When a huge batch of powerless Infinity Stones was revealed during the Loki premiere on Disney Plus, it seemed like nothing more than a silly joke and a brief tie-in to the last decade of the MCU. Whether or not Marvel intended to gain such a huge reaction from this revelation, a lot of fans are extremely upset by turning the stones into nothing more than paperweights in the TVA. The MCU never does anything without a reason, though, so there’s hope that Loki will give a little more insight as to how and why the TVA and Timekeepers came to acquire so many stones, and what their purpose is. Until that point comes, however, fans continue to remain upset about the now insignificant pile of stones. 

The biggest reason fans are so devastated by the reappearance of the stones is that popular characters like Natasha Romanoff, Tony Stark, Vision, and even Loki himself all gave their lives during the Infinity Saga so that they could try and stop the Infinity Stones from falling into the wrong hands. Gamora was another casualty of the battle over time and space, having been killed by Thanos so that he could acquire the Soul Stone. Parting with these characters has been difficult for a lot of fans, because they all played such a crucial role during Phases 1, 2 and 3, of the MCU.

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Now that the Infinity Stones are essentially rendered useless and are being portrayed as nothing more than junk cluttering up office drawers, it makes it seem as if the sacrifices these beloved Marvel characters made were in vain. There were a plethora of stones just sitting around and collecting dust at the TVA, and although the death of these heroes was for a noble cause noble, belittling the importance of the Infinity Stones in Loki also belittles the importance of these deaths.

natasha endgame

Now, fans are angry and upset that their favorite heroes are no longer part of the MCU, for what seems to be no good reason. As a franchise that prides itself on doing what they think is right for the characters, Marvel needs to find a way to remedy the damage they did to the Avengers, and explain why certain heroes had to die if there was another way to stop Thanos, besides having the heroes kill themselves off for the rest of mankind. 

Additionally, if the Time Keepers knew that Thanos was going to wipe out half of all life in the galaxy, they could have easily stopped him long before he gained power. This also means that Gamora and Nebula would never have had to suffer through the torture he put them through, like dismantling and replacing their body parts with metal, or killing their entire family. Thanos wiped dozens of planets off the map, and caused a lot more suffering than what fans saw on screen.

The TVA already acknowledged that everything the Avengers did was supposed to happen and it went down the way the Time Keepers wanted, meaning that during the entire Infinity Saga, the TVA could have very easily clued in the Avengers on who they were and given them a set of Infinity Stones to fix the disaster that Thanos caused. That way, heroes like Natasha and Vision didn’t have to give their lives in order to acquire these stones.

Thanos in Avengers Infinity War

As of right now, the Time Keepers look like a bunch of jerks who let others do their dirty work for them. If Loki chooses to set up the Time Keepers as antagonists in the MCU, then the amount of harm they let fly right under their noses would make a little more sense, although it would still be infuriating for fans to know that they could have done more to save the deceased heroes. Despite the lack of importance the Infinity Stones seem to have right now, there’s a chance that all of this anger and confusion will be explained in the future. 

Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War was the biggest showdown in MCU history, all because of the power Infinity Stones granted to those who wield them. If the Infinity Stones are now completely and utterly useless in the grand scheme of the multiverse, then Marvel must have some pretty big plans for what’s to come in the future. This would be the best direction for Marvel to take the franchise in, since they’ve already had a massive war on such a grand scale, so they need to up their game if future projects are to compare to everything that happened during the first three phases. If the MCU manages to give the deaths of Tony, Natasha, Loki, Vision, and Gamora more purpose, even though the stones seem to be unimportant as of right now, that could settle the emotions of fans who feel betrayed after the events of episode one of Loki. 

Tony Stark Robert Downey Jr Avengers Endgame

All feelings aside, showing viewers that the Infinity Stones aren’t the ultimate power in the universe means big things moving forward in the Marvel franchise. If the MCU manages to find a balance between everything that's happened in the past and the multiverse war impending in the future, Phase 4 could be Marvel’s greatest feat yet.

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