We all know by now that Thanos has a role to play in the MCU. What exactly that role is has been so far unspecified. We know he will be more of a string-puller until at least the third instalment in the Avengers franchise.
We've had hints as to his grand scheme here and there, but of course, the puzzle cannot yet be fully pieced together wthout a little bit of speculation. I'll be doing just that, covering everything from the mind gem in Loki's sceptre right down to where all of this may be headed. Without further ado, let's take a look at item number one...
First glimpsed in Thor, we see the Infinity Gauntlet locked away in what is described as Odin's vault by Loki. There are several other artefacts contained within the vault, none of which are of much relevance to this. Focusing on the Infinity Gauntlet in the image we can see a large spot in the centre which is blue. Traditionally with the gauntlet, the Soul Gem (green) is at the centre. However it is evidently on one of the fingers in the image above. So, Marvel clearly had a reason for making the Mind Gem larger than the other gems. Or, as I postulate, perhaps several reasons. The first one is of course, Loki's sceptre.
As seen in Marvel's The Avengers/ Avengers Assemble, the sceptre is used to control the minds of others. We also see it can fire blasts of energy, which is common for all the Infinity Gems. Loki at one point uss it to communicate with The Other. Or does he? It seems equally possible to me that the gem decided to probe Loki's mind and regress him back to that particular moment in his life. Almost as if Loki was put into a dream state. After all, he snaps out of it just as "The Other" clasps his face. That may have been a reaction to an immediate stimulus, or even a repressed emotion he never wanted to feel again. Could it be that the gem was almost programmed to do that? When it occurred, Loki almost lurched backwards as if it took him by surprise. His face afterwards implies a "What the [frick] just happened to me?" kind of vibe. Which brings me to the next matter of discussion.
A tricky character to decipher, The Other appears only briefly in the movie, but may have possibly the most crucial role. He was the one enticing Thanos, he was the one providing the army, he was the one providing the sceptre. Many belive The Other to be Chthon, seeing as how he is hooded, humanoid, blue and has six fingers on each hand. However, I just recently got a new idea in my head (by recently I mean, I'm writing this because I thought of it), that The Other may be an Elder of the Universe, like the Collector. Just which one you might ask? Well, the Grandmaster.
I know that's from HeroClix, but I like the fact he has the Mind Gem. The Grandmaster is a, for the lack of a better word, master of trickery and manipulation. He has conspired against the Avengers and played a part in the formation of the Defenders. It only makes sense he would manipulate a being as powerful as Thanos to his own ends. To me, Thanos isn't the string puller here. The Other is. The Other is the puppet master's puppet master. The Other is manipulating Thanos and Loki and god only knows how many others to his own ends. Think of it this way:
Loki said, "There are paths between the realms that even you, with all your power are blind." to Heimdall in Thor. Well, who's to say Loki didn't use one of those paths to get into the vault. Imagine the scenario; Loki drifts hrough pace and is recovered by Thanos and the Other. Loki thinks to himself, "I can use these guys." while the Other thinks, "I can use him as well as this big purple guy." Loki tells his tale and of his lust for revenge. The Other seizes his opportunity. He offers Loki an army in return for an item from the vault. That item, The Infinity Gauntlet. Loki refuses. The Other threatens him with Thanos' wrath, Loki and the Other come to an agreement. Loki will retrieve one gem from the gauntlet, then use it in his plot for revenge and when he has dealt with Thor and Midgard, he'll turn his attention to Asgard. The Other decides to allow this (perhaps this is the moment Loki's mind is returned to). We all know how the Avengers turned out. We all know Thanos is probably coming for Loki. However, we're not done with anything yet.
Early during the fimling of Thor: The Dark World, set snaps and set vids revelaed that whenever Malekith was struck by Mjolnir, a flash of red light appeared. Many, including myself, speculated that this was due to Malekith possibly possessing the Power Gem. Now, we hear that Malekith is using an artefact called the Aether. Here's the definition from Wikipedia.
"Aether theories in physics propose the existence of a medium, the aether, a space-filling substance or field, thought to be necessary as a transmission medium for the propagation of electromagnetic or gravitational forces. The assorted aether theories embody the various conceptions of this "medium" and "substance". This early modern aether has little in common with the aether of classical elements from which the name was borrowed. Since the development of special relativity, theories using a substantial aether are not used any more in modern physics, and are replaced by more abstract models."
Sounds more like a wormhole than an actual thing to me, after reading that. So, it seems as though the aether will just be the way they explain the wormhole that is formed by the Dark Elves in Thor: The Dark World. The wiki goes on to mention Dark Energy as Aether. So, pretty obvious now that the Aether may not be a physical thing, but moreso that the Elves are trying to find the Dark Energy needed to open a wormhole. We saw the Tesseract open a wormhole in Avengers, it was being studied at a dark energy research centre. Loki asks Thor, "How much dark energy did the Allfather have to muster to conjure you here?" It would seem that Dark Energy is the key to teleportation between worlds in the MCU. But I have it on good authority that Malekith indeed has the Power Gem (if you don't want spoilers, don't read the part where I describe why I know he has the Power Gem). However I'm getting slightly off topic. Back to the matter at hand.
**MID-CREDIT STINGER SPOILER! SCROLL DOWN QUICKLY AND LOOK AWAY OR STOP READING NOW!**
Yes, that is the Collector. I used the most obscure image of him I could find seeing as Mark Cassidy told me he looked "odd". Now, in the scene, the Collector says, "One down Five to go." after Sif and Volstagg deliver him the Power Gem. Some might assume he is gathering them in order to give them to Thanos, however it is likely the complete opposite. The Collector started collecting to protect things from Thanos. It is more likely that he will be gathering the gems in order to keep Thanos away from them and thus defend the universe from destruction. Sif mentions that the Asgardians shouldn't hav more than one of the stones in their possession, so the Asgardians still have the Mind Gem after apprehending Loki. This gives Thanos a reason to hunt Loki down and retrieve the Mind Gem. This then begins the grand finale of this stage of the MCU (I think it would be best if they had phases of three that took up whole storylines).
**END SPOILER**
Of course it all comes down to the Infinity Gauntlet saga. This doesn't officially begin until Guardians of the Galaxy. Thanos will be searching for the Gems as well as the gauntlet. He will know the Mind Gem is in Asgard, he will probably destroy the Collectors home looking for the Power Gem. That gives him two gems as well as the gauntlet itself. Throughout the remaining movies, we see Thanos acquire the gems in the mid/post credits stingers. He obtains the Space, Reality and Time gems in this way. Before the third Avengers movie, we get a sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy which features Adam Warlock and having the Soul Gem embedded in his forehead. The guardians engage with Thanos in a race to reach Adam first after his life signs become evident within his cocoon. This would take up the Infinity Crusade aspect of the saga. Perhaps Thor 3 could also be linked in with this to a further extent than just a mid-credit stinger. It is during this time that we see the Other take more of a role as he becomes the Iago (anybody read Othello?) of this whole story. Whispering deceit into Thanos' ear as they travel from place to place. In Avengers 3, we see the Other under the belief that he has done it, he has driven Thanos to his ultimate goal of death when Thanos suddenly turns and murders the Other, stating that he knew of his lies all along and the Other was truly the one who was played. All the time we had viewed Thanos almost as a maniacally obsessed villain with no goal other than to die and be united with Death. But we now see he used the Other as a means to an end. He used the Other to get the lackeys, he used the Other to entice people into pacts while he sat back and dreamed of the day he would wield the power to destroy planets with a thought and make Death love him for granting her such gifts. We see Thanos as a true manipulator, not some buffoon to be meddled with. I would love to see him kill the Avengers just to convey how much he had been underestimated by the general movie going audience. If he was portrayed as just this guy who was going to places just because someone told him to, people would see him as a lackey to the Other. To learn that was all a charade would be sweeter than mom's apple pie.
Well, that's my vision of the MCU for now. Please leave a comment in the usual place and give your own thoughts and theories n the matter.
Source: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/NovaThoughts/news/?a=89133
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