Summary
- In The Avengers, Loki tried to mind-control both Hawkeye and Iron Man, but while he succeeded with Hawkeye, his attempts failed on Iron Man due to his arc reactor.
- Iron Man's arc reactor protected him from Loki's scepter, as the scepter needed to touch organic matter to work, and the arc reactor was not skin.
- In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Wanda Maximoff was able to hypnotize Iron Man without physically touching him or using the scepter, showcasing her immense power.
Battle of New York. Instead of pitting the Avengers against an entirely new villain, Marvel Cinematic Universe made things more interesting by making Thor's adopted brother, Loki, their primary adversary. The Avengers saw the God of Mischief at his peak villainy, as it was subsequently revealed that he was operating with the backing of Thanos.
When the events of The Avengers kicked off, all the founding heroes of the MCU had already appeared in the universe. However, Hawkeye was the only character who hasn't had a substantial arc in the franchise, only making a brief cameo in Kenneth Branagh's Thor. This made him an easy target for Loki, who ended up easily mind-controlling the bow and arrow-wielding Avenger to follow his orders. Eventually, he was able to wake up from his trance. Knowing, however, that thought control was one of his most useful power, Loki tried using it again later in the film on Iron Man, but he failed.
Iron Man's Arc Reactor Protected Him From Loki's Scepter
Unlike Hawkeye, who was caught off guard by Loki's attack at the start of The Avengers, Tony Stark was ready for the God of Mischief when they came face-to-face at the Stark Tower. As two of the snarkiest characters in the MCU, the pair's back-and-forth were some of the best moments in the film. Ultimately, however, Loki got fed up with the wordplay and attempted to end it by using his scepter with the Mind Stone to put Iron Man in a trance. Unfortunately for him, it didn't work. He even tried tapping it on the hero's chest a couple of times, but it still had no effect.
In this instance, Iron Man was once again saved by his arc reactor. Loki touched the tip of his scepter in the middle of his chest, where the piece of tech that was keeping him alive was attached to his body. However, for Loki's trick to work, his scepter needed to touch organic matter, in this situation, Iron Man's skin for the scheme to work, and the arc reactor clearly wasn't. Had Thor's brother tried aiming it at other parts of Stark's body, then it would have been effective.
How Wanda Could Get Into Iron Man's Mind In Avengers: Age of Ultron
While Iron Man was saved by his arc reactor from being mind-controlled by Loki in The Avengers, the genius, billionaire hero still found out what being in a trance felt like. A couple of years later, Wanda Maximoff hypnotized Stark during the Avengers' mission in Sokovia to retrieve the scepter. In this instance, however, Scarlet Witch didn't need to touch Stark to stupefy him. More impressively, she didn't even need the scepter to do this. As seen in Avengers: Infinity War, Wanda can be more powerful than an Infinity Stone, so she really didn't need it to accomplish what she wanted to do.
