Ever since Avengers: Infinity War made history several months ago, there’s been no shortage of reactions and exciting fan theories popping up all over the web. But few have stopped to ask the question: why did Thanos wait so long before taking the Infinity Stones for himself?
Most people assume that Josh Brolin’s Mad Titan remained in the shadows until such time as the universe’s most powerful beings – namely Odin, Ego, Hela and the Ancient One – kicked the bucket, as the subsequent power vacuum would allow him to rule over the cosmos unchallenged. And that’s something which a new fan theory over on Reddit suggests as well.
User JMStrum believes that Thanos purposefully avoided Odin (and Asgard), in particular, on his quest to claim the Stones, and here’s why:
We know that Thanos has had the idea to rid the Universe of half of it’s inhabitants for awhile, at least as long as Gamora has been in his care.
We also know that in the past Thanos has used proxies to try and gain the Infinity Stones. He used Loki to try and get the Space Stone, he used Ronan to try and get the Power Stone and he used Gamora to search for the Soul Stone. He didn’t send his entire army, or go himself, he instead sent a covert operative to try and gain these for his use.
Why? My theory says that at the very least Thanos was worried about the power of Odin and the armies of Asgard.
It was not until Odin’s power was declining that he started making his moves, in Thor 1, we see Odin needs his Odinsleep, and soon after he sends Loki to Earth. And we know that the Collector was after the Power Stone, and that he had connections with Asgard, but instead of Thanos going after it himself he sent Ronan. It wasn’t until Loki replaced Odin and the Nine Realms fell into chaos that Thanos started to do it himself. And it was not until Odin was dead and Asgard was destroyed that he went directly after the Space Stone.
So, it would seem that Marvel’s Mad Titan was scared of upsetting the balance too much, and instead preferred to collect the Stones indirectly so that he didn’t draw too much attention from the likes of Odin and his armies. He prefers to operate in the shadows, it seems, deftly pulling the strings as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes fend off all kinds of low-level baddies.
And by the time Avengers: Infinity War reached its climax, Thanos had won. That plan he’d spent so long deliberating worked like a charm. It isn’t over yet, though: Avengers 4 is still on the horizon, and it seems our heroes have a secret WMD of their own in the form of Captain Marvel.
