10 Perplexing Comic Book Questions Solved By The Internet

6. Why Hasn't Thanos Destroyed Everything Already?

One of the few criticisms the otherwise-beloved Marvel Cinematic Universe - that is, the big screen adaptations of their comic books - has received so far is that it's big bad isn't particularly big or bad. Well, he's tall, but otherwise he just looks like the older kid from The Goonies with some fairground face paint on. This Thanos dude is meant to be one of the most fearsome people in the universe, and yet so far all we've seen him do is grin menacingly at the end of The Avengers, and then be pretty ineffectual at bossing around main bad guy Ronan in Guardians Of The Galaxy. Seems like a bit of a shiftless, useless so-and-so.

That's because, just like in the comics, he's biding his time to gain the Infinity Stones and level the universe but, well, Thanos is already pretty powerful. That's how he already has such a bad reputation throughout the cosmos, and why he can boss people around to go collect these gems of ineffable power whilst he sits around all day. So why does he need the Stones anyway? Why doesn't he rule the universe anyway? According to the internet, turns out it's all because of his own anxiety. He doesn't really want to win. He doesn't think he deserves it. He's a superpowered space despot, but he's riddled with insecurities. He's "the physical incarnation of defeat and self-destruction", and part of that involves foiling his own plans. Sorry if we just spoilt the end of Avengers 3.