At the end of Infinity War, Thanos snapped his fingers and half of the universe ceased to exist. His plan, of saving life itself, didn't make much sense. But, as all villains, he does suffer from a god complex. And his plan makes perfect sense in his own mind.

However, after the snap, the movie also revealed that Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet was all but destroyed. This means that activating all the Infinity Stones at once proved to be too much of a burden for the glove.

After the release of the movie, the fans started speculating, saying that the stones also lost some of their powers. And this doesn't make too much sense, given the way that they have been previously used without such consequences.

Others speculated that Thanos travelled back in time, that he was transported himself into the Soul Stone (given the blow delivered by Thor), and so on. So was any truth to this theories?

Infinity War is now available for digital download, together with audio commentary from the directors and the writers. As far as the snap and its consequences are concerned, the directors have shed some light.

Here's what Joe Russo says:

“See there, with his Gauntlet and the arm, the power that it takes to use all six Stones is significant, and clearly damaged the Gauntlet and damaged Thanos permanently.” (via Screen Rant)

So there is no mention about the stones losing their power or about Thanos being transported in the Soul Stone. However, besides the blow delivered by Thor, the Mad Titan has been hurt permanently by the Stones as well.

And this will certainly help the superheroes when they'll try to defeat him in Avengers 4.

The Gauntlet is destroyed. And one of the ways in which Thanos' actions could have been undone was the use of the Gauntlet. So what will happen next?

Well, there are always those time-travel theories (based on set photos), according to which the Avengers will try to get the Stones in the past. There is always the Quantum Realm theory, according to which the Avengers (with help from Ant-Man) will travel to other dimensions to gather the stones.

One thing is certain - Thanos of Avengers 4 won't be the threat he was in Infinity War.