'Avengers 4' Spoilers: Theory May Reveal Which Hero Will Use the Gauntlet

Rumor has it Avengers 4 will send the remaining heroes on a mission through time to collect the Infinity Stones and undo Thanos’s Snap, but who in the MCU (besides the Mad Titan) can actually wield the Infinity Gauntlet and control all six Infinity Stones at once? A new fan theory that attempts to explain a plot hole from Thor: Ragnarok may also reveal which member of the Avengers will be the one to save the universe in Avengers 4.

This theory comes from redditor u/ThanosMinion, who wonders how Hela could have recognized the fake Infinity Gauntlet she finds in Odin’s Vault in Ragnarok. After all, Hela’s been locked up in Hel for thousands of years, and the real Infinity Gauntlet used by Thanos was created by Eitri during that time specifically for the Mad Titan. So what gives?

But what if Thanos wasn’t the first being to use the Infinity Gauntlet? u/ThanosMinion theorizes that Odin may have used the Infinity Stones in the past to expand his power:

It is thousands of years ago, Odin has conquered the Nine Realms and has his sights set on more. Hela is right next to him, salivating at the idea of killing another army by herself or something. Odin, hungry for more power, decides to form the IG and gather all the Stones. This is where the OG Gauntlet comes in.

Eventually, Odin would have found the Soul Stone, but, perhaps, unlike Thanos, he couldn’t bring himself to sacrifice the thing he loved (Hela) to get it:

Unlike Thanos, Odin is unwilling to sacrifice his daughter for the Soul Stone … All this makes Odin reconsider how far he is willing to go in his pursuit of power and slowly turns him into the pacifist we saw throughout the Thor movies.

Then, instead of explaining what happened, Odin tells Hela he’s done being a conqueror. When she refuses to stop fighting he locks her up in Hel. Realizing that she’ll probably escape eventually, Odin destroys the real Infinity Gauntlet, replaces it with a fake, and scatters the Infinity Stones throughout the universe.

Not only does this theory explain how Hela recognized the Gauntlet (while also giving Odin a cool new backstory), it also explains a few other details. For one, it may reveal how Loki and Thanos got connected ahead of the first Avengers movie since Loki could have offered the fake Gauntlet to Thanos thinking it was real.

Perhaps more importantly, this theory also offers a clue at the plot of Avengers 4. Not everyone can wield the Infinity Gauntlet; in the comics a handful of heroes manage to use it, but in the MCU only Thanos has been able to so far. Then again, if Odin was able to do it in the past, maybe his son Thor can too.

We still don’t totally understand the rules of the Infinity Gauntlet in the MCU, so it’s possible that Iron Man, Captain America, or some other hero could be the one to wield it in Avengers 4. But if this theory is true than Thor might be the best-equipped of all of them.

Avengers 4 hits theaters on May 3, 2019.

Related video: Check out another mind-blowing ‘Avengers 4’ theory.