Marvel is about to show DC how to make an epic movie about a superhero team coming together to fight an alien invasion. And while most fans are wondering whether it’ll be Captain America or Iron Man who falls before the Mad Titan, Thanos, I’m just over here hoping that Loki will make it to the next movie.
Sure, this trailer raises plenty of questions for speculation, like: Will Thanos get all the Infinity Stones in this movie? Is the Soul Stone in Wakanda? What sort of cool stuff can the new Iron Spider suit do? Is that the Hulk in the Hulkbuster Armor? And why is Black Widow blonde?
And I’ll get to all that in a minute, but first I’m most concerned with Marvel’s preeminent mischief maker. I love Loki… and that’s not just because I enjoy cosplaying as him. I believe he has some of the best character development in all the MCU. Characters that operate in a “gray area” are also far more interesting than those who align as “good” or “evil.” I’ve also been concerned about Loki’s longevity ever since Thor: The Dark World. Each new movie he’s in, I fear that he may bite the dust. Basically, if Marvel has Loki in a movie, I’m emotionally invested.
In the trailer for Avengers: Infinity War, we see Loki holding up the Tesseract, as if to give it to someone. Now, there’s two theories about this. The first theory is that Loki has been playing the long-game. He allowed himself to be captured at the end of the first Avengers movie so that he could be taken back to Asgard, get his hands on the Tesseract and eventually turn it over to Thanos. This tactic is similar to how villains like Raoul Silva in Skyfall or The Joker in The Dark Knight let themselves be captured in order to play the long-game. It’s not a bad theory, it’s just overly complicated.
The second theory, and the one that I subscribe to, is that Loki is rollin’ with the punches. He’s looking after himself. He’s doing what’s best for Loki. At the end of Thor: Ragnarok, he’s aboard a space ship, along with the other survivors of the destroyed Asgard, and it looks like he took the Tesseract from Odin’s vault before they fled. Another, even bigger ship (who we assume belongs to Thanos), encounters their craft in the void of space during a mid-credit sequence. In the Infinity War trailer, a pair of boots step over wreckage and what appear to be bodies of Asgardian refugees — a pair of boots which, I might add, do not match Loki’s, although editing would have you believe so. This footwear actually looks to belong to Ebony Maw, a member of The Black Order, who serves Thanos. You didn’t think Nebula and Gamora were his only trained killers, did you? At any rate, seeing so many of his fellow citizens fall, I suspect that Loki will try and feign being an ally by handing over this Infinity Stone, so he can survive.
And I hope he does survive. Thor, too, I guess. Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waitiki has already stated that he’s got an idea for Thor 4 and has already teased ideas for an opening sequence. With Chris Hemsworth’s contract set to expire by the second Infinity War film, along with the rest of the O.G. Avengers cast, I’m sure Marvel was set to let the God of Thunder perish along with the other original heroes. But after Thor: Ragnarok secured the third-best Marvel opening ever and has since made over $800 million at the box office, Disney might want to consider renewing the contracts for Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston. After all, what’s a Thor film without Loki?
And as for the other questions raised by the trailer? I think that Thanos will get all the Infinity Stones in his gauntlet by the end of the film and leave Earth. I think the remaining heroes will have to pursue Thanos off-world with the help of The Guardians of the Galaxy.
I think the Soul Stone is in Wakanda and that’s why there’s a large battle, probably the film’s final battle, that we see in the trailer. I like the theory that the Soul Stone is how those who have been The Black Panther commune with the panther spirit. I also think that it’s Bruce Banner in the Hulkbuster Armor, because a.) it moves like The Hulk, b.) Tony Stark is shown fighting Thanos over in New York and not in this battle, and b.) Bruce Banner is shown talking to Black Widow, next to the arm piece of the Hulkbuster Armor. Because of all this, I also think that Tony Stark will buy it this film. But as to why Widow is blonde? Ugh, who knows; but I don’t care for it.
I do care to see all the neat, new things that Peter Parker’s Iron Spider suit can do. I can’t wait to watch Avengers: Infinity War come May 4th, 2018. I look forward to each new trailer, so I can speculate even more on what I’m sure will be an amazing movie. As for this trailer, I agree with Thanos in that this, “…does put a smile on my face.”