The MCU's Infinity Gauntlet Timeline Makes No Sense

WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War, in theaters now.

The history of the Infinity Gauntlet in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been a point of contention in recent films, and every subsequent attempt to clarify the issue has only made things more complicated.

Avengers: Infinity War brought the confusion to a new level when it showed the origin of the Gauntlet, created by the dwarf Eitri (Peter Dinklage), and forcefully taken by Thanos (Josh Brolin) to reshape the universe.

Rather than clarify the Gauntlet's timeline, this revelation ultimately left fans scratching their heads about the already muddled MCU timeline. Specifically, we had already seen the Gauntlet in Asgard in sequences from Thor and Thor: Ragnarok, as well as in the Avengers: Age of Ultron post-credits scene.

Following the film's release, Infinity War writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely tried to lay out the chronological order of the Gauntlet's appearances to placate perplexed fans. But in doing so, they created some new major flaws with their theoretical timeline.

Just to recap the glove's history as depicted on-screen -- when the Frost Giants attacked Asgard in Thor and entered Odin's vault, we caught a glimpse of the Gauntlet as an Easter egg. The next time we'd see it was in Avengers: Age of Ultron, where Thanos put it on, an indication he was fed up of his minions failing to procure the Infinity Stones and was now ready to do it himself. This left fans wondering if there were two Gauntlets in the MCU -- a question Thor: Ragnarok seemingly answered when Hela made it clear the one in Odin's trophy room was a fake.

When pressed for clarification, Markus said, “I think the Gauntlet was made when Loki was pretending to be Odin. Presumably, Eitri was running a relatively regular business and people would have gone there and said something. So, it hasn’t been that long.” There's a problem with this though, and thus, a big plot hole opens up.

Loki took Odin out and shape-shifted into his place at the end of Thor: The Dark World, thus assuming full rule of Asgard as we saw in Thor: Ragnarok. But if the Gauntlet was made around this time, when Loki was pretending to be king, then how could it exist in the first Thor movie which was set years before? Odin couldn't have attained a forgery of an artifact that hadn't been created yet, so Markus' explanation here doesn't add up at all.

But wait, there's more...

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The second issue with the theory the writers are offering revolves around where the Gauntlet was forged, and the circumstances surrounding its creation. In Infinity War, Thanos was revealed to have leveled the Dwarven realm of Nidavellir after he received the Gauntlet. This was done to intimidate and illustrate to Eitri his services now belonged solely to the Mad Titan, who turned the forger's hands to stone to cement this "deal." When Thor came to make a new weapon to kill Thanos, Eitri was angry because he felt the Asgardians, who swore to protect his people, failed in their mission. A great moment in the film -- but this, too, highlights the cracks in Markus' timeline.

If the Gauntlet was made when Loki impersonated Odin -- before Ragnarok or just at the start of it -- then why didn't Heimdall notice the dwarves were in danger? Given his powers, he should have been able to detect Nidavellir was under attack and the Asgardians needed to go to their rescue. However, as per Markus' road map, it seems he didn't notice, or chose to ignore it, which would be completely out of character for the heroic sentry.

Had the Gauntlet been made after or during the events of Ragnarok, we could understand the Asgardians abandoning the dwarves, because they would have been wrapped up in a lot of drama -- dealing with Loki kidnapping his father, Thor getting marooned on Sakaar, Hela's dark reign, and Surtur eventually razing their home; things keeping the all-seeing Heimdall busy and which would have prevented Asgard from sending aid.

In short, the attempts to reverse engineer the Gauntlet's timeline in the MCU doesn't make sense. Just as the Russo brothers have apparently cast Thanos' Age of Ultron Gauntlet scene into oblivion as non-canon, it appears fans should do the same for all Gauntlet appearances pre-Infinity War and simply use this movie as the standalone canon for the weapon. It'd make things easier to comprehend and way less convoluted than what's being offered at present.

Or, we could just blame the Reality Stone.

In theaters now, Avengers: Infinity War is directed by Joe and Anthony Russo and stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Paul Bettany, Anthony Mackie, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Tom Hiddleston and Josh Brolin, among others.