Avengers: Infinity War certainly rocked the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe by the time it was over, changing the entire landscape of the franchise moving forward. However, if you’ve been paying close attention, the movie might have also altered the continuity of the past MCU films, potentially creating a big problem when it comes to the origins of Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet.
WARNING: Major spoilers ahead for Avengers: Infinity War! Continue reading at your own risk…
To start things off, let’s establish when Infinity War takes place within the MCU. No matter what year it may be, we know for sure that the film is set “roughly” two years after the events of Captain America: Civil War. We also know that Civil War takes place about a year after Age of Ultron.
Both of these points are facts, having been confirmed by the Russo brothers at one point or another. With that in mind, it’s been three years between Age of Ultron and Infinity War, right?
Here’s why I bring this up: Thanos takes the Infinity Gauntlet in the post credits scene of Age of Ultron. Remember his whole “I’ll do it myself” moment? That took place three years ago.
Fast forward to Infinity War. Thanos is rolling through the galaxy, stealing Infinity Stones and putting them into that gauntlet. About halfway through the film, Thor visits a place called Nedavellir, where they find a dwarf named Eitri (Peter Dinklage). We learn that Eitri and his people are responsible for forging powerful weapons like Mjolnir, and Thor pays the planet a visit in order to have a new hammer made.
However, when Thor, Rocket, and Groot arrive on Nedavellir, they’re met with nothing but destruction, and Eitri is the only living creature to be found. He tells Thor that Thanos forced him to make the Infinity Gauntlet, then massacred everyone else on the planet and covered his hands in metal, making him incapable of forging another weapon. Since then, Eitri has been sitting around on his planet, completely alone, without the use of his hands.
See where I’m going with this?
Thanos grabs the gauntlet at the time of Infinity War, which means that Eidri had to have forged it for him over three years ago. There are a couple of reasons why this doesn’t work.
First of all, Thanos completely annihilating the people of Nedavellir is something that would’ve been noticed. The planet is part of the Nine Realms that Asgard protects. While it was Loki, not Odin, on the throne during that three year period, Thor was still searching through those realms for clues to this devastating “ragnarok” event that he envisioned during Age of Ultron. Not to say that Thor is all-knowing or anything like that, but surely he, or at least somebody, would have noticed a planet like Nidavellir going dark for years on end.
The second, and arguably more important issue here, is how this affects Eitri. Thanos essentially rid this guy of his hands when he left. You mean to tell me that Eitri has been sitting alone on Nedavellir, surrounded by the bodies of his friends and family, for three entire years, without the use of his hands? He has no way to make food or use the bathroom or whatever else you can think of. Even if you consider the fact that the passage of time could be different for Eitri’s race, three years is still a long time. A couple of weeks, I get that. Three entire years? That’s a stretch.
There is only one solution to this continuity error, and that’s the idea that the post credits scene in Age of Ultron took place a couple of years into the future. If not, and the timeline remains as it is, the creation of the Infinity Gauntlet creates a major problem for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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What do you think about this theory? Do you have another potential solution that I haven’t thought of? Drop a comment below, or hit me up on Twitter @CharlieRidgely to share your thoughts!
Avengers: Infinity War is currently playing in theaters around the world. Marvel will follow up its record-breaking blockbuster with Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6th, and Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019. The sequel to Infinity War, which is still without a title, will arrive on May 3, 2019.
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