The dreaded Infinity Gauntlet Easter Egg planted in Thor: the Dark World explained

Art by George Perez (yes he's my favorite comic book artist).
The Infinity Gauntlet has already appeared very briefly in the
movie, Thor (the original).

Warning: Nerd Alert Ahead.

So if you (like much of the rest of the movie going world) went and saw Thor: The Dark World in all its fabulousness, then you probably stayed for the scenes Marvel always embeds at the end of the credits. One of these had Thor's Asgardian friends Sif and Volstagg step cautiously through a room filled with all kinds of interesting artifacts from around the galaxy. They are delivering a box emitting a faint red glow to a being known as "The Collector," who was first introduced in the comics in "Avengers #28" back in 1966.

"The Collector" is one of the Elders of the Universe. These are aptly named because to be an "Elder" you must be one of the oldest living creatures in existence. "The Collector" is also aptly named as he spends his time hoarding archives of various treasures. He has filled up ten entire planets that have been converted into museums just to house all of his belongings.

So what's in the box? Well it's the aether (which you see in full force in Thor: The Dark World).  Since Asgard is already watching over "The Tesseract" (the blue cosmic cube in The Avengers movie) they Asgardians have chosen to separate these two things because its dangerous keeping them so close together.

The aether is one of six infinity stones. Sometimes these "stones" are referred to as "gems," so I'm letting you know that to avoid confusion. Anyway, in the Marvel universe there are six of these stones, and they are pictured mounted on the gauntlet above, which is being warn by Thanos (a super bad-ass villain that wants to destroy half the life in the universe because he wants to gain the affections of Death). Each of the Infinity stones are able to control a different element of the universe: mind, soul, time, power, space, and reality. If you have all of them, you could rule over or destroy all life in existence. Oh the power rush!

In the above series, Thanos defeats many of the universe's most powerful entities. They include Galactus, the Stranger, Kronus, and Eternity. Thanos only really gets defeated because he starts being stupid.

Here is what each of the stones can do in the comics:

1) Soul. Green in color, this one allows the user to steal, control, manipulate and alter souls. It is sentient and has a hunger for souls. It is the gateway to an idyllic pocket universe. This one is owned by Dr. Strange so we can expect it to appear in a Dr. Strange movie!

2) Time. Orange in color, this one allows the user total control over the past, present and future. The one wielding it can time travel, can age and youthen beings, and it can trap enemies or entire universes in a permanent loop of time (think Groundhog Day for everyone). It also grants omniscience.

3) Space. Purple in color, this stone allows the user to exist in any or all locations, move any object anywhere throughout reality and warp or rearrange space. It grants omnipresence.

4) Mind. Blue in color, this stone allows the user to greatly strengthen and enhance mental and psionic power and access the thoughts and dreams of other beings. Backed by the "power gem," the mind stone can access all minds in existence simultaneously.

5) Reality. Yellow in color, this stone allows the user to fulfill wishes, even if the wish is in direct contradiction to scientific laws.

6) Power. Red in color, the power jewel accesses all power and energy that ever has or ever will exist. It can boost the other gems' effects, and allows the user to duplicate almost any physical superhuman ability and grants omnipotence.

So there you have it: the dreaded Infinity Gauntlet Easter Egg planted in Thor: the Dark World explained. I know I just made your day now, didn't I?

moreless

Is there real world science that could make Marvel's Banshee fly?

Caleb Landry Jones was the actor who played Banshee
in the Marvel comic movie X-Men: First Class.

As some of you may know, Banshee is a Marvel Universe character that possesses a sonic scream capable of harming enemies, causing physical vibrations, and flying (as shown in the movie X-Men: First Class). I'm ambivalent in my feelings toward this character, however, I was wondering if sound really could make someone fly. It's one of those things that kind of hung in the back of my mind. I know the writers of comic books sometimes go to great efforts to explain superpowers as best as they can using scientific principles to lure the audience into a suspension of disbelief. The same thoughts also go into magic systems, which are all the rage these days in fantasy fiction. So here's the question of the day: is there real world science that could make Marvel's Banshee fly? It turns out that the answer is yes.

Sound by itself may not allow someone to fly around at incredible speed, but it can be used to defy gravity. I guess once you accomplish this perhaps all that's needed is a propulsion system, right? Allow me to introduce you to a phenomenon called acoustic levitation.

Below is a video that demonstrates how sound waves can be used to levitate individual droplets of solutions containing different pharmaceuticals. The machine featured is called (simply enough) an acoustic levitator and was originally developed for NASA to simulate microgravity conditions. It uses two small speakers to generate sound waves at frequencies slightly above the audible range--roughly 22 kilohertz. When the top and bottom speakers are precisely aligned, they create two sets of sound waves that perfectly interfere with each other, setting up a phenomenon known as a standing wave.

At certain points along a standing wave, known as nodes, there is no net transfer of energy. Because the acoustic pressure from the sound waves is sufficient to cancel the effect of gravity, light objects are able to levitate when placed at the nodes. Simple enough concept to grasp, right? I think this video is incredibly cool and you should watch it :) It's not magic, it's science. Have a great Tuesday and don't forget the IWSG tomorrow!

moreless