We've got some new looks at Earth's Mightiest Heroes care of Vanity Fair, but several characters from Avengers: Infinity War are missing from their photoshoot. Anthony and Joe Russo's highly-anticipated superhero team-up movie is fast approaching and Marvel Studios is gearing up to start promoting the upcoming 19th installment in the long-running Marvel Cinematic Universe - starting with a massive Vanity Fair cover story.The outlet debuted multiple covers and revealed several photos of more than 30 major and minor characters, from the original Avengers team - such as Tony Stark and Captain America - to some of the franchise's newest superheroes, such as Black Panther and Spider-Man. While that's certainly a lot of characters for one movie to appear in a single magazine photoshoot, that still leaves a little more than a handful of potentially major players in Infinity War absent. Here's a rundown of who didn't get the spotlight.
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Thanos
The biggest character missing from the images is Thanos (Josh Brolin). Marvel first teased the supervillain in the post-credits scene of Joss Whedon's The Avengers in 2012, after first tasking Loki (Tom Hiddleston) with acquiring the Tesseract (the Space Stone) and leading an alien invasion of Earth. Thanos also tasked Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) with acquiring an Orb (containing the Power Stone) in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy, though the newly-formed team took control of the Stone after Ronan's betrayal, thus leaving Thanos empty-handed once again. And so, it seems Thanos is going procure all six Infinity Stones on his own.
Thanos, obviously, plays an integral role in Avengers: Infinity War. However, considering that the Vanity Fair covers feature just the heroes, it makes sense that the outlet (and Marvel Studios, for that matter) would opt not to include the Mad Titan, who is possibly being saved for his own reveal down the line. It would've been too tedious to add him into the mix since he's being brought to life via CGI. Sure, Groot and Rocket are both present in the photoshoot, but they're not played by as notable an actor and aren't prominently displayed on their own.
The Black Order
Considering that Thanos isn't part of the newly-released photoshoot, it makes sense that his loyal Black Order, aka the Children of Thanos, wouldn't be either. The Black Order is a team of supervillains - with the MCU's lineup consisting of Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw, and a character named Cull Obsidian - who typically do Thanos' bidding, which in the case of Avengers: Infinity War means aiding the Mad Titan in his quest to obtain all six Infinity Stones. Marvel Studios officially unveiled the team at D23 Expo 2017 this past summer and it seems they are holding back more reveals until a later time, seeing as all four members of the Black Order are also missing from Vanity Fair's photoshoot.
Loki
Of everyone missing from Vanity Fair's Avengers: Infinity War photoshoot, the most peculiar is Loki, who was last seen embarking on a journey for Earth with Thor and the rest of the Asgardians to establish a new Asgard. A convincing theory is that Loki took the Tesseract when he was in Odin's vault and will attempt to save his own skin by handing the Infinity Stone over to Thanos at some point in Infinity War. Indeed, Thor slamming into the Milano and meeting up with the Guardians of the Galaxy (as seen in the SDCC footage) would make little sense if Loki and the rest of the Asgardians don't get dispatched somehow.
Related: All The Ways Thor: Ragnarok Sets Up Avengers: Infinity War
With that in mind, Loki's absence from the photoshoot could be because he's turned back towards villainy once again - finishing what he started in The Avengers - or that his role just isn't that large.
Peter Dinklage
Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage made his first foray into the Marvel universe by playing Dr. Bolivar Trask in Bryan Singer's 2014 film, X-Men: Days of Future Past. And now, he's rumored to have joined the MCU in an unknown role in Avengers: Infinity War. Since the studio never confirmed his involvement in the film nor did Dinklage ever suggest he would be playing another comic book character, his absence from the photoshoot could be an indication that he's actually not appearing in the film - though reports would suggest otherwise.
Related: Fan Art Reimagines Peter Dinklage as MODOK
If Dinklage does appear in Infinity War, the reason he's not in the photoshoot could be because his character (which could be anyone from Pip the Troll to MODOK) is primarily CGI-based (same as Thanos) or because he's playing a villain (again, same as Thanos) - or both. What's also possible is that Marvel Studios is saving his character's first look for another time.
The Collector
Benicio del Toro made his debut as the primordial being known as the Collector in Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014, with his character's brother, the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), making his debut in Thor: Ragnarok. Although del Toro didn't reprise his role for Gunns' Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2, the Collector is already confirmed to appear in Infinity War. His role in the film was recently teased by some recently leaked clips.
The most likely reason del Toro doesn't appear here is that The Collector's involvement in the film is small enough to not warrant such a tease.
Captain Marvel
The next superhero slated to join the shared universe is Brie Larson's Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel (formerly Ms. Marvel). The actress is scheduled to make her debut appearance in Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's Captain Marvel movie in 2019, which takes place in the '90s, thus leaving room open for her to potentially appear in Infinity War without affecting her character's arc in her solo movie. She hasn't been confirmed for the movie, although it would be strange for Avengers 3 and 4 to pass without some appearance.
Related: How Jude Law's Mar-Vell Connects To Captain Marvel
Apart from not being in the film, though, the most obvious reason for why Captain Marvel isn't in Vanity Fair's photoshoot is to maintain a costume reveal. She is the MCU's latest superhero, after all, so seeing Larson in the getup will be a major step in the marketing, something they'll want to hold until the character's solo film enters production (or for a surprise Infinity War cameo).
Heimdall & Lady Sif
Heimdall (Idris Elba) isn't confirmed to appear in Infinity War, which makes his absence from the photoshoot understandable. However, since the character was last seen alongside Thor in Ragnarok, his whereabouts will be of certain interest to franchise fans, who may fear that Elba's character will be killed off between MCU installments.
Also missing (but not confirmed) is Lady Sif. The Warrior's Three were all killed by Hela early on in Ragnarok, but one of Thor's friend's remained; Jamie Alexander's previous commitment to NBC's Blindspot precluded her from appearing in Thor 3. Her subsequent return has been teased, but it's unclear when that will be. Alexander hasn't confirmed her involvement and it seems she's still otherwise engaged with Blindspot. However, that also doesn't mean she doesn't want to return to the silver screen as the Asgardian warrior sometime in the future.
