When the Infinity Stones were first introduced to the Marvel cinematic universe, they were simply powerful artifacts, like the Tesseract and the Aether. Since then the stones have started showing up in more peculiar places, including on or as a part of the heroes themselves.

Marve Studios president Kevin Feige recently spoke to SlashFilm about this progression, and how it will result in a much more personal story arc for characters like Doctor Strange and The Vision. Strange currently carries the time stone in his Eye of Agamotto, while the Mind Stone currently resides (and powers) the Vision.

"It’s getting more specific, isn’t it? Yeah. I mean, I think that’s there are a couple of reasons for that. One is as you’re introducing the fourth and fifth versions of these MacGuffins that we’ve been playing with for a long time, you wanna do something different with them and not just have them be an object passed around. So the notion that something is inherent in the literal body of one of your lead heroes is interesting. And the idea that the Eye of Agamotto’s a great relic over the course of Doctor Strange comics anyway. That seemed like it had fun potential to say, you know why it can do a lot of those things? Because it’s this other thing. As we then get into future movies, it also becomes certainly ripe with potential for conflict and drama that it’s not something buried in a cave it’s something he has to go get, but rather something in a beloved hero’s head."

Doctor Strange introduced the possibility of alternate dimensions as well, which will be important in the coming films when dealing with the Infinity Stones and their long reach, especially if someone where to get ahold of the Infinity Gauntlet.

"Yeah, I mean, I think it clearly is setting up certain things. In the immediate future, being the movies, we’ve announced… I think those with knowledge of the comics may expect things that will not be happening in the movies. Those who don’t know what has happened in the comics will be shocked at what we do. But yeah, once that Gauntlet is on, as the poster of Doctor Strange says, “the impossibilities are endless.” How do you fight that? How can you defeat that? So we play into all of that. We play into all that stuff. I don’t know that we’ll get into Earth 1 thru 616 in any one moment anytime soon."

When Will Doctor Strange Become MCU Sorcerer Supreme?, Russo Brothers Share Avengers: Infinity War Location Scouting Photo, Marvel Cinematic Universe Infinity Stones: What They Do And Where They Are, 4 Ways Doctor Strange Connects To Avengers Infinity War, Jeremy Renner Teases Exciting Stuff For Hawkeye In Avengers: Infinity War

Doctor Strange is in theaters now, and next up for Marvel is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on May 5, 2017. Spider-Man: Homecoming lands on July 7, 2017, followed by Thor: Ragnarok on November 3, 2017. After that Black Panther debuts on February 16, 2018, while Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on May 4, 2018. Ant-Man and the Wasp is slated for July 6, 2018, followed by Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019.