Avengers: Infinity War: Predicting the MVP against Thanos

SAN DIEGO, CA – JULY 26: Actress Elizabeth Olsen attends Marvel’s Hall H Press Line for ‘Ant-Man’ and ‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’ during Comic-Con International 2014 at San Diego Convention Center on July 26, 2014 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)

4. Scarlet Witch

In the comics, Scarlet Witch, or Wanda Maximoff, has shown she can alter reality on a wide scale, triggering both the “House of M” alternate reality where Magneto ruled the world and wiping out most of Earth’s mutants. She wasn’t so impressive in Infinity Gauntlet, however, where Thanos quickly defeated her with the other heroes.

Nevertheless, the limits of her powers are unclear in the MCU. The Mind Stone unlocked powers in Wanda with a strong affinity for the stone itself, namely mental manipulation and telekinesis, and she showed in Civil War she could control Vision even while he wore the Mind Stone.

Wanda’s seeming affinity for the Mind Stone could give her some key advantages against Thanos. Based upon the comics, the Mind Stone would give him telepathic powers, allowing him to predict and defeat their attacks easily. Wanda might be the only hero who could mask her thoughts and withstand telepathic attacks from Thanos.

That said, mastery over time through the Time Stone would still telegraph Wanda’s moves to Thanos.

For her to be MVP, we need to assume that wielding all six stones is mentally straining even for a powerful mind like Thanos’. We’d then need to assume he can be very, very subtly distracted – essentially through Wanda “hacking” the Mind Stone – and create an opening to remove the gauntlet. With her telekinesis, she could also seize it even while crippled or immobilized.