Thor: The Dark World is filled with magic lore, sci-fi gadgets and alien technology. Considering that the Dark Elves are the oldest known race in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, it makes perfect sense for the species to be technologically advanced and extremely powerful. However, there is one forgotten weapon from their extensive arsenal that characters don't speak about, outside The Dark World and a brief scene in Spider-Man: Homecoming: the black hole grenades.
The black hole grenades are miniature explosives within the Dark Elves' armory that deliver a death more violent than any being in the universe could ever imagine. The amount of combustible force held inside the small, egg-shaped bombs is more horrifying than any ordinary incendiary device or most of the weapons the MCU's heroes have come across thus far. The Dark Elves use these short-range energy weapons during their attack on Asgard in The Dark World, excruciatingly compacting their victims to death.
The Dark Elves' Weapons Cause a Horrendous Fate
Once glowing red and ready to detonate, the black hole grenades suck their targets into themselves, effectively atomizing their form into a singular point inside a gravitational field in a matter of seconds. That crushes their bodies while simultaneously undoing their existence in the most painful manner imaginable.
In terms of brutality, the only other MCU death that comes close is dealt by Ant-Man's Darren Cross, aka Yellowjacket, who murders a Pym Technologies executive named Frank with a disturbingly casual level of violence. Darren zaps Frank with an experimental shrink ray that can't stabilize Pym Particles the way that Ant-Man's suit can. Thus, instead of simply shrinking, Frank is instantly reduced to a wet pile of goop.
But while Darren's failed weapon turns its victim into a gooey heap of blood and squashed meat, the Dark Elves' black hole grenades leave no trace behind. It's somewhat surprising that a weapon this powerful is so underutilized in the MCU, especially considering the level of calamity the bombs can cause. Because black hole grenades can kill Kurse, a godlike being of enormous physical strength, they most likely could have killed Thanos or even obliterated the Infinity Stones themselves.
The Black Hole Grenades Could Have Defeated Thanos
Hypothetically, if there were enough of these ancient explosives to go around, the Infinity Stones-wielding Thanos, the Black Order and his army of Outriders wouldn't have stood a chance. Further, if a random black-market arms dealer in Spider-Man: Homecoming was able to get his hands on a few black hole grenades, Nick Fury and The Avengers could have, too. After all, the Stark Industries and United States government joint venture, the Department of Damage Control, retrieved the grenades left behind in the first place.
Curiously, not a single Avenger thought to check the enormous cache of dangerous alien artifacts in the organization's storage facility. Granted, this scenario required someone with connections to Damage Control or witnesses to the events of The Dark World to come up with this convenient solution. However, it seems as if Earth's Mightiest Heroes aren't so great at brainstorming.
Wielding the Dark Elves' black hole grenades could have potentially saved countless lives, provided that these ancient bombs possessed the power to obliterate an Infinity Stone. Unfortunately, The Avengers will never know if they could have ended the Battle of Earth early. But using the black hole grenades to put an end to Thanos' tyranny probably wouldn't have made for an exciting climax anyway.