How Did Thanos Get the Power Stone (Purple) Before ‘Avengers: Infinity War’?

Thanos, the Mad Titan, is one of the most formidable villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In his quest to acquire all the Infinity Stones and gain ultimate power, Thanos wreaked havoc and destruction on a massive scale. Among the six Infinity Stones, the Power Stone is one of the most sought-after due to its immense destructive capabilities. But how did Thanos acquire Power Stone before the events of ‘Avengers: Infinity War’? 

Thanos got the purple Power Stone off-screen by decimating Xandar and taking the Stone from Nova Corps in 2018. Following Ronan’s betrayal and the fact that the Power Stone was left on Xandar for safekeeping, Thanos made his way to the planet in 2018 and completely decimated it along with the Nova Corps Fleet. Destroying Xandar and the Nova Corps headquarters was the moment he gained access to the Power Stone, and the next time we see him during the events of ‘Infinity War,’ he already has the stone inside the Infinity Gauntlet.

Now that we’ve covered, in short, how Thanos got the Power Stone, it’s time to analyze the chronology of the events in a bit more detail. In this post, we delve into the backstory of the Power Stone and explore the events that led to Thanos’ possession of this coveted gem. If you’re interested in more, stay with us and keep reading!

Why did Thanos want the Power Stone? 

We’ve already written extensively about the motivations that led Thanos down the path of destruction and stirred the biggest conflict we’ve seen in the Marvel Universe. We know that Thanos wanted to destroy half of the Universe’s life because there was evidence that overpopulation would lead to the exhaustion of resources which would have catastrophic consequences for everyone.

The prime example of this scenario was Thanos’ own homeworld, Titan, which descended into desolation quickly because its leaders were slow to implement needed measures. They likewise mocked Thanos’ proposed solution and called him Mad, which resulted in one of his most iconic nicknames to date. 

Thanos was convinced that the fate of Titan was what awaited the rest of the Universe, and he reasoned that through random selection, he could decimate half of biological life to save up on resources and stop the rapid expansion of population. Thanos started to decimate and conquer the world one at a time, and after some time, he figured the process was taking too much time.

This is why he decided to acquire all Infinity Stones. The Infinity Stones are among the most powerful weapons and artifacts in the Marvel Universe, giving the person that controls them control over reality. It was a perfect weapon of choice to commit genocide on a cosmic scale. 

In ‘Avengers: Infinity War,’ we see how Thanos made good on his promise to acquire all the stones. Except he already had one in his gauntlet—the Power Stone. As far as the viewers know, the origin of Power Stone was a complete mystery. Luckily we’re here to shed some light on the events that led to Thanos acquiring his first Infinity Stone.  

How did Thanos get the Power Stone? 

The first person to be in contact with the Power Stone was Star-Lord and the Guardians of the Galaxy, at first they were not aware of the magnificent power of this Stone until they brought the Stone to the Collector, who explained in a bit more detail what the Infinity Stones actually were. 

Unfortunately, at the same time, Carina, The Collector’s assistant, in her incredible greed, tried to steal the Stone, which resulted in her near-instant destruction. At the same time, Thanos’ lapdog, Ronan the Accuser, was sent by Thanos to acquire the Power Stone, at the time not knowing what the Stone in question was. 

Ronan decided to help Thanos because Thanos promised him in return for getting the stone, he would destroy Xandar. As the fans know, the only reason Ronan defected from the rest of the Accusers was that the Kree Empire signed a treaty with Nova Empire. This was something that Ronan couldn’t make peace with, he was raised in a family that sacrificed much of their male members to fight a war that was now considered over without a clear winner.

Ronan and Gamora’s sister, Nebula, located the Guardians of the Galaxy and managed to take the Stone from them. Armed with the Power Stone, Ronan discovered courage he never had. He kept the Stone for himself and challenged Nova Corps and Thanos. 

Ronan managed to decimate the entire Nova Crops fleet by utilizing the Power Stone and his Cosmi-Rod. However, humiliatingly enough, he was defeated through a dance-off when Peter Quill seized the opportunity to take the Power Stone and unleash its destructive powers to defeat Ronan once and for all.

After this, the timeline is vague. We knew that Thanos was aware of where Power Stone was, and we knew that it was given to Nova Corps for safekeeping, where he lay dormant for four years before Thanos acquired it. The next time we saw Thanos in ‘Avengers: Infinity Wars,’ he already had the Power Stone, so how did he get it? 

The means through which Thanos acquired the Power Stone were revealed to us by Thor. Thanos got the Power Stone off-screen four years after Nova Corps were charged with keeping the Stone. In 2018, Thanos made his way to Xandar with his Chitauri army, and completely decimated the planet and the Nova Corps. He easily took the Power Stone and immediately inserted it into the Infinity Gauntlet. 

Thanos used Power Stone to torture Thor aboard the Statesman and to destroy the ship, and that’s how Thor knew about the whereabouts of the Stone. 

The moment when Thanos actually acquires the Power Stone is never shown on screen, however, and there’s a good reason for that. 

Why we never saw Thanos getting the Power Stone in Avengers: Infinity War? 

Thanos’ quest for Infinity Stones was predominating theme across the first few phases of the MCU, so many fans were wondering, how come we never saw Thanos actually acquiring the Power Stone? 

Joe Russo revealed the answer to this question in an interview with the Student newspaper of Iowa City High School. 

“Because we thought it’d be one too many- there’s so many stones he has to collect, and you get into a trap, and we thought- we knew where it was in Guardians– so it was easy to deal with it off screen.”

As you can see, this is a reasonable explanation. Russo explained that it would be just too many Infinity Stones to cram into a single movie, and since we were already familiar with the Power Stone and where it was, it was easy to “show” how Thanos acquired the Stone without actually showing it.

We had a good idea of what kind of destruction Thanos was capable of unleashing, so the scenario of Thanos decimating Xandar and the Nova Corps to acquire the Power Stone wasn’t that far-fetched, and it worked. 

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