10 Movie Villains Totally Ruined In The Sequels

1. Thanos - Avengers: Endgame

The Original

After over five years of build-up, Thanos (Josh Brolin) finally got his coming-out party in Avengers: Infinity War, and though many feared that the Mad Titan would end up an overly simplistic CGI-addled antagonist after such a long wait, the Russos and Josh Brolin ended up delivering the MCU's finest villain to date.

Between his compelling yet misguided motivations and the unexpectedly nuanced nature of his character development - yes, he even cries at one point - Thanos was far more than a generic digital antagonist for the Avengers. And above all else, he actually won.

The Sequel

Avengers: Endgame is a great movie, but it's also fair to say that its presentation of Thanos was rather underwhelming. The Mad Titan is killed off less than 20 minutes into the movie, after which 2014 Thanos becomes the primary antagonist for the remainder.

But of course, past Thanos lacks the knowledge and experience of his future self, and so he comes off as a decidedly weaker threat both physically and mentally than he was in Infinity War.

For all intents and purposes past Thanos is effectively a different character, and he can't help but feel like a step back from the far more tenacious and interesting Mad Titan from Infinity War.

It's a tough spot given the time travel-centric nature of the narrative and the film's greater focus on the original Avengers, but it honestly might've made more dramatic sense for Thanos to just exit the movie after being decapitated. Instead, we were given a watered down alternate for the rest of the film.