'Avengers: Age Of Ultron' May Confirm A Huge Fan Theory

You didn't see this coming?

"Avengers: Age of Ultron " finally hit U.S. theaters on Friday, and wow, wow, wow. The action is amazing, the jokes are hilarious and the Avengers are avenging.

Even with all the awesomeness, there may be another reason altogether why the movie is a brilliant follow-up to the third highest-grossing release of all time . After the first "Avengers" movie, a theory began popping up online , and it may have just been confirmed in the final scene of "Age of Ultron."

Image: Giphy

(Warning: "Ultron" spoilers below. The Avengers can't save you!)

In "Avengers ," Loki is set on trying to take over Earth, so the Avengers come together in the nick of time, save the day and now everything is cool, right? Well, maybe not.

In the first "Thor" movie, Loki makes it pretty clear that he wants power, but not to take over Earth. The dude wants Asgard. So why make a move for Earth at all? It seems like a super waste of time. Unless something else is going on ...

It's probably a lot easier to take over Asgard if you're actually on Asgard. Loki supposedly wants a ride back but doesn't want to raise suspicions that he's trying to take over. What better way to do that than epically failing to take over Earth and being taken home by your bro? But he's not the only one that wants this to happen.

Writer Andrew Black neatly lays it out on his website The Mask of Reason :

Loki losing to the Avengers was the best possible outcome for both Loki, who can now try to take over Asgard again, and Thanos, who now has potential access to the Infinity Gauntlet.

That's right. Thanos wants the Infinity Gauntlet, Loki wants Asgard and the entire first movie was just their elaborate plan to make it happen:

Image: Giphy

What's crazy is there are little clues that hint at this along the way. First, the "Thor" movies show us glimpses of the Gauntlet , confirming it's in Asgard:

Then, at the end of "Thor: The Dark World," we see Loki has taken control of the Asgardian throne. Finally, the last scene of "Age of Ultron" shows what? Thanos getting the Infinity Gauntlet.

As if that weren't enough, redditors take things a step further, saying that during the first movie Loki may have also been under mind control from Thanos due to one of the Infinity stones, la what happened to Hawkeye.

Of course, Jeremy Renner's character gets knocked around and eventually snaps out of it, and Loki could have, too, after Hulk smashed him into the floor at the end of "Avengers." If true, this is something Thanos may not even be aware of and could give Loki the chance to make a power play later.

Image: Giphy

Joss Whedon reportedly loves the "Infinity Gauntlet" storyline from the Marvel comics, so it makes sense that he'd be the architect behind this long game. Whedon told Vulture that Thanos doesn't have a big role in "Avengers 2" because at this point he is "meant to be the puppet-master ." And this theory shows that, despite what Ultron says , everyone seems to have some of Thanos' strings on them, except perhaps Loki.

Image: Bustle