With only 3 frustrating weeks left to go prior to the release of Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War movie, the 19th cinematic release and the biggest-ever event in the 10 year history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the internet continues to crash under the sheer weight of fan theories and wild speculation that have been generated by the film’s various trailers and TV spots. Not a day goes by without some new intriguing question or observation being generated from within the ranks of the Marvel fan base, and today has proven no different thanks to the announcement of a new Captain America toy.
Besides Lego and Funko, Hot Toys is probably one of the best known brands to produce toys based on MCU movies. They’ve made their name on creating high-quality replica depictions of Marvel’s most famous movie and TV show characters, with the company giving them a huge level of authorised access to their work prior to the various release date of each project.
It was announced today that fans can now pre-order the new Infinity War version of Captain America. The toy will arrive on your doorstep on one of two varieties, being a standard version, and a limited edition ‘Movie Promo’ version. Both come in 1/6th scale (standing at roughly 30cm tall), and both come equipped with costume battle damage, and a pair of Cap’s new Wakandan shield gauntlets.
A look at the Captain America (Infinity War) by Hot Toys 😍 #CaptainAmerica #InfinityWar pic.twitter.com/GQfcWNHaEI
— P.m VonApple (@PetiteMadame) April 12, 2018
What’s maddeningly intriguing about this particular Hot Toys release, is that both versions come equipped with at least one mystery weapon in addition to the shields. The standard version contains one unspecified weapon, whilst the Movie Promo edition comes with two mystery weapons, and also an additional Outrider corpse to attach to the base of the model for Cap to stand over.
Given how uncannily accurate the Hot Toys releases are to the source material, and taking into account the fact that the company will not publish the exact details of the weapons in advance of the movie, it’s clear they’re going to end up being something a bit special. Even with pre-ordering, fans will still have to wait until the toy’s unboxing before they find out what Steve will have equipped himself with to fight against Thanos.
Theories about the mystery weapons range from the Infinity Gauntlet itself, broken or prized from the hands of Thanos during the battle, to some kind of other Wakandan weaponry provided by Shuri and T’Challa. There’s the possibility of them being the mysterious wrist tech that has been seen in the set photos from Avengers 4, which is believed to be Stark tech and possibly something to do with travelling back in time after a defeat to Thanos.
It would be foolhardy not discount the possibility of Tony bringing Steve’s original shield with him to the battle after their eventual make-up, but then it might just be a plain old assault rifle, harking back to the character’s original movie, and thrown to Steve by Bucky as his friend runs to save him.
Naturally, the mystery will all be solved by the end of the month, so the only way that fans are going to find out is by reaching into their wallets and pre-ordering as of today. Well, either that or waiting to see what other toys get announced before the end of the week.