Where Is Everyone Before Avengers: Infinity War?

This article comes from Den of Geek UK.

Infinity War is just days away, but with 18 movies leading up to it, you could be forgiven for struggling to remember exactly who’s where and what their relationship is to everyone else. If you’re finding it hard to remember who’s got an Infinity Stone, who’s retired, and who’s got a score to settle with whom, well – we’ve got you covered.

Spoilers follow, as you might expect, for ten years’ worth of Marvel movies…

Iron Man

Following the team’s schism of Civil War, Tony Stark is currently the leader (or, at the very least, sponsor) of what’s left of the Avengers, who remain based in their upstate facility after moving out of Stark Tower. When we last saw him (in Spider-Man Homecoming) it was heavily implied that he would be proposing to Pepper Potts at a press conference. Admittedly, it’s not every girl’s dream proposal, but by this point you have to assume Pepper’s into it otherwise she’d be gone.

Will we get the first Avengers wedding as part of Infinity War? It’s not entirely out of the question, but it’s probably more likely to happen in Avengers 4 once things calm down a little. Regardless, Infinity War might give us Tony Stark as we’ve never seen him: a man putting more than just himself on the line.

Looking forward to: Learning what mark the new armor is. (I just love roman numerals.)

Related Article: Iron Man Villains We Want to see in the Movies

Thor

The God of Thunder may have survived Ragnarok, even though his father, sister, hammer, right eye, home planet and all of his childhood besties didn’t – but that just means Thor too has something to fight for. After all, he’s the King of What Remains Of Asgard, and you can be damn sure he’s not going to give that up easily.

Unfortunately, the Asgardians were the known keepers of at least one Infinity Stone, and that essentially paints a target on their face and invites Thanos to show up. Which is probably what we saw happening in the post-credits scene of Thor: Ragnarok. If Thor is about to learn anything, it’s that no situation is ever so bad that it can’t get worse. We can only imagine he’s going to have a score to settle with Thanos fairly soon…

Looking forward to: STORMBREAKER. The hammer fit for a horse.

Related article: Thor 4 and the Villains We Want to See

Loki

Speaking of Infinity Stones, it was suggested in Thor: Ragnarok that Loki was about to reunite himself with his old friend, the Tesseract. However, if you cast your mind way, wayyy back to 2012, you’ll remember that it was Thanos who originally gave Loki the Mind Gem to attack the Avengers. And what did he do? He let it get turned into Paul Bettany. Thanos may be a fan of Master and Commander, but he cannot abide Wimbledon, so when the guy with the big purple head gets face to face with Loki, there will be debts to pay.

And think of it this way: if you promise Thanos two Infinity Stones for the price of one, it’s going to take a little more than “I faked my own death for several years” to explain why you haven’t delivered.

Looking forward to: Seeing how – or even if – Loki can talk his way out of the clutches of Thanos.

Captain America

Steve Rogers might have given up the shield and quit being Captain America, but he is still Captain of our hearts. Still, when he isn’t dragging men everywhere a few notches across the Kinsey scale, Steve is presumably leading a team of secret Avengers, which I believe constitutes some of the previous Avengers with new haircuts. So he’s got a beard, Black Widow has blonde hair, and presumably Falcon has a fauxhawk. But for the most part, Steve is going to be laying low and waiting for a phonecall from Tony Stark that’s almost certainly not coming.

But he’s got unfinished business in Wakanda: his partner Bucky just woke up, less one arm. You don’t have to have seen the trailer to know where Steve’s going next.

Looking forward to: Get this man a shave.

related article: Captain America 4 – The Stories We Want to See

The Guardians Of The Galaxy

You’ve killed your dad and watched your other dad die. What next, Peter Quill? Well, several years of dicking around, according to the established MCU timeline which places Guardians 2 just six months after Guardians 1, in 2016, and Infinity War sometime after 2020 thanks to the chronology clusterflip that was Spider-Man Homecoming. But at least that explains how Baby Groot is now Teen Groot.

Again, anyone who’s seen the trailer knows that Thor’s going to be hooking up with the Guardians at some point, and that’ll explain how they get to Earth. What it isn’t going to explain is whether Gamora, the daughter of Thanos, is going to be keen on a family reunion. I would bet that she isn’t. And probably Mantis, Drax and Rocket will also be there.

Looking forward to: seeing if they actually put Mantis (aka no-one’s favorite MCU character) in the film.

related article: Guardians of the Galaxy 3 – everything we know

Ant-Man

Last seen being broken out of prison by Steve Rogers, Scott Lang is no stranger to being on the lam. Luckily, his ability to become microscopic means he’s well-equipped for it. Interestingly, Ant-Man (and the Wasp) haven’t show up in any of the Infinity War promo material so they’re probably not even in the film. This does make some kind of sense – they’ve got their own film out just weeks afterwards as part of Marvel’s plan to completely dominate an entire six month block of 2017.

Still, there’s a good chance that whatever the status quo is with Scott, Hope and Hank following Civil War, it’s going to rule them out of appearing in this Avengers movie. But will their film be set before or after this one? Now that’s an interesting question…

Looking forward to: Being proven wrong.

related article: Ant-Man & The Wasp – Everything We Know

Doctor Strange

Since becoming the Sorcerer Supreme (or, at least, the best candidate for the job) Stephen Strange has been battening down the hatches in his Sanctum Sanctorum and keeping tabs on the mystical threats that might cause trouble on Earth. He was last seen sending Thor and Loki to greenscreen island in the least necessary scene of Thor: Ragnarok.

However, he’s a big deal in Infinity War for one reason: he’s got the Time Stone. It’s inside the Eye of Agamotto. It already helped him save Earth from Dormammu and that means he’s not going to want to give it up without a fight. Thanos will definitely be making his own house call. Will Strange and Wong be ready for him?

Looking forward to: Um, they are making a sequel, right?

related article: Doctor Strange 2 – Everything We Know

Spider-Man

After refusing entry to the Avengers and turning down a snazzy Iron Spider costume, Spider-Man will be seen alongside the rest of the Marvel Universe in Infinity War, joining the Avengers and wearing a snazzy Iron Spider costume. So unlike him, that ending didn’t exactly stick. As the team’s most junior, most down-to-earth hero, Peter Parker is sure to face some huge challenges. We’ve seen him handle being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. How’s that going to stack when he’s got invading alien forces to fight?

And hey, here’s something to think about: What’s Aunt May going to think of him suiting up, given that she caught him mid-costume change? Is Infinity War the place we see that argument finally happen?

Looking forward to: Tom Holland accidentally Tweeting the entire plot of Avengers 4.

Related article: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – Everything We Know

Black Panther

The King of Wakanda needs no introduction because more people have now seen his movie than there are technically living people in the world. Minute for minute 104% of all movies watched this year have been Black Panther. There’s a reason those trailers were 90% set in Wakanda.

Now, barring my personal theory that the Vibranium mountain in Wakanda is actually concealing the final Infinity Stone, the Soul Stone (think about it: it lets you commune with the dead. How much more evidence do you need?!) Wakanda’s challenge here is to step up and join the fight, especially since they sat the last invasion out. We already know that they’re taking care of the Winter Soldier and friendly with Cap. It’s probably not too much of a stretch to imagine the rest of Cap’s teammates are welcome to hide out there too.

Looking forward to: DID YOU KNOW THAT CHADWICK BOSEMAN IS 40 YEARS OLD????

related article: Black Panther 2 – Everything We Know

Black Widow

We already know she’s been in hiding, but who knows what Natasha has been up to in the intervening years? Helping out Cap as part of a covert Avengers Squad? Leading a normal life to get over an extremely ill-conceived ‘romance’ with Bruce Banner? Or has she simply been babysitting for Mr. & Mrs Hawkeye while they get some much-deserved quiet time? Who can say. One thing is sure: if this super-spy doesn’t get to do some super-spying and have 20 minutes of “boy, what were we thinking?” conversations with Bruce Banner, I’ll be quite upset.

Looking forward to: A solo movie after this! Please.

The Hulk

After the events of Thor: Ragnarok, who even knows if the Hulk will ever change back into Bruce Banner? Well, anyone who has seen the trailer. But that doesn’t mean the Hulk and Banner are going to have an easy relationship! Hulk has tasted freedom. Banner lost two years to him. You can bet neither’s going to give an inch in the fight for territory this time around. Will the strongest Avenger be of much use if he refuses to play nice? And what’s the betting Thanos sucker punches him just so we get an idea of how strong he is? Oooh, I’ll be so mad if they do that.

Looking forward to: HULK ANGRY.

related article: Hulk movies Marvel should make

And now the rest more quickly, because we’re already 1700 words into this article:

Scarlet Witch: Powers came from the Infinity Stone. Lots to atone for. Emotionally fragile relationship with a robot. There’s a high chance Infinity War is going to be rough for her on every level.

Vision: Also powered by an Infinity Stone. Seen in the trailer having his forehead pried open. It’s possible he’ll survive this in some form, but if you want to put money on anyone dying in this movie this is where I’d put it.

War Machine: The Marvel Universe’s #1 armour hero had a spot of bother after Vision’s misfire in Civil War left him with mobility problems from the waist down. But hey, when you’ve got an advanced exoskeleton to fight in, that’s not the problem it could be.

Nebula: The other daughter of Thanos is all over Infinity War’s marketing. An uneasy truce from the end of Guardians 2 is likely to become an uneasy alliance. But will she be coming to Earth, or will we find her somewhere else? And what happens if/when Thanos is beaten? Again, a strong candidate for ‘dies in this movie’.

Winter Soldier: Desperately searching for an antidote to terminal confusion, probably not helped by waking up in a country that was so secret it doesn’t even qualify as a legend. By rights Bucky’s character arc was completed some time ago but it’d be cruel to kill the character just as he’s got his happy ending. Or maybe that’s the point.

Falcon: After having his ass kicked by Ant-Man, he’s lucky to be on the team at all, but like Ant-Man he’s a fugitive right now. Again, he’s probably hanging out with Cap doing whatever it is they do undercover.

Hawkeye: Sorry, who?

Is that everyone? Let’s face it, it cannot possibly be. But that’s all we’ve got room for right now. Only a few more days to go…