Warning: The following contains spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War

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Movie marketing is more than just trailers, posters, and a smattering of billboards in major cities. One of the most important marketing tools at the disposal of film studios is the fans themselves. As soon as a movie is over, the fans start wildly speculating about what the inevitable sequel will entail.

Disney knows how to play with audience perceptions and tease them with misleading trailers full of provocative imagery. Who can forget the lead-up to Star Wars: The Last Jedi, in which fans were running wild with theories about Rey's parentage, her potential fall to the Dark Side, the possibility of Grey Jedi, and Snoke's mysterious origins? Of course, the movie took great pride in subverting expectations with unforeseeable twists and shocking surprises, though this came at the cost of nearly every single fan theory being proven wrong.

Likewise, in the months and years leading up to the release of Avengers: Infinity War, fans had cooked up a ton of wild theories about the plot of the movie. As the culmination of ten years and eighteen prior films, to say nothing of the decades of comic books which served as the source material, there was certainly no shortage of wild ideas as to what twists could occur in the third Avengers film. Now that the film is out in the wild, it is time to take a look back on some of the wildest Infinity War Theories That Were Totally Wrong.

  • This Page: Loki Sends Hulk to New York

Loki Sends Hulk to New York

Loki holding the Tesseract in Avengers Inifnity War

As Infinity War was nearing release, viewers were worried about the fate of Loki, the Asgardian God of mischief and adopted brother to the mighty Thor. His presence in the film was downplayed, and he hardly appeared in any of the marketing materials. One possibility was that Marvel was simply avoiding Loki Fatigue, since the fan-favorite villain had played such a large role in The Avengers and all three Thor films, but many were also suspecting that he would be killed off in the opening minutes of Infinity War, which many had concluded would pick up right after the post-credits scene of Thor: Ragnarok.

Screen Rant's working theory was that Loki would use his magic powers to send Hulk to New York City, where he would meet with Doctor Strange. The reasoning was sound; Loki had visited the Sanctum Sanctorum in Thor: Ragnarok, so he knew of its location and relevance. After sending Hulk off, he would likely be executed as recompense for robbing Thanos of his trophy kill.

In the final film, much of what had been predicted occurs, but not in the way which had been speculated: Loki does not send Hulk to New York, but it is actually Heimdall (Idris Elba) who summons up the All-Fathers' dark magic "one last time" to teleport the defeated green giant. Presumably, it's this other-worldly magic which draws the wounded Bruce Banner to New York's sanctuary of sorcery. Finally, Loki does die, but in a subsequent failed ploy to assassinate Thanos.

Thor: Ragnarok rumors tease Idris Elba's role as Heimdall

The Soul Stone is Heimdall's Eyes

A subtle background story of Phase Two involved introducing the various Infinity Stones. The Space Stone and Mind Stone were introduced in Phase One, but not explicitly identified as Infinity Stones until Phase Two. By the time Doctor Strange was released in 2016, all but one of the all-powerful gems had made an appearance in the MCU. The final stone, the Soul Stone, was still nowhere to be found.

In the years leading up to Infinity War, there was no shortage of theories as to the Soul Stone's location, with people speculating that it would be introduced in Black Panther or Thor: Ragnarok, or even a Marvel TV series like The Defenders or Agents of SHIELD.

One of the most popular theories was that the Soul Stone was actually the source of Heimdall's power to see everything across all the realms. It didn't hurt that the unusual orange coloring of his eyes was eerily similar to the orange of the Soul Stone. Ultimately, however, the Stone was revealed to be hidden on planet Vormir, and guarded by the Stonekeeper, a ghostly figure who was once called The Red Skull. As for Heimdall, he is killed off shockingly early in he film, just after he saves Hulk by sending him to Earth.

Thanos Needs Time Travel To Find The Soul Stone

One final theory about the Soul Stone was that Thanos would have to use the combined power of the Time Stone and the Space Stone to travel to the last known location of the Soul Stone. Wherever it was, it would be inaccessible in the present day, and Thanos, after collecting the other Infinity Stones, would use their power to unlock access to the final prize.

More: Infinity War's Real Soul Stone Was Better Than All The Theories

While Infinity War does dabble with a discussion of time travel (more on that in a bit), it never actually takes the plunge... Maybe Avengers 4 will be a time travel story, or maybe that will be part of a story next year, "Avengers 4 Theories That Were Totally Wrong." In any case, audiences were universally surprised by the location of the Soul Stone, as well as the surprise appearance of Red Skull, to say nothing of the unthinkable sacrifice Thanos makes in order to get his hands on the unholy gem.

Iron Man/Captain America/Thor Dies

Nothing raises the stakes more than killing off a major character. Infinity War opens with a bang, killing off Loki and Heimdall, and that's after Thanos beats the tar out of the Hulk, who makes a less-than-incredible showing in the face of The Mad Titan's physical strength and tactical prowess.

The trailers for Infinity War played up the possibility of an Avenger death by showing scenes of Iron Man bloodied and wounded, Captain America facing down Thanos in hand-to-hand combat, and a shocking image of Thor being utterly incapacitated in the mighty grip of the purple menace. Who would die? Would they all get killed?

More: Thanos Must Be a Big Arrested Development Fan

While Thanos defeats all of The Avengers, he doesn't actually kill any of them in one-on-one combat, and the images from the trailers are all from various points in the film; he has Iron Man at his mercy and potentially mortally wounded, but he leaves him alive, stranded on Titan with Nebula. Captain America stands his ground against Thanos, even momentarily staggering him with some righteous fisticuffs before being taken down with a brutal punch. Finally, the shot of Thor getting his head crushed in Thanos' vice-like grip comes from the beginning of the film, in which the would-be God threatens to murder the defeated God of Thunder if Loki doesn't give up the Space Stone.

Though he doesn't kill any of the original Avengers, Thanos still racks up a staggering body count once he finally gets possession of all six Infinity Stones and snaps his fingers. In an instant, he wipes out half of all life in the entire universe, including multiple Avengers: Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, Star-Lord, Drax, Groot, Spider-Man, Nick Fury, Doctor Strange, and White Wolf are just a fraction of those killed by Thanos in his moment of dark triumph.

Infinity War Secretly Features Multiple Timelines

There was talk that Infinity War would take place in a multitude of timelines. Evidence to support this theory came in the form of trailers and TV spots which appeared to use different takes of the same scene, as well as behind-the-scenes interviews which suggested Benedict Cumberbatch, the actor playing Doctor Strange, was the only one who had actually been allowed to read the complete script; everyone else only received their own scenes. The idea was that Doctor Strange, through use of the Time Stone, would travel through different timelines to find a way to defeat Thanos, and see the multitude of ways the Avengers would fail before coming across a solution to the problem.

In a way, this theory turned out to be true, but not in the way anyone could have actually predicted. Rather than having the film set in multiple timelines which are then rewound and undone, Infinity War features a scene where Doctor Strange consults the Time Stone for a way to defeat Thanos, though the audience isn't privy to what Strange is witnessing. He explains to a confused Iron Man that he used the Time Stone to witness fourteen million ways in which the conflict with Thanos would end. According to Strange, there is only one permutation in which the Avengers emerge victoriously. As he dies, just before turning to ash in front of Tony Stark, he assures him that this was the only way, offering a fleeting glimmer of hope at the height of the MCU's darkest hour.

Thanos Will Cause His Own Defeat, Not The Avengers

In the comics, Thanos always loses, because the heroes always find a way to prevail in the end, one way or another; that's why they're heroes. There's a bit of a psychological difference to Thanos in the comics which has yet to present itself in the MCU incarnation of The Mad Titan. In the comics, Thanos loses because he lacks conviction, because of his self-doubt, because of that niggling piece of knowledge in the back of his brain which constantly informs him of an undeniable truth: he is not worthy of the power of a fully-charged Infinity Gauntlet.

Thanos in Infinity War is a deep character, but he is quite different from his comic book counterpart; this version of Thanos appears to believe himself worthy of the Infinity Stones, but his doubt comes from his mission to exterminate half the universe just to prove he was right in the extreme measures he would have taken to save his doomed home planet of Titan.

Perhaps this theory will come back to be Thanos' undoing in Avengers 4. After all, Infinity War ends with him being visited by an apparition of Gamora who asks him about the cost of his mission to bring balance to the universe. His solemn reply: "Everything."

Hawkeye/Ant-Man Save the Day

One of the biggest question marks before the release of Infinity War was with regards to characters who may or may not be in the film. The two biggest omissions from trailers and posters were Hawkeye and Ant-Man. Alas, neither hero makes an appearance in Infinity War, though both are mentioned as being confined by "house arrest." Although Ant-Man & The Wasp is due out in July, all evidence points towards that film being set before Infinity War, and instead picking up in the wake of Captain America: Civil War. It will be interesting to see if the Ant-Man sequel ends with half of its cast being inexplicably turned to dust, which would be a total buzzkill for what is shaping up to be a charming action/comedy flick.

As for Hawkeye, his location is a total mystery. He's one of those characters who is constantly being used for surprises. His debut came in the form of a cameo in 2011's Thor, and then he was unexpectedly brainwashed for half of The Avengers. His next appearance didn't come until Age of Ultron, which exposed him as something of the heartwarming "team dad" of quirky superhero squad, and Civil War revealed that he had retired before duty called him back into battle one last time.

It's possible he simply sat out Infinity War to spend time with his family, or maybe he was on a top-secret mission for Nick Fury. Maybe his whole family was killed off by Thanos' apocalyptic finger snap, so now he's returned for revenge... Or maybe these theories will go on the Avengers 4 list.

More: Avengers: 40 Things You Completely Missed In Infinity War

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