Infinity War has undoubtedly shaken the very foundations of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The movie has impossibly high stakes which have dramatically altered the MCU, in the process, silencing critics whose only complaint was Marvel movies had no real consequences. It has left permanent scars on the shared superhero universe. Apart from the fact that it established Thanos as the best Marvel Villain till now, it also gave us plenty to look forward to.
Infinity War has, by any means, be considered somewhat of a course correction measure for the MCU. Many fans are comparing Avengers Infinity War with X-Men: Days of Future Past as it closed past loopholes. It fixed the broken Marvel timeline and repaired several continuity errors that existed within it. And it has rectified yet another plot hole that we thought was unfixable. Infinity War has finally fixed a Major Thor Plot Hole from the First Avengers movie!!!
SPOILER ALERT: MAJOR Spoilers for Infinity War up ahead….
Marvel’s Thor is a superhero as famous in the comic books as he is in the movies. The First Thor movie left much to be desired for but it did establish the Odinson as somewhat of a relatable character that banked on emotions and friendship to achieve the impossible.
The movie’s ending was heartbreaking. Thor was banished from Asgard and lost his powers as the God of Thunder in the movie’s beginning. He later becomes a God again once he realizes that true strength does not come from his fist but his friends and allies.
At the end of Thor, the God of Thunder uses Mjolnir to destroy the Rainbow Bridge, the only thing that connects him to his allies and lady love on Earth. Thor destroys Bifrost to save Jotunheim, the realm he tried to destroy in the first place, and sacrifices the only way he has to reach Earth. That’s Thor for you.
But then there is another dilemma. A specific Thor-centric plot hole soon emerges later.
Thor’s story of personal growth as a hero is noteworthy. He had to sacrifice being with the love of his life to save an entire world from destruction. But Jane Foster, Thor’s romantic interest, does not stop searching for ways to get back to Thor. She finally gets what she wanted all along when Jane Foster is infected by the Aether aka the Reality Stone. This is where it gets interesting.
Thor is seen again on Earth after the 2011 Thor movie in The Avengers of 2012. He comes to Earth looking for Loki and the Space Stone. Thor destroyed the bridge connecting Asgard to the Bifrost. Without the Bifrost, Asgard has no way to communicate with the other nine realms, which soon declared war in each other without Asgard to keep them in check.
The Rainbow Bridge was repaired later but its repairs hit the final nail only after the events of The Avengers movie. So how did Thor come back to Earth in 2012 when the Rainbow Bridge wasn’t even completely repaired?
After Thor swoops in from the sky during a Thunderstorm in The Avengers, Loki claims Odin must have had to muster up a lot of dark magic to allow Thor to come to Earth since the Bifrost is no longer operational. While that was a rather vague explanation that left us scratching our heads, Infinity War finally gives us an explanation.
Here’s the plot hole – Why didn’t Thor use the Dark Magic excuse to travel to Earth after he destroyed the Rainbow Bridge in Thor (2011)? And if we even entertain this explanation, how did Thor pinpoint Loki and the Quinjet in The Avengers?
Here’s the solution – In Infinity War, it wasn’t Odin but Heimdall that uses the ‘Dark Magic of the All-Fathers’ to summon the Bifrost to transport the Hulk to Earth. Heimdall, as we know, could see the souls inhabiting all the nine realms of Asgard. So, Loki was mistaken when he thought Odin was the one who sent Thor to Earth. It was Heimdall who did that.
The director of The Avengers, Joss Whedon, who was hesitant to use The Avengers haphazard ‘Dark Magic’ explanation, is now fully on board with this new plot element. Heimdall, who can summon the Dark Magic of the All-Fathers (the rulers of Asgard before Odin), was the one who opened the Bifrost for “One Last Time” in Infinity War. And he is resting in peace now.
Well, if this is the plot hole that it fixed, there is one that it created which was already fixed in Thor: Ragnarok. In 2011, the movie Thor showed Infinity Gauntlet (meant for left hand) being stored inside Odin’s vault but at that point of time, Marvel had no idea if it will use the cosmic artifact.
In the post-credits of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thanos was shown wearing a gauntlet in his right hand. In Thor: Ragnarok, they fixed the plot hole when Hela claimed that artifacts that Odin wouldn’t be able to collect, he would have fake ones in the vault.
But in Infinity War, Thanos traveled to Nidavellir to get Infinity gauntlet made by a Dwarf (killing the rest). When Eitri asked why didn’t Asgard protect them, Thor said it’s destroyed which was in Ragnarok while Thanos had the gauntlet at the end of Age of Ultron. Well, in order to avoid confusion, Kevin Feige made this announcement:
“All of that debate has encouraged us. We are going to be publishing an official, and I’m not sure when, or in what format, an official timeline. It’ll probably be a part of ah, I don’t know, a part of an in print that you can fold out and look at,” he said. “But suffice to say, only in limited cases do we ever actually say what the actual years are because we never want to be tied down to a particular year and I think people assume that whenever the movie is released is when is when the movie is taking place, and that is not the case.”
Avengers Infinity War is playing well into the theatres. Directed by Russo Brothers who are a masterful duo for big comic-book movies, they have previously directed two Captain America movies – Winter Soldier and Civil War.
The movie is produced by Marvel President Kevin Feige & Co including Stan Lee, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso and Michael Grillo. The script is co-written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.
The cast is overwhelmingly amazing as it features some of the biggest stars brought under one roof by Marvel including Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Pratt (Star Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Sebastian Stan (Winter soldier), Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Bradley Cooper (Rocket Raccoon), Vin Diesel (Groot), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Jeremy Reiner (Hawkeye), Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr. Strange), Benedict Wong (Wong), Tom Holland (Spiderman), Letitia Wright (Shuri), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlett Witch), Karen Gillian (Nebula), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Dave Bautista (Drax), Paul Bettany (Vision), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Peter Dinklage (Eitri), Samuel Jackson (Nick Fury) and Cobie Smulders (Mariah Hill).
Here is the official movie synopsis:
“Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk and the rest of the Avengers unite to battle their most powerful enemy yet — the evil Thanos. On a mission to collect all six Infinity Stones, Thanos plans to use the artifacts to inflict his twisted will on reality. The fate of the planet and existence itself has never been more uncertain as everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment”.
“As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos. A despot of intergalactic infamy, his goal is to collect all six Infinity Stones, artifacts of unimaginable power, and use them to inflict his twisted will on all of reality. Everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment – the fate of Earth and existence itself has never been more uncertain”.
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