Attack on the Statesman

"This is the Asgardian refugee vessel Statesman! We are under assault! I repeat, we are under assault! Engines are dead, life support failing. Requesting aid from any vessel within range, we are twenty-two jump points from Asgard! Our crew is made up of Asgardian families, we have very few soldiers here, this is not a war craft! I repeat, this is not a war craft!"

- Asgardian Distress Call

The Attack on the Statesman was an attempt by Thanos and the Black Order to extract the Space Stone from the Tesseract.

Background
"I wouldn't worry, brother. I feel like everything's gonna work out fine."

- Thor to Loki

In 2017, following the Destruction of Asgard and the fulfillment of the doomsday prophecy Ragnarök, the Asgardians who survived became nomads forced to live aboard the Statesman, a pleasure vehicle previously used by the being known as the Grandmaster. Acting on the orders of their newly crowned king, Thor Odinson, the Asgardians charted a course for Earth so they could channel their efforts into rebuilding their homeland.

A few months later, as the Statesman continued making its way through uncharted space, Thor's adopted brother Loki expressed his doubts about returning to Earth during a private conversation in the former's quarters. Despite the trickster god's skepticism about mankind welcoming him with open arms after the role he played in the Chitauri Invasion, Thor remained confident in his decision and claimed they had nothing to worry about. At that exact moment, the two witnessed the Statesman being intercepted by the Sanctuary II,, a warship under the command of the intergalactic warlord Thanos.

Unbeknownst to all, Thanos had tracked the Statesman down with the sole purpose of obtaining the Tesseract, which Loki took from Odin's Vault prior to Asgard's destruction, and extracting the Space Stone, which, in turn, would bring him one step closer to achieving his goal of exterminating half of all life in the universe.

Attack
"Hear me and rejoice! You have had the privilege of being saved by the Great Titan. You may think this is suffering. No... It is salvation."

- Ebony Maw

Upon boarding the Statesman, Thanos and his four most favored adoptive children – Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian, Proxima Midnight, and Corvus Glaive – executed half of the ship's population while Valkyrie led the other half to safety, with Thor being personally confronted by and easily defeated by Thanos. Thanos then threatened to use the Power Stone, which he extracted from the Orb following his assault on Xandar, to kill Thor unless Loki surrendered the Tesseract.

Loki initially concealed the fact that the Tesseract was in his possession, expressing an initial lack of empathy towards Thor, but acceded to the Mad Titan's demands after he activated the Power Stone and began using it to painfully torture Thor. As Thor claimed the Tesseract had been destroyed on Asgard during Ragnarok, Loki reluctantly revealed the Tesseract in his hand, much to Thor's dismay.

As Loki began to reassure Thor that they would survive the ordeal, Thanos derided his misplaced optimism as he reached for the Tesseract, calling him an Asgardian. Reminding Thanos that he wasn't an Asgardian, Loki also reminded him that they had the Hulk on their side. This remark signalled the Avenger to immediately spring from hiding and ambush the Mad Titan, tackling him to the ground before he could retrieve the Tesseract.

Although Hulk initially gained the upper hand, Thanos was quickly able to overpower and defeat the Avenger alone in hand-to-hand without any aid from the Power Stone or his Children, rendering the Hulk unconscious. A freed Thor attempted to attack Thanos, only to be restrained telekinetically by Ebony Maw. However, his attack provided a momentary distraction, allowing the injured Heimdall to channel the Bifrost using Dark Magic. The Bridge managed to send the Hulk to Earth before Thanos could kill him. Remaining calm despite this, the Titan took Corvus's glaive and chose to kill Heimdall instead by impaling him through the heart, enraging Thor.

Telekinetically muffling Thor, Maw retrieved the fallen Tesseract and presented it to Thanos. The Titan took the cube, crushing it in his bare hand to reveal the Space Stone, and placing it in the next slot of the Infinity Gauntlet. Admiring the Stone, Thanos proceeded to task his Children with retrieving the Mind and Time Stones from Earth, before rendezvousing with him on Titan. Loki, having remained hidden, offered to aid Thanos and act as a guide on their attack on Earth.

However, as he pretended to worship the skeptical Titan, Loki attempted a last-ditch improvised attack to assassinate Thanos with a hidden knife. His attack was unsuccessful, and was anticipated and immediately thwarted by Thanos, who used the Space Stone to freeze Loki mid-attack. In retribution, Thanos held Loki up in the air by the neck, choking him with the Gauntlet. As Loki taunted him one final time, Thanos killed him by snapping his neck, before tossing his corpse down to a vengeful and heartbroken Thor, who could do nothing to stop him.

With his job now complete, Thanos used the Power Stone to overload the Statesman with energy, before leaving with his Children to continue their quest. A weakened and badly wounded Thor held his brother's corpse before the ship violently detonated, leaving Thor and the dead Asgardians floating adrift in space.

Aftermath
"Thanos is coming."

- Bruce Banner

Hulk, who had been sent away by Heimdall, crash landed on Earth in the New York Sanctum and transformed back into Banner, where he met Doctor Strange and Wong, whom he warned about the impending threat of Thanos.

A distress signal sent out by the Asgardians during the attack was picked up by the Guardians of the Galaxy, who later checked up on the aftermath to find Thor, who turned out to survive the attack. He also warned the Guardians about Thanos.