'Avengers: Infinity War' Fan Theory Suggests Odin Initially Collected All the Infinity Stones

In the months since Avengers: Infinity War's release, fans have come up with countless theories about the powerful Infinity Stones, including a few that explore Asgard's relationship with them. Now, one fan theory goes even further and suggests that Odin didn't just seek out the Infinity Stones; he collected all six long before Thanos.

The theory, which cropped up on Reddit's Fan Theories sub recently, expands on a previous theory that Odin had been questing for the Stones, but stopped short of the Soul Stone as he didn't want to sacrifice anyone. User "KRHeff" argues that Odin did, in fact, complete a sacrifice and obtained the Soul Stone by banishing Hela to Hel, a region of Niflheim that is the home of the dead. Then, with the stones in his possession, he wielded their power to bring peace to the Nine Realms before returning scattering them again, specifically giving the time stone to Agamotto and hiding the tesseract in Norway and leaving them to eventually be hunted down by Thanos.

It's an interesting theory to be certain and one that has some legs. For starters, many fans have pointed out that there is an Infinity Gauntlet-type object in Odin's vault. It's seen in Thor: Ragnarok, with Hela knocking it over and dismissing it as a fake. Why would Odin have need for a fake Gauntlet unless he had originally had a real one that had been damaged from use? Odin having the Gauntlet might also add a bit more of a reason as to why Thanos went to the lengths he did to ensure that Etri wouldn't be able to forge anything again on Nidavellir — if there's no Gauntlet, no one else can wield the stones again.

There's also the suggestion that the Soul Stone has a specific impact on its bearer, particularly after they've completed the sacrifice in order to obtain it. One Reddit user noted that there's a theory that Thanos becomes "nicer" in a sense once he has the Soul Stone or at least a little more contemplative and, if that's true, Odin's acquisition of the same stone may have triggered a shift in him from the aggressive, warlike efforts to conquer the Nine Realms towards a more peaceful route. Another suggested that it might not have been Hela sacrificed, but her mother, with Hela later being sent to Hel after her father's transformation towards peace. After all, Thor did refer to Hela as his half-sister.

Of course, even if Odin did once have all six stones he did ultimately separate them, resulting in the stones ending up in Thanos' hands as fans know how well that turned out for the universe. It would be interesting to see, should the theory be correct about Odin having had them all, if that part of the stones' history will be explained or even used to ultimately defeat Thanos when Avengers 4 hits theaters next year.

Avengers 4 is set to hit theaters on May 3, 2019.

What do you think? Did Odin have all six of the stones at some point? Let us know in the comments below.