“ | I know what it's like to lose. To feel so desperately that you're right, yet to fail nonetheless. It's frightening. Turns the legs to jelly. But I ask you to what end? Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same. And now, it's here. Or should I say...I am. | „ |
~ Thanos' opening speech in Infinity War. |
“ | I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me, but the work is done. It always will be. I am...inevitable. | „ |
~ Thanos to the Avengers. |
“ | You should have gone for the head. | „ |
~ Thanos to Thor |
Thanos is the main antagonist of The Infinity Saga and the overarching antagonist of The Multiverse Saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
He was a genocidal warlord from Titan, whose own main objective was to bring stability to the universe by wiping out half of all life at every level, as he believed its massive population would inevitably use up the universe's entire supply of resources and perish after it reached its end. To complete this goal, Thanos set about hunting down all the Infinity Stones, being confident that the combined force of the Stones would grant him sufficient power.
He was portrayed by Josh Brolin.
What Makes Him Magnificent?[]
2018 Counterpart[]
- While he's easily heinous enough by the standards of the MCU due to only having Infinity Stones in the last month of his life, his tragic backstory, love for Gamora, his "Evil is Cool" vibe, and his pure intentions of heroically saving the universe with his gauntlet's power keep him from being too vile. Even him killing Eitri's friends was to prevent them from forging a countermeasure against the Infinity Gauntlet and he wasn't explicitly confirmed to have promised to do otherwise, that merely being Eitri's assumption. Even when with the much eviler counterpart displaced from the alternate 2014 timeline.
- He has a solid Freudian excuse, as he was the sole survivor of his race from the planet Titan, which fell due to an overpopulation crisis that could've been avoided if they had listened to his suggestion of killing off half the planet, in which his obsession with imposing such an extreme solution to the rest of the universe clearly being out of Survivor's guilt.
- Even if his methods are indeed very harsh, he's still a genuine extremist who truly believes he's doing the right thing by trying to prevent the exact same disaster that happened to Titan and hopes the survivors will be grateful. Nothing he does is personal and for all his power, holds himself back from being further corrupted that he would destroy the stones after his ultimate victory as they were nothing but temptation to corrupt him and simply retires.
- Despite being fairly abusive, he deeply cares for his adopted daughter Gamora. He spared her while massacring her homeworld and shielded her from watching her people die, gives her a bowl of soup after kidnapping her, and shows great remorse for killing her since she was his "everything". The feeling is also mutual, since she expresses sadness upon stabbing his illusion on Knowhere, which he even calls her out on.
- He has standards since he rightfully finds Ronan's wrathful bigotry against all things Xandar pathetic. He also sneers with disgust at Loki when he says he will never accomplish godhood. Additionally, he calls out the Collector for his nasty greed. While one could argue that he is no better, Thanos himself is only prejudiced and power-hungry in the 2014 timeline, making 2018 Thanos have much more moral fiber by comparison.
- Basically, a majority of his lines are some of the most iconic in the entire MCU such as "Destiny arrives all the same, and now it's here, or should I say, I am", "Reality is often disappointing," "You should have gone for the head," and "I am inevitable!" to name a few. Josh Brolin's cool and nuanced performance certainly helps.
- He's affable and has a ton of honor, respecting several of his foes (i.e. Star-Lord, Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Captain America and Scarlet Witch) while also abhorring dishonesty in general. He even destroyed the Infinity Stones partly so that he wouldn't be tempted to abuse their power after doing the Snap. In fact, this is exactly how he gets the Space, Soul and Time Stones. He agrees with Loki, Gamora and Dr. Strange to spare Thor, Nebula and Iron Man in exchange for giving him the jewels, and by the end of the movie all three of the latter trio survive even the Snap as he never tries to double-cross the deals.
- He's a living juggernaut who fearlessly goes toe-to-toe with or simply pushes past several powerful superheroes, shrugging off any and all wounds. Even the Hulk is scared of him after receiving that beatdown at the beginning of the movie.
- From just being the sole survivor of the Titan race, through sheer might and cunning, Thanos erects a mighty empire that made him the most feared being in the universe, cultivating a loyal army of numerous species such as the Chitauri who are all fanatically devoted to Thanos.
- As for thinking on his feet, he:
- Manages to get the Power Stone from Xandar even after Ronan betrayed him in Guardians of the Galaxy by taking advantage over its weakened state.
- Anticipates Loki's attempt to backstab him after getting the Space Stone.
- Uses the Reality Stone to create an illusion, which deceives the Guardians of the Galaxy so he can kidnap Gamora when they come to Knowhere.
- Uses the Time Stone to undo the Mind Stone's destruction.
- He's one of the few MCU villains to actually succeed in his goal, obtaining all six Stones and then doing the Snap in only one week (the last five of which happened in just under a day), and he doesn't face any justice until three weeks later in Endgame.
- Even when his Snap was inevitably undone, it happened 5 years later and the Avengers using alternate timelines to get the Stones, which Thanos couldn't predict.
- He even remains dignified in his final moments, gloating to the Avengers about how he'd basically won after destroying all the Stones rather than begging for mercy when they attack him in his home while he was horribly weakened and helpless. His last words before Thor kills him is thanking his daughter Nebula for knowing he's not a liar and then apologizing for treating her too harshly, after which she tearfully closes his eyes while sad music plays in the background.
2014 Version[]
- Shares vast majority of the feats Thanos already has before Guardians of the Galaxy took place, building up a mighty empire after just being the sole survivor of an overpopulation crisis with a vast armada dedicated to him.
- Even if undeniably worse than the 2018 timeline, in which he is more of a Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist who is focused on more on arrogantly proving his solution right rather than fixing the universe, this desire to fuel his ego still stems from the Survivor's Guilt of his entire planet dying due to overpopulation. His method to destroy the entire universe would be done in a quick flash and be painless, nothing as horrifically drawn out as the likes of Infinity Ultron or Ego, and what all sadism and kick the dog moments he has absolutely pale to brutal and petty ones that the former 2, as well as numerous others like Ronan, the High Evolutionary, Hela, Mysterio, etc have, with Thanos himself deriding Ronan's obsession with death in his entrance and his nastiest crime, tearing Nebula apart and 'upgrading' her with cybernetics against her will, outright noted to pale in comparison to the High Evolutionay's experiments.
- Still retains his general Evil is Cool presence as a Soft-Spoken, eloquent juggernaut who through sheer might and guile has taken down nearly every Avenger one by one and keeps them on their toes. Even powerful heroes like Thor and Captain Marvel get stomped by Thanos, while giving equally lines like "I shall shred this universe down to its last atom" or "You could not live with your failure, and where did it bring you, back to me" or "That's destiny fulfilled".
- When Nebula ends up broadcasting future memories, while Ebony Maw, Gamora and Nebula are all frantic and confused, Thanos almost immediately navigates the situation: that he won in the future and the Avengers are trying to undo his victory, and that the future version of Nebula has time travelled to their time period.
- Upon witnessing his own future decapitation, he simply shrugs it off as "Destiny fulfilled", in which upon noticing the error in his initial plan of just wiping out half of all life in the universe since the other half would be devastated, on the fly thinks of a new one which was to simply restart the universe from scratch, explaining his change of plans to the Avengers methodically rather than truly losing his cool over his initial plan having failed, and manipulates the Avengers into getting all the stones and gathering them in one place at their timeline.
- Is impacted by the final words of his future self and stops Ebony Maw from killing Nebula, having her infiltrate the Avengers' ranks to transport Thanos' armada. When Nebula succeeds, Thanos praises her for her success, which earned Nebula's undying loyalty.
- Reverse engineers the Pym Particle for a surprise attack on the Avengers, destroying the entire base and incapacitating nearly everyone who were all buried under rubble, leaving only Thor, Captain America & Iron Man to fight Thanos.
- Even with nearly every Marvel hero introduced in the vast franchise banding together to form a vast army by the thousands face Thanos, he keeps them on their toes, destroying their time machine and comes inches from victory as he claims the stones.
- When Iron Man swindles the stones and gives up his life to snap Thanos and his army out of existence, he spends his final moments accepting his loss, kneeling down to watch the sunrise as he solemnly waits for his inevitable doom.
- All in all, he is an excellent foil to his sentimental, hypocritical, morally contradictory, and overly emotional counterpart from the 2018 timeline.
What Makes Him a Baddie?[]
In General[]
- He had Loki lead the Chitauri assault on Earth in The Avengers that threatened millions.
- He abducted both Gamora and Nebula from their home worlds, and is highly abusive to Nebula, forcing her and Gamora to fight each other and replacing parts of Nebula's body with cybernetic implants after each failure. He also calls Gamora his "favorite daughter" in front of Nebula, and said he only didn't kill her because it would be a waste of parts.
- He's committed numerous half-genocides against other home worlds in order to build his empire including Kylos, Zen-Whoberi, Xandar, and the Asgardians aboard the Statesman.
Exclusive to the 2018 version[]
- He killed the dwarves at Nidavellir and crippled Eitri's hands, even after they made the Gauntlet for him.
- He tortures both Thor and Nebula so that Loki and Gamora would give up the Space and Soul Stones.
- He brutally murders Heimdall and Loki while forcing Thor to watch, taking particular pleasure in slowly strangling Loki to death, then dumps his body right at Thor's feet, telling him that his death is irreversible. He had nothing to gain from this and no reason to make Thor watch his brother die other than sadism.
- He tries to provoke Quill into shooting Gamora when he's holding her hostage.
- He sacrifices Gamora (his own adopted daughter) to get the Soul Stone.
- To gain the Soul Stone, he murders Vision by ripping it off his head and deactivating him as a result, which led to Wanda going back to her life of villainy.
- He uses the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet to commit half-omnicide, turning 50% of all life throughout the universe into dust. This also affects the species that he has already decimated, such as the Asgardians. When confronted by the heroes for having murdered trillions, he is unrepentant and gloats over his actions, telling them they should be grateful for his work.
- Even worse, onscreen casualties include Winter Soldier, Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, Falcon, every Guardian of the Galaxy save for Rocket Raccoon and Nebula, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Hank Pym, both Wasps, Hawkeye's wife and kids, Monica Rambeau, Yelena Belova etc., whereas offscreen casualties include Jane Foster, Erik Selvig, Shuri, Lady Sif, Ned Leeds, Michelle Jones, Flash Thompson, Betty Brant, May Parker, Brad Davis and so on.
Exclusive to the 2014 version[]
- Upon learning of the Avengers' attempts to undo his future victory, Thanos attempts to use the Stones to destroy the entire universe and remake it in his image as one eternally grateful to his accomplishments, abandoning all good intentions in the process to fuel his own ego.
- Calls in his armada to massacre Earth for the stones, admitting it will be the sole display of bloodshed he will ever actually enjoy.
- Tries to use Storm Breaker against Thor and slay him while smiling.
- Orders for a carpet bombing over the entire battlefield, shrugging off Corvus' objections on their men going to be killed in the crossfire.
- His standards against Ronan are hypocritical since he says Ronan’s obsession with destroying Xandar clouds his better judgment, when he is no better considering that he feels the exact same way about humans, thinking all of them are unruly and wretched and expressing the same sadism in almost making humans extinct that Ronan felt when he almost made Xandarians extinct whilst even calling it twisted salvation, which is exactly what Ronan did just before the infamous dance off.
Trivia[]
- His What If...? versions don't count because of low screen time and lack of feats, characterization, or both. Therefore, only the versions appearing in the films count.
External Links[]
- Thanos at the Villains wiki
- Thanos (2018) at the Inconsistently Heinous wiki
- Thanos (2014) at the Near Pure Evil wiki
- Thanos (2018) at the MCU wiki
- Thanos (2014) at the MCU wiki
[]
![]() | ||
Movies TV Shows |