10 Infinity Stones Stories That The MCU Refused To Show You

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe's Infinity Saga succeeded in weaving its intricate narrative through twenty big-screen movies that detailed the rise of Earth's mightiest heroes and detailed the existence of the powerful Infinity Stones. The Infinity Stones made appearances early on in the MCU in films such as Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, and Thor: The Dark World (the Tesseract, Loki's scepter, and The Aether, respectively). However, while the Space Stone, Mind Stone, and Reality Stone were important MacGuffins in these early outings, their true nature as the powerful Infinity Stones wasn't formally revealed until The Collector's explanation in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Despite only teasing Thanos and his quest for the Infinity Stones for most of the Infinity Saga, the series of films collectively did a superb job of building their reputation and potential before they were fully unleashed in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. However, even with three phases of movies with which to tell the Saga's full narrative, there are still several stories involving the MCU's powerful Infinity Stones that were resolved off-screen. While it's possible that some of these moments may be revisited in flashbacks or prequels, the MCU will surely leave others to the imagination.
10 Thor's Quest For The Infinity Stones

The culminating team-up of the MCU Phase 2, Avengers: Age of Ultron, saw Earth's Mightiest Heroes team up for the second time, but it also resulted in two powerful characters leaving Earth for the foreseeable future. Bruce Banner/Hulk steals the Quinjet and flies off-planet, and Thor, having seen a vision of the six Infinity Stones and the destruction they cause, decides to go on a quest of his own to keep the universe safe. However, at the start of Thor: Ragnarok, Thor's monologue brushes this plotline away by simply saying that he failed.

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Thor's journey to learn more about the Infinity Stones, which was ultimately fruitless, may have been excluded from the MCU for a few reasons. For one, it kept Thor occupied during Captain America: Civil War. With Wanda Maximoff far below her eventual power level at this point, Thor's presence would have simply been too much for the fight to remain close. Furthermore, the Thor franchise received a major tonal shake-up with its third movie, and writer/director Taika Waititi may have simply not been interested in the story that had been previously set up.

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9 Red Skull Becoming The Keeper Of The Soul Stone

Avenger: Infinity War was a movie full of exciting twists and cameos, but one appearance that few expected was the return of the long-absent Red Skull. Despite seemingly dying in Captain America: The First Avenger, the Hydra leader was instead transported to Vormir, where he became the keeper of the Soul Stone. However, what happened on Vormir in the decades since his teleportation in the 1940s is something the MCU hasn't revealed.

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When Thanos and Gamora arrive at Vormir in Infinity War, Red Skull explains the rules - the Soul Stone only appears to those who sacrifice something they truly love. However, it's unclear how he learned these rules himself or if anyone else has attempted to acquire the stone there before Thanos. After appearing for Thanos and, later, Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff, it's also unclear what Red Skull is doing now that the Infinity Stones have been destroyed. As he's still presumably alive, Red Skull may still appear in the MCU's Multiverse Saga.
8 Thanos Acquiring The Mind Stone

Despite being the narrative driving thread of the Infiinty Saga, there are several Infinity Stones that Thanos acquires off-screen. The first of these is the Mind Stone, which is embedded in the Scepter and given to Loki by Thanos. The official MCU hasn't given an answer, but a Marvel novel may give a hint. Confusingly, Thanos: Mad Titan was initially marketed as a canon addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe before those claims were eventually walked back on. Regardless, its story, which sees Thanos kill a being called the Lorespeaker who possessed the Mind Stone, is the best explanation yet.
7 Loki Meets Thanos And Is Given The Mind Stone

Despite appearing to die at the end of Thor, the first Avengers movie shows Loki alive, in possession of the Mind Stone (known at that point as The Scepter), and allied with Thanos. While it makes sense that the Trickster God could fake his death and appear elsewhere, it's unknown exactly how Thanos and Loki met and why Thanos was comfortable giving an Infinity Stone to someone famous for not being trusted. Though a version of Loki is still alive and featured in the MCU, it's unlikely his initial meeting with Thanos will be revisited.
6 Wanda And Pietro Maximoff Are Experimented On With The Mind Stone

Wanda Maximoff reached a new level of power as the Scarlet Witch in WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and her MCU journey is bookended by evil influence. The Darkhold corrupted Wanda during her time of grief, but Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, a modern-day Hydra leader, is the one that first unlocked her and her brother's powers. Though brief, the post-credits scene for Captain America: The Winter Soldier shows the two in their cells showcasing early powers with the Scepter (and, therefore, Mind Stone) nearby.
While more of the Maximoff twins' backstories are revealed in WandaVision, no more focus has been given to Wanda and Pietro's time being experimented on by Hydra. Though the time has likely passed for this story to be told in the MCU, it's easy to imagine a dark, cerebral series showing the twins discovering and learning to control their powers in a Hydra base. Perhaps, if Scarlet Witch returns to the MCU, even more flashbacks will clarify her recent past.

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5 Thanos Destroying Xandar To Reclaim The Power Stone

The Guardians of the Galaxy features Ronan the Accuser chasing down the Power Stone on behalf of Thanos, though the Kree fanatic decides to betray his benefactor and keep the stone to destroy Xandar. Once Ronan is stopped, the Guardians acquire the Power Stone and hand it over to the Xandarians for safekeeping. However, by the beginning of Infinity War, Thanos has acquired the Power Stone, but his attack on Xandar is never shown on-screen.
Given that Xandar is such an advanced and powerful planet, the battle was surely epic in scale. A 45-minute sequence of Thanos destroying Xandar was made but cut, never to see release. It makes sense that movie as full as Infinity War didn't have time for such a sequence, but the footage (which was filmed but never treated with VFX) may not be lost for good. A Nova film is reportedly in the works at Marvel Studios, and given the titular hero'sXandarian heritage, the decimation of his people could make for the perfect traumatic flashback.

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4 Thanos Destroys Thor's Asgardian Ship

After the destruction of Asgard at the hand of Surter in Thor: Ragnarok, the surviving Asgardians and their allies board a ship to find a new home. Shockingly, Avengers: Infinity War opens with Thanos and the Black Order having decimated the ship. The scene works extremely well to establish Thanos as a physical threat for the first time, but it does rob the movie of what was surely an epic battle between a ship full of powerful beings and Thanos with his four best soldiers.
3 Thanos Destroying The Infinity Stones And Becoming A Farmer

After the massive cliffhanger ending of Avengers: Infinity War, Endgame opened with a very different Thanos than the one that had been seen before. Unlike most villains, with ever-expanding goals to acquire more power, Thanos was content to live a life of leisure after snapping away half of all life in the universe. When the Avengers located and approached him, he was living as a simple farmer and had already used the Infinity Stones to destroy the Infinity Stones. However, Thanos' five-year post-Infinity War story, as he transitioned away from being an intergalactic warlord, has gone unseen.
The five-year time jump between Infinity War and Endgame worked well for the latter's narrative, but there are surely stories worth telling about Thanos making the decision to destroy the Infinity Stones and abandon the armies he built. Given the power of the stones, it's likely other cosmic forces would have been alerted by their use and potential destruction, and other heroes from other parts of the galaxy may have also been trying to locate Thanos to enact vengeance for their losses.
2 Doctor Strange And Wong Gather Heroes After Returning From Souldworld

As tragic as Infinity War's ending Snap was, seeing countless heroes all reappear at the same time in Endgame's climax made it all seem worth it. While the sling-ring portals make it clear that Doctor Strange and Wong are responsible for the epic entrance, the arduous and complicated task of traveling the world to explain what's going on and what the plan is to everyone involved could be an interesting story to see. However, the lack of foreshadowing made the climactic scene all the better.
1 Captain America Returning The Infinity Stones In Endgame

After the Avengers defeated Thanos for a second time with the use of Infinity Stones borrowed from the past, Steve Rogers volunteered to bring them all back to where they belonged. Given how difficult it was to acquire the stones in the first place, his journey to return them throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe was surely long, interesting, and full of memorable interactions. However, all that is shown is the end result: Steve uses the opportunity to time travel to go back to Peggy and live the life that he always wanted with her.
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