The Comics That Will Influence Marvel’s Infinity War
In the wake of the Thor: Ragnarok release, Marvel fans are turning their focus toward the long-anticipated release of Avengers: Infinity War. While it won’t be the first time the Marvel Cinematic Universe broke from the defined script laid out in the comics, there are a few books that could provide insight into the Infinity War plot.
Based on the trailer – it’s safe to say that Infinity War will loosely follow the storyline of the Infinity Gauntlet miniseries rather than the comics of the title name.
The Infinity Gauntlet Miniseries
Based on the trailer, it appears to start with a premise nearly identical to the first book in the Gauntlet miniseries. Thanos wants to impress his love interest, Mistress Death, by collecting the infinity stones and eradicating half of the multiverse’s population.
In the miniseries, the Silver Surfer travels to earth in search of Captain America, hoping to warn him of Thanos’s plans. Since the Silver Surfer hasn’t been introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there is speculation that Thor or Doctor Strange will play a similar role in the film, warning the Avengers of the wrath Thanos hopes to inflict on earth
As Marissa Cortes explains, “An already powerful villain, Thanos is a titan dedicated to searching for the five Infinity Stones: Time, Space, Mind, Soul, Reality, and Power.” As we know, some superheroes like Vision currently possess stones which are scattered throughout different hero ecosystems. As a result, a race to collect all the stones ensues leaving traumatic destruction throughout.
In addition to comic book references, director, Joe Russo, says he pulled inspiration from 90’s heist films to account for the fast-paced nature of the plot focused on collecting the infinity stones from a variety of locations.
Here’s what we know for now:
- The trailer pegs Thanos as the supervillain all our favorite superheroes from across the multiverse are set on taking down.
- The Avengers are set to unite with the Guardians’ of the Galaxy.
- A hero is going to die.
- Cortes says, “In order to tell a coherent story, it’s likely the film will shy away from a true Avengers reunion by following two or three different teams of heroes both on Earth and in space.”
While this is all based on speculation, we will finally know what is and isn’t going to make the movie in May of 2018. President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, said in a Slashfilm’s interview, “I think those with knowledge of the comics may expect things that will not be happening in the movies. Those who don’t know what has happened in the comics will be shocked at what we do,” so it sounds as though viewers should expect a few curveballs when they hit the theaters in a few months.