New MCU Theory Says Loki Encouraged Thanos To Do The Snap

Thanos might have been the one who donned the Infinity Gauntlet and wiped out half the universe in Avengers: Infinity War, but this new fan theory suggests that he was given the idea by someone else. None other than the original fan favorite MCU supervillain, Loki. The notion that the trickster was the mastermind behind Thanos’ plan might seem unlikely given that he died at the Mad Titan’s hands, but actually, the evidence is pretty compelling.

Reddit user u/Engineering_123 thinks that Thanos didn’t zero down on the idea to “save” the universe with the Gauntlet until Loki told him about it. The theorist points to the IW flashback to Gamora’s childhood as evidence. Here, the villain is bringing balance to a planet the old fashioned way – by slaughtering half by hand. This suggests he hadn’t yet come up with his plan to wipe out 50% of the universe en masse.

According to the theory, Loki supplied the idea to the Titan after they allied following the former’s banishment from Asgard. Somehow, Thanos managed to get the Mind Stone off-screen and set in motion his quest to collect all six by sending Loki to Earth to get the Space Stone as well. As for how Loki knew about the Infinity Stones, the fake Gauntlet in Odin’s vaults on Asgard points to him perhaps finding out about the gems and what they can do.

A nice little extra detail is that the theorist suggests Loki even pointed to the dwarves of Nidavellir as the perfect people to build the Gauntlet to house the Stones. The God of Mischief definitely would’ve been familiar with them, as the world was part of Asgard’s empire. To give him some credit though, it’s possible Loki told Thanos all this against his will, with his mind being controlled by the scepter.

Regardless, this is actually a really smart theory that might help join the dots of Thanos’ escalating plan across the MCU. Do you think there’s something in it, though? Join the conversation in the comments section below.