The first trailer for Avengers: Infinity War is here and in this humble comic book nerd’s opinion, it looks set to blow all other films in the genre away.  But let’s take a look at the new characters the trailer has shown us and give you a bit of a background on them, too.

Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet

Thanos' plan is to collect all the Infinity Stones into his Infinity Gauntlet so he can have the power to do basically whatever he wants. In the trailer we see Loki offer him the Tesseract, which we know from the first Avengers movie is the Space Stone. Thanos takes it, drops it into the gauntlet with the power stone and then talks about having fun (ominous!). 

Outriders

The Outriders are a race of genetically engineered humanoid creatures whose purpose is to serve their maker until they die. They are bred to be Thanos’ assassins and go throughout the galaxy doing the bidding of their master.  They can read the minds of anyone by sinking their hand into their victim’s temple and also render themselves invisible.

Proxima Midnight

She is one of Thanos’ Black Order, a group of lethal aliens gathered by Thanos in order to help him in his crusade to take over different worlds and force the inhabitants to pay tribute to him.  She has superhuman strength and is a master combatant with her spear; she will be a formidable foe for anyone who tangles with her.

Corvus Glaive?

Corvus is another member of the Black Order and is also married to Proxima Midnight.  He is Thanos’ second in command and cannot be killed so long as his golden glaive is intact.  Now I can’t be certain that this is him, but the “Gathering of the Mind Stone” would certainly be a task Glaive would be given by Thanos.

The Secret Avengers

I did let a little squeal out when I saw this clip!! The Secret Avengers were founded by Captain America in response to the Superhuman Registration Act. Here we see Cap and his co-horts in Wakanda leading the charge into battle, and they look like they mean business!  They may be different from The Secret Avengers in the comics, but I am excited to see them on the screen and how their characters pan out.

The “Human” Vision

We first met The Vision in Avengers: Rise of Ultron, but here we see him sharing a tender moment with Scarlet Witch, in what can only be described as a “Human” form.  The bright pink tones have gone and all that is left is The Mind Stone on his forehead, and we can be certain that this will have a role to play in the film.

Honourable Mentions

Now these next two aren’t new characters but I had to give them a mention as I am super excited about them!

Guardians of the Galaxy

They have beef with Thanos and have history with the Infinity Stones, so it was inevitable that these guys would show up at some point. We see them briefly meeting Thor in the trailer, and it will be interesting how Star Lord and his gang interact with the rest of the Marvel Universe.

Spiderman’s New Suit

Spidey is looking sharp in this suit which looks like a cross between the Iron Spider suit made by Tony Stark, and Ben Reilly's costume at the tail end of the Clone Saga.  It is nice to see the Marvel are giving nods to us nerds with little gems like this.

So there we have a few bits we have taken away from the trailer and I can’t wait to see more but what about you?  Are you psyched about it or did it go over your head?  Let us know in the comments and as Stan Lee says, “Excelsior!”