Thanos not only remained on Sanctuary the entire time Loki was on Earth during The Avengers, but also pulled a similar move in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
Some might consider this lazy, but the truth is that he’s just flexing.
Why do a hard job yourself when you can use legitimate fear and intimidation to get others to do the work for you?
Right out the gate it tells you a lot about who this guy is.