‘Avengers: Endgame’: Is the Infinity Gauntlet Fixed?

Avengers: Infinity War last saw Thanos (Josh Brolin), wielder of the Infinity Gauntlet and its complete set of six Infinity Stones, suffer massive damage when snapping away fifty percent of all life in the universe — but will the damage to Thanos' body and the Gauntlet be undone?

In the Avengers: Endgame trailer, Thanos can be seen wearing the Infinity Gauntlet — which appears to still be in its charred state from damage caused by the snap — in a scene that seemingly continues on directly from Infinity War's closing moments, in which a weary and wounded Thanos overlooks a sunrise on Titan II.

When asked during a Vudu Q&A if Thanos could use the power of the Infinity Stones to heal the gauntlet and his arm — in the same way he recovered from the almost-killer blow to the chest fired by Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and new weapon Stormbreaker — directors Anthony and Joe Russo answered, "Perhaps, but there is a cost to using the power of the Stones."

In another Q&A, the directors avoided answering if the damage would be undone, but noted Thanos' scars were "evident," both from the act of performing the snap and his tearful sacrifice of adopted daughter Gamora (Zoe Saldana) on Vormir to win the Soul Stone.

"His daughter is an emotional price, but the physical price is — you'll see it if you pause your DVD — right before he uses it to go back into the portal away from Thor while he's got the ax in his chest, his arm is burnt to a crisp," Joe Russo said.

"So the physical price is the extreme power that it took to enact his plan, he paid for physically, and when he sits down on the steps at the end of the movie you can see that it actually carries up into his neck and onto his face."

As for the ages-old Gauntlet, "[Thanos'] arm is f—ed up and anything attached to his arm is f—ed up," Russo added.

While not always accurate, an Endgame toy leak shows Thanos suited up in full armor regalia and wielding an undamaged Gauntlet, suggesting the physical damage is somehow reversed — whether it be through the near-limitless power of the Infinity Stones or the use of time travel, expected to act as a plot point after spoilery set photos surfaced in late 2017.

In Marvel Comics lore, the Infinity Gauntlet and all but one of the Infinity Gems — the Time Gem — were shattered when Captain America was tasked with using a fully assembled Gauntlet to force back another Earth that was dangerously encroaching on reality.

The Gems were later revived and were again scattered across the universe after the Multiverse was itself destroyed and subsequently restored.

Later, Adam Warlock — one of the custodians of the Gems as part of a group dubbed the Infinity Watch — granted sentience to the all-powerful Gems, allowing them to choose their own destinies as a means of ending the repeated conflicts over their possession.

Such an ending could play out in Endgame, as the Stones have served as MacGuffins in numerous Marvel Cinematic Universe entries, including Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange.

Avengers: Endgame opens April 26.