Does Thor's Heimdall have the Soul Stone in the MCU?

11/25/2016 05:13 pm EST

Sometimes, we get fan theories sent to us at the Comicbook.com offices, suggesting all manner of things about the next DC Comics TV show twist, or how Star Wars will answer one of their big questions, or the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And sometimes, those theories are actually pretty darn good.

"The Soul Stone is with Heimdall," suggested reader Justin Ryne Short. The Soul Stone is the last remaining Infinity Stone, and the only one that hasn't been seen outside of the "origin of the Infinity Stones" flashback. To recap, there are six Stones all told, and five that we know where they are:

• Space Stone: The Tesseract, better known in the comics as the Cosmic Cube - held for safe keeping in Asgard
• Reality Stone: The Aether - presumedly still in possession of the Collector (though his collection was blown up so it could've gone)
• Power Stone: The Orb - safe with the Nova Corps
• Mind Stone: Formerly Loki's Scepter, currently in Vision's forehead giving him life
• Time Stone: The Eye of Agamotto, currently still in the Eye, safe in the nexus room of Kamar Taj and under the watch of Doctor Strange
• Soul Stone: ?????

Short followed up his hypothesis that Heimdall has the Soul Stone with some compelling evidence: "In Norse mythology, Odin gives him his sight. Heimdals eyes are orange. In Thor: The Dark World, he is quoted saying he can see all the souls in the nine realms. And in Thor's vision in Age of Ultron, Heimdal is blind. Thanos could have taken the stone from his eyes. It all fits."

Indeed, the theory is compelling. Heimdall's preternatural sight being augmented by an Infinity Stone would make a lot of sense when we look at how they've been used so far in the MCU. The Mind Stone, for example, amplified Loki's abilities of misdirection, bringing them into full control. The Time Stone was used in conjunction with magic, not in place of it, to bring spells to a new level. It wouldn't be a stretch, then, for the Soul Stone to bring a god's power up. The orange isn't a definite - but it is a link. There's not much to deny it out of hand either, except...

The whole reason Thor brings the Aether to the Collector in the first place is because it's "unwise to keep two Infinity Stones in one place." Now, there's no guarantee that Thor knows Heimdall has a Stone, if he does, but you'd certainly expect Odin to. While Odin can be careless at times, being that careless, to keep two stones there when he specifically warns against doing so, seems off.

There's also the issue of Heimdall having the Soul Stone taken from him, causing his blindness. Possible? Sure. But when Vision, in all practical manner, has to have the Mind Stone taken from him in order for Thanos to gain all six, and with that act needing then to either cripple or kill the Synthezoid. If you have a very similar gimmick with Heimdall, it takes away from the importance and shock value of that moment. That's the biggest thing that makes us hesitate to fully support the theory - it makes story sense before introducing Vision, but when you take the latter into account and the role he basically must play in Infinity War, it definitely puts a damper on Heimdall.

Wherever the Soul Stone is, we have three total movies that it could be revealed in: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which director James Gunn has said is even more standalone than the first, Thor: Ragnarok, which seems to have a lot to juggle already, or simply inside the first act or so of Infinity War itself. We'll find out as the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to unfold next May and November.

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