Predicting 10 Ways Upcoming Marvel Movies Could Tie Into Infinity War

5. The Doctor Is In

At the end of Doctor Strange, fans were treated to a post-credits scene hinting that Stephen Strange would show up to assist the God of Thunder in the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok. While this news is certainly cool on its own, it also has some potential implications for the Marvel Cinematic Universe at large.

The phrase ‘connective tissue’ is used so much when referring to movie universes these days that it’s almost become something of an industry joke. With that said, Marvel have really done a fantastic job at pioneering this business model and making it all feel totally earned, and Doctor Strange could potentially be the culmination of all that hard work. Throwing Doctor Strange into the mix in Ragnarok serves as a great through line connecting Marvel’s Earth-centric movies to its more cosmic and magic-themed properties, drawing the conflict of Thanos’ campaign directly back to Earth.

Think about it: we’ve seen conflict between Thanos and the Guardians of the Galaxy and a working relationship between Loki and Thanos, but despite the Mad Titan’s attempts to retrieve his beloved Tesseract from Earth via giant space worms, there hasn’t really been any direct conflict between Thanos himself and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

With Hela potentially taking on the role of Death in Infinity War however, Strange’s appearance could refocus Thanos’ attention on Earth when he learns of Strange’s possession of an Infinity Stone and the power that comes with it.