Thanos has a work ethic problem in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He sends Loki in The Avengers to Earth to do his dirty work, hoping to take control of a planet that houses a couple of Infinity Stones. The God of Mischief fails to complete the mission, but instead of getting off his butt and doing something about it, the Mad Titan continues to sit on his throne. He lets Ronan the Accuser talk down to him and use the Power Stone for his own schemes, which allows the gem to end up in the hands of the Nova Corps. However, even that doesn’t motivate Thanos, as he waits another couple of years to get to work.
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Once Thanos begins making his way across the galaxy, it doesn’t take him all that long to fill up the Infinity Gauntlet. He makes quick work of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and wipes out half of existence with the snap of his fingers. It’s still a lackluster performance from the Mad Titan, though, and there are plenty of other Marvel characters who could have found the Infinity Stones quicker.
1) Gamora
In Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos is hoping to run into his daughter, Gamora, because she knows the location of the Soul Stone, the most mysterious of the Infinity Stones. Having that crucial piece of information would allow her to get a head start on her father, who prefers to have others do his bidding.
Gamora also proves to be a capable tracker when she locates Peter Quill, who’s in possession of the Power Stone, in Guardians of the Galaxy. With two gems in her pocket, it probably wouldn’t take her long to track down the ones on Earth and the rest in space. If there’s anyone capable of beating Thanos in a race, it’s her.
2) Captain Marvel
What makes Thanos’ lackadaisical attitude so surprising is that he can’t just teleport wherever he wants whenever he wants. He has to load up his forces on a ship and fly them across the galaxy to ensure he has enough firepower for a fight. Captain Marvel doesn’t have that problem because she can move around in space with ease.
At least in the MCU, Carol Danvers gets her powers from the Space Stone, which means she already knows the location of one Infinity Stone. Her travels across the galaxy also expose her to plenty of information that could help her during the journey. It also doesn’t hurt Carol’s case that she’s more powerful than Thanos in his base form, meaning no one would be able to challenge her when she shows up looking for a gem.
3) Odin
There is plenty of speculation around the idea that Thanos waits for Odin to die to collect the Infinity Stones because he’s afraid of the Allfather’s power. While the Mad Titan never says anything about Odin, he wouldn’t want to race him to collect the Infinity Stones. The Bifrost allows Odin to travel quickly, and there’s no doubt that he keeps tabs on all of the gems.
The Tesseract sits in Odin’s trophy room for a couple of years, while his son, Thor, takes the Reality Stone to the Collector under his watch. That means there are four that Odin doesn’t have hands-on experience with, but with his power, it won’t take him very long to jump around the galaxy and fill up the Infinity Gauntlet.
4) Ancient One
Outside of the Soul Stone, the hardest Infinity Stone to locate is the Time Stone. It stays with the Ancient One for a long time before being entrusted to Doctor Strange. However, what the Ancient One has over her pupil in this competition is experience.
While her exact age is a mystery, the Ancient One is at least a few hundred years old in the MCU, and there’s no way she holds an Infinity Stone for that long without learning about all of them. She reveals her knowledge in Avengers: Endgame when Hulk comes looking for the Time Stone, giving him a lesson on how important they are to reality. If she had to get to them before Thanos, she wouldn’t have much trouble.
5) Phoenix
The Phoenix Force isn’t part of the MCU yet, but it’s older than the universe in Marvel Comics. It’s a herald of change, traveling around the galaxy and taking hosts that can do its bidding. Jean Grey is the most notable Phoenix Force user, and it’s hard to imagine her having trouble finding the Infinity Stones.
The Phoenix knows everything about the universe, which means it can probably feel the gems’ energy. It may never have an actual reason to collect them because it’s far stronger than all of the stones combined, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t do the job.
Do you think the Marvel characters on this list could find the Infinity Stones quicker than Thanos? Who else is up for the task? Let us know in the comments below!
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