Avengers: Infinity War finally gave us an antagonist who lived up to the billing. Previously, these villains had been dealt with relatively easily as seen in The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron. In Thanos, we got a villain who was pretty much invincible right until the very end (although he still ended up winning).
He did win, of course, as Avengers 4 is still left to be released. Within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thanos could have lost in a variety of ways had the heroes used the powers or abilities they had but forgot about. These have opened up a number of plotholes too seeing that the story could have been wrapped up in a victory for the Avengers had they made use of the tools in their possession.
The best explanation Marvel has mustered up is Doctor Strange’s Fourteen Million Six Hundred and Five scenarios he looked into using the Time Stone. Using this as an excuse, any reasoning the fanbase might have that would point toward a Thanos defeat is deemed void as it is lumped with Doctor Strange’s loss pile of future scenarios.
But we’ll never–or at least until Avengers 4–know exactly what Strange’s future visions entailed, if they were purely from the Titan group’s perspective or the universe as a whole. Due to this, it can be argued that the following powers the Avengers forgot may not have been part of the Time Stone’s possible futures.
With that in mind, here are 20 powers the Avengers, and the antagonists, forgot in Infinity War.
20 So Much For All-Seeing
For a guy who is supposed to be All-Seeing, Heimdall kind of sucks at his job. A few times in the Thor series some things snuck by him but there was always an explanation for it. In Avengers: Infinity War, Heimdall was one of the casualties of Thanos’ attack.
The fate of all the Asgardians hinged on Heimdall’s gifted attribute.
Had he stuck with continuity and used his vision to see the Sanctuary-II hot on the Statesmen ship’s heels, all the Asgardians could have survived. Thanos seemingly caught the Asgardians by surprise but Heimdall should have seen them coming from a long way out.
19 Forgetting Something?
In Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket Raccoon was mentioned to have in possession a gun that could blow up an entire moon! This kind of weapon would be catastrophic to use in battle as one’s own allies would be in danger, but Rocket had threatened Yondu’s ship with it as well, meaning it could obliterate smaller targets too.
A weapon of such magnitude would have had exceptional uses in the Wakandan battlefield. Rocket could have ordered his allies to keep a fair distance while he blew up Thanos’ invading ships one by one, or even all of them at the same time. Instead, he was fascinated by the Winter Soldier’s rifle. How does one forget about a weapon with such destructive potential?
18 Worst Prepared For Warfare
The advantage for the Avengers in the second half of the film was that the Black Order chose to fight them in Wakanda, the peak of technological advancement on Earth. Still, the humans barely scratched the surface with their warfare potential.
The most advanced technological country fights with Spears and no armor for some reason.
They were up against Aliens who could warp through space and the Wakandans’ big fight tactic was running at them with spears for weapons. No mention of Artillery, no ballistics (save for Winter Soldier’s rifle). Even one tank may have turned the tide somewhat in the Earthlings’ favor. For a technologically advanced society, Wakanda truly sucks at warfare. Did they blow their budget on Vibranium shoes?
17 Loki's Magic And Illusions
Loki’s demise in Thor: The Dark World is hard to understand as on that occasion his decoy was tangible, which is why Thor was fooled. In Thor: Ragnarok, his illusions were firmly tricks and couldn’t be physically interacted with. Let’s assume for Avengers: Infinity War that Loki could conjure such tangible illusions. Taking this into account, Loki could have bamboozled Thanos very well.
He could have had Thanos choke out a fake version of himself while the real one readied an attack. He never even used the telekinesis we had seen in The Dark World here either. This would have been a great counter to Ebony Maw’s attacks and Loki’s magic would have confounded Cull Obsidian, Corvus Glaive, and Proxima Midnight.
16 Thanos And All Of The Infinity Stones
Thanos was the most powerful character we saw in Avengers: Infinity War. However, he was only this powerful due to possessing the Infinity Gauntlet, without which he would have been relatively weak.
Even with the Gauntlet’s use, he seemed to forget the power he had.
With the Reality Stone he could have turned every person in his way into whatever he wanted. The Soul Stone would have granted him the ability to destroy one’s soul. The Power Stone was supposed to be able to obliterate a planet with one touch. Yet most of what we saw from Thanos was use of the Power Stone to send minor projectiles, the Space Stone mostly to escape and not for attacks, and Soul Stone just once to detect Doctor Strange’s soul.
15 Portals Are Your Friend
Doctor Strange’s greatest asset against his enemies is his Sling Ring. For those who aren’t wizards, this would strand them on some unknown location and thwart the threat they possess. Thanos, though, had the Space Stone. This would remove Battlefield Removal as an attack.
However, the Sling Ring is also a useful tool to slice away parts of the opponents. This was in display when Wong cut off Cull Obsidian’s arm. Doctor Strange had Thanos down and out on Titan and could have formed a Sling Ring around Thanos’ arm to slice the Infinity Gauntlet clean off. Star-Lord messed everything up in that instance and this could have been avoided through the use of the Sling Ring.
14 Gamora And Common Sense
Rather than a power, here we point out Gamora forgetting any common sense she had. Gamora was said to be the most formidable Assassin in the entire galaxy. Personally trained by Thanos, she had never failed in any of her missions when associated with the warlord. Yet when Thor and the Guardians decide to separate, Gamora is dumb enough to go to Knowhere.
Why not go to Nidavellir instead? She was the only one with knowledge of the Soul Stone.
The Reality Stone would have given Thanos powers to cast illusions, which he did, and Gamora was aware of that. Then who in their right mind would opt to present themselves right into the hands of the guy who is pursuing them?
13 Whatever Happened To Durability?
Similar to Gamora, Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight forgot something important about themselves: Namely the fact that they were supposed to be supremely durable aliens. In Scotland, they were ambushed by Captain America, Falcon, and Black Widow. The latter two were mere humans with no enhancements and yet they were curbstomped in the encounter. Corvus Glaive had no answer to Black Widow’s attacks and couldn’t keep up with her.
Black Widow has no superhuman strength and yet was able to easily deflect Proxima Midnights blows. It would seem both of these children of Thanos forgot they were supposed to have Super Strength and Super Durability.
12 The Powers Of Stormbreaker
Thor’s entry in Wakanda is going to be stuff of Cinematic Legend in the future. It was an awe inspiring entrance right at the nick of time completed with music fit for the situation. Thor displayed Stormbreaker's powers by effortlessly wiping out all Outriders in the vicinity.
This power was then forgotten altogether for the rest of the battle.
The next time we saw him he was shooting down one mook after another while conversing with Captain America. What was the point of slowing it down when he could have finished them all up in one go? Afterwards, we saw he was powerful enough to one-shot Thanos, who had all Infinity Stones, but had arrived late to attack him for some reason.
11 Altering Emotions
Mantis was shown to be capable of putting an entire planet, Ego, to sleep with one simple touch. This was the trump card for the Avengers on the battle of Titan when Doctor Strange opened up a Sling Ring to allow Mantis to out Thanos under. Unfortunately, Thanos was “Very Strong,” which made Mantis unable to put him to sleep.
But this wasn’t all we had seen her display. Mantis could also alter one’s emotions as seen in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. When Thanos was feeling grief over Gamora’s passing, she could have altered it in such a way that this grief didn’t act up. At least Star-Lord wouldn’t have been informed of Gamora’s end and messed everything up.
10 In A Little Galaxy The Other Side Of The Border...
Kraglin was noticeably absent from Avengers: Infinity War despite having been part of the Guardians. It has been confirmed, however, that the character was alive by the events of the movie. We know that these people have ships that travel uber fast, and Kraglin had 4 years of practice with the Yaka Arrow.
Proficiency with the arrow would have meant all the Outriders in Wakanda would have been obliterated with no effort at all.
Had the Guardians contacted Kraglin and brought him with them to the battlefield we could have seen something like the Prison Escape scene in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Kraglin would have certainly been efficient enough with the arrow after all these years and all of the Wakandan conflict would have been avoided.
9 Vision's Incorporeal State
Vision was useless in Avengers: Infinity War thanks to Corvus Glaive’s impaling him with his spear early in the movie. Thereafter, he was a liability whose end was met when Thanos ripped the Stone off his head. He had difficulties fighting Glaive the whole time, both in Scotland and Wakanda.
While he may have been weakened, he still had the option of turning himself incorporeal. This power would have saved him from physical attacks and prevented Glaive from thrusting the spear in Vision’s forehead. Maybe the incorporeal state wouldn’t have lasted long, but Vision never tried even once to test this theory out.
8 Firing Those Lasers
In Iron Man 2, Tony Stark used an all-out blaze of a laser attack to wipe out all of Whiplash’s drones in one go. At the time he had informed War Machine that the move was a one-off but as of Infinity War, his suit was miles ahead in technology as compared to his earlier armors.
How about aiming that laser straight at Thanos’ head, Tony?
Thanos had insane levels of durability but those were blunt attacks or explosions. The laser would have been effective as a piercing force. Stark did fire some beams at him at the end but these weren’t lasers, at least not those of the level we had seen in Iron Man 2.
7 The Winter Soldier's Super Serum
The Winter Soldier was a reluctant combatant in the Battle of Wakanda but such was his need. Being a Super Soldier, he was in the top five of the most powerful fighters on the field, especially with his Vibranium arm. The way he performed, though, would have fooled us into thinking he wasn’t an enhanced individual.
He didn’t outrun everyone like Black Panther and Captain America did initially neither did he use his force to fight off the Outriders, instead relying on the rifle in his hand. Speaking of which, what was the point of a Vibranium arm if he never used it for force? He should have been a greater asset than Captain America.
6 Awakening The Hulk
The Hulk got whooped by Thanos within a minute of his entire appearance in the film. Following that, Hulk refused to manifest despite Banner’s frequent demands. The directors of the film revealed that Hulk was reluctant to help Banner due to the latter always using him as a weapon.
Banner’s intelligence also took a hit.
He could have employed his guaranteed technique of falling from a height or putting a bullet in his mouth and Hulk would have manifested, but this idea never struck him. He was talked down by Shuri in Wakanda too and would have been more useful in her lab rather than at the battlefield. Vision’s Mind Stone could have been removed quicker.
5 Doctor Strange's Greatest Weapon
When the Avengers had Thanos pinned down on Titan, and after Peter Quill had to screw everything up due to his overtly emotional reaction, the team was dismantled by Thanos’ immense powers and the Mad Titan walked away victorious with the Time Stone. There was a good way to avoid this result had Doctor Strange been more imaginative with the power in his possession.
He could have reversed time and prevented Star-Lord’s outburst onto Thanos. He could have also used the Time Stone on Thanos himself at any point where Thanos was engaged in battle and too distracted to confront Doctor Strange. But Time went on a vacation as far as the Battle on Titan was concerned.
4 Those Mind Games
None of the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War would have been possible had Scarlet Witch not played Mind tricks on Tony Stark. His nightmare motivated him to create Ultron and the chain reaction from that led to where we are now. Suffice to say, these powers were some next level stuff.
Maybe they were reserved for when she was evil as Scarlet Witch hasn’t bothered to use them again. In Infinity War, she never once bothered to come up with this idea against her assailants. There could have been a plan in place where she could have ambushed one of the Black Order and controlled them, but apparently we are supposed to forget about this power just as she has.
3 Thor Forgot God Mode
Thor unlocked full on God mode in Thor: Ragnarok and we saw powers that would have obliterated any of the previous villain in the MCU. He was tenfold more powerful than the Thor we had seen previously and you’d expect a guy like this to hold up very well against mooks like Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive. In the film’s beginning, however, Thor has been beaten quite handily by Thanos and his children.
We never find out how he lost but it’s hard to believe the kind of powers he had at the end of Ragnarok were ineffective against guys who don’t stand a chance against him on paper. It’s not like he held back, as all the Asgardians were ended either way.
2 Loki's Greatest Weapon
Let’s face it, of all the people on the Statesmen Loki only cared for Thor. He gave up the Tesseract for his brother’s life and paid it with his own. The Tesseract would have guaranteed safety for both him and Thor and it’s confusing why he never used it even after seeing Thanos’ ship approaching.
Loki could have opened small portals rapidly and evacuated all the Asgardians as well, it must have taken some time for Thanos to board the ship. As to why he had the Tesseract hidden with no intention of using it is perplexing. The Tesseract could have also been useful for combat against the Black Order, but alas we shall never know.
1 Scarlet Witch's Telekinesis
Like her mind control, Scarlet Witch’s telekinesis was a supremely powerful tool in her arsenal. She did employ it clumsily against Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive in Scotland but she never used it as she could have or as she has done in the past. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, she ripped out Ultron’s ‘heart’ straight from his chest. Shouldn’t this idea have entered her mind when battling Proxima Midnight?
When Thanos was approaching her in the final moments, she could have done the same to him. She could have also thrown just about anything else in the vicinity at the Titan. When her brother had perished, she had vaporized all the Ultron bots in a second, why not do that again?