In Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos wages war on our superheroes as he hunts down the Infinity
Stones for his masterplan of rebalancing the universe with the power of the Infinity Gauntlet.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, it's Jan here and right now just five of the six Infinity
Stones are accounted for in the MCU which means the whereabouts of the Soul Stone is
still unknown.
So today I'm breaking down in detail how, where and when we'll likely see the Soul Stone
in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
I'm examining evidence for the movies and theories you can see on screen now and there's
timecode links in the video description if you want to jump forward to any particular
theory.
If you've just discovered my channel, I do regular Marvel and superhero videos and today
I'm starting a new Avengers giveaway.
To enter, tap the bell and let me know in the comments below where you think the Soul
Stone will appear.
By the way, I'll be announcing the winner of my Black Panther giveaway later in this
video.
Spoiler warning, I'll be talking about Black Panther, previous MCU movies and speculating
on upcoming movies including Infinity War, Ant-Man And The Wasp, Captain Marvel and Avengers
4.
There were plenty of popular theories before Black Panther was released that the movie
would reveal the Soul Stone was in Wakanda.
If you've seen the film, you'll know that didn't happen, however, there's still a chance
that the Stone is hidden somewhere in the African nation.
We know from Black Panther's prologue that Wakanda's vibranium came from a meteorite
that hit the earth and then affected the plant life.
There's quite a convincing theory that the Soul Stone is buried deep in the centre of
the meteorite and it's that Infinity Stone which gives the Heart-Shaped Herb its extraordinary
properties.
This Soul Stone theory could also explain why the plant gives the person who ingests
it access to the ancestral plane and the ability to communicate with the souls of the dead.
By the way, the Soul Stone endowing the Heart-Shaped Herb with its powers would also fit the THANOS
theory, and I'll explain what that means later for those who don't already know.
One potential problem with this theory is that the Soul Stone is orange-coloured, whereas
the Heart-Shaped Herb is purple.
However, the colours of the Infinity Stones and the powers they grant do not always have
to match.
Scarlet Witch derives her power from the yellow Mind Stone, but her powers are red.
Also when we first encounter the Mind Stone in Loki's sceptre, it looks blue, but later
when it's broken open, the Stone's true yellow colour is revealed.
There is a potential wrinkle in this theory, though, which is that Black Panther director
Ryan Coogler has specifically said about the Soul Stone that
"I love the Infinity Stones as much as any comic book fan, it's just Wakanda already
has its thing, which is Vibranium.
For us, that was special enough, so to throw in something like another special thing didn't
feel right.
It felt like we should stick with our one MacGuffin for the country and explore that.
[Marvel Studios] never really was interested in putting a stone in there, either."
Now, that makes total sense as the movie gave us an awesome introduction to Wakanda and
it had a lot to pack into its runtime, so if they'd had to also include and explain
the Soul Stone, it might have all felt like a bit too much and taken the shine away from
the main story just in order to set up a future story.
But let's remember that Coogler is only talking about his own Black Panther solo movie and,
so, Marvel might still choose to reveal that the Soul Stone is in Wakanda in their next
film, Avengers: Infinity War.
Ok, let's get into the Infinity Stone theories for that movie.
We've seen quite a bit of footage of Thanos sending a huge army of Outriders to invade
Wakanda, and because we know he's trying to complete his Infinity Gauntlet, it seems highly
possible that he's after an Infinity Stone.
Among a range of Infinity War Lego sets are two different Infinity Stone scenes set in
Wakanda.
In one set, you can see one of Thanos's Black Order, Proxima Midnight, trying to steal an
orangey-looking Stone.
A leaked description for the Lego set also specifically says that Falcon is diving down
to save the Soul Stone.
While in another Lego set, we can clearly see Captain America and Black Widow defending
a blue Infinity Stone against an Outrider.
Now, you have to bear in mind that these are toy sets so they may be actual scenes or fairly
close to actual scenes, or the toy designers may have just mixed up different elements
from the movie to create an enticing product to sell.
I do think we'll probably get at least one Infinity Stone turning up in Wakanda in Infinity
War, however, it might just be the Mind Stone, because we know from the trailer that the
Black Order attempt to extract that from Vision's forehead, so the Avengers may take him to
Wakanda for treatment so it can be removed without killing him.
We also know from the Avengers: Infinity War prelude comic and the Black Panther post-credits
scene that Shuri has developed tech in Wakanda that removed the HYDRA programming from Bucky's
brain, and I think she may find a way to treat Vision as well.
However, we can't ignore that Thanos may simply be invading Wakanda for access to all that
precious vibranium and tech which T'Challa was about to announce to the world in the
first Black Panther end-credits scene.
Another alternate location for the Soul Stone in Infinity War is the red planet Nidavellir.
This planet, which is inhabited by dwarves, is where Mjolnir was originally forged, and
in Infinity War, it looks like Thor travels there with the Guardians to create a new weapon.
There's actually a Lego set of a scene from the planet and it shows an Infinity Stone
being used for what it calls a "space forge".
It's from the scene in the trailer where we briefly see Thor straining to control a machine.
This Infinity Stone might or might not be the Soul Stone, but I think it's interesting
that Thor's hammer Mjolnir was, to quote Odin, forged "in the heart of a dying star".
And if that "heart" of a dying star is the location of the Soul Stone, this would also
fit the THANOS theory.
OK, before we get too attached to the idea that the Soul Stone must be in either Wakanda
or somewhere else in Avengers: Infinity War, let's look at some theories that Marvel could
be saving the Soul Stone for use in a film after Infinity War.
The next film after Avengers: Infinity War is Ant-Man And The Wasp and what we know so
far is that the movie will travel to the Quantum Realm.
We haven't seen very much of the Quantum Realm yet in the MCU with just glimpses in Doctor
Strange and the first Ant-Man movie.
So, if Marvel felt they wanted the story and box-office pay-off from the reveal of a new
Infinity Stone in Ant-Man And The Wasp rather than Avengers: Infinity War, the Quantum Realm
would be a good place to explain where the Soul Stone's been all these years.
And there's actually a precedent in the comics for the Soul Stone/an Infinity Stone existing
at the subatomic level.
In a 1980s Incredible Hulk storyline, Bruce Banner travelled to the subatomic world of
K'ai where he encountered an Elder of the Universe called the Gardener.
At that time, the Gardener was in possession of the an Infinity Gem and had travelled to
K'ai in order to keep the power of the gem away from humanity.
I certainly wouldn't expect this story to play out exactly like this in Ant-Man And
The Wasp, however, Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne could encounter a new Elder of the Universe
who controls or has access to the Soul Stone.
After all, the Elders of the Universe have already been introduced in the MCU in the
form of the Collector and the Grandmaster.
And it looks like the Quantum Realm will play a crucial role in linking all the movies between
Infinity War and Avengers 4 because the subatomic world that Ant-Man And The Wasp explores will
also connect specifically to the Captain Marvel movie and the rest of the MCU.
Quantum physicist Dr Spiros Michalakis, who worked as a consultant on Ant-Man, has confirmed
this link between the movies and has also suggested that once superheroes like Ant-Man
and the Wasp, and perhaps Captain Marvel, begin to understand quantum code, they will
be able to access powers that are considered impossible in the normal world.
For instance, they could, in theory, manipulate the physical laws of the universe like space
and time to create things like black holes.
And such powers would be clearly very useful if you're up against the likes of Thanos,
but it really makes me wonder whether the Soul Stone could be connected to these potential
new powers and abilities?
And finally we come to the mother of all MCU movies, the epic finale to everything that
Marvel Studios has been building to, Avengers 4.
So, will we have to wait till then to see the Soul Stone?
Well, we know from various set photos that it looks like the movie will incorporate time
travel.
And that ties back nicely to why the movies Ant-Man And The Wasp and Captain Marvel have
been placed between Infinity War and Avengers 4 as the exploration of the Quantum Realm
in those two films could open up the ability for other Avengers beyond Doctor Strange to
mess with the timeline and potentially prevent Thanos attaining supremacy.
And it's possible that Avengers 4 could be an attempt by the Avengers to recover the
Soul Stone before Thanos gets to it first.
Ok, I can't finish without mentioning that it's still possible the Soul Stone has been
hiding in plain sight ever since the first Thor movie.
In other words, it's located in the middle of Heimdall's armour or even in his eyes,
which is one possible reason for his glowing orange eyes and the fact that he can see trillions
of souls.
Heimdall having the Soul Stone also ties in nicely with the T.H.A.N.O.S theory I mentioned
earlier that all the objects holding the Infinity Stones in the MCU will eventually spell out
the word THANOS.
So far we've had the Tesseract, a 'T' for the Space Stone; the Aether, an 'A' for the
Reality Stone; Doctor Strange's Eye of Agamotto is held on a necklace, giving an 'N' for the
Time Stone; the Orb which contains the Power Stone provides an 'O'; and Loki's Sceptre
which held the Mind Stone, gives us an 'S'.
So, Heimdall, Heart-Shaped Herb or heart of a dying star would all provide the missing
'H' for the T.H.A.N.O.S theory.
If the Soul Stone were in Heimdall, then Thanos could take it when he attacks the Asgardian
ship after Thor: Ragnarok.
And if Thanos had to kill Heimdall to get the stone, that might lead to Loki offering
Thanos the Tesseract in order to spare the rest of the Asgardians.
Now, I want to know where you think the Soul Stone is going to appear?
And do you have any predictions on how it will be used?
Let me know what you think in the comments below and make sure you also subscribe for
your chance to win my Avengers Funko Pop giveaway!
The winner of my Black Panther giveaway is on screen right now, so if that's you make
sure you private message me with your details.
If you liked this then, I really appreciate your support so hit that thumbs-up button
and share the video!
Plus you can tap the bell to get all my new videos as soon as I post them.
And check out either of the links here for more Marvel and Black Panther.
Thanks for watching and see ya next time!
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!