New 'Infinity War' Trailer Reveals More of Thanos and Fate of Infinity Stones

The long awaited second trailer for Marvel Studios’ blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War immediately went viral upon its release Friday as it offered fans a deeper look at the film’s plot, its cosmic-powered villain, Thanos and what will become of the Infinity Stones. The movie, starring Hamptonites Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson and Gwyneth Paltrow—along with just about every other Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) character thus far—opens on Friday, April 27.

Special 3-D screenings are slated for 7 p.m. on Thursday night, April 26, at local Regal Cinemas in East Hampton, Southampton and Hampton Bays.

Watch the new trailer and read on to get all the info on the Infinity Stones, their Marvel Comics origins and what will become of them and our heroes in this film.

Right from the start, the new trailer turns its focus to Thanos, the death obsessed “Mad Titan” who rose to legendary Marvel Comics status in writer Jim Starlin and artists George Pérez and Ron Lim‘s 1991 series Infinity Gauntlet. And while Marvel Studios chose to use the title of its followup series, Infinity War, for the latest Avengers film, it is definitely a heavily modified version of the original.

In both Marvel Comics and the MCU, the Infinity Gauntlet is a mighty glove with the six Infinity Gems (called “Stones” in the movies) affixed to it, giving the wearer godlike power over the universe, time, life and death, and reality itself. As The Collector (played by Benicio Del Toro) explains in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, “Before creation itself, there were six singularities, then the universe exploded into existence and the remnants of this system were forged into concentrated ingots—Infinity Stones.”

The MCU version of the story has Thanos (Josh Brolin) traveling the universe hunting these Infinity Stones—most of which have appeared in other Marvel films—in order to create the Gauntlet and wield ultimate power. In the comics, before the Infinity Gauntlet series, a two-issue story called Thanos Quest showed its titular character outwitting and defeating the six Elders of the Universe and taking the gems each had been charged with protecting. His final goal is to achieve omnipotence in order to impress Lady Death, the goddess and personification of death.

With this new trailer, we know the MCU version of Thanos has at least a similar motivation for creating the Gauntlet. In the trailer, his daughter Gamora (Zoe Saldana) explains, “he only ever had one goal: to wipe out half the universe,” adding, “if he gets all the Infinity Stones, he can do it with a snap of his fingers—like that.” While both versions of Thanos may have aims at widespread death and destruction, the MCU story has already skewed quite a bit from its source material, so his reasons for this may still differ from his comics counterpart.

The comics and the films agree that each Infinity Stone has its own special powers and properties, but they are currently, at least partly, in the hands of characters from the movies, not Elders of the Universe. Here’s a breakdown so far.

Space Stone (aka the Tesseract)
As seen in the original Captain America film, the first Avengers movie and several others MCU films in one form or another, the blue Tesseract (aka the Cosmic Cube in Marvel comics) represents the Space Gem, which was purple in the comics. As in both the films and the comics (though the Cosmic Cube is something unrelated in the comics) the Space Stone gives its bearer the ability to be anywhere and teleport anywhere, defying the laws of physics and creating omnipresence. It was last seen in Thor: Ragnarok when Loki took the stone with him on the ship leaving Asgard as it crumbled and burned. The new trailer appears to show Thanos breaking the Cube, most likely to get at the blue stone inside it. We also see it is one of two stones on Thanos’s Infinity Gauntlet as he grapples with Captain America (Chris Evans).

Reality Stone (aka the Aether)
Primarily featured in a liquid form in Thor: The Dark World, this red (yellow in the comics), solidified version of the Aether gives its holder immense power, but as the Reality Stone, it should also offer the ability to bend reality to his or her will. It was last seen being given to The Collector, who is the only Elder of the Universe to appear on film, for safekeeping, but his home/museum on Knowhere was destroyed in Guardians of the Galaxy, and the stone’s whereabouts are currently unknown.

Power Stone (aka the Orb)
Shown in Guardians of the Galaxy, this purple orb (red in the comics) offers its holder unimaginable power, as seen when Chris Pratt‘s Starlord wielded it to devastating effect. After the events of GotG, the stone was placed under the care of the Nova Corps on Xandar. In the trailer, we see it is the second of two stones on the partially completed Infinity Gauntlet, but we don’t know how he gets it.

Mind Stone
First seen on Loki’s staff as a blue gem, the yellow (blue in the comics) Mind Stone grants its bearer incredible intelligence and mental powers. One can control others’ minds with it, project one’s consciousness to a higher plane of existence, and master telepathy and telekinesis—which is only what we know so far. Thanos had this Infinity Stone when he gave it to Loki to attack Earth in the first Avengers film. After Loki failed, it was given to S.H.I.E.L.D. to protect, but that organization was infiltrated by the evil Hydra group. Eventually it gave powers to the Scarlett Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and her brother Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the Ultron robot got hold of it and used it to create current Avenger Vision. Tony Stark, aka Iron Man (played by Downey Jr.) placed it in the trusted protection of Vision (Paul Bettany), who wears it on his forehead. In the first Infinity War trailer, we see Thanos extricate it from Vision’s head.

Time Stone (aka the Eye of Agamotto)
First seen in Doctor Strange, the green (orange in the comics) Time Stone shows up housed in the ancient Eye of Agamotto relic, which helps Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) excel at sorcery. Dr. Strange uses it to create a time loop in the film, defeating the demon Dormammu, but it can also change the flow of time and stop time. Given its immense power and ability to disrupt the natural order of things, Strange returned the Eye of Agamotto to its pedestal at Kamar-Taj in Kathmandu, Nepal until he is better equipped to handle it. We see Strange awaken the stone in the new Infinity War trailer, though its almost certain this will cause him to eventually lose it to Thanos.

Soul Stone
We have yet to actually see this orange stone (green in the comics) in the MCU, but we may assume Thanos will already have it when Infinity War gets underway, or the film may begin with his efforts to get hold of it. This very powerful stone gives its user the ability to manipulate all living and dead souls in the universe. In essence, it grants control over all life. In Doctor Strange, Dr. Strange’s sidekick Wong (played by the appropriately named Benedict Wong, really) has ancient texts that say it could be the greatest threat of all. Could it be in Wakanda? That would be fitting, and make a great deal of sense.

Just like in the original comics, it will take the combined might of all Marvel’s heroes to take down Thanos, but don’t expect any sort of happy ending in Avengers: Infinity War. The first of two parts, this movie will likely conclude with Thanos completing the Infinity Gauntlet, leaving fans to toil over the fallout of his efforts to do so, not to mention the impending dread for what’s coming.

There will be death and destruction on a scale not yet seen in the MCU, and the worst is yet to come—though we have to assume that Thanos’s eventual defeat is also somewhere on the horizon. Whatever happens, this movie is a blockbuster of epic proportions, and we can’t wait to see it.

Along with East Hampton’s Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Amagansett residents Scarlett Johansson and Gwyneth Paltrow play Natasha Romanova (Black Widow) and Stark Industries CEO Pepper Potts, respectively. Hamptons visitors Chris Hemsworth (as Thor), Paul Rudd (as Ant-Man) and Bradley Cooper (as Rocket Raccoon) also play large roles.