Infinity War was full of surprising and shocking moments.
While the ending may be the most surprising aspect of it all, there were many small cameos
throughout the film that made fans a little giddy inside.
So today, we’re taking a look at those cameos and breaking them down, along with examining
the flip side of that – absent characters that had us scratching our heads and speculating
what their whereabouts could be.
And of course, spoilers ahead, friends!
To start us off, let’s look at a character whose actor we all knew was in the film leading
up to its release – Eitri (e-a-tree), and Peter Dinklage.
Initially there was speculation that Dinklage was to play one of Thanos’ Black Order.
But, after the Black Order cast was revealed, fans were left scratching their heads as to
who Dinklage would be playing.
We finally got answers about the Game of Thrones star in Thor’s subplot when the god of thunder
pays the dwarves a visit to seek out a new weapon after his hammer got trashed in Thor
Ragnarok.
This is where we meet Eitri, and see that he’s in a pretty dire situation.
Thanos visited the planet, demanded that Eitri make him the infinity gauntlet to hold the
stones, or else he would destroy their home and kill of their race.
Eitir does it, and despite helping the mad titan, Thanos kills everyone anyway, and leaves
Eitri handless.
While some critics may think the character’s inclusion was pointless and that Thor could
have probably figured out how to forge a new weapon himself, the character does a very
important thing during this encounter – he shows us that the mold for the gauntlet is
still in his possession.
And considering that the gauntlet at the end of the film is all burnt up, perhaps a new
gauntlet will be crafted, and wielded by someone else in an attempt to reverse all of the damage
Thanos has caused.
Next surprise cameo featured two familiar faces.
Nick Fury and Maria Hill make a cameo in the post credits scene of the film.
Not overly surprising, but a nice way to tie in what’s going to happen next – the Captain
Marvel film will come out after Atman and the Wasp, and right before Avengers 4 which
ends off phase 3.
And it also raises a lot of questions.
Now, it seems fitting that Fury would make an appearance in the film that has ALMOST
EVERYONE IN IT.
And who better to set up Captain Marvel than the man who dominated many of the post credits
MCU scenes in the past?
Captain Marvel’s film is supposed to be set in the 90s, so we won’t be seeing any
of Thanos in that movie, but we’re sure that we’ll be seeing Fury or some sort of
trace of him in that film.
And another important question – why has Fury never called Marvel prior to this?
What specifically is the reason why you’re using it now, and perhaps more importantly
– what stopped him from calling her before?
And, last but not least, we have the most surprising cameo of all - Red Skull.
In case you don’t recall, the last we saw of Red Skull was all the way back in Captain
America, the first avenger.
Red Skull was Cap’s antagonist, and had the tesseract in his possession – the artifact
that used to contain the space stone.
At the end of the film, the character was seemingly disintegrated as the space stone
opened up a portal up into the skies above, shooting Red Skull up into somewhere in the
galaxy.
While the character hasn’t been a BURNING QUESTION on the minds of fans, and that Hugo
Weaving has expressed his disdain towards comic book films and never being in one of
them again, the character’s return finally makes his arc come full circle, and answers
what the hell had happened to him.
We see him on Vormir, the location of the soul stone, as a spirit-like character who
is now the stone’s guardian.
Talk about a fate worse than death.
While this cameo may not have a huge impact on the storyline, it was a great surprise
for fans of the films, and nice FINALLY have his whereabouts answered!
But it’s curious what happens to him now that he’s got nothing to guard.
Perhaps this means we may see him reappear?
Seems unlikely though.
Now, let’s flip this over for a sec and talk about WHO WASN’T in the film!
Starting off with Valkyrie.
Fans were a little confused as to why she didn’t appear on the ship in that first
scene featuring Thanos’ confrontation with the Asgardians.
Many different Asgardians are killed, but she isn’t mentioned and seen at all.
This is likely because producers didn’t expect to see her character take off popularity
wise as big as she did, and in a film that already has a billion characters, it makes
sense that some of the smaller supporting ones may be excluded.
That being said, having not seen her death is promising, and we may see her return as
one of the only living heroes left.
Hawkeye wasn’t present either.
His absence was explained in a singular line that says he’s under house arrest.
Although pictures have already leaked of the character in Avengers 4, with him wearing
an outfit that looks a whole lot like Clint Barton’s costume when he takes on the Ronin
mantle.
Who, by the way, if you’re curious, we did a top 10 facts list on that you should check
out!
Ant-Man was also missing, and under house arrest!
But fear not, his film is next up, released in July, titled Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Fans are speculating that it will take place co-currently with Infinity War timeline wise,
and that perhaps one or both of the characters will turn to dust by the film’s end.
One of the biggest questions for fans of the Infinity Gauntlet comic miniseries – the
comic that the film is primarily based on - may be wondering why one major component
behind Thanos’ motivations was missing.
We’re talking about the entity Death.
Mistress Death is at the core of why Thanos does what he does with the Infinity stones.
In the comics, he, being a total nihilist, falls in love with her, and his collection
of the gems and his quest for omnipotent power is a result of proving himself worthy of her
love.
There is an imbalance in the universe between the number of living beings and the number
of dead ones, and she wants him to correct it for her.
While there’s a few obvious reasons why Death would be initially left out, there is
still speculation that Death may appear down the line to further flesh out Thanos’ character
in Avengers 4 when all of this may possibly be resolved.
Also rights for Disney kick in 2020, meaning many of the characters that weren’t present
but played a role in the Infinity Gauntlet comic may end up involved in the story arc
if the Thanos story line continues into phase 4.
This includes silver surfer, who played a huge part, some of which was replaced by the
Hulk, and members of the x-men – wolverine’s bones turned to rubber by Thanos in their
big battle spear headed by Adam Warlock in the comics, and cyclops’ head encapsulated
in a glass box, also by the Mad Titan.
There we have it!
Which of these cameos surprised you the most?
Which of these absences did you not really care for?
Give us the low down in those comments below.
In the meantime though, if you’re hungry for more Infinity War, we have a bunch of
videos on our channel just waiting for you to check them out!
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Thanks for watching everyone!
See you all in the next video!