A long-lingering point of contention with fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been the exact reasoning someone like Thanos would ever entrust someone as reckless and unpredictable as Loki with one of the Infinity Stones, but one idea turns this bizarre decision into an impeccable piece of strategizing from the Mad Titan. A fan theory about Thanos' plans in the early phases of the MCU suggests that his entrusting of Loki with the Mind Stone and the Chitauri army was actually part of a long-simmering plan to sow discord among the Asgardians. In the process, one of Thanos' greatest threats to his overarching plan for the universe could be dealt with without the Mad Titan raising a single finger against them.

While the events of the MCU played out largely on Earth, Thanos was deep in space seeking out the Infinity Stones during the early events of the franchise. One of his first technical connections to Earth came about when he employed Loki to attack the Earth and claim the Tesseract in The Avengers. To this end, he entrusted Loki with a powerful Scepter containing the Mind Stone, along with a massive army. At first glance, it appears the conquest of Earth and the capture of the Space Stone was the only priority in this attack, but a theory from Reddit user Zentaurion suggests there was an ulterior motive to Thanos' actions, and that by empowering Loki, Thanos was actually playing a long game to try and bring down Asgard instead of Earth.

In the history of the MCU, Odin was one of the most powerful lords of the universe, having even waged war across the galaxy until he settled down and had a family with Frigga. Even though Odin became more peaceful, the might of the All-Father coupled with Asgard's forces could have been enough of a threat to counter Thanos and his armies, so it makes sense that someone as tactical as Thanos would seek out a way to bring down Asgard without drawing attention to himself.

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The theory suggests that this is how Thanos realized Loki's potential -- not as a general or king, but as a wildcard. After the events of Thor, the theory notes how an observant Thanos could likely tell Loki was a dangerous presence within the Asgardian royal family and could be counted upon to cause problems even if he failed to gain the Tesseract.

With this theory in mind, the eventual collapse of Asgard actually could be seen as following Thanos' plan almost to a fault. While Loki was defeated and the Mind Stone ended up in possession of humanity, the Tesseract and Loki were relocated to Asgard for safe-keeping, but the Asgardian royal family's inner conflicts quickly cost them much of their power.

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Loki's presence in Thor: The Dark World resulted in the death of Frigga and the dethroning of Odin, and this led to the rediscovered Aether being entrusted to the (far more vulnerable) Collector. Loki's rule in Asgard reduced their strength, and the entire kingdom was destroyed in Thor: Ragnarok by Hela returning following Odin's passing.

In retrospect, this decimated the Asgardian army and destroyed one of the few forces in the MCU that Thanos likely expected could give him trouble, allowing him to attack the dwarves of Nidavellir and force them to create a new Gauntlet without risking Asgardian involvement. Thanos notably worked through secondary agents until the fall of Asgard, at which point Thanos began to wage war against Xandar and the Asgardian survivors, wiping them out with relative ease and taking the Infinity Stones.

It could be because this kept him out of Asgard's crosshairs until they were too weak to do anything about Thanos' plans. His investment in Loki even pays off one more time in Avengers: Infinity War, as the deceitful prince's decision to take the Tesseract from Asgard right before it was destroyed allowed Thanos to fully empower the Infinity Gauntlet. It's a compelling theory, explaining why Thanos would entrust Loki with so much power in The Avengers because it didn't matter if Loki won or not, just that he threw the galaxy into disarray and set the stage for Asgard to fall before they could ever lift a finger against Thanos directly. In that sense, entrusting Loki with all that power was a smashing success.

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