Avengers: Endgame may have finally left theaters but it lives on in the hearts and minds of its fans. And on the internet. Seemingly not a day goes by without a fresh theory being forwarded about the movie and the multitude of storylines it juggled for the entirety of its runtime. On Reddit, for instance, a user recently posted a theory pertaining to the Infinity Gauntlet that everyone’s favorite Avenger, Tony Stark, created to control the Infinity Stones.
The gauntlet managed to combine the powers of the stones, brought back everyone who was taken away by the snap, and delivered the final blow against Thanos. But doing all those things carried a heavy price. While wielding the gauntlet, Hulk’s entire right arm was permanently damaged, while Tony Stark was killed in the process of using the gauntlet just once.
But in Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos was able to use the gauntlet without suffering such heavy damage. Fans assumed it was because he was simply much more powerful than Tony, who’s after all only an ordinary human. But it still doesn’t explain why the Hulk was so badly injured since he’s almost as strong as the Mad Titan.
The answer then, according to the new theory, lies in the creation of Tony’s gauntlet itself. The gauntlet used by Thanos was made of Uru metal, one of the most powerful elements in the universe. Stark simply didn’t have access to such material while constructing his own gauntlet, with the result being that the earth-based gauntlet was not able to harness the power of the gems without also harming its wearer.
This was perhaps why the gauntlet we saw in Endgame was not as effective a weapon as the one in the previous film. While there’s been no official confirmation on whether this theory is correct, it does serve to at least temporarily answer one of the biggest questions that fans have had about the conclusion of Avengers: Endgame.
