Kevin Feige Explains Thor 3 Infinity Gauntlet Retcon

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige explains how they solved the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s big Infinity Gauntlet issue in Thor: Ragnarok. In Kenneth Branagh’s first Thor film from 2011 – back when the shared universe was just getting off the ground – the studio added several easter eggs to tease what was to come in the future, including placing the Infinity Gauntlet inside Odin’s vault on Asgard. However, they unwittingly cornered themselves by doing so.

“As we learn in this movie, he vanished his firstborn daughter because he sort of got what he needed, he got to the top of the Nine Realms and it was like oh, this is much too violent. And Hela says, glad to have it, ashamed of how we got it. And we see that mural in the movie of [how] it was not a pleasant history of how Asgard got all that gold. So Odin has a history of doing what he wants to do to maintain power. And going back, I mean, now it’s probably five years ago we started again just in our internal creative group saying, ‘Well, it’s fake.’ Because if the Asgardians knew that there was something that had that kind of power, that could theoretically wipe out Asgard and whatever else with a, in the comics, a literal snap of the fingers. They might question Odin’s ability to protect them.

The gauntlet’s inclusion in 2011’s Thor was the first major tease to Starlin’s universe-altering storyline and seeing the sudden appearance of the second gauntlet – which could have been chalked up to fan-service at the time – brought about one of the MCU’s biggest unanswered questions, especially since everything is supposed to be connected. Without the retcon, the only other opportunity for the studio to address the issue would have been Anthony and Joe Russo’s Avengers: Infinity War, but now, that film can focus solely on Thanos and his loyal Black Order obtaining the six Infinity Stones.


At the moment, one Infinity Stone is still unaccounted for and it seems its location may not be revealed until Infinity Warhits theaters next summer. Then again, Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther could always surprise audiences with the Infinity Stone’s inclusion.