Marvel Cinematic Universe films have often had a tangential relationship to the comics that inspired them.
For instance, Captain America: Civil War took the same idea as the event it was based on and went to some very different places with it, while the second Avengers movie and the original Age of Ultron shared nothing but a villain and a name.
But as Avengers: Infinity War moves ever closer, some major and minor comic-book influences are becoming clear. Here are those inspirations and what they are likely to mean for Anthony and Joe Russo's massive blockbuster.
The Infinity War
RED HERRING ALERT! This was a sequel comic event centred around an evil version of the superhero Adam Warlock, a character who currently exists in the MCU only as a cocoon and a name mentioned in a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 mid-credits scene.
Other than ostensibly being about the Infinity Stones, there is unlikely to be any significant connection between The Infinity War and the third Avengers film. We should really be looking to the story that came before the Infinity War comic...
The Infinity Gauntlet
This classic Marvel Comics miniseries by Jim Starlin, George Pérez and Ron Lim was identified early on as a major inspiration for the upcoming film, which probably wasn't called 'Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet' only because Infinity War sounds much better.
1991's The Infinity Gauntlet was the original 'Thanos has assemble all the Infinity Stones and every Marvel hero available is teaming up to stop him' storyline. On a more specific level, it's about Thanos trying to seduce the personification of Death (usually portrayed as a sexy lady with a skull face in Marvel Comics) by killing half the universe before being tricked into submission on a floating space throne room platform thing.
The MCU version of Thanos will apparently have an altered motivation that your average cinemagoer will be more likely to swallow.
"He's from a planet called Titan that's no longer inhabited because of things that he thought he could help prevent, and he was not allowed to do that," Kevin Feige told EW. "What he feared most happened, and the planet and everybody on it basically went extinct. He vowed not to let that happen again [and he] thinks he sees the universe going down the tubes. He thinks he sees life expanding outward unchecked. That will bring ruin, he believes, to the universe and to that life."
What the Russos are more likely to be taking away from Infinity Gauntlet are not specifics but themes like a diverse bunch of heroes uniting against an unimaginable threat (although, surprisingly, that killing half the universe thing has stuck). And as in the comic, the secret to beating an unstoppably powerful enemy will probably involve ingenuity above punching power.
Infinity
Surprisingly, many of the motifs we're seeing in Infinity War teasers come from Jonathan Hickman's 2012 comic event, confusingly titled Infinity. This is surprising because the story sat in the middle of a huge narrative by writer Jonathan Hickman that concluded with the destruction of the entire multiverse (don't worry – it got better).
We're not predicting that Infinity War's untitled sequel will conclude Marvel's Phase Three by obliterating all existence, but plot points particular to Infinity are definitely being incorporated. We have the introduction of Thanos's Black Order – who first appeared in Infinity – and Wakanda will again be landfall for an invasion by Thanos's army with the intention of claiming an Infinity Stone (or perhaps two).
In Infinity, many of Earth's heroes are not present to combat Thanos's invasion because they have left the planet to deal with the threat of an alien race called the Builders. With so many heroes in the movie, we wouldn't be surprised if the attack on Wakanda isn't the only problem on their plate. There is, after all, a mysterious ring floating above New York City to worry about too.
One theme of Infinity is treachery and deception among certain Avengers members. We don't expect Marvel to lean on that, what with the preceding Civil War having been used to split the team up already. They really need to be drawing together for the end of Phase Three in 2019 rather than pulling apart further.
However, the Black Order's Ebony Maw has mind control powers that could see one of our heroes turned into an unwitting traitor (in the comic it was Doctor Strange, and the second trailer hints that it could be again). That would be quite the twist for a cliffhanger Infinity War ending.
The rest
• Jason Aaron's Original Sin event comic kicked off a storyline in which Thor was left without his hammer. In that story he became unworthy to lift Mjolnir, whereas in Thor: Ragnarok it was destroyed by Hela. Still, Infinity War was no doubt influenced by the post-Original Sin stories concerning Thor's quest to restore his worthiness (worthyhood? worthydom?), manifesting in his quest with Groot and Rocket to find a new hammer.
• The Vision and Scarlet Witch was the name of two miniseries dealing with the married Avengers. They're not married yet, but romance is definitely in the air in Infinity War, and rumours of a casting call for twin baby boys could well be a reference to the children Scarlet Witch created by magic in the comics. And no, that storyline did not end well.
• After the events of Civil War we know that some of the Avengers – namely Black Widow, Falcon and Captain America – have been operating as a team on the sly, attempting to respond to global threats without drawing the attention of the authorities. This is assumed to be a nod to the Secret Avengers comic, which centred around a black-ops version of the team taking on top secret missions.
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