Avengers: Endgame release thread (spoilers)

[The Romulan Republic]

I can imagine how Earth would be regarded by societies with space flight after Iron Man's snap. The Ravagers are gonna talk.

Here is a world, star flight, barely local space flight, politically and religiously fractured and near environmental collapse, that in the course of about 25 years...

Drove off a Kree Accuser attack, destroying one of the attacking vessels. (Captain Marvel)
The counter assault by a single human may have forced the Kree into their treaty with the Nova Corps.

Held off a Chi'tari invasion, and then destroyed a Chi'tari command vessel in response, using a SINGLE weapon. (Avengers)

Held off an invasion by Dark Elves (Thor: Dark World)

Trapped and then Exiled Dormamu (Dr. Strange) <- Admittedly, no one may care about this.

Held off an invasion by Thanos's forces. Thanos himself had to enter the field, with near godlike powers, to claim victory. (Avengers: Infinity War)
Note: This is something the Nova Corps was unable to do.

Had no problem, and didn't feel threatened, by 2000+ Asgardians settling on their world. (Time skip between Avengers Infinity War + Endgame)

Found a way to restore all the people Thanos killed, and then held off a second invasion by Thanos, the resulted in the complete loss of of Thanos forces (possibly across the Universe). (Avengers: Endgame)

The Odds are, the various galactic powers near Earth, are looking at it and going 'Do we leave them alone, or make peaceful friendly contact?'

Or hit them first before they hit us. Which could be a set-up for a future galactic-scale villain.

[Solauren]

It would be very hard to justify hitting the world that saw just about everyone get their loved ones back.

[Tribble]

It would be very hard to justify hitting the world that saw just about everyone get their loved ones back.

IMO those who are power hungry and/or feel threatened enough won’t really care about what Earth has done. Earth has brought a lot more attention to itself than it should, and that could make it a target as it’s probably seen as a place of unusual importance. Conquering and/or eliminating this hotspot would be worth the potential risk for some.

[The Romulan Republic]

It would be very hard to justify hitting the world that saw just about everyone get their loved ones back.

Well, yeah, but there do need to be some reprecussions. The Earth went from barely just able to enter space to acquiring all the Infinity Stones (one of which is enough to scare Asgardians and the Nova Corps), saving the entire universe, and killing the most powerful man in the universe with just a few commandos. And then gave the Stones back voluntarily, which to the less altruistic is going to make them wonder what the fuck Earth has up its sleeve if they don't even feel they NEED Infinity Stones. Oh, besides casual time travel/universe creation which also amounts to immortality tech.

This is like if an undiscovered tribe in the Amazon suddenly whipped out Cold Fusion, landed on Mars, fixed Climate Change, and smacked down the US and Russia.

Realistically, Earth should be a fundamentally different place post-Endgame, and its relationship with the universe should be fundamentally different as well. Its a shame that that will almost certainly be only barely-alluded to at best to maintain the status quo of "like our world except with superheroes", but that's a chronic problem of long-running contemporary superhero universes in general.

[PREDATOR490]

From the outside, the only thing that should attract galactic attention to Earth would be the Infinity Stone Snap.

I do not see anyone knowing it was Thanos that caused that snap unless Captain Marvel went around telling them. Marvel is the only one that is even capable of going off-world or even know where to go if they could.

It does not say much for the galactic community if Thanos is supposed to be a dominating force when he has two ships and an army that even conventional Earth forces would be able to beat. Sure, the casualties would be potentially catastrophic but his ship could not kill a single person after two bombardments at near point blank range on a spaceship vs people on the ground level.

Thanos is hyped up as being a Cosmic level villain which on a personal level he qualifies. However, nothing really indicates that he is a galactic level villain in scale and if he WAS then the amount of firepower he should be bringing to bear would be wildly different than what we see. Instead, he brings forces which are not very effective even by Earth standards.
If his forces are somehow supposed to be top tier in the galactic community then what are the rest of the universe using...

I feel that this is the problem with the progression of the super-hero genre when you push it outside the scope of the scale they are meant to be in.
As a result, a conventional airstrike would do more damage than a bombardment from Thanos's spaceship.
Cosmic level villain that is somehow a galactic threat has his forces being weaker than what Earth has.

Either the galactic powers are poorly organised / equipped or Thanos was really a nobody. He went around killing 50% of worlds noone cared about. Not even the Asgard.

Random Stuff:

How is Captain America supposed to return the mind stone to it's original location when it was supposed to be part of a Spear that must have been dismantled in order to get the stone ?
Is he supposed to remake that spear and put the stone back in it WITH the covering that removed in Age of Ultron ?

Same goes for the Teserract... how do you turn the stone back into a blue cube ?


The stones that were used were not from the same universe(s). This was established clearly.
Thus, the infinity stones still retain their power and effect across universe borders so... does using them only extend to the universe they are currently in or get amplified across all universes ?

The latter would essentially mean that Tony wiped out Thanos and his forces across time and space in multiple timelines and universes. Tony just committed genocide on an epic level.

Alternatively, the snap only worked in the current universe. Thanos still has forces left in the timeline he left...they will still be alive and wondering where the boss went and drastically alter how things progress in that universe.
At minimum.... Ronin is on track to getting one of those stones and obliterating Xandar because without Thanos in play the Guardians will not form to stop him.

Bottom line - Even if Captain America returns the stones perfectly. Those other timelines are broken to varying degrees and in some cases will result in some nasty consequences.

[The Romulan Republic]

From the outside, the only thing that should attract galactic attention to Earth would be the Infinity Stone Snap.

And that its the new home of the Asgardian survivors, and that the woman who is implied to have single-handidly forced an end to the Skrull/Kree war calls it home, and that the guy who killed Ronan and recovered an Infinity Stone from him is from Earth, and that Thanos repeatedly tried to invade it and failed.

And just the Snap should be enough to get some very powerful people taking a closer look at Earth. Especially since with the Nova Corps wrecked, Asgard gone, and Thanos gone, there's probably a massive power vacuum in the MCU waiting for someone to fill it.

I do not see anyone knowing it was Thanos that caused that snap unless Captain Marvel went around telling them. Marvel is the only one that is even capable of going off-world or even know where to go if they could.

Um, Thor? And the Guardians have been to Earth now.

Plus realistically a lot of people would start paying Earth visits now. Their actions have made them a major player on the cosmic stage, whether they want it or not.

It does not say much for the galactic community if Thanos is supposed to be a dominating force when he has two ships and an army that even conventional Earth forces would be able to beat. Sure, the casualties would be potentially catastrophic but his ship could not kill a single person after two bombardments at near point blank range on a spaceship vs people on the ground level.

Because "the forces we saw on-screen" must equal "the entirety of Thanos's forces". Just like if you were present for the Bin Laden raid, you would naturally assume that SEAL Team Six constituted the entire US military.

Thanos is hyped up as being a Cosmic level villain which on a personal level he qualifies. However, nothing really indicates that he is a galactic level villain in scale and if he WAS then the amount of firepower he should be bringing to bear would be wildly different than what we see. Instead, he brings forces which are not very effective even by Earth standards.
If his forces are somehow supposed to be top tier in the galactic community then what are the rest of the universe using...

Honestly, his own abilities (at least once he gets the Gauntlet and a Stone or two) qualify him. Arguably, his troops are somewhat superfluous at that point.

I feel that this is the problem with the progression of the super-hero genre when you push it outside the scope of the scale they are meant to be in.
As a result, a conventional airstrike would do more damage than a bombardment from Thanos's spaceship.
Cosmic level villain that is somehow a galactic threat has his forces being weaker than what Earth has.

I'd rationalize it as him conducting a limited bombardment to avoid damage to the Gauntlet/Stones.

Either the galactic powers are poorly organised / equipped or Thanos was really a nobody. He went around killing 50% of worlds noone cared about. Not even the Asgard.

Random Stuff:

How is Captain America supposed to return the mind stone to it's original location when it was supposed to be part of a Spear that must have been dismantled in order to get the stone ?
Is he supposed to remake that spear and put the stone back in it WITH the covering that removed in Age of Ultron ?

Same goes for the Teserract... how do you turn the stone back into a blue cube ?


The stones that were used were not from the same universe(s). This was established clearly.
Thus, the infinity stones still retain their power and effect across universe borders so... does using them only extend to the universe they are currently in or get amplified across all universes ?

Good questions all.

Though the Stones kind of have to work in other universes than their own, don't they, given that the Avengers transported them between timelines and then used them?

The latter would essentially mean that Tony wiped out Thanos and his forces across time and space in multiple timelines and universes. Tony just committed genocide on an epic level.

Not sure that qualifies as genocide unless he wiped out the entire species (are their non-combatant Chitauri, for example- I honestly don't know). Thanos's soldiers are certainly legitimate military targets.

You could definitely see a parallel to Doctor Who and the Time War, though, which I'll take over to my vs. thread. Suffice to say that Tony arguably got off easy by dying.

Then that's your punishment. If you do this, if you kill them all, then that's the consequence. . You... live.

Alternatively, the snap only worked in the current universe. Thanos still has forces left in the timeline he left...they will still be alive and wondering where the boss went and drastically alter how things progress in that universe.
At minimum.... Ronin is on track to getting one of those stones and obliterating Xandar because without Thanos in play the Guardians will not form to stop him.

No Guardians also means that universe potentially gets consumed by Quill's dad. Did Cap single-handidly take out Ego or something?

But really, it ought to change so much that there's really no way of predicting what will happen in the other timelines, especially since those timelines may have their own time travelers.

Bottom line - Even if Captain America returns the stones perfectly. Those other timelines are broken to varying degrees and in some cases will result in some nasty consequences.

Yup.

[Solauren]

Well, at least we know one thing....

SPIDERMAN FAR FROM HOME SPOILERS Spoiler

8 months post 'Blip/Return', there is a what appears to be a skrull starship involved in protecting Earth now, under the command of Nick Fury. His and Maria's doppleganger's even mentioned Kree sleeper agents on Earth. (That could have been a mistake by the writers, and they meant Skrull, we'll have to see if that is corrected on the DVD/Blue Ray.

It seems that the MCU might actually start acknowleding more of the changes that have happened, or rather, the long term effects.

[The Romulan Republic]

Wow, that's better than I thought. I hope they allow the setting to continue to evolve.

Also, Spoiler

Nick Fury, Space Captain is just awesome.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

This is like if an undiscovered tribe in the Amazon suddenly whipped out Cold Fusion, landed on Mars, fixed Climate Change, and smacked down the US and Russia.

You mean like Wakanda almost did in Black Panther?

[Solauren]

Possible way to return the Space and Mind Stone, intact, to their original destination.

Have Dr. Strange use the time stone to reverse the changes to it. We saw Thanos do that to restore an entirely destroyed Infinity Stone, so putting them back into storage shouldn't be a problem.

Actually, that begs the question if they did that with Vision 'offscreen'.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

With their expertise with Vibranium and five years time I'd be surprised if the Wakandans didn't manage to repair Vision in the interim, as shown by the plane carrying a full hold of ARC reactors in Homecoming Tony Stark could easily have provided a power source. Mind you, they could also have repaired Rhodey's spinal injuries like they did with Ross but they didn't, despite both of them being in Wakanda.

EDIT: I was wondering just what Thaos' sword was made of, the way it broke chunks off Cap's shield implies it must have been made of something at least as strong as Vibranium (otherwise it would have shattered in Thano's hands).

[The Romulan Republic]

This is like if an undiscovered tribe in the Amazon suddenly whipped out Cold Fusion, landed on Mars, fixed Climate Change, and smacked down the US and Russia.

You mean like Wakanda almost did in Black Panther?

Pretty much, yeah.

Earth is the Wakanda of the Marvel Universe. which makes sense, since it has Wakanda on it.

[The Romulan Republic]

Possible way to return the Space and Mind Stone, intact, to their original destination.

Have Dr. Strange use the time stone to reverse the changes to it. We saw Thanos do that to restore an entirely destroyed Infinity Stone, so putting them back into storage shouldn't be a problem.

Actually, that begs the question if they did that with Vision 'offscreen'.

Yeah, Strange would be infinitely better-suited to handle the clean-up crew than Steve, to be honest. Interdimensional shit is his wheelhouse anyway. Maybe we just have to assume that he saw some reason in the future why the timeline has to play out like this, though that's a hand wave that's very easy to abuse to justify bad writing (cough-King Bran-cough).

Maybe (as "Good Omens" would put it) we're just supposed to accept that Endgame's plot is all part of Strange's ineffable plan. We're not meant to understand it.

With their expertise with Vibranium and five years time I'd be surprised if the Wakandans didn't manage to repair Vision in the interim, as shown by the plane carrying a full hold of ARC reactors in Homecoming Tony Stark could easily have provided a power source. Mind you, they could also have repaired Rhodey's spinal injuries like they did with Ross but they didn't, despite both of them being in Wakanda.

They could make another Vision, but without the Stone, would it have the same consciousness or powers? Probably not. At best, it would be an AI that looked like Vision, but wasn't.

Then again, we have a Gamora who looks like our Gamora but isn't, and Cap marries a Peggy who looks like his Peggy but isn't, so why not? Clone sex for everybody!

EDIT: I was wondering just what Thaos' sword was made of, the way it broke chunks off Cap's shield implies it must have been made of something at least as strong as Vibranium (otherwise it would have shattered in Thano's hands).

Adamantium, maybe? The big purple jackass ought to have the resources to build a sword and battle armor out of adamantium, and if they're bringing the X-Men into the MCU, then that provides a possible tie-in. Maybe some government salvage crew gets the sword, experiments with it, and eventually ends up melting it down and shoving it inside Wolverine.

One more edit: if they do bring in the X-Men, then they absolutely need to retcon Magneto as Scarlet Witch's dad somehow. Especially as it would mean more probably gets done with Scarlet Witch's character.

[NeoGoomba]

Since Thanos is such a dick, I wouldn't be surprised if the only races/planets he assaulted were ones that couldn't fight back. I don't think there was any kind of "Oh shit Thanos is the godking of Galactic Death" about him in Guardians of the Galaxy, only that his daughters were killers, he employed terrorists like Ronan, and he is batshit. For example the Nova Corps didn't seem to give a shit about Thanos, but they cared an awful lot about Ronan.

I think of MCU Thanos as basically the equivalent of a Somali pirate captain who, in an insane, completely misguided search for power, happened upon the nuclear missile codes for the US and Russia and realized he could blow a lot of people up because he could.

And regarding Cap's Quest (JUST GIVE US THE SERIES DISNEY, YOU COWARDS)

Not even considering the fact that we don't know how long after they stop Thanos Cap goes back, all he needs is to meet with Odin on Asgard in the earliest timeline. Since it seems like Odin was once intensely interested in the Infinity Stones, he should have no problem re-cubing the Space Stone into the Tesseract and duplicating Loki's spear for their return trip. And with the bifrost and Heimdall still around in the past, Steve has a free pass to anywhere in the known universe he would need to go. And the Ancient One would no doubt understand the urgency and importance of his quest, and would help him hop the various timelines if something were to happen to his GPS.

And then the MCU "gods" give Rogers a reward for completing his noble quest and give him a life with Peggy before sending him home.

[The Romulan Republic]

Since Thanos is such a dick, I wouldn't be surprised if the only races/planets he assaulted were ones that couldn't fight back. I don't think there was any kind of "Oh shit Thanos is the godking of Galactic Death" about him in Guardians of the Galaxy, only that his daughters were killers, he employed terrorists like Ronan, and he is batshit. For example the Nova Corps didn't seem to give a shit about Thanos, but they cared an awful lot about Ronan.

IIRC, one of Ronan's minions protests when Ronan rebels against Thanos that Thanos is the most powerful being in the universe. Of course, whether that's true or just the line Thanos feeds his minions is open to question.

But the fact that Ronan (who worried the Nova Corps) was taking orders from the big purple dick suggests that Thanos was already higher on the galactic food chain in Guardians of the Galaxy. And the fact that he was able to smash the Nova Corps off-screen and get an Infinity Stone from them without having any before-hand also suggests that he's stronger than that.

I think of MCU Thanos as basically the equivalent of a Somali pirate captain who, in an insane, completely misguided search for power, happened upon the nuclear missile codes for the US and Russia and realized he could blow a lot of people up because he could.

Maybe, but that doesn't really fit the above very well..

[NeoGoomba]

IIRC, one of Ronan's minions protests when Ronan rebels against Thanos that Thanos is the most powerful being in the universe. Of course, whether that's true or just the line Thanos feeds his minions is open to question.

But the fact that Ronan (who worried the Nova Corps) was taking orders from the big purple dick suggests that Thanos was already higher on the galactic food chain in Guardians of the Galaxy. And the fact that he was able to smash the Nova Corps off-screen and get an Infinity Stone from them without having any before-hand also suggests that he's stronger than that.

It is nothing more than extremist propaganda that Thanos is the strongest in the universe. He's incredibly strong and durable, yeah, but he has no other innate powers other than demagoguery (which, granted, he is very good at when he has the right audience). Without the stones, Stark in the Bleeding Edge suit would have straight murdered his ass on Titan, not to mention Dr. Strange. And Scarlet Witch had him dead to rights in Endgame.

I thought his Voldemort-looking dude was far more impressive, honestly.

Do we know how he got the Power Stone? Did his Children rob Xandar during some kind of terrorist attack? Or was it an all-out assault? I mean, even Xandar and the Nova Squad seemed pretty crap, just a bunch of one-man fighters that couldn't really stop Ronan's one ship from falling on them lol

Basically, I think Marvel has a lot of work cut out for them to expand and flesh out the cosmic-side of things. But I'm hopeful that they can pull it off, because that was some of my favorite shit as a kid (SILVER SURFER)

[The Romulan Republic]

IIRC, one of Ronan's minions protests when Ronan rebels against Thanos that Thanos is the most powerful being in the universe. Of course, whether that's true or just the line Thanos feeds his minions is open to question.

But the fact that Ronan (who worried the Nova Corps) was taking orders from the big purple dick suggests that Thanos was already higher on the galactic food chain in Guardians of the Galaxy. And the fact that he was able to smash the Nova Corps off-screen and get an Infinity Stone from them without having any before-hand also suggests that he's stronger than that.

It is nothing more than extremist propaganda that Thanos is the strongest in the universe. He's incredibly strong and durable, yeah, but he has no other innate powers other than demagoguery (which, granted, he is very good at when he has the right audience). Without the stones, Stark in the Bleeding Edge suit would have straight murdered his ass on Titan, not to mention Dr. Strange. And Scarlet Witch had him dead to rights in Endgame.

I thought his Voldemort-looking dude was far more impressive, honestly.

Physical power, no, he's not the most powerful, not without at least one Stone. But Iron Man, Strange, and Scarlet Witch don't have a starfleet.

Do we know how he got the Power Stone? Did his Children rob Xandar during some kind of terrorist attack? Or was it an all-out assault? I mean, even Xandar and the Nova Squad seemed pretty crap, just a bunch of one-man fighters that couldn't really stop Ronan's one ship from falling on them lol

Basically, I think Marvel has a lot of work cut out for them to expand and flesh out the cosmic-side of things. But I'm hopeful that they can pull it off, because that was some of my favorite shit as a kid (SILVER SURFER)

The MCU should really be focused more on the cosmic side of things now, yes.

[The Romulan Republic]

Another question that's still bugging me:

If the minds/souls of its victims are preserved in the Soul Stone, does that mean that Gamora and Natasha's souls are trapped there? And what happens when the Stone breaks- where do they go? Do they "move on"? Or do they just cease to exist? Did Thanos destroy their souls as well as their bodies?

Also, if Thanos got to speak to Gamora in the Soul Stone when he did the Snap, did Hulk and Tony get a chance to talk to Natasha? That would have been a really nice scene to include in the movie, both to allow for a more dignified goodbye for Natasha (instead of her death being somewhat overshadowed by Tony's death), and to allow the reasons for the decision and her thoughts on it to be better explored (which would make it less fridgey). And to allow them to explore the implications of an immortal soul existing(or better yet, set up Hulk trying to figure out a way to bring them back).

Actually, the implications that there is a consciousness that persist after death is one of the hugest fucking things, and its significance is never really acknowledged in the film. But that's Endgame (and most Hollywood action and SF films) for you: lots of (admittedly well-done) flash and fan service, and very little logical thought about the implications of its story on the setting or characters.

I also do like the idea of the Soul Stone's original purpose (or part of it) being to allow one to preserve the consciousness of/communicate with those who have died. That's not as flashy a power as the other Stones, but its arguably a more significant one. Imagine having access to all the great minds of history, as well as to your own loved ones who had died.

Now imagine Thanos destroying all of that, because he'd done everything he wanted to do with the Stone.

[Gandalf]

I just assumed that the soul for soul thing was part of its storage, the same way that the Holy Grail in Last Crusade was behind all of those other weird trials. Some people hid the stones in little boxes. Some... evidently put them in big wacky temples.

[The Romulan Republic]

I just assumed that the soul for soul thing was part of its storage, the same way that the Holy Grail in Last Crusade was behind all of those other weird trials. Some people hid the stones in little boxes. Some... evidently put them in big wacky temples.

Yeah, but all of the other Stones have a name that reflects their powers. So it makes sense that the Soul Stone has power over the Soul, not merely that its set up so one needs to sacrifice a Soul to claim it. Especially since we see that some presence of the sacrificed person appears to be preserved inside the Stone (child Gamora, unless that was just a creation of Thanos's warped mind).

[PREDATOR490]

Alternatively... Thanos did not really destroy the stones and they have went from concentrated power to diffuse power / fragments. Call it 'The Force'

The entire universe could experience lots of really weird shit happening that is lesser versions of what the stones were doing.
I.E Now people are going to be seeing ghosts of people in the Soul stone.

Personally, I would have liked that to have been the tie in to the Spiderman movie and use it to do a soft insert of the X-verse into the MCU. Technically, you could even wrap Agents of Shield back into the fold because despite the stupidity of the the elephant in the room, the series has started to go into interesting territory between S5 and 6 that could integrate with the movies.

I.E AoS is now dealing with multiple realities, timelines and even going out into space.
People want to see a series of Captain America's reality... AoS could jump on that bandwagon fairly easily without clogging the movies. The series wont be able to afford Captain America being a star but... one cameo or even a mention of what he actually did in his retirement would be pretty good.

The one thing that I find deeply ironic is Marvel being great at generating a consistent MCU with the films but their series are consistently shit and disjointed. Contrast, the DC movies are horrific messes that have failed in generating any kind of consistent universe but Arrow, Legends, Flash and Supergirl have all managed to generate a reasonably decent universe that has steadily been gather steam in creating a series cinematic universe.

[The Romulan Republic]

Alternatively... Thanos did not really destroy the stones and they have went from concentrated power to diffuse power / fragments. Call it 'The Force'

If that means Natasha and Gamora are now avatars of said Force (like the Father, Daughter, and Son in animated Star Wars), I could live with that.

The entire universe could experience lots of really weird shit happening that is lesser versions of what the stones were doing.
I.E Now people are going to be seeing ghosts of people in the Soul stone.

I like this. It fits the idea of more and more powered beings and supernatural phenomena emerging, and echoes what happened in Agents of Shield when the stuff that triggered Inhumans' powers got into the water supply, leading to a surge of supers all over the planet. And it could be a way to bring in a lot of new stuff.

Personally, I would have liked that to have been the tie in to the Spiderman movie and use it to do a soft insert of the X-verse into the MCU. Technically, you could even wrap Agents of Shield back into the fold because despite the stupidity of the the elephant in the room, the series has started to go into interesting territory between S5 and 6 that could integrate with the movies.

The failure to more closely integrate AoS with the films is one of Marvel's biggest blunders in my opinion.

I.E AoS is now dealing with multiple realities, timelines and even going out into space.
People want to see a series of Captain America's reality... AoS could jump on that bandwagon fairly easily without clogging the movies. The series wont be able to afford Captain America being a star but... one cameo or even a mention of what he actually did in his retirement would be pretty good.

Yeah.

The one thing that I find deeply ironic is Marvel being great at generating a consistent MCU with the films but their series are consistently shit and disjointed. Contrast, the DC movies are horrific messes that have failed in generating any kind of consistent universe but Arrow, Legends, Flash and Supergirl have all managed to generate a reasonably decent universe that has steadily been gather steam in creating a series cinematic universe.

AoS had some really good stuff, but the failure to tie it into the films more is a wasted opportunity. They had a perfect chance to bring Coulson back into the present-day films with Captain Marvel, too, and they blew it (in AoS, Coulson is resurrected using Kree blood, so a movie in which the Kree are heavily featured as well as a younger Coulson, and which serves as set-up for the fan service all-the-characters-return extravaganza that is Endgame, seems an opportunity so obvious that its frankly stunning they missed it).

[NeoGoomba]

Although there's no way to tell now, I'm really hoping that Black Widow's film is her passing through some kind of crucible within the soul stone.

She's more than earned a film with some pathos behind it, not a lazy prequel.

[Gandalf]

Yeah, but all of the other Stones have a name that reflects their powers. So it makes sense that the Soul Stone has power over the Soul, not merely that its set up so one needs to sacrifice a Soul to claim it. Especially since we see that some presence of the sacrificed person appears to be preserved inside the Stone (child Gamora, unless that was just a creation of Thanos's warped mind).

Given that nobody else got a vision like that, I'm inclined to see it as something of an hallucination on the part of Thanos. As Thanos got it right before a bunch of fights and then the big snap, there's no need on his part to really explore the soul magic of it all.

[The Romulan Republic]

Although there's no way to tell now, I'm really hoping that Black Widow's film is her passing through some kind of crucible within the soul stone.

She's more than earned a film with some pathos behind it, not a lazy prequel.

Everything I've heard, sadly, indicates that it'll be a prequel. Which I normally wouldn't object to out of hand, but it stings under these circumstances because its a reminder that she's gone, and it means that Marvel only deemed her worthy of her own movie after her story was already over.

Well, I'll keep my fingers crossed for at least a post-credits scene of Natasha in the Soul Stone setting up further adventures, as unlikely as I know it is.