system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[MCU] Why didn’t Thanos invade New York himself in the movie Avengers?

If he wanted the stones so badly, why didn’t he take his overwhelming forces and force the planet to submit like all others?
gpt
While he was willing to act through seemingly unconnected agents for individual Stones, Thanos waited to personally act until he knew where he could find all six Stones.  He's already notorious, but he knows that if he starts going after Infinity Stones directly then the rest of the universe is going to go into panic mode and rally to stop him.  Hitting all six in succession minimizes the chances of them successfully coming up with a counterplan.