P. FRIGGA
Your brother is a better sneaker, Thor.
THOR
Nay, I snuck not, but took a simple walk— 55
Perambulating, contemplating, yea!
P. FRIGGA
What are those garments in which you’re array’d?
THOR
This? ’Tis a favorite, which e’er I wear.
P. FRIGGA
What happen’d to your eye?
THOR
—My eye? ’Tis naught.
Remember thou the fight at Harokin, 60
When with a broadsword was my visage struck?
P. FRIGGA
You’re not the Thor I know, are you?
THOR
—I am!
P. FRIGGA
The future hath not treated you with kindness.
THOR
Ne’er quoth I that I from the future came.
P. FRIGGA
Recall that I was rais’d by witches, boy. 65
I see with more than eyes, you know ’tis true.
THOR
I totally have from the future come.
P. FRIGGA
Indeed you have.
THOR
—I must needs speak with thee.
P. FRIGGA
Yea, let us talk.
[They embrace.
THOR
—I kill’d our enemy,
Who in the future tears the universe 70
In twain, destroying half of all that lives.
His head I separated from his neck—
His body there, his head o’er there, and yet
What was the point? Mine actions came too late.
I stood there, helpless, for his deed was done— 75
An idiot arm’d with an axe was I.
P. FRIGGA
No child of mine was e’er an idiot.
You hither came, to seek sage counsel from
The wisest person in all Asgard, yea?
THOR
Indeed, I hither came to do e’en thus. 80
P. FRIGGA
No idiot. A failure? Absolutely.
THOR
But Mother, thy words harshly strike at me.
P. FRIGGA
Yet if you fail’d, what doth this make you, Thor?
The same as ev’ryone.
THOR
—I should not be
The same as ev’ryone, should I?
P. FRIGGA
—All fail 85
At who they are suppos’d to be, as if
Such suppositions were reality.
The measure of a person—or a hero—
Is in how they succeed at being who
They are, not who they think they ought to be. 90
To be yourself or not to be yourself—
That, truly, is the question you must ask.
THOR
I’ve miss’d thee, Mother—more than I can say.
ENTER PAST JANE FOSTER ASIDE, RISING FROM HER BED. ENTER ROCKET ASIDE. HE APPROACHES HER AND POKES HER WITH A TOOL, EXTRACTING THE REALITY STONE FROM HER BODY. SHE EXITS. ROCKET RUNS AWAY. ENTER MANY PAST GUARDS, PURSUING HIM.
ROCKET
’Tis mine, Thor! I have obtain’d the needed Stone!
P. GUARD
Let’s grab the rabbit, men, ere he can flee! 95
[Exeunt past guards in confusion.
THOR
[to Frigga:] There’s something I must tell thee, mother
mine.
P. FRIGGA
Nay, son, speak not. You have come to repair
Your future, not mine own.
THOR
—What I must say
Is of thy future.
P. FRIGGA
—Nay, I’d know it not,
For it is not my business such to know. 100
[Rocket bursts into the room with Thor and Frigga.
ROCKET
Holla. Thou must be Mama. [To Thor:] I have secur’d
the Stone—we must hence, anon.
THOR
O, how I wish we had more time! Alas.
P. FRIGGA
This visit was pure gift. Go now and be
The man whom you were ever meant to be. 105
THOR
I love thee, Mother.
P. FRIGGA
—I love you, my son.
[They embrace.
Eat thou a salad, ere you rot your body.
ROCKET
We must away in three…two…
THOR
Wait, wait! Yet one more thing I still must do.
[He extends his arm out, calling Mjölnir.
ROCKET
What is this? 110
P. FRIGGA
It sometimes takes a moment for the feat.
[Mjölnir flies into Thor’s hand.
THOR
Ha! I am worthy still! Come, let us go.
Farewell, sweet Mother—thou hast made me glow.
[Exeunt Thor and Rocket, traveling through time back to the present. Exit Past Frigga.
SCENE 4
The planet Morag. The past.
ENTER NATASHA ROMANOFF, CLINT BARTON, JAMES RHODES, AND NEBULA. THEY LOWER A SMALLER VESSEL FROM THEIR SHIP.
RHODES
Let it descend, Blue, just upon the spot.
BARTON
May we make haste? The cock soon crows for us.
ROMANOFF
Pray, faster, please—we must do our bleak tasks.
RHODES
Your guidance is not helpful.
ROMANOFF
—Be thou well,
Fulfill thy mission on this planet dark. 5
[Romanoff embraces her companion Rhodes.
RHODES
Obtain the Stone and then return anon.
We have not time to ply tomfoolery.
BARTON
Be well, good Rhodey. May our hopes take wing!
RHODES
Yes, sir.
BARTON
—I’ll see thee at the coop once more.
RHODES
We shall succeed, I’ll warrant. You two watch 10
Each other’s six.
[Exeunt Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton, flying off in the smaller vessel.
NEBULA
—Coordinates for Vormir
Are programm’d in their ship. All they must do
Is manage not to plummet from the sky.
RHODES
Shall we two wait for Quill’s appearance here,
And let him lead us to the Power Stone? 15
Can it be e’en as simple as it soundeth?
NEBULA
Let us take cover ere he hither comes,
For we are not the only people who
Pursue the Stones in twenty fourteen, Rhodes.
RHODES
What dost thou mean? Who else doth search for them? 20
NEBULA
My father and my sister and myself—
We all search’d for it in the past.
RHODES
—E’en thou?
Where art thou now within the past, our present?
[Exeunt James Rhodes and Nebula.
ENTER PAST GAMORA AND PAST NEBULA ABOVE, ON BALCONY. ENTER ENEMIES, FIGHTING WITH THEM AND BEING DEFEATED.
P. GAMORA
Thou art most welcome.
P. NEBULA
—Truly, I ask’d not
For any help of thee.
P. GAMORA
—Yea, but thou e’er 25
Dost need it. Come, our father
wants us back
Upon the ship.
P. NEBULA
—Yet wherefore?
P. GAMORA
—Well, he found
One of the rare Infinity Stones.
P. NEBULA
—Where?
P. GAMORA
Upon a planet which is known as Morag.
P. NEBULA
Unthinkable—his plan is finally 30
In motion, as he wish’d these many years.
P. GAMORA
One Stone is still not six yet, Nebula.
P. NEBULA
Of course, yet ’tis a start. If he finds all—
ENTER PAST THANOS ABOVE, ON BALCONY.
P. THANOS
My servant Ronan hath the Pow’r Stone found.
I shall dispatch you both unto his ship. 35
P. GAMORA
He shall not like it, Father.
P. THANOS
—His lone choice
If he accepts it not is death. The man’s
Obsession clouds his judgment frightfully.
[Nebula bows before Thanos.
We shall not fail thee, Father.
P. THANOS
—Nay, ye’ll not.
P. NEBULA
Thus I do swear: I’ll make thee passing proud. 40
[Past Nebula’s head sparks, and a film starts playing through a beam projected from her eye.
RHODES
[in beam:] Shall we two wait for Quill’s appearance here,
And let him lead us to the Power Stone?
Can it be e’en as simple as it soundeth?
nebula
[in beam:] Let us take cover ere he hither comes,
For we are not the only people who 45
Pursue the Stones in twenty fourteen, Rhodes.
[Past Nebula strikes her eye, cutting off the beam.
P. GAMORA
Who was that, Nebula?
P. NEBULA
—What? I know not!
My head doth split, an ’twere by axes chopp’d.
P. GAMORA
Belike her drive synaptic hath been damag’d
In battle.
P. THANOS
—Bear her to my ship anon. 50
[Past Gamora and Past Nebula walk to Past Thanos’s ship, while he follows. Once inside the ship, Past Thanos binds Past Nebula and attaches her head to his ship’s computer.
ENTER PAST EBONY MAW ON BALCONY, MEETING THEM.
Run diagnostics on the naughty girl—
Show me the contents of her memory.
P. MAW
The file appears entangl’d, master mine.
It was a memory, but ’twas not hers.
Another consciousness her network shares— 55
Another Nebula.
P. THANOS
—Impossible!
P. MAW
This duplicate doth bear a time stamp, sire,
From nine years in the future, verily!
P. THANOS
Where is this other Nebula, I pray?
P. MAW
Within our solar system—upon Morag. 60
P. THANOS
Canst access her?
P. MAW
—Forsooth; the two are link’d.
P. THANOS
Search thou the mem’ry of the duplicate
E’en for Infinity Stones.
[Another film starts playing through the beam projected from Past Nebula’s eye.
BANNER
[in beam:] —These six Stones
Have trac’d a massive course through history,
Located in a thousand places each. 65
STARK
[in beam:] Interconnecting with our history,
Yet in some few spots inexpedient.
barton
[in beam:] We therefore must select our targets well,
Not peck at each and ev’ry spot in time.
STARK
[in beam:] Indeed.
P. THANOS
—Freeze thou this image, Maw.
[The film in the beam freezes.
P. GAMORA
—These men 70
Are Terrans.
P. THANOS
—The Avengers meddlesome—
Unruly wretches who thwart all my schemes.
What is the thing reflected in this scene?
Pray, amplify it, Maw.
P. MAW
—Yea.
[The projection zooms in to reveal Nebula’s face.
P. GAMORA
—Nebula!
’Tis past my comprehension how this is— 75
Two Nebulas exist! How can it be?
P. THANOS
Nay, but one selfsame Nebula, in troth,
Yet in two diff’rent times—the past and future.
[To Past Maw:] Set course for Morag presently and scan
The mem’ry of the duplicate for more— 80
Like groundlings e’er returning to the Globe,
I would see ev’rything she has to show.
[All on balcony freeze.
ENTER PAST PETER QUILL, BELOW, DANCING AND SINGING. ENTER JAMES RHODES AND NEBULA ASIDE, HIDDEN, WATCHING HIM.
RHODES
[aside, to Nebula:] The man is, therefore, purely idiot?
NEBULA
[aside, to Rhodes:] Indeed he is.
[Quill dances toward them and Rhodes strikes him, knocking him out. Nebula looks through Past Quill’s satchel and pulls out a device.
RHODES
—What is it? What hast
found?
NEBULA
An implement us’d by a wayward thief. 85
[She uses the tool to open nearby temple doors. Inside the temple is the Power Stone. Nebula starts walking inside.
Take care, for is this not when spikes do fly
With skeletons upon their pointy ends,
And arrows from the wall are quickly shot,
And giant rocks come plunging to roll o’er us?
NEBULA
What foolishness is this whereof thou speak’st? 90
RHODES
When one would break into a gloomy place
That’s call’d the temple of the lost Pow’r Stone,
There shall be booby traps aplenty, ’tis
Mere common sense.
NEBULA
—By heav’n, you humans daft!
[Nebula walks into the temple.
RHODES
Go, then, yet it shall be upon thy head! 95
[Rhodes follows her in. She reaches into the beam where the Power Stone waits, burning her skin. She pulls the Power Stone out and hands it to Rhodes.
NEBULA
Now stay thy strife: what shall be is dispatch’d.
This hand—it was a hand that warded me
From thousand dangers. I see how I look
To thee, but know: I was not always thus.
RHODES
Nay, neither was I, too. Thy hand of steel 100
Is not far diff’rent from my legs, which walk
But with the aid of braces. We must work
With what bold fate hath given us, methinks.
Let us sync presently, and homeward fly.
Three…two…one…now!
[Exit James Rhodes, traveling through time back to the present. Nebula is unable to leave, and her face begins to spark.
NEBULA
—Alack, I am undone! 105
[She collapses. On the balcony, Past Nebula’s eye begins displaying a film
through a beam.
BANNER
[in beam:] Thou murder’dst trillions by thy massive plan!
THANOS
[in beam:] You should be grateful for my gallant deed.
ROMANOFF
[in beam:] Where are the Stones, O man of darkest soul?
THANOS
[in beam:] Disintegrated into atoms bare.
BANNER
[in beam:] ’Twas two days hence since last thou usèdst
them— 110
Thy lies colossal shall not work with us.
THANOS
[in beam:] I us’d the Stones but to destroy the Stones,
Which nearly kill’d me. Now the work is done,
And is fore’er. Inev’table am I.
[Past Maw pauses the film.
P. GAMORA
What didst thou do to them?
P. THANOS
—Well, nothing—yet. 115
They do not try to stop whate’er I do
In our time, but undo what I shall do
In theirs.
P. GAMORA
—The Stones!
P. THANOS
—’Tis plain I found them all.
I won the universal game I play’d,
And tipp’d the cosmic scales to balance perfect. 120
P. MAW
This is your future.
P. THANOS
—’Tis my destiny.
[Past Maw restarts the film.
NEBULA
[in beam:] My father is a man of many things,
Yet of deceit and lies he is not made.
thanos
[in beam:] My thanks, kind daughter. Peradventure I
Once treated thee too harshly. Pray, forgive. 125
[In the film, Thanos’s head is lobbed off. Past Maw pauses the film.
P. THANOS
Thus is my destiny fulfill’d.
P. MAW
—Your daughter,
O sire, is traitorous. Shall I slay her?
[Past Maw uses magic to tie a chain around Past Nebula’s neck.
P. NEBULA
’Twas not I, Father, nay, and ne’er could be!
The day I do betray you, slaughter me,
For worthy shall I be of instant death. 130
[Past Thanos breaks the chain around Past Nebula’s neck.
P. THANOS
I know thou shalt not—such thou soon mayst prove.
[Exeunt Past Gamora, Past Thanos, Past Nebula, and Past Maw from balcony. Below, Nebula awakes.
NEBULA
Nay, nay! Our secret is undone. He knows!
[She runs to her small ship.
[In radio:] Pray Barton, hear me! Romanoff, attend!
We have a problem, which but grows and grows.
Dear friends, I bid ye hear—vile Thanos knows! 135
[A ship flies overhead, pulling Nebula’s ship inside it. Exit Nebula.
SCENE 1
Vormir. The past.