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Why did Tony Stark have to do a "full snap" at the end of the Avengers: Endgame?


Couldn't he have defeated Thanos and his armies with the reality stone alone and lived as a result?

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A full snap required the use of all six Infinity Stones.

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The previous movies showed that even using one Stone was dangerous for mortals. He was dead, no matter what.

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You mean like Vision (arguably not human enough) and Dr. Strange, both of whom regularly use a single stone?

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As you already admitted, Vision isn’t a mortal. As for Strange, he never touches the Time Stone. It is always inside the Eye of Agamotto. He also had to learn how to use it, much to the chagrin of Wong who warned him not to mess with it at all.

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Well, I didn't say Vision isn't mortal. Vision just isn't human. The two aren't the same thing.

And Thanos, nor anyone else, touches all six. They're mounted on the gauntlet. So what's your point. You said using a stone, not touching a stone. Vision uses one. Strange uses one. Thanos uses six.

In short there is no evidence that using a single stone is particularly dangerous to any individual.

Now, they are powerful artifacts. It can certainly be inferred that they are dangerous. But if Strange can use one, why can't any other mortal?

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Vision is a robot made of vibranium he's a bit beyond your average human or humanoid alien. As for Thanos, he held each stone in his bare hands at one point or another. In fact, when he got all six stones, energy surges through him, and he shows visible signs of pain. Then there's the fact that using the Gauntlet twice left him with multiple scars and a limp. Hulk used it once and it nearly cost him an arm. When Thor wanted to use the gauntlet, the Avengers outright tell him he wouldn't survive. As for Strange, once again, he never touched the Time Stone. You can pick up objects that hold the stones all you want as we see many times.

As for the evidence, besides multiple people getting fucked up by coming into direct contact with stones, Ebony Maw flat out mentions that most beings cannot use a single stone, let alone two and displayed concern when Thanos got the second stone.

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So here's a breakdown of each stone and what it has done to people.

REALITY STONE (the one the op wanted Tony to use in lieu of the others):
- Jane was infected by the Aether and was slowly dying. Odin specifically states a mortal cannot handle it and that she was as good as dead unless it found someone stronger.
- Malekieth eventually took it, but as he was a Dark Elf king who had previously studied the Stone, he was far from being a mortal.

SPACE STONE:
- Red Skull picked it up and was immediately turned into a phantom where he would have to spend eternity watching over the Soul Stone.
- The only other people to physically hold the Tesseract were Loki, Thanos, and Goose who are all far more powerful than mortals.

POWER STONE:
- The Collector's assistant grabbed the Orb and blew up.
- The Collector flat out mentions mortals cannot touch it and uses a hologram showing aliens attempting to use it and dying from the process.
- Ronan, an extremely powerful alien, only holds it for a second and is screaming out in pain before he places it in his hammer for use. It's apparent he would not be able to hold it for long.
- Starlord holds the Orb at the end of the first movie, which surprises everyone. After a DNA test, it was determined he was only half human and the otherhalf was something ancient and powerful.
- In the second movie, Ego mentions that he knew Starlord was his son because he heard about him holding the Orb and once again mentions humans cannot hold Infinity Stones because they'll die.

TIME STONE:
- We never see what happens when a human touches it (even when Strange gives it to Thanos, we see him levitate it).
- Wong warns Strange that it is too dangerous to be used and Strange has to do a lot of studying to even perform magic with it.

MIND STONE:
- We also never find out what happens when a human touches it, although the Hydra experiments performed with the Mind Stone resulted in multiple deaths. Wanda and Pietro were the only ones to survive the process.

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SOUL STONE:
- This one is unique in that you can have it, but someone else has to die in your place ("A life for a life").

INFINITY GAUNTLET:
- When Thanos collected the second stone, Ebony Maw told him that most beings do not have the power to even hold one Stone and that Thanos would be the first being known to have held two.
- When Thanos gets all six, we see him wincing in pain as it obviously takes a toll.
- Using all six stones to do the snap, mutilated Thanos' arm even though he's powerful enough to beat up Thor and Hulk.
- Using the six stones a second time, mutilated Thanos further and gave him a bad limp.
- Hulk used the Gauntlet and not only was he barely able to snap his fingers, it almost cost him his arm.
- The Avengers warned Thor he was not powerful enough to use the entire Gauntlet and that it would kill him.

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Again, you are equating touching with using. And that is what I am saying. Yes, many are probably too powerful for most people. But mortal humans have used them. Again, Strange does so. The Ancient One does so as well. They both use it, they didn't touch it and that is all I am challenging here.

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I probably should have said “touch” instead of “use” in my initial post to be fair. I see the Eye of Agamotto similar to the Tesseract being used as a power source for Red Skull’s weapons or Cap briefly using Loki’s staff which was powered by the Mind Stone.

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yes, he didnt need the most toxic of all: the power stone

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