While a recently shared batch of concept art suggests that Thanos could’ve gone shirtless for much of Avengers: Infinity War, there’s one particular accessory that the Mad Titan was likely always intended to be wearing, and that’s the all-important Infinity Gauntlet. Nonetheless, this fresh set of images makes it clear that the item used by the tyrant to eradicate half of all life from the universe might have taken on a very different appearance.
Seeing how the item (or at least a replica of it) was already featured in previous releases like Thor: Ragnarok, it stands to reason that these illustrations are taken from the very early stages of Infinity War’s creation, which would explain why the appearance of Thanos himself varies almost as much as the gauntlet in his hand. As well as exhibiting various ideas for the general shape of the prop, several of these designs see the item colored black, rather than the familiar gold, and the Infinity Stones themselves also go through quite a few changes in the images
This isn’t the only case we’ve seen of an Infinity War prop taking on notably different forms in the concept art. A previously released pic of Bucky Barnes, for instance, showed the Winter Soldier with a prosthetic arm that was far closer to the old silver designs than the Vibranium version that we eventually got. Thor, on the other hand, may have wielded a whole other weapon from the Stormbreaker he brandished in the film, with one image showing the God of Thunder fighting off danger with the Jarnbjorn axe from the comics.
You can expect to see plenty more alternate prop designs in the new Avengers: Infinity War artbook Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War – The Art of the Movie, which comes out on November 6th. After that, we’ll be finding out if Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet is as damaged as some fans suspect when Avengers 4 hits theaters on May 3rd, 2019.