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human
[Marve's What If...? episode 8] How did he get that thing, if SPOILER hasn't happened to SPOILER yet?

So. In episode 8 of Marvel's What If...? series, >!Thanos teleports in after Ultron destroys almost all life on Earth via launching every single nuke. Thanos has every single stone besides the one in Ultron's head. Ultron, absolute Chad version of Vision that he is, cuts Thanos in half and melts through the Infinity Gauntlet using the mind stone's laser.!<

Now, my question isn't how he did that or why it was so strong, but...>!how did Thanos get all of the stones? In the scenes afterward, we clearly see that most of the universe hasn't had its shit shoved in and Gamora is still alive. One of the stones is on Xandar, another in Asgard (I think?), the time stone is with Dr. Strange, the reality stone with the collector and the soul stone *has* to still be in Red Skull's backyard, because Gamora is still alive.!<

>!So how the fuck does Thanos have all of them? Xandar is very much intact (so much so that they lasted longer than anyone else, I think). Even if Dr. Strange was killed in an atomic blast, his spell is still unbreakable (**Edit:** and if he wasn't the Sorcerer Supreme yet, it seems somewhat unlikely that The Ancient One would allow herself to get killed via nukes. Not impossible though, obviously.) And, most importantly, ***Gamora lives.*** We see her fighting off Ultron drones once Ultron has the stones for himself and attacks the Gold People's planet. So where'd Thanos get that last stone from?!<
gpt
Ultron won, which means the Earth was open for the picking and Thanos moves up his timetable. 

* Time Stone - New York City. Most of the Avengers are dead, which means no one is around to save Dr. Strange when the Black Order shows up. And it's doubtful his spell is all *that* unbreakable - that could've been a bluff. 

* Reality Stone - Knowhere. The Collector couldn't stand up to Thanos the first time around, so it's doubtful they'd fare much better. 

* Space Stone - Odin's Vault on Asgard. Loki knew hidden ways into and out of Asgard, so it is possible to sneak in, especially with the abilities of the Black Order.  Gamora found Quill on Xandar and the Soul Stone on Vormir, so they've got some expert investigators. The nice thing is with the Tesseract, you don't need to have an escape plan. Grab it and teleport out.

* Power Stone - Xandar. Once they have the Space Stone, it's a snatch and grab operation.

* Soul Stone - Vormir. Thanos seems to care for Ebony Maw too and that guy would willingly throw himself off a cliff to appease his father.

* Mind Stone - on Earth with Ultron.  *ZZzzzaap!!*