Avengers: Infinity War releases in theaters tonight, and I’m really excited to see it tomorrow. For months, I’ve been theorizing about the film and how Marvel is going to tie together a historic ten years of buildup across 18 films prior to this one. Since the film is going to be out in a couple of hours, now is the only time I can release this article.

Also, SPOILER WARNING FOR EVERY MARVEL MOVIE BEFORE INFINITY WAR

Without further ado, here are my top theories for Avengers: Infinity War.

Nebula is the key to the Soul Stone

I saw a video on The Film Theorists going further into this, but I was thinking the same when I saw “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.” Why was Nebula on the Sovereign ship if the ship didn’t contain something that would help her kill Thanos? Nebula’s single motivation in the entire series was to have her revenge on her adopted father. As we find out in a post credits scene in “Guardians 2,” the Sovereign ship contained a cocoon with a resting Adam Warlock inside. Warlock is an artificial sentient life form with superhuman strength, flight, and energy manipulation, but most importantly, in the comics the guy has the Soul Stone in his head. Nebula was probably after the Soul Stone because it has the power to sense souls and draw them into a dimension contained within the gem. Thanos probably gets the stone in the middle of the film, which would explain that weird orange planet we see Iron Man, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, and Star Lord in the trailers. This leads me to my next theory.

Order of Infinity Stones

Let’s first see where the other Infinity Stones are. There are six colors to remember here: blue (space), red (reality), purple (power), green (time), yellow (mind), and orange (soul). The Space Stone aka The Tesseract was the big McGuffin in both “Captain America: the First Avenger” and “The Avengers.” It was last seen with Loki, who stole it in “Thor: Ragnarok” right before Asgard was destroyed at the end of the film. I’ll talk more about Loki in a bit. The Aether or the Reality Stone, seen in “Thor: the Dark World” (yes, that movie is somehow relevant again), was left with The Collector in a post-credits scene in “The Dark World” because Asgard already had the Space Stone. The Power Stone, first seen in “Guardians of the Galaxy” is on Xandar with the Nova Corps, the Green Lantern-ripoff space cops that somehow has John C. Reilly as one of their highest ranking officials. The Time Stone or the Eye of Agamoto is currently being worn around Dr. Strange’s neck and is how Strange defeats Dormammu at the end of “Doctor Strange.” Strange isn’t the only hero with an Infinity Stone as Vision currently holds the Mind Stone in his head. Before becoming a part of Vision, the Mind Stone was in Loki’s scepter in “The Avengers” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” Finally, we covered the Soul Stone above.

I think Thanos is going to go for the Power Stone first, then Space, Reality, Mind, Soul, and finally Time. He goes for the Nova Corps, then Thor’s ship, which we see him do in the end-credits scene for “Ragnarok,” then The Collector, then Vision, who’s being safeguarded in Wakanda, then wherever the Soul Stone is (probably with Warlock), then he’s going to trap Dr. Strange in the Soul Stone dimension and take the Time Stone.

Loki Gonna Die First

If Thanos is taking the Space Stone, he’s going to have to steal it from Loki’s bare hands. In a film with supposedly many death scenes, Loki will probably die first. This would complete his arc and tie back to Thanos’s line from the trailer. “Dread it, run from it, destiny still arrives,” as Thanos ominously says. Loki has gone through a lot throughout much of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He’s gone from being a loving son to a jealous brother to a warmongering tyrant and finally to an ally in “Thor: Ragnarok” as part of The Revengers, as Thor called it. Knowing Loki, he’s probably going to try to save his own skin and Asgard’s by tricking Thanos somehow, but Thanos is probably going to straight up kill him because of this. Thanos is, after all, the one who gave Loki all his power in “The Avengers.” It’s only fitting that he’s the one who will take it away. I’m curious if Thor will end up watching brother die. It would be a really sad way to start out the film and definitely set up stakes like no other Marvel film has.

Captain Marvel is going to end up being Earth’s last hope

This one is more of a given considering The Russo Brothers accidentally leaked that Captain Marvel will be in Avengers 4. Captain Marvel is set to have her own standalone origin film set in the 1990s with Oscar winning actress Brie Larson playing the titular hero. The film is also set to star Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and a returning Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson during their earlier years with S.H.I.E.L.D. However, I think Captain Marvel is going to be set up to be the most important character for Avengers 4 because of my theory for the film’s ending.

The Ending

I think the film is going to end with Thanos getting all of the infinity stones and doing the snap only because not a lot of people expect it. I think most of the original Avengers are going to die because of this. A few key players should live: The Hulk (because I feel like “Avengers 4” needs some muscle), Dr. Strange (because he knows how to work the time stone if they get it back), Hawkeye and Ant-Man (hence why they’re not in “Infinity War” – so that they can show up in Avengers 4), Scarlet Witch (if Vision dies, she’s going to take it very personally), and maybe some members of the Guardians such as Gamora (considering she probably has the most personal story with Thanos).

If this happens, I feel like Marvel could be a lot more morbid than they’re used to being by killing off some of the newer Avengers such as Spider-Man and Black Panther with the snap. You know even if they die, they’re going to be brought back to life in “Avengers 4” when someone (presumably Dr. Strange) goes back in time to prevent Thanos’s onslaught. If set pictures showing original Avengers in their Phase 1 costumes during the Battle of New York indicate anything, it’s that “Avengers 4” will primarily deal with time travel.

Looping back to Captain Marvel, I don’t think she’s going to be in the film. However, with many of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes gone (that is, if I’m right), she’s probably going to survive and travel to Earth to save the day. It would be an awesome way to introduce a character into the grander MCU considering “Captain Marvel” comes out on March 9, 2019, two months before “Avengers 4” comes out.

Those are my theories for “Avengers: Infinity War,” which comes out April 27, 2018. What do you think about these theories? If you’re seeing the film tonight, please don’t spoil anything for me. I’m going to check back in on Saturday to discuss the film, and I’m curious to see if I’m right about any of this. Thanks!

If you like this article, be sure to check out our ranking of every MCU movie leading up to “Infinity War!”

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