Josh Brolin’s Thanos single-handedly was able to vanquish half of humanity, and defeat the Avengers. That happened after he succeeded in his quest for the six infinity stones, granting him reality-altering powers. In the MCU, only Iron-Man and Thanos have been able to use all the six stones at once, and only one lived to tell tales about it.
However, according to a fan theory, the Allfather and the former king of Asgard might have been the first character ever, to collect all six infinity stones. The theory suggests that their usage was somehow linked to the feud between him and daughter Hela, who he ended up imprisoning for thousands of years.
Of course, there are a range of limitations and consequences of this particular theory as well.
Fan theory suggests Odin was the first to collect all infinity stones
There are obvious reasons why this theory checks out in a variety of ways. Odin, who saw himself as the protector of the nine realms, could easily have wanted to collect all the infinity stones for the universe’s safety. This would have happened thousands of years before Thanos himself made his quest.
Furthermore, upon collecting all of them, Odin would then have realized the dangers of keeping the stones together, leading him to hide them in different locations. His daughter, Hela, had a range of tales to tell about Odin’s ruthless conquest, which does not appear to be in line with the character we have seen in the MCU.
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The theory effectively claims that before becoming the benevolent ruler we knew him as, Odin may have had a disagreement with Hela with respect to the stones, who would have wanted him to continue his conquest on the 9 realms. However, he ended up having a change of heart, and the subsequent imprisonment of Hela may have come as a result of him deciding to scatter the stones once again.
Of course, as is true with most theories out there, there is an obvious caveat here.
Odin may have been left with just 5 infinity stones due to his inability to sacrifice Hela for the soul stone
First and foremost, on the planet of Vormir lay the soul stone, where it was guarded by Red Skull. The soul stone demanded a sacrifice of a loved one, and this theory posits that instead of sacrificing Hela’s life, Odin may have imprisoned her in Hel. However, for the purposes of the soul stone, there is nothing that suggests such an imprisonment would count as a sacrifice. (via Screen Rant)
After all, Black Widow sacrificed herself, and Thanos had to let go off his daughter Gamora in order to gain access to the stone. This means that either Odin found a way around, or was left with merely 5 stones in his possession, which in itself would have been enough to alert him about the dangers, and eventually led to him hiding them across the universe.
Further, such a theory will also explain why Thanos waited so long to launch his own conquest on the stones. After all, they were under protection by one of the strongest beings in the multiverse in the form of Odin. Thanos would have waited until Odin’s death, after which he could fearlessly go for the stones in order to achieve his goals.
Hence, while there is doubt over whether Odin was capable of acquiring all the stones considering he did not really sacrifice a loved on, the theory stands its own considering he did imprison Hela for thousands of years.
Thanos’ Avengers saga is available on Disney+.
