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IW Spoilers Ahead [Spoilers] Thoughts about Thanos?


Now that we've seen the movie, do you think the MCU villain problem is solved? Did we find in Thanos, a worthy adversary?

I personally think that we do.

He has a motive (not a sane one but one nonetheless). Overpopulation, in the long run, is a problem that has to be managed, his opinion killing half the population so the balance is restored and they can grow again to be cut in half afterwards.

He has the power, he's badass and strong enough to bit the shit out of the Hulk.

He has the will to kill heroes, he does what he threatens, he kills you if he feels like it. If he does not kill you, there is a why either he does not care about you enough to kill you, or he finds something he likes on you. (i.e. Peter Quill after Thanos takes Gamora and Peter pulls the trigger as she instructed, Thanos, says "I like you boy" or something like that I bet that if he had;t pulled that trigger Thanos would've killed him for being weak or something.

What you guys think about our villian?

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He was a well developed villain, something that we don't often get in movies of this kind. One thing I can't stand is a bad guy's only motivation being "because this movie needs a villain." Ultron fit that bill. However, I could understand Thanos' motivations, even if I disagreed with him. A well written villain truly believes they are the hero of their own story. I also liked how he had his own twisted sense of honor and respect for his adversaries. He was great to watch.

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I agree 100% with the above.

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I love the MCU....but have no problem admitting they've had weak villains...

For Me....Thanos is the single greatest Threat ever put on film in a CBM and The 2nd greatest Villain ever in CBM...

I mean this literally...There is not 1 thing they could have done to make me anymore impressed or happier with Thanos...

Avengers IW was The Thanos show, they literally knocked in out the park...

His Goals, Actions, Power and even Emotions were for me, Literally the best they could have been...and my GOD he may be the best CGI character ever created, Just Astonished at the CGI work done with him...Even his Black Order looked Incredible!

right Now in the years to come, when polls are done and lists are made...I think Hell universally go down and be considered the 2nd Best CBM villain ever behind Ledgers Joker...

But Maybe if Avengers 4 is as good or better, and Thanos once again is ICONIC in it and The Story is completed, Maybe he might even become #1 in those Lists and Polls years from now...

Bottom Line....Thanos was a Grand slam

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Okay, I'll bite. . .avoided jumping into any of these discussions, because I wanted to let the movie percolate for a bit. But:

ONE thing that definitely stood out was how they handled Thanos. He's (let's face it) nonsensical in the comics, but even more so here. In an attempt to make him a "rounded," "relatable," "layered" villain, they completely changed his back-story/motivation from the comics. Problem is: it's Stupid.

Overpopulation? Really?

The *Universe* is overpopulated?

You can make the argument (convincingly) that our little planet is tilting in that direction. . .but THE UNIVERSE?

Do these writers have NO idea about the most *basic* concepts of. . .well, anything?

The mind reels.

I tried to focus past this, and see the rest of the film for what it is, but no matter how much I tilted my head and squinted, the basic stupidity of Thanos' motivations distracted. me.

Ugghhhhhh. Really, Really, REALLY wanted to love this movie. Gonna go see it again, because I know there are a Lot of things it did well. But. . .yeah. Severely flawed flick.

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Precisely when we know ze universe is infinite

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If "the universe is infinite" undermines the plot, then why did Thanos' own planet die of overpopulation? Also, the earth itself could arguably suffer the same fate. Additionaly, it was intimated that Gemora's planet, and possibly countless others, were on the brink of overpopulation.

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Did we watch same movie? His planet wuz attacked as wuz Gemora’s by Thanos. A planet cannot die of overpop and genocide is madman’s solution. Ze entire plot is madman’s plot and what makez movie stoopid.

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It seems that a lot of people's debating and reading comprehension skills can suck the fun out of what should otherwise be a good debate. :sigh:

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U know wat also sux? Pomposity and arrogance.

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You're absolutely right. My response was mean spirited and uncalled for. Please accept my apology.

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Apologie abcebted

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Thanos' planet was not attacked. Its resources were depleted to the point that it could no longer support life. Thanos tried to convince his peers that the only solution was to reduce the population, but he lost and watched as the planet died out. That more or less drove him mad, and left him fixated on the idea that only way to save the universe is to bring it into balance. Kill half of life so that the other half may live in comfort and abundance.

Also note that Thano states "the universe is finite." I'm taking his word for it, as in a comic book world, many things that are impossible here are commonplace there. Thanos has traveled the universe, he possesses infinity stones that are elemental forces from the birth of the universe... in short, he knows his chicken.

Regardless of the sanity of his plan, or how it compares to alternate plans, that's what he's become fixated on, and that's why he did what he did.

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Wait did we watched same movie bec I’m purdy they were attacked. I realized dis is like a dave lynch thang and up 4 interpz but urz is quite far fetch, no? If I give u benefit of dout, why not mind his own beezwax and let other planetz worry there own problemoz? Quite a nosy body dis fugly scrotum chin dude.

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I've watched the movie three times, and my recollection is Thanos saying he watched his planet die when it ran out of resources.

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They completely deleted any mention of his obsession/fixation on Lady Death; and instead created alternate reason for eliminating half the life in the universe, and, making the part about Gamora being the only "soul" he truly loved, thus exchanging her for the Soul Stone.

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Yup. I've (finally) gotten to the point where it doesn't make me FURIOUS when they make this type of fundamental change to stories/characters I've been a fan of for Decades. . .UNLESS they screw the pooch.
Why make changes, if your changes are worse than the original stories/characters?

SMH. Cue the knuckleheads w/their chorus of "you can't just copy the comics Exactly!!!"

Um. . .yes you can. Anyone seen Sin City?

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Sin City was laughably bad for that very reason. What works on the page of a comic book doesn't always work onscreen.

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A more accurate statement would be: "I didn't like Sin City." Your description of "laughably bad" is just one person's opinion; one thing is clear: Devotion to the source material did NOT damage the movie. Which is what I was speaking on.

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For starters, you think it's stupid that a psychotic sociopathic character is behaving in a psychotic, sociopathic way. Just because you think your solution to the problem is better doesn't mean a crazy person would. It's like someone reading the news the day after Jeffrey Dahmer was caught and saying "that's fake news-- no one gets sexual pleasure from eating a person. You get sexual pleasure from actual sex!" Sure. I do. You (I assume) do. Most of us do. He didn't. He was still an intelligent, calculating killer who wasn't caught for years, even when an underage victim escaped and ran naked to the police-- Dahmer talked the police into returning the kid to him.

Serial killers aside, the point is that Thanos is fixated on the notion and it has become the sole focus of his life.

Beyond that-- let's analyze YOUR brilliant solution. The universe is infinite. Which means there are probably an infinite number of planets capable of supporting life. Which means, over time, they will all eventually develop life. Which means, over time, they'll all overpopulate. If not, and you do start moving people around, your solution doesn't take into account that most people don't want to be leave their home planet.

Thanos' solution, though violent in the short term, has a long term elegance that your solution lacks. You might fine-tune it-- kill the oldest, sickest, weakest, dumbest, poorest, etc., but at its core it makes a lot more sense than trying to scatter people around, or rearrange the universe, or create new planets.

A final point-- Killing half of all life makes perfect sense as the plan of a psycho who saw his planet die because of overpopulation, when the solution was right there-- kill a bunch of people-- but those in power were afraid to do it. Granted, a loaded Infinity Gauntlet gives one new options, but if one's crazy mind is already fixated on what was once the only viable solution, well, crazy gon' crazy.

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Um. . .no.

"The universe is infinite. Which means there are probably an infinite number of planets capable of supporting life."
I don't think you understand what you just wrote. You have a flawed understanding of the ideas "infinty," and "support life," for starters.

"Which means, over time, they will all eventually develop life. Which means, over time, they'll all overpopulate."

Your first premise is unsupported. . .no idea why you decided that, but. . .no. Just. . .no. Every planet will NOT "eventually develop life." Look at our solar system, for starters. Then. . .you know what? No. Just No. If you don't get it, you don't get it.

"If not, and you do start moving people around, your solution doesn't take into account that most people don't want to be leave their home planet."
Irrelevant. Once you posit an infinite universe (I'm NOT, btw. . .but that's a Much longer discussion), Thanos' "solution" simply does NOT make mathematical sense. The logic goes out the window. Add in the fact that a being with ultimate power, confronted with a resource problem, chooses to KILL HALF THE UNIVERSE, as opposed to upping the resources, simply Does Not Make Sense, and you have a *severely* flawed movie.

You can bend over all you like trying to justify the plotline, but the bottom line is No logical contortions explain this fundamental flaw. If you have Ultimate Power, you don't NEED to "kill half the universe." The simple, "End Limited Resources," or "Increase Allocations of Everything Needed," or ANYTHING similar would be a much better finger-snap than "Kill One Half Of EVERYTHING." And if your justification is "it just didn't occur to him," give me a break. You can't sell the idea that it didn't occur to him in DECADES.

Sorry, but this is a change from the comics that simply doesn't work. A fascination with Death does. They should've just left it alone. . .instead, they tried to "humanize" Thanos. Admirable effort; complete failure.

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Maybe you don't understand what I wrote, but in all honesty, it's beside the point. Worth noting, however, is that Thanos states that the universe is finite. I trust him on that, as he live in the Marvel universe and we don't, so that makes the whole "move people around the universe" idea even less sound. However, the actual point is that he's a psycho, so all your alternate solutions are pointless. There's no "bending over to justify the plotline" involved. You're the one twisting and grasping to create a flaw where there is none.

You can ask why not bring balance to the universe through some other means, but that's a question that ignores human (titane?) nature. When Thanos acquired the power to do as he long desired, he did what most megalomaniacs would do in the situation-- he went with what he'd always believed is the right thing to do. People don't change just because they get rich or powerful. Whether it's politics, religion, or any other deeply held beliefs, most people stick with what they believe no matter what, and if they achieve the power to impose those beliefs on others, they don't suddenly become benevolent or open-minded.

Thanos was the most realistically depicted villain I've seen in a long, long time.

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Thanos was a fine villain. But as far as his solution being a reasonable one....
in order to create a sustainable life solution, you need education, not murder of half of population.

Our planet's population has tripled over the past 70 years. If Thanos wants to keep life 'flourishing' - he'll have to commit genocide every 50 years or so. That's a lot of bodies.

Anyways, life, as it were - does have a solution to overpopulation. Overpopulated world die naturally - that's the basic solution. World's which do not have some sort of population control in place don't necessarily deserve to be 'saved' by a 50% population murder gimmick every 50 years. Thanos is punishing worlds which do have proper population controls in place as well as the worlds which are full of morons, and don't deserve saving from their own stupidity.

I don't mind his taking out half of people from the overpopulated worlds - but he's also taking out 50% of the intelligent worlds which do have the sense to implement population controls. That is dumb, criminal and inexcusable.

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So many reviewers and folks in movie forums keep calling Thanos "sociopathic" and/or "psychotic." As someone who has a master's degree in clinical psychology and 5+ years of field experience, I just can't help but briefly explore these assertions.

First, there is no real evidence to support a diagnosis of sociopathy, aka antisocial personality disorder. A key characteristic of this disorder is a disconnect from others and/or an inability to experience empathy. This was absolutely not true of Thanos. If it were true, he wouldn't have been able to obtain the soul stone, which required a sacrifice of that which he loved, and it brought him genuine anguish to make that sacrifice. He also displayed empathy and respect toward others multiple times throughout the film and demonstrated a relatively significant capacity to engage in self-reflection. These are generally not common attributes of those with antisocial personality disorder.

Second, I saw no real evidence to support the idea that Thanos is psychotic. No indicators of responding to intrusive internal stimuli. No evidence of hallucinations. No signs of psychosis.

You could perhaps argue that he has delusional beliefs. He believes that the universe needs balance in order for life to survive. He has evidence to support this belief in the form of a bad outcome that happened on his home planet, resulting in the unnecessary loss of countless lives. So his position is grounded in lived experience and he's definitely genuinely emotionally committed to it, but the flaw is he is using a fallacy in reasoning to justify his emotional generalization (based on his singular experience, ALL outcomes in the universe will be the same unless HE does something preemptively). The problem is this is EXTREMELY common and most of us do it. Experience and emotion are very powerful motivators.

There is hope for Thanos, but I think it would likely require quite a bit of therapy. #TeamThanos

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Yeah, and raccoons can't talk, so...

But seriously, though the layman's terminology may not make sense when put to scientific scrutiny, I think the gist of what people have been saying is that Thanos is like most humans, and presumably most Titans, in that he has deeply held beliefs regarding politics/religion/morality and so forth, and he isn't open to changing his mind.

Imagine someone vehemently pro-life or pro-choice, or for or against gun control, or with an opinion on any hotly contested issue. If they had a fully loaded Infinity Gauntlet at their disposal they'd not be open to considering that perhaps they're view is wrong, or open to interpretation, or anything other than "the way it's gonna be from here on out."

He's decided, based on life experience, that overpopulation and the scarcity of resources is the plague that will eventually destroy life an all planets, and that mercifully killing half the population at random will prevent an otherwise inevitable outcome.

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If you have reality altering powers and want to "cure" the problem of overpopulation, why kill half the universe rather than turning uninhabitable planets into habitable ones, make all food give more nourishment or a million other options in order to do so?

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Sure, if you're a rational, open-minded individual. However, if you lost your mind when you saw your planet die because of overpopulation, and have been fixated ever since on the only solution that was then viable, well... Thanos made his mind up a long time ago as to what he wants to do. Part of it as a solution, part of it as a stubborn act of retaliation against the universe. Like most psychopaths, he is unable to realize that what he's doing is "wrong," which in itself is a relative term.

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While most Marvel villains are forgettable, I think Marvel has had a few decent ones: Loki, Abomination, Zemo, Ego, Vulture, Killmonger, and Hela (I also thought Hammer was funny but he wasn't really a villain so much as a foil). Thanos is certainly great, though.

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As you said he cuts the populations only for them to grow again and then they'd have to be cut in half again. So what I think about Thanos, well he is developed but he is nuts and isn't into long term solutions and isn't into change. So I don't think Marvel has sorted its villain problem. Though I put this down to Thanos' has his basis back in the day where as villians like Killmonger is more recent.

But basically Thanos' whole plan even though it does deal with over population is not a long terms solution unless he's planning to stick around until the end of creation to be the one to cut the universe's population in half every few million years.

He hasn't told the universe why this has happened outside a very small group so to the majority of the universe doesn't get why half their population has turned to dust, so to them they've pissed off whatever deity they pray to. So Thanos may just have lead to the populations that is left to wig out and become suicidal and subject to religous wars that wipe out the majority that is left. Also it may push those planets into stagnation because what is the point to develop new tech if some mythic being comes out when they feel about it and destroy half the population of your world. Hell you may have some cleric telling people that any new development may piss this being off so lets kill all the inventors and engineers and put society back to the dark ages.

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Of course, he is nuts, he is a Villian after all, if he weren't nuts, he would probably be a hero, which he is if you asked him. He truly believes he's doing the right thing.

Yes, you are right, is not a long-term solution, he is an Eternal, so he can stick around for a while, and now that he has the Infinity Gauntlet, he can just snap his fingers every X millennia and get everything back to balance. I guess that's his plan form now on.

He does not need to tell anyone, some worlds may get pissed of to whatever deity they pray on, I don't think Thanos cares too much, which again he's a Villian he doesn't have to behave ethically. Otherwise, he'll be a hero. Perhaps some worlds will destroy themselves with civil war after that, and some will disappear, I guess Thanos would call them weak, and not think about it anymore. You are taking some specific conclusions about specific words, which not necessarily revoke the premise that Thanos is an excellent Villian fro MCU, yes words may get destroyed, people will die, and wars will start after the snap, but Thanos has accomplished his goal, overpopulation and saturation, by killing half the universe. I think for example the TV show "Leftovers" would be a good perspective of what would happen in semi-developed worlds that faced what Thanos has done, without knowing where it came from.

Your idea is that Thanos is not a good Villian because, even though it's well developed, "he is nuts and isn't into long-term solutions and isn't into change". As I said, of course, he is nuts. And perhaps, it's not a long-term solution (if you understand long-term as forever solution), even tough I think is pretty safe to say that he would only need to snap his fingers once in every thousand of millennia, to keep the goal, so in my opinion is a pretty long-term solution. It would require maintenance, but all solutions require maintenance.

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Sure Thanos can stick around but his plan as stated to Gamora was to half the population and then sit somewhere quiet. No mention of coming back and forth to ensure his 'balance' is kept. Last shot isn't him monitoring the universe and the fall out that is why I don't see him as a 'good' villain.

Killmonger, Loki, the Grandmaster and even Hela had long term plans even if they weren't sustainable. But they are all willing to be part of the reality they forge and have an idea of where they will be in it. Thanos' plan well, even though he's developed to me is akin to Ronan.

Because yeah, he does need to tell people. The chaos of New York shows that and even your comparison to the Leftovers show that as that was only about 3% disappearing if I remember rightly. Nations destablised, cults emerged. Now imagine 50% disappearing, not just on one world but all at differing stages of development. In real life you have examples of the same thing - look at the black death

So Thanos snapping his fingers to wipe out half the population will in end probably end in a lot more than half the population disappearing as the people left will go through major societal shifts that probably won't be done peacefully. Which means balance isn't achieved, Thanos' balance is an illusion that only exists in his own mind. Because think of the likes of the Sovereign in GoTG2, when they get their crap together they will want payback for half their prefect population disappearing or going to take advantage of it & they have the tech, will & ability to basically wipe out or take over other planets if they think that is a way to get it. So where is that balance?

To get real balance means hard work, little steps and long term reasoning - Tony turning to clean energy, Cap not being willing to fold to shifting political agendas, T'Challa opening up Wakanda, The ravagers being willing to work to a code that means they will protect planets if someone is too out there.

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I got the impression that he knows it will take time for people to bounce back but when they do, it will be better than it once was. His talk with Gamora indicated this. This is pure speculation on my part, but I think he also knows some people will be wiped out entirely. The Asgardians are as good as dead, let's face it. Meanwhile, Groot was apparently a rare species and he disappeared all the same. I think he's okay with some races disappearing in the grand scheme of things.

Sure, there are still flaws, but that's what makes him a villain. There were flaws in Killmonger's and Loki's plans but that didn't make them bad characters.

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Yeah there are flaws with Killmonger and Loki's plans but they seem better thought out than Thanos' and I say that because of his response to Gamora that he just plans to sit back and smile.

Because yes I think he simply thinks people will bounce back with time and sure he gets he will lose some species but I don't think he has thought about the scale of the chaos he has brought and how that means his idea of balance means nothing. His talk about Gamora's people having full bellies belies one fact - they know why half their population was culled - Thanos wanted it that way. They got an outside force came in, halfed their population, told them why and then left. They got it, were able to rationalise it, join together because they get the why.

Now think of the after credits scene in Infinity war and then extrapolate New York to the rest of the world as the people who truly know what is going on have been deemed criminals and are in an isolated country that most of the world knows nothing about. Now half the population just disappeared, what would happen? Governmental collapse and more fighting over who is too blame, why, resources for survival, is it God, which version of God, was the deaths due to the survivors being decided they weren't worthy? Or it was judgement on society being too decedent. Nuclear countries would see it as an attack on them and put into protocol strikes. Russia attacks US US attacks Russia and China, etc etc etc. Religious extremes rise in every religion and they go at each other because the majority of the people don't know why.

For Thanos to have balance he can't sit back, he needs to continually tinker with reality but that hasn't been shown in this film



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Loki's plans aren't really well thought out. He finds himself in different situations and makes decisions on the fly to what might suit him. He's wildly impulsive, which is why his plans go awry and it's what eventually got him killed. He's like the Joker. He's not a guy with a plan. He just does things.

As for Killmonger, you can say the same thing about his plan that you can about Thanos'. If he cares about his people, he should know that destabilizing Western powers will cause global catastrophes, particularly to the black people in the US who he is supposedly trying to help. That's before we get into how overly simplistic it is to just ship high-tech weapons to millions of people who are from vastly different countries, cultures, religions, languages, economic statuses, etc and except them all to do his bidding. It was ultimately a stupid idea. He was just blinded by his own idealism.

The same goes for Thanos. Of course his plan won't work. Of course it's insane. If he sat down and thought things through, he would probably cease to be a villain.

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I thought he was well written which was a nice change. Obviously he commands great power and is a worthy advisory. His motives were good as he believes he is doing something for the greater good or the right reasons. This is what makes him a great villain and the fact that the writers take the time to flesh out his character.

My only gripe is that we are supposed to believe that he loved Gamora and I just don't buy it. It felt forced just to move the plot along or a poor attempt to humanize him which didn't seem to fit his character.

I don't think there really is a MCU villain problem just bad character development, but he is certainly a great addition!

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I never believed in the whole MCU villain problem thing. Granted for the movies it took a while until we had a villain that many felt rivaled Loki (Killmonger), albeit personally I always found Red Skull to be fantastic. In general though, the majority of MCU villains, to me, have been decent to great. Perhaps a good number of them had so much more potential, especially in contrast to their comic book counterparts. Nevertheless, I think we’ve had some effective villains. I suppose I’m in the minority on this, but if it is a problem, then it’s hardly an MCU problem. A plethora of movies, including comic movies from other studios (the DCEU ones have just been abysmal), rarely have the greatest villains ever put on screen. But I digress.

When it comes to Thanos... WOW. I was blown away by him the first time I saw the film, and after seeing it several more times, I can unequivocally say he has become my favorite villain in a Marvel film, or any comic book film for that matter. As much as I adore Loki and admire a handful of villains from the shows (Kingpin, Kilgrave), in my honest opinion Thanos has taken the franchise to new heights (ok fine... maybe he’s tied with the devilishly charming Loki).

He is a powerhouse who’s unforgiving, vicious, more multi-dimensional than some of the beloved cbm villains we’ve seen, and his presence is downright intimidating. If his motives were too unbelievable or hackneyed to some, all I know is that he came off as anything but one-note. While his motives aren’t that clear-cut, nearly every “well-meaning” movie villain who wants to destroy civilizations can be a walking contradiction. This does not make them any less great as villains, thus Thanos is simply compelling to watch. I was so impressed by the Black Order as well. They were brilliant and I, for one, would have loved to see more of Ebony Maw and Proxima Midnight.

On a side note, did I forget to mention Thanos is “mostly” CGI? That makes his existence even more impressive. For all the jokes made about his appearance, they did a phenomenal job making him look ...real. His movements looked natural and just the level of detail that went into designing him is some of the greatest I have ever seen. I also respect how sinister and yet oddly - and appropriately - humane Josh Brolin made him. There was more to Thanos than meets the eyes, and Brolin perfectly brought a lot of emotion to the role.

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