'Avengers: Infinity War' Writers Reveal When the Infinity Gauntlet Was Made

The Marvel Cinematic Universe's main appeal are the interwoven storylines that carries over from film to film, and even into the TV universe. However, while Marvel Studios has become the king of the blockbuster movie universe franchise model, it doesn't mean that the puzzle always fits together clearly.

Case in point: Many Marvel noticed a big problem with the backstory of Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet in Avengers: Infinity War - namely that Inifnity War's story of how the Gauntlet was created creates another big Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline error. Now, Infinity War writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely adding more clarification to that issue.

The problem with the Infinity Gauntlet's appearance in the MCU is this: there have been two appearances from the gauntlet in previous Marvel films, before we ultimately got the actual weapon of universal destruction that we saw in Infinity War:

1. The Infinity Gauntlet in Odin's vault, first seen in Thor.
2. The Infinity Gauntlet in Thanos' vault, seen in the mid-credits scene of Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Marvel Studios retconned the issue with the Infinity Gauntlet we saw in Odin's vault: in Thor: Ragnarok, Hela strolls the vault and pushes over that gauntlet, claiming it to be a fake. Infinity War directors The Russo Bros. have defended the Age of Ultron Gauntlet scene, by claiming the following:

"I think that it would be connected to Eitri," Joe Russo said. "I think that clearly he is the one who forged the gauntlet and Thanos had the gauntlet at that point in time. It's been a while since any of the Asgardians have interacted with Eitri and his people."

Now in an interview with Collider about the details of Infinity War, Markus and Feely, further clarify when the Infinity Gauntlet was made - and why it doesn't conflict with Avengers: Age of Ultron:

"I think the Gauntlet was made when Loki was pretending to be Odin," Markus explained. "Presumably, Eitri was running a relatively regular business and people would have gone there and said something. So, it hasn't been that long."

A lot of fans have been tripped up by the notion that Age of Ultron takes place years before the events of Infinity War, making seem implausible that Thanos had the Infinity Gauntlet, and laid waste to both Nidavellir and Xandar without raising suspicion - especially since Thor was revealed to be out on the hunt for clues to the Infinity Stones, in the years between Age of Ultron and Thor: Ragnarok. However, as always, the finer details of MCU movies and the overall timeline aren't as crystal clear as fans would expect.

As has been pointed out, there is no clear timeline when that Age of Ultron mid-credits scene takes place. It's admittedly one of the most random credits scenes in the MCU, as Thanos was not at all connected to the events of that film - other than the Mind Stone being discovered and used to create The Vision. The "Fine, I'll do it myself," line was even more perplexing, as Ultron was never an agent of Thanos like Loki was in the first Avengers. With that kind of disconnect, there's plenty of room to argue that the scene was set in the timeline just before the events of Infinity War, and was included as connective tissue between the second and third Avengers films.

Weird gaps and jumps between Marvel Cinematic Universe movies is nothing new - going back to Tony Stark giving up the Iron Man suit at the end of Iron Man 3, only to be full-on back to his Iron Man ways in Age of Ultron. Spider-Man: Homecoming's timeline controversy was another recent example - and even Black Panther caused confusion with its timeline connection to Captain America: Civil War. In the end, Marvel Studios is just getting better and better at explaining away these little wrinkles in time, and the fans still love the MCU despite them.

Avengers: Infinity War is now playing in theaters. Ant-Man and The Wasp is set for release on July 6, 2018. Captain Marvel will follow it on March 6, 2019, with the untitled Avengers 4 set to tie everything about the Marvel Cinematic Universe into a bow on May 3, 2019.