Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Marvel’s What If…? episode 8.

Thanos’ Avengers: Infinity War plan was always highly questionable, but Marvel’s What If…? episode 8 shows just how thoroughly the Mad Titan wasted the Infinity Stones. Through the first three phases of the MCU, Thanos gathered strength in the shadows, before ultimately emerging to claim all six stones and wipe out half of all life across the universe. However, What If…? has now revealed just how narrowminded Thanos’ use of the Infinity Stones really was.

Though he was certainly a more captivating villain than most in the MCU, Thanos has still received heavy criticism for the clear holes in his Infinity Stone plan. His goal was to prevent war, famine, and other cataclysmic events from decimating the universe by removing half of all life, thereby ensuring there would be plenty of resources for all. Of course, things aren’t really that simple. Aside from the questions of decimated ecosystems, economies, and cultures, it seemed like Thanos could have achieved the same result by simply doubling the quantity of resources and avoiding the genocide he chose instead.

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According to What If…? episode 8, that’s far from the biggest mistake Thanos made regarding the Infinity Stones. The episode shows a universe in which Ultron successfully became one with the Vision body, defeated the Avengers, and subsequently took the remaining Infinity Stones from Thanos. With the power of all six at his disposal, Ultron accomplishes incredibe and deplorable feats – wiping out life across the galaxy and eventually even crossing over into other realities by sheer force of will. Ultron even manages to detect and defeat the Watcher himself, rising to near godlike power within the MCU multiverse.

Ultron’s advanced AI and hivemind capabilities make him more of an inherent threat than Thanos, but that doesn’t mean the Mad Titan couldn’t have achieved similarly impressive feats after acquiring all six stones. If Thanos hadn’t done the Snap in Infinity War – a decision that left the Infinity Stones permanently powerless in his universe – he could have accomplished so much more. Ultron not only takes the stones to higher heights, but he also preserved their powers in the long-term, ensuring a more enduring reign.

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For all his strength and strategic knowhow, the MCU has made Thanos seem more and more misguided since Avengers: Infinity War. What If…?’s Infinity Stone Ultron shows how much more the Mad Titan could have accomplished had he just possessed greater imagination and a less narrow mind. In the end, Thanos was defeated because of his hubris, and Marvel’s What If…? makes it look like that might be his fate in most of the different realities of the multiverse.

Marvel’s What If…? releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.

Key Release Dates
  • Eternals (2021)Release date: Nov 05, 2021
  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)Release date: May 06, 2022
  • Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)Release date: Jul 08, 2022
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever/Black Panther 2 (2022)Release date: Nov 11, 2022
  • The Marvels/Captain Marvel 2 (2023)Release date: Feb 17, 2023
  • Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)Release date: Jul 28, 2023
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)Release date: May 05, 2023
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About The Author


Rick Stevenson
(1221 Articles Published)

Rick Stevenson is a writer, editor and performer based in Brooklyn, NY. He’s written on TV, film and games for over six years, in addition to assorted stints in bookselling, carpentry, and TV production. Rick studied writing at the College of William & Mary and Oxford University, and can report with some authority that they are both old. He lives and dies for Avatar: The Last Airbender.

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