It’s tough to be a Marvel fan after Endgame. With the MCU on a temporary hold, fans are rehashing the past events of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and coming up with fresh fan theories. These mind-blowing theories about MCU villains like Loki and Red Skull are not only plausible, but a ton of fun.
If you’ve ever wondered if Thanos has a back up plan, you’re not alone. Browse below and vote up the best fan theories about MCU villains!
How Steve Was Able To Resist Thanos
From Redditor u/XanPerkyCheck:
I’m referring to the scene in Infinity War when Rogers is resisting Thanos wearing the gauntlet. Thanos moves his glove hand towards Rogers, and Rogers stops it with both hands. Thanos strains a bit more, but is unable to move his hand forward or close his grip, so he just knocks Rogers out with his non-glove hand instead. If you look at his facial expression, he looks shocked upon the initial block, then he looks really perplexed with his eyes squinting and all, like he’s thinking “how is this guy able to do this?” But what is ‘this’ that Rogers is doing?
I don’t believe it’s physically blocking Thanos’ hand. Thanos beat up Hulk, and Rogers is definitely not stronger than Hulk, not to mention Thanos knocks out Rogers seconds later, while Rogers’ uppercut punch did nothing to Thanos. The glove works by responding to the will of the user, and in that moment, both of them were in physical contact with the glove. So Rogers was kind of “out-willing” Thanos, and while none of the infinity stones were actively being used, they were implicitly responding to both Thanos’ and Rogers’ wills respectively, with Rogers’ influence being greater. And that’s how he was able to resist Thanos.
Loki’s Doubles Use Their Left Hand
From Redditor u/radkarth:
Loki is right handed. If you look, in movies since the Thor to Avengers to Ragnarok, he wields with his right hand. He holds weapons with his right and the sceptor in Avengers with his right. There are two occasions he uses his left hand (that I’ve found). One, when he fakes his own death in Dark World. You can find him holding the dagger with his left hand during the entire scene. Two, when he stabs Thanos.
So, Loki’s illusion uses his left hand because he’s a mirrored version? The Loki that was killed in the beginning of IW was an illusion and he’s still out there, maybe disguised or just in hiding.
The Only Way To Beat Thanos Was In A Timeline Where He Thought He Won
From Redditor u/big_pecs:
Thanos destroyed the stones and died smugly because he saw his future through the time stone, successfully creating a new universe. He naturally didn’t look at 14,000,605 timelines like Dr Strange, was not aware of the timeline he loses, giving an advantage to Strange who already saw what strings he needed to pull to win. The only way to beat Thanos was in a timeline where he thought he won, and met himself die.
Thanos Used Calculated Moves To Subdue The Hulk
From Redditor u/mybustersword:
It involves martial arts and skill, as well as knowledge of anatomy, the Hulk, and how his strength works. If Thanos is aware of Hulk as a being that gets stronger with anger, Thanos knows he has to interrupt that process internally. The Avengers know it as well, which is why they try to calm him down with soft talk.
Thanos accomplishes this with targeted strikes. If you notice re-watching the first fight scene, Thanos’ first strike is to Hulk’s neck. In fact, the next few strikes are to his neck and chin. These areas are vital and attacks to these areas disrupt the flow of oxygen by restricting the ability to breathe, and disorient the brain by concussive force. Thanos’ next attacks are to Hulks kidneys. Boxers and MMA fighters report on the effects of kidney strikes as debilitating and even paralyzing.
Each shot by Thanos is specifically calculated to immobilize Hulk, impact his internal organs and his adrenal glands, slow his ability to think and mentally stun him. Hulk get mad if he can’t think, and Thanos knows this. His attacks are fast and in quick succession, allowing him to take Hulk by surprise and strike in just the right spots to incapacitate him.
Hela Is Not Frigga’s Daughter
From Redditor HighTreazon:
My personal headcanon is that Hela isn’t actually Frigga’s daughter, but rather the child of a different woman sired by Odin. Not only does Hela have a complete lack of semblance to Frigga, but she was born during Odin’s darker and more bloodthirsty days of conquest.
I like to think that Odin went away on a campaign and returned with Hela, who grew up somewhat resented by Frigga, and became a literal reminder of Odin’s past sins. Odin was never perfect, and I think that this reading adds a nice nuance to Hela’s story.
In fact, for a long time (before IW or Endgame) I fancied that Hela’s mother was the actual Lady Death, hence her morbid godhood and evil whims. In a way it makes Odin’s story a sort of Faustian one…. where Death gives him a child with which he can conquer the 9 realms, but the child will of course be Asgard’s undoing.
Why Red Skull Was Deformed And Steve Rogers Wasn’t
From Redditor u/rafael-a:
Bacteria is the answer. In the scene of the transformation of skinny Steve Rogers into big buff Captain America there is a small joke where Erskine injects him penicillin beforehand. The penicillin shot was much more important than it seems, because human body is full of bacteria, and the Super Serum would enhance microbes as well, therefore they should be killed beforehand.
In the movie it is shown that Johan “Red Skull” Schmidt injected the serum by himself, it worked but it also enhanced the bacteria, the grow in such a way that they destroyed the skin of his face (and maybe entire body), and it would have killed him if he wasn’t enhanced as well, so his body is in a constant battle against super microbes and that messed up his face.
Star-Lord Had To Punch Thanos
From Redditor u/HansDanz:
Doctor Strange saw all 14,000,605 outcomes of the battle and only foresaw one where the Avengers won. The fact that he didn’t stop Star-Lord from hitting Thanos already tells us this was part of the plan. Let’s think about what would happen if Star-Lord didn’t do the thing. The Avengers would have gauntlet off… and then what? Tony, Peter, Stephen, Drax, Nebula, Quill and Mantis were too weak to handle the gauntlet at that point, only Thanos and Bruce were strong enough to do it without dying.
Destroying the stones would be the only way to end the aforementioned cycle of villains fighting the Avengers over the stones since there aren’t any left. It was imperative that Thanos got the stones and destroyed them afterwards. To ensure there would never be any fights or resulting casualties over the stones ever again.
Odin’s Death Allowed Hela To Grow Even Stronger
From Redditor u/TheOrdinaryCritic:
Mjolnir is often portrayed as a perfect, indestructible weapon with no equals, so it was a huge surprise to me when Hela crushed it in Thor: Ragnarok with little effort. How was she able to do this? Here’s my theory on how it happened.
Right before Odin’s death, he warns his sons that he can no longer protect them from their sister, which he sealed away years ago. Odin knows that when he dies his magic will be lifted, and Hela will be break free from the dark magic that imprisoned her. What he didn’t tell Thor, is that Odin’s enchantments on the Mjolnir will also be null after his death. Mjonir is still incredibly powerful… but it’s no longer an invincible weapon. Basically, Odin’s enchantments are what makes Mjolnir nearly unbreakable. When Odin dies his enchantments are lifted, allowing Hela to easily crush the hammer.
The Asgardians Thought The Collector Would Finish Collecting The Stones
From Redditor u/ValhallaAtchaBoy:
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.
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 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.
Audiences Didn’t Truly Understand How Red Skull Was Weaponizing The Tesseract
From Redditor u/blueliger2:
The weapons in the first Captain America didn’t do what we think they did. In the first Captain America movie we see Red Skull use the Tesseract (space stone) to power his weapons. We see him use these weapons on German military personnel at the beginning of the movie. What happens when they get hit? They simply vanish. Nothing is left of them. You’d be left to believe that they got disintegrated or something similar, but now that we know more about the stones it makes Skull’s actions a little more cruel. He basically weaponized a teleporter accident, as its uncontrolled teleportation it may well have disintegrated them by sending each atom a random distance and direction.
