For many, one of the most exciting aspects of the original The Avengers era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was the merging of various storylines from individual movies. Likewise, the infamous post-credits-scenes that the MCU has popularized in recent times also served as connecting threads, both between individual movies and as a tie-in to larger, overarching storylines.
The first of these larger, overarching storylines came to a head with the original 2012 The Avengers film, directed by Joss Whedon and serving as the first unification story of the MCU. The film saw Captain America, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye all team up to stop Thor’s brother, Loki, from subjugating Earth.
The Avengers is likewise also notable for teasing the introduction of Thanos to the MCU, suggesting him to be ultimately responsible for Loki’s attack on Earth. Thanos is also responsible for giving Loki the Mind Stone at the start of the film, possibly in order to influence him to attack while maintaining cover.
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Why Thanos gave Loki the Mind Stone in The Avengers
One piece of confirmed information, which helps explain why Thanos gave Loki specifically the Mind Stone is that Loki was under the influence of Thanos and the Mind Stone throughout The Avengers. In other words, Thanos specifically chose Loki, because he felt he would be simple enough to influence and also powerful enough to produce the results Thanos desired without personal risk.
This is a sensible approach to take, as picking someone too mentally strong wouldn’t have allowed for any influence. Likewise, picking someone in possession of too much power could potentially fight back against Thanos. Picking those too weak in either category would’ve led to increased chances of Thanos either being discovered or the invasion being a total failure.
In other words, Thanos wanted to attack Earth in The Avengers, but didn’t want to do so himself in order to maintain distance and cover while he explored other options and looked for the other Infinity Stones. Thus, he chose Loki as someone who could be easily influenced by the Mind Stone, and also had the power to launch a reasonably strong attack on Earth.
Thanos’ ulterior motives, explored
While the above reasons are likely the foundational ones for Thanos’ decision, there are likely some ulterior motives at play as well. One of the most popular is that Thanos simply wanted to test Earth’s defenses, but knew Captain Marvel was at play. Thus, in order to not expose himself to that potential danger and reveal his designs at all, he used Loki instead. This way, Thanos would also learn how big of a threat, if one at all, Captain Marvel was.
There’s also the theory that Thanos wanted to destabilize Asgard by giving the Mind Stone to Loki, thus opening the path to the Nidavellir forge and likewise lead to the Infinity Gauntlet’s creation. By pitting Loki against Thor and having him defy Odin’s will by allying with Thanos in The Avengers, the Asgardian army would be too distracted dealing with Loki’s attack on Earth to focus on Nidavellir. This would allow Thanos to have the Infinity Gauntlet made without worry.
Thanos’ confirmed motivations, summarized
However, those ulterior motives mentioned directly above are purely speculative, with no canonical material confirming what, if any, further designs Thanos had. That being said, the most likely theory seems to be with regards to testing Earth’s defenses, especially considering that he was already aware of Captain Marvel’s existence by now.
Thus, all that’s confirmed regarding why Thanos gave Loki the Mind Stone is that he wanted to influence him via the Mind Stone’s subtle influence. By using Loki and swaying his actions subtly, Thanos was able to achieve what he wanted in his attack on Earth without putting himself in any real danger.
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