They have become as central to the plot of The Marvel Cinematic Universe as The Avengers themselves. The Infinity Stones have become increasingly important as The MCU continues to expand, and we can’t wait until they all come together to form the Infinity Gauntlet. Unfortunately, they’re responsible for a certain angry purple dude who will be showing up more regularly very, very soon (he has a keen interest in the aforementioned gauntlet).
Now, we’ve already been introduced to four of the six stones. So with two stones yet to be discovered, a new question arises: when will be see the remaining stones? Well, scratch one movie off that list. On his Facebook page, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn squashed any ideas that his sequel would feature another Infinity Stone.
“There will be no Infinity Stones in Vol. 2.” Gunn later added, “There will be infinity nothing. It’s a story about the Guardians and isn’t meant to lead to anything else.“
That’s probably for the best. The Power Stone and its nesting doll home The Orb were central to the plot of the first Guardians outing. Squeezing another Infinity Stone into the sequel wouldn’t allow the movie to stand out on its own. Instead it would be seen as another vehicle to introduce another stone, and could end up causing Vol. 2 to look very similar to its predecessor.
So now for a quick refresher. As previously mentioned, The Orb made its first appearance in Guardians. As for the other stones, here is where they were first introduced.
-Space Stone (Tesseract) – The First Avenger: Captain America
-Reality Stone (Aether) – Thor: The Dark World
-Power Stone (Orb) – Guardians of the Galaxy
-Mind Stone (Loki’s Scepter) – The Avengers
-Soul Stone – ???
-Time Stone – ???
So what’s next for The Infinity Stones? Surely Marvel will have every stone introduced prior to Infinity War, when all six stones will finally be brought together. There are only five movies being released before the next Avengers team-up, and with Guardians Vol. 2 already out of the equation, that leaves four movies… and two of them could feature either The Soul Stone or Time Stone. So, which of the four movies might debut one fo the remaining Infinity Stones? Glad you asked.
-Doctor Strange
Up first is the next release on the Marvel docket and the one most likely to have a stone in some capacity. Once the first official images of Stephen Strange were released, his amulet, the Eye of Agamotto, had a green glow right in the center. Since the green stone has yet to be seen, I’m thinking Doctor Strange will feature one of the stones. The most logical choice would be the Soul Stone, especially since it’s, well, green, and Strange was in charge of The Soul Gem in the comics when he was part of the Illuminati. If this is the case, that means the Time Stone has three more opportunities to arrive prior to Avengers: Infinity War.
-Spider-Man: Homecoming
Nope. Just nope. Not only because an Infinity Stone wouldn’t fit in with the John Hughes’- type story that Homecoming is going for, there’s no way they could have planned for the stone to appear when the original outline for the Infinity Gauntlet was laid out before Spider-Man was hastily inserted into The MCU. Marvel can change on the fly, but it would be a real shock if they changed course and had Spidey come in contact with an Infinity Stone.
-Thor: Ragnarok
This has to be at the top of the list for the Time Stone… right? Ragnarok will return to space, meaning the Time Stone would be found in the cosmos and not back on Earth (where two were already stashed away). The Marvel Cinematic Universe needs to feel expansive, so having half of the Infinity Stones already appearing on Earth would make things feel too small. Simply putting The Time Stone with Hela, or even The Grandmaster, could work. They are ancient beings who can wield its power. Still, Thor: The Dark World already brought us The Reality Stone (The Aether). No franchise has introduced more than one, so why would Marvel put Thor on a pedestal when it comes to Infinity Stones? If no franchise can introduce two Infinity Stones, that leaves only one option.
-Black Panther
Doesn’t seem that logical. Wakanda is supposed to be a technologically advanced society, so how would The Time Stone fit into the story? The best option could be that Wakandans used the Time Stone to steal technology (perhaps vibranium) from the future. The reason they are reclusive is because they don’t want anyone stealing the Stone from them. They saw how Red Skull used The Tesseract and don’t want anyone else doing the same with The Time Stone (or whatever it will be called in Black Panther). You can even envision the stone appearing as a glowing orange diamond in the eyes of a Panther statue. It may not seem like a likely destination, but Black Panther could be the only hope for The Time Stone turning up before Thanos arrives in Infinity War.
-Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
I mean… Marvel could always blow our minds and have The Time Stone appear on television. But let’s be honest, everyone knows the shows and movies are never going to actually connect short of that quick Nick Fury cameo!
