Please convince me that Thanos needed anything other than the reality stone for the snap to work.

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a super week so far! So, I am sitting here thinking about the Thanos snap and the thought came in my head. "If the reality stone can rewrite reality... what use any other stone?"

You need the snap to effect the entire universe at the same time and not be limited to light speed? cool beans. Rewrite reality to allow that.(not that Marvel cares about the light speed limitation anyway) I can not think of a single thing that you can't do by rewriting reality.

The other stones seem pointless when one of them gives the ability to rewrite reality. Though, I do nut fully understand exactly how each stone works. As I don't think that is ever broken down anywhere. I am 85% sure it gives you the ability to rewrite reality though. I need to rewatch the movies at some point and make sure. Anyone here know exactly how the stones work? Anyone here know why the other stones are needed?

The only thing I can think of would be this. He is not powerful enough to use the reality stone at that level. Cool, get the power stone too and forget the rest. I am so confused on this.

Am I overthinking magic? Well yes... Hello, I'm Allison and I overthink magic every chance I get.

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Clawshot522025-11-19 08:11

In the MCU at least, the reality stone can’t operate on a universal scale like the completed Infinity Gauntlet can. It seems like the gauntlet can only operate on that scale once it’s fully completed. Prior to that, the things Thanos does with the reality stone are much smaller in scale (e.g. creating illusions, turning weapons into bubbles, temporarily turning Drax into cubes).

randmperson22025-11-19 08:16

I think WandaVision actually gives a pretty good answer to this: much like the Hex, the Reality Stone alone can only affect reality within a certain vicinity. The Time and Space Stones would allow for the widespread effect, Soul targets life, Mind allows for the intention of the user, and Power amplifies all of the above.

And this is supported by The Dark World with Malekith’s plan: the Aether would’ve only been useful and cause wide destruction because it was paired with the Convergence aligning all Nine Realms.

Smoking-Posing2025-11-19 08:49

Gotdamn, I was about to write something similar off top my head but I wouldn't be able to explain it better than this. You nailed it.

Funny thing is I have no recollection of hearing it explained like this; I was just gonna give my personal take.

randmperson22025-11-19 09:37

Thanks! Decades of being a nerd and thinking about this stuff way too much, haha. 🤓

DecoyOne2025-11-19 09:04

To add, at least in my head canon, the reality stone also has a temporal limitation. Under ordinary circumstances, the effect can end, like how the GOTG return to normal after Thanos’s attack. I see that as a combination of distance (which Space addresses) but also duration - he needs Time for that.

randmperson22025-11-19 09:37

That’s a really good point! Forgot about that scene, but that makes a lot of sense.

dion_o2025-11-19 10:00

Does that mean the spaghettificaton of Reed was temporary and he will come back to life? What about if the temporary reality warping doesn't directly kill like closing black bolts mouth or Peggy being bisected?

DecoyOne2025-11-19 10:17

That wasn’t the Reality Stone

dion_o2025-11-19 10:18

Wanda is a reality warper and is powered by the same force as the stone.

DecoyOne2025-11-19 10:21

Wanda is a witch, her magic powers were kickstarted by the Mind Stone, and her MoM powers were driven by the Darkhold.

The Reality Stone wouldn’t have let her go into someone’s mind.

Crimkam2025-11-19 10:06

And even still, the nine realms are really just 9 planets not the whole universe

SpeedBlitzX2025-11-19 14:44

Side note I kind of wondered what would happen if Wanda could use the reality stone. Like would her powers be even more amplified?

Since she can already manipulate and alter reality with her powers. Would the reality stone plus her powers make her even more powerful?

FX1142025-11-19 08:23

Every change Thanos makes with the reality stone go away as soon as he leaves the area.

pje11282025-11-19 08:48

Any changes the reality stone made on its own were temporary. We see this when he uses it to immobilize the Guardians. He unravels Mantis and shatters Drax, but once he leaves Knowhere, the two go back to normal.

Smooth-Mix-43572025-11-19 09:02

Reality : Turn half of everyone to dust

Time : Make it permanent

Space : Make it universe-wide

Power : Amplify the necessary power for all the stones to work

Soul : Trap their souls

Mind : Withstand the mental strain of the complex task

GreasyStool882025-11-19 09:26

My understanding is you’re correct except for:

Time taking care of the space-time relativity across the universe, so that it all happens at once and not at the speed of light thousands of years later.

Mind so that the stones instinctually know what the user intends (similar to Hulk saying he tried to bring Nat back, or Tony/Thanos dusting certain individuals)

Smooth-Mix-43572025-11-19 09:30

I'm not sure if I'm even correct in my original comment. There has been no official explanation for it as far as I'm aware. I just interpreted it this way.

Defiant_Wheel48882025-11-19 14:27

One word: for a snap to work permanently, we need to use all the stones. The Reality Stone works only until the user activates it. You understand the difference.

To explain the difference, think of mosquito bats or rockets:

1. The mosquito bat manual type, — you have to activate it yourself. then it will start to work.
2. The plug-in automatic type — works on its own. You just place it on the stand, and when a fly goes near it, *boof*, it fires automatically.

In the same way, Thanos using only the Reality Stone is like the first type — he has to activate it, and it isn’t permanent.
Thanos using all the stones is like the second type — he can make changes permanent.
The first type example in the movie is when Thanos shows his home planet to Strange for a moment.
The second type is when Thanos snaps.
let me know if you want more explanation.