Avengers: Infinity War packed so much for us to digest at once. The reason why the movie made so much was because people actually gave multiple viewings to this film. There was so much happening in the film. You could actually say that it was the most amount of “movie” that Marvel has ever made. It involved so many characters, took place in many locations, and it was based on the many stories that we have previously seen in the MCU. It was arguably the best movie of the MCU. So, you could place Avengers: Infinity War at No. 1 and Thor: The Dark World at No. 20.
Avengers 4 is rumoured to take us back to the MCU movies that showed us Infinity Stones through time travel. The plan will supposedly be to acquire the stones before Thanos could get his hands on them. But because Thor: The Dark World is considered to be the weakest movie in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers 4 may actually treat it like they treated the retrieval of the Power Stone from Xandar in Avengers: Infinity War.
The MCU may try to get itself away from The Dark World as much as possible, but that film hid some tiny details that panned out to be huge in the MCU moving forward. One of the hidden Easter Eggs spotted by a Redditor was the reveal of Nidavellir in the film. Thor revealed in Infinity War that Nidavellir was the place of Legend where war weapons were built, and that is where the movie took us. Nidavellir had a whole story arc in Infinity War.
It was the planet of dwarves which got attacked by Thanos. Eitri was the only survivor and he helped Thor forge the Stormbreaker Axe. For most of us, this was the first time we heard of the planet. But this wasn’t the first time that MCU had mentioned it. A vigilant Redditor has actually spotted a Nidavellir reference in Thor: The Dark World. Have a look:
Anyone else ever notice Nidavellir on Selvig’s chalkboard in Thor: TDW? from marvelstudios
It is just amazing how Marvel hides key plot points of the future in such minor Easter Eggs. The entire plot of Ant-Man and the Wasp was based on a very little Easter Egg that most fans ended up missing in the first film (silhouette of Janet Van Dyne in the Quantum Realm). They teased the Infinity Gauntlet way back in the first Thor film. Even Vormir got a split second reveal in the first Thor Film.
Nobody can beat Marvel at the Easter Egg hiding game. They are just the best. Zack Snyder tried, but he wasn’t allowed to finish! So, before you call the Thor franchise weak, just remember, it was as important in setting up the culmination of the MCU as any other MCU franchise. Infinity War could have basically been Thor 4 if Thor would have gone for the head.
Thor was the hero that actually had the most amount of screen time apart from Thanos. Joe Russo revealed this way before Avengers: Infinity War and it actually came out to be true. Here’s what he said:
“Interestingly enough, I’ll start out by saying Thanos, even though he’s not a character that had a huge preexisting story in the Marvel universe. He was a threat but he was not developed in any way up to this point. Thanos has an incredible amount of screen time in this film, in a lot of ways I would say it’s his movie. Our job when we make these films — and what we feel is important to us — is to surprise the audience. We wanted to tell a story that they weren’t expecting, and the story is told from the point of view of a villain, which I think is also really unique and risky for a commercial film that will surprise the audience. I think this is a market where the audience really enjoys innovation and disruption, and we want to do something innovative in this space. So I think Thanos has an incredible amount of screen time, and I think you’ll find that Thor has a really interesting arc in the film. He hasn’t been at the forefront of other Avengers movies but he certainly has a very important role in this film. So I’ll say, Thanos and Thor.”
Thor will return in Avengers 4.
