It wasn’t long after the Infinity Stones were revealed as a major influence on the MCU that Thanos decided to complete his goal of wiping out half of all life in the universe. While it did take a few years, Thanos eventually tracks down all six Stones and performs the dreaded Snap.
However, that isn’t the end of the story. The Stones were used for multiple Snaps in the MCU, and not all of them were performed by Thanos. While the future of the Stones in the MCU remains a huge mystery, fans have learned a great deal about the Stones’ history as well as what they are capable of when all six Stones are brought together for a single purpose.
8 Thanos Was The First One To Snap
After a long and arduous journey, Thanos finally assembled all six of the legendary Infinity Stones. Thanos decimated Xandar to get the Power Stone, killed most of the remaining Asgardians (and Loki) for the Space Stone, and managed to swipe the Reality Stone from The Collector before trashing his place.
Thanos then sacrifices his favorite daughter for the Soul Stone before meeting a handful of Avengers on Titan to claim the Time Stone from Dr. Strange. Thanos finally reaches the Mind Stone after bringing Vision back to life and tearing the Stone from his forehead. While fending off an attack from Thor, Thanos pulls the trigger on the first Snap.
7 Thanos Did What He Promised & Wiped Out 50% Of All Life In The Universe
Unfortunately, for the heroes, Thanos was successful in the mission he set out to accomplish. With a fully loaded Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos manages to perform his Snap despite Thor lodging Stormbreaker into his chest. Thanos wipes out 50% of all life in the universe, all life, before taunting Thor and escaping to his private garden oasis.
The fallout from this event is immediately felt as heroes from the Battle of Wakanda begin dusting out of existence, followed by heroes on Titan. Thanos sent the entire universe into utter chaos for at least five earth-years simply by snapping his fingers with a handful of Stones.
6 Thanos Also Performed The Second Snap
Only a few weeks after the initial Snap, Thanos decided a second one was in order. Thanos performs the second Snap in a selfish attempt to keep others from undoing what he deemed to be his life’s mission.
If it wasn’t for his second Snap, the remaining Avengers wouldn’t have been able to find him and kill him. They managed to track the energy signature of the Stones to Thanos’ Garden (Planet 0259-S) where they finally enacted their revenge for him wiping out half of their friends and family.
5 Thanos’ Second Snap Destroyed The Stones To Ensure No One Could Undo His Work
The second Snap destroyed the physical form of the Infinity Stones, preventing others from collecting the Stones (or stealing them from Thanos) to undo the erasure of 50% of all life. While the Law of Conservation of Energy explains that energy cannot be created or destroyed, the physical form of the Stones was destroyed in the second Snap thus rendering them useless in a practical sense.
The energy of the Infinity Stones is still out in the universe, potentially looking for new homes and/or users. With Wanda being a living totem of the Mind Stone and Captain Marvel being one for the Space Stone, it seems all but inevitable for the Stones to return at some point, or at least their energies.
4 “Professor” Hulk Performed The Third Snap
With the main Stones destroyed, the Avengers eventually come to the conclusion that time travel is the only way to undo what Thanos had done. After some tinkering, the team develops a time machine and splits up into teams to retrieve the Stones from the past. Cap manages to nab the Mind Stone in 2012 New York, but when things go awry, he and Tony have to go back to 1970 Camp Lehigh to get the Space Stone. After some back and forth, Hulk finally convinces The Ancient One to give him the Time Stone in 2012.
Black Widow sacrifices herself for the Soul Stone while Rhodey and Nebula find the Power Stone before Quill arrives. Thor returns to Asgard with Rocket to retrieve the Reality Stone from Jane Foster. Once everyone returns to the present, Tony develops a nano gauntlet of his own to wield the Stones. After declaring that he should be the one to Snap due to the output of gamma radiation, Hulk performs the third Snap in the MCU, sacrificing his right arm in the process.
3 Hulk Managed To Bring Back Everyone Lost During The Blip, Except For A Few
Hulk successfully brings everyone back (in a safe location) that had been dusted five years prior in Thanos’ Snap. Unfortunately, despite trying, Hulk was unable to bring back those who had been killed outside of the Snap. Gamora lost her life on Vormir when Thanos sacrificed her for the Soul Stone, Vision lost his life when Thanos extracted the Mind Stone, and Black Widow sacrificed herself for the Soul Stone during the Time Heist. Additionally, Loki had been murdered by Thanos before Banner made it back to Earth, so perhaps he tried to bring him back as well.
The return of trillions of lives to the MCU is a wonderful thing, though with the loss of so many heroes it wasn’t without a cost. Not only did the aforementioned heroes remain dead, but additional heroes also lost their lives during the final battle of Endgame.
2 Tony Performed The Fourth & Final (For Now) Snap
Somehow, Thanos managed to replicate and mass-produce Pym Particles in order to travel to the present to try and take the newly collected Stones from the Avengers. An all-out war ensues between Thanos and his forces versus the Avengers and the heroes that had just been returned by Hulk’s Snap for possession of the Stones.
At the last moment, Tony managed to wrestle the Infinity Stones from Thanos‘ gauntlet as part of a last-ditch effort to keep the Stones from 2014 Thanos. As he glares at Thanos in his final moments, Tony declares himself as Iron Man for the final time before performing the fourth and final Snap, at least until the Stones decide to reform.
1 Tony Dusted Thanos & All Of His Forces Out Of Existence, Killing Himself In The Process
While Tony did save the day and kept the universe safe from the threat of 2014 Thanos, it came at a significant cost. All of Thanos forces were extinguished by the Snap, but so was Tony. Unfortunately, the radiation from the Stones was entirely too much for his body to handle once the Stones were used.
While the threat of Thanos in the MCU has seemingly been quelled by Earth’s mightiest heroes, the heroes will need time to bounce back after so many permanent losses. Tony’s story ended with the Infinity Stones, though given the concepts introduced in WandaVision and Loki, the potential for the Stones to return, as well as Stark, is wide open.
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