If Avengers 4 is to feature a flashback to the Battle of New York, then Marvel isn’t exactly doing a good job of hiding it.
In the past two days alone, Just Jared and a handful of other people have captured photos from the sequel’s bustling Atlanta set, which revealed Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth rolling back the years – the former was spotted wearing a very familiar Black Sabbath T-shirt, while Marvel’s God of Thunder suddenly regained those luscious locks.
And even if you’ve only caught a glimpse of Thor: Ragnarok‘s promotional campaign, you’ll know that Taika Waititi’s threequel – in North American theaters from today! – includes a scene in which the mighty Norse god gets a haircut. And from Stan Lee, no less.
By that logic alone, perceptive fans have already concluded that Avengers 4 will whisk us back to 2012, when Earth’s Mightiest Heroes were busy fending off the Chitauri. It’ll presumably have something to do with the all-powerful Tesseract, and how it winds up in the hands of Thanos, Josh Brolin’s Mad Titan who has searched far and wide for all six Infinity Stones. But today’s set pics are all about Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, who’s feature prominently in the gallery below.
Circling back to those Infinity Stones though, and as fans will know, they’re what leads Thanos to Earth, and if Infinity War‘s leaked teaser is any indication – originally aired at San Diego Comic-Con, that preview has since been yanked offline – the Mad Titan is far and away the greatest and most formidable enemy that the Avengers have come ever faced. It’s part of the reason why Joe and Anthony Russo’s blockbuster has been hailed as a funny, moving epic, which certainly leaves the door open for Avengers 4 to deliver a satisfying conclusion to Marvel’s Phase 3 in 2019.
It’s currently on course to arrive on May 3rd, 2019, long after Thor: Ragnarok (November 3rd) and Black Panther (February 16th, 2018) have their time in the sun.