Comic Book vs Film: How Avengers: Infinity War Is Already Different

14. It Started With A Click

In The Comics:

By the time Infinity War kicks off, Thanos already has the Infinity Stones in his possession. It literally begins with him becoming as powerful as a God and wondering what he can do now that he has all of that power. That comes after The Thanos Quest comic event, in which he seeks Death's permission to unite the Stones in order to complete his mission to rebalance the universe (more of that soon).

In that prelude event, Thanos meets each of the Stones' owners (The Inbetweener, Champion Of The Universe, Gardner, Collector, Runner and Grandmaster) and takes their Stones. It's only then that his rising power is noticed by the Avengers on Earth, because he clicks his fingers and wipes out half of existence in the galaxy, including Hawkeye ang Wong.

In The Film:

Though we might get to see some sort of mass extinction event, it's not going to happen at the start of things: it'll either come at the end of Infinity War or in the opening act of Avengers 4. And obviously, Infinity War will chart his attempts to get the Stones together, rather than it starting with him already possessing them.

Instead, we're going to see Thanos get his hands on a couple of the Stones early (presumably with Xandar and the Collector paying heavy prices for having them) before his army (and the Black Order who were introduced in 2012's Infinity go to Earth to retrieve the others).

So in other words, a completely different set-up there.