New MCU Theory Explains Why Thanos Gave Loki The Mind Stone

Tom Hiddleston’s Loki is never to be trusted under any circumstances, but that’s one of the reasons why fans love him so much. And after a decade as arguably the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most popular supporting player, the God of Mischief finally takes center stage when his self-titled Disney Plus series arrives next month.

Of course, this isn’t the same Loki who attempted to atone for his sins during the opening of Avengers: Infinity War and paid the ultimate price for it, but the malevolent version who tried to lead the Chitauri invasion of Earth in The Avengers. As fans will know, the 2012 vintage escaped from Endgame‘s time heist with the Tesseract, and it looks set to play a major role in the story behind his solo show.

A lot of folks have criticized Thanos’ plan to hand Loki the Mind Stone when it was completely ineffective in the grand scheme of things, but a new theory has explained why the Mad Titan decided to delegate duties, and it makes a great deal of sense. You see, Thanos tasked Loki to spearhead the Battle of New York to divide and distract the Asgardians, opening the door for him to have Peter Dinklage’s Eitiri craft a gauntlet capable of wielding the Infinity Stones, which the big bad then destroyed so nobody could replicate the hardware.

The purple genocidal maniac specifically tracks down and recruits the exiled prince of Asgard simply to create a way for himself to venture to Nidavellir to have the Infinity Gauntlet made because he knows that’s the only way he’ll be able to complete his goal without killing himself in the process. As ComicBook.com further explains:

Theoretically, Thanos would recognize that the stones aren’t as powerful to him without a gauntlet to wield them — and giving Loki an Infinity Stone would create enough turmoil to distract the Asgardian army, which would traditionally be guarding Nidavellir. This would then allow Thanos to essentially invade Nidavellir without a problem, leaving carnage in his wake and forcing Eitri (Peter Dinklage) to ultimately create the gauntlet.

It’s certainly a sound theory, and one that weaves the Infinity Saga even closer together while also explaining several major oversights in Thanos’ plan to use Loki and conquer Earth.