Who Made The Infinity Gauntlet?

Thanos with the Gauntlet in Infinity War.

This article contains potential spoilers for future MCU films

For all its talk of continuity and timelines, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is mostly connected through a series of backstory details and subplots rather than film-to-film narrative threads. Increasingly, the main subplots have surrounded The Infinity Stones, a set of six powerful gems which can be unified and harnessed through a weapon known as The Infinity Gauntlet - the use of which by cosmic villain Thanos (Josh Brolin) is expected to drive the plot of the next two Avengers movies.

Now, new rumors reported by Screen Geek have fans asking if we're about to discover the identity of whoever created this all-important item.

Fun fact: In the original comics, The Infinity Gauntlet was actually a do-it-yourself job cooked up on the fly by Thanos himself. Having gathered the six Infinity Stones (then colloquially referred to as "Infinity Gems" in most previous incarnations) from across the Marvel Universe and seeking to use them all at once, he set them into compartments on one of the gloves he regularly wears and dubbed it "The Infinity Gauntlet." In other words, the gauntlet itself wasn't especially important until it had been remade to serve its new purpose.

But in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it appears that the Gauntlet already exists independently of Thanos current plan to assemble the Stones - and likely has for some time now. In fact, there may even be more than one: An item that looked very much like one is seen in Odin's treasure vault in the original Thor (and was referred to as being such at the time and was even put on display at San Diego Comic-Con), while Thanos is seen grumpily retrieving a second one in a bonus scene from Avengers: Age of Ultron. This would suggest that the Stones have been unified in such a way at some point before (or at least were intended to be) and begs the question of just who would be responsible for constructing such a device; especially since issues of who made certain items and why has been a recurring theme across the MCU's films and television series.

Thanos False God Captain America Infinity Gauntlet

Rumors and fan speculation (stemming from another 4chan "leak") have recently coalesced around the theory that the films could end up naming Eitri the Dwarven King, a supporting character mainly seen in Thor storylines in the comics, as this creator; owing to actor Peter Dinklage (who has played several dwarf characters in fantasy properties throughout his career, most notably Game of Thrones' Tyrion Lannister) being said to be close to taking a major role in the upcoming Infinity War crossover. Eitri, like most Thor-related characters, actually originates in ancient Norse mythology; where he is a master craftsman of legendary objects out of powerful Uru metal, including (but not limited to) Thor's enchanted hammer Mjolnir. He has been depicted as the creator of a number of important tokens of the Marvel Universe, but never specifically the Gauntlet itself.

While this certainly makes sense from a narrative standpoint, the prospect is by no means the only plausible option if in fact the MCU plans to name a specific individual as the creator of the powerful weapon. It's entirely possible that the idea of Thanos simply having made it (or both...) himself will be maintained for the film, or for it to have been a creation of Anthony Hopkins' Asgardian King Odin (or his own father, Bor) at some point in the ancient past. Indeed, Thor Ragnarok is set to have Thor and The Hulk exploring deep regions of the Marvel cosmos and interacting with powerful beings like Cate Blanchett's rumored turn as the Asgardian death goddess Hela; who could also easily have contributed to this mystery is some yet unknown capacity.

Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 2 is also set to bring ancient cosmic superbeings more directly into its plot, with The Collector already established as existing (and looking for Infinity Stones) in the first film and no less than Ayesha and Ego the Living Planet set for appearances and others heavily rumored. It's also worth noting that precious little of Thanos' actual backstory has been officially acknowledged in any of the films, but in most variations on his character The Mad Titan is suitably ancient and intertwined with various godlike cosmic beings himself. Speculation also swirls that the villain's traditional comics love-interest, Lady Death (as in "The Grim Reaper," herself) is yet to be cast but may also play a universe-building role as well. Of course, Blanchett's Thor 3 character could fill a similar role if there is such one.

As stated, in most storylines the maker of The Gauntlet has traditionally mattered less than who is using it at a given time (usually Thanos, but both Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic have wielded it in the past - though only Tony Stark actually went so far as to activate and use it); so it's entirely possible that where, how and by whom it was created won't end up playing a significant role in the ongoing storyline at all. But if it does, there are clearly no shortage of candidates and we should have even more prospects landing soon as new details continue to emerge.