Infinity War Theory Explains Why Thor Left The Reality Stone With The Collector

True to their word, Joe and Anthony Russo very much crafted Avengers: Infinity War around Thanos and his search for those elusive Infinity Stones.

There were six in total – namely Power, Mind, Space, Reality, Soul and Time – and the Mad Titan’s quest undoubtedly culminated at the moment when he was forced to sacrifice Gamora, the only being he truly cared about, in order to acquire the Soul Stone and complete his Gauntlet. And the rest is history.

Over on Reddit, though, one eagle-eyed MCU viewer has put forth a new theory that attempts to explain why Thor left the Reality Stone with the Collector in the first place, a galactic hoarder known for his tricks and trade. It should be noted that this minor MCU event takes place right around the time when Loki was impersonating Odin and sitting on the throne of Asgard, leading Redditor ‘ValhallaAtchaBoy’ to ask the question:

Why did the Asgardians give such a powerful item to a being who is clearly untrustworthy and a bit unstable? Even if they don’t want to keep it with the Tesseract in the vault at Asgard, surely there’s a safer place somewhere in the Nine Realms they could hide it?

This theory, while plausible, is a bit of a stretch, as the exchange between Star-Lord and Thor on board the Milano is too humorous to be taken seriously. Nevertheless, it presents some interesting food for thought:

Thor knew what he was doing: The Collector is obsessed with collecting. Once he had one Infinity Stone, he would be obsessively driven to complete his collection. They could watch him from afar and let him do the dirty work of scouring the galaxy, seeking out the stones that were still hidden.

This proved to work in Guardians of the Galaxy, when The Collector contacted Gamora and offered to pay her to bring him the Orb. Without Tivan’s interference, the Power Stone likely would have gone directly to Ronan, the Guardians wouldn’t have a reason to join together, Xandar would be destroyed, and Thanos would have got the Power Stone much earlier.

But what say you? Was Thor really responsible for leaving the Reality Stone in the Collector’s collection, thereby leading to the moment when Thanos raids Benicio Del Toro’s hideout in Avengers: Infinity War? You can, as always, leave your own thoughts and theories via the usual place.