In the battle of Team Iron Man and Thanos in the Infinity War, the Mad Titan had the upper hand. He easily defeated Doctor Strange and the rest of the Guardians and Spider-Man like it was a piece of cake for him. But it took more than that for Thanos to defeat Iron Man. He did not just defeat him but broke his spirit when he drove that shank into his chest. But it was what he said later to the armoured Avenger that was truly perplexing. He said that he knows Tony Stark. He is not the only one “cursed with knowledge.” What did he mean by that?
And how does he know so much about Iron Man? A new fan theory states that is the Soul Stone that gave Thanos that information that was critical for him in winning the fight on Titan. Presenting – The Soul Stone is how Thanos knew so much about Iron Man in Infinity War!!
Director Joe Russo is one of the two directors who co-directed the Infinity War movie. He claims that the connection between the Soul Stone, Thanos and Iron Man has been subtly hinted in more than one occasion in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He says and we quote:
“He’s aware of Stark from the original Battle of New York as the person who undid the plan,” Russo explained. “Almost no one ends up being a threat to the agenda except for Tony, who I think he feels has a sort of existential connection to Thanos.“
The fact is that while the rest of the Avengers are much too focused on dealing with the present threat, Tony Stark has always been concerned as to what threats will be putting his loved ones in danger in the future. Thanos has also been of a similar view. He always has the bigger picture in mind.
In that way, both Stark and Thanos are futurists who have the gift of foresight. But Thanos’ cryptic wordings determine that what he meant was something far greater than anybody could fathom. His extreme accuracy with words when he outright ripped apart Tony’s psyche means he meant something else when he said the “cursed with knowledge” line.
We know that it was Iron Man that foiled Thanos’ plan in The Avengers (2012) when he personally drove that bomb through that portal into the Chitauri Armada on the other side. That is what made Thanos’ plans take several steps back and he had to postpone his game plan by several years due to the delay. Tony and Thanos now share some sort of connection which is purely existential in nature, much like Batman and the Joker. Thanos knows more about Tony than Tony knows about himself. But the question still remains – how did Thanos know so much about Iron man?
The answer – the Soul Stone! In the comics, the wielder of the Soul Stone possesses a power called the “Cold Light of Truth”. This ability allows the wielder to strip a person’s soul bare and reveal their deepest, darkest secrets. Both Thanos and Adam Warlock have used it many times in the comic books. In the movies, this might be the ability that Thanos uses on Tony – someone who he already knows was the biggest thorn in his plans.
In an attempt to understand this human enemy he keeps encountering, Thanos must have used the Soul Stone to find out more about Tony’s deep and dark secrets. There is one flaw in this theory – in the movies, whenever an Infinity Stone is being used, it glows. No such glow came from the Soul Stone on Titan when it was supposedly using its ‘Cold Light of Truth” ability. Despite that, it is still an interesting theory so to speak.
The last Avengers movie to be released under the MCU banner was Avengers: Infinity War. The official film synopsis for the movie reads:
Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk and the rest of the Avengers unite to battle their most powerful enemy yet — the evil Thanos. On a mission to collect all six Infinity Stones, Thanos plans to use the artefacts to inflict his twisted will on reality. The fate of the planet and existence itself has never been more uncertain as everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment.
