Marvel’s Infinity War will, in all likelihood, depict Thanos gathering the Infinity Stones, which will grant him ultimate power in the Marvel Universe. The Infinity Stones have been MacGuffins in The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World, and Guardians of the Galaxy, and November’s Doctor Strange might present the fifth: the Time Stone, except the movie won’t reveal that. Not yet anyway.
In Doctor Strange, Benedict Cumberbatch’s superhero possesses the Eye of Agomotto. In the comics, the Eye is inside an amulet Strange wears to access abilities — among them: seeing past events as if they were an old movie. The Eye of Agomotto is also of mysterious origin not explained in the comics (not everything has to have an origin story!), giving Doctor Strange room to rewrite it as one of the Infinity Stones.
Thanos shows off his stone-less Infinity Gauntlet.
In the film, the Eye of Agomotto gives off a green aura and has the ability to “screw around with time,” which Marvel producer Kevin Feige said during a recent press visit to the Doctor Strange set. In the comics, the Time Gem (they were called “Gems” instead of “Stones” in the comics) was orange, but the Marvel films have consistently rewritten and recolored its Infinity Stones, probably to keep fans from being spoiled by 20+ year old comic books. The Power Gem in comics was red, but in Guardians of the Galaxy the Power Stone was purple.
Is the Eye of Agomotto the Time Stone? Probably! It just won’t be said so explicitly in Doctor Strange. “There’s a lot to take in in this movie,” said Feige to the visiting press. “There are a lot of new concepts … there’s a lot of new mythologies that we didn’t to clutter up by telling you about other MacGuffins.”
The Eye of Agomotto in 'Doctor Strange,' which is probably the Time Stone.
Feige’s comments echo what has been said about Doctor Strange leading up to its release: The purpose of the movie is to introduce a whole new dimension — magic — to the generally sci-fi and technology-based Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Asgardians, the god-like warrior race Thor comes from, were revealed in Thor: The Dark World to have been using only mega-advanced technology, not magic. Doctor Strange will be the MCU’s 101 class on Gandalf-style magic, which is why the supernatural Ghost Rider is in this season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. So there’s no time for those space rocks right now. That time will come later.
Doctor Strange premieres in theaters November 4.
