegoers went from seeing him try to kill Thor, to seeing him use the Tesseract to try and take over the world and then helping his brother in “Thor: The Dark World” and “Thor: Ragnarok.” Granted he had his mischievous side in the last two movies, but his help outweighed the mischief.

via GIPHY

Hawkeye’s Return

Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye was last seen in the 2016 blockbuster “Captain America: Civil War.” In which the Avengers were torn apart by the “Sokovia Accords.” Hawkeye was imprisoned at “The Raft,” but fans assumed he had escaped after Captain America was seen in front of the prison cells at the end of the movie. Fans have been complaining of the lack of Hawkeye in trailers and even in the movie posters.

“All will be explained when people see the movie,” Co-Director Anthony Russo said in an interview with Total Film. “It’s all tied into the story.”

Many have speculated that Hawkeye has died in the time jump between movies and others have speculated that he ~actually~ retired and is spending time with his family. My theory is that he is spending time with his family, but he’s still running missions for someone. His initial absence could just be that he is running a mission or he could be under the spell of Thanos. In “The Avengers,” Hawkeye is put under the control of Loki and the Tesseract, so maybe it could happen again.

Thanos Destroys New York City

In the first trailer, a mysterious spacecraft is hovering over NYC. It’s first introduced when Peter Parker’s hair stands up on his arm. The trailer later shows Iron Man, Doctor Strange and Wong gearing up to fight the spacecraft. In another trailer, Steve Rogers and his team are shown fighting Thanos’ army in Wakanda. Later in the second trailer, it ends with Steve going head to head with Thanos.

via GIPHY

My theory is that Thanos has enough power to conquer these two places at the same time, but with how power hungry he is, you would think he would want to be at both places. Both Wakanda and NYC have been the site of huge milestones in Marvel history. Captain America, Spiderman and Doctor Strange both had their first movies start in NYC and who could forget the Battle for New York in “The Avengers.” Wakanda, fans were recently introduced to, is one of the most advanced countries in the world, so Thanos trying to take both of these makes sense. These factors alone are enough to prove that one of these places are destroyed before Thanos moves on to the other.

Who Will be the New Avengers?

With there being six Avengers in the original team, I’m going to go through my top picks for those illustrious spaces.

1. Spider-Man. In one of the trailers, Tony Stark is shown “knighting” Peter Parker into “Avenger-hood.” Spiderman becoming an Avenger has been one of the biggest memes for awhile. As soon as audience members see this part of the movie, the effect of this will have the same effect that Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar win had on his memes.
2. Scarlet Witch, or Wanda Maximoff. She has been training to be a part of the Avengers since the end of “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and was shown being a part of the team in “Captain America: Civil War,” so it only makes sense. We were first introduced to her in “Age of Ultron” and Wanda has become a crowd favorite since. Another factor is, she is one of the more relatable characters in the MCU. She has lost her entire family and is just trying to find her place in the world.
3. Sharon Carter. Sharon Carter comes from SHIELD and the CIA, just like Black Widow did, so the skill set they gained from it would be similar. She is also the niece of Peggy Carter, co-founder of SHIELD. Between her family influences and training, it would be a no-brainer to have her on the team.
4. Ant-Man. One of the trademarks of Marvel is its comedic timing, so adding Ant-Man into the Avengers would be a perfect. Ant-Man is another one of those relatable characters, down on his luck and trying to make a better life for himself and his family. Last seen in “Civil War,” Ant-Man was the comic relief of the big fight, so having someone being able to find humor in a fight will be great, especially after the heavy losses expected in “Infinity War.”
5. Loki. We need a reformed villain in the Avengers and Loki would be the perfect villain for that job. Loki has become the favorite villain in the MCU, he was made to be hated, but fans surprised Marvel by choosing Loki as the character to love. Loki has been getting better since his initial run in with the Avengers, so having a group of “good guys” would be the best thing for him.
6. Doctor Strange. Doctor Strange has a unique set of abilities that he gained by studying and training really hard. That’s a refreshing difference from the usual modified genetics, super soldier or secret agent we get in the MCU. Also, Benedict Cumberbatch is doing really well in Hollywood, so I wouldn’t be surprised is Marvel wanted to keep him around a little longer.

Sayonara Avengers

The Russo Brothers have been teasing major casualties in “Infinity War.” The theories have gone from Iron Man to Steve Rogers to Vision. The most hyped death has been that of Captain America, which would basically be the death of the MCU. Steve Rogers is the heart and soul of the MCU, considering his origin movie was called “Captain America: The First Avenger.” Without Cap everything falls apart.

Other popularized deaths are those of Thor and Iron Man, because both are seen being thrown around by Thanos or Thanos’ henchmen. Thor is seen with his head in Thanos’ hands and Iron Man being tackled by some unknown aliens. The treatment of these two superheros does not bode well for their future in the MCU.

via GIPHY

Where is the Soul Stone?

The only infinity stone not yet seen in the MCU is the Soul Stone. The Soul Stone lets the user trap souls inside another world and control souls, living or dead. The realm of souls hasn’t really been explored much in the MCU, so I have no idea how they will incorporate this into the movie especially with there being five other well known ones that the audience will be focused on.

There are a plethora of theories for the location of the Soul Stone, one of them being Wakanda. Which wouldn’t be that far out of a theory, because the actual land of Wakanda hasn’t been explored much in the MCU.