8 Comic Book Villains Whose Own Desires Are Their Downfall
2. Thanos
By now, you’re likely well-versed with the antics of Marvel Comics’ famed Mad Titan. Even if you’re not a comic book reader, the ever-expanding MCU has brought Thanos to glorious big-screen life and made him into one of the greatest villains in the history of cinema.
Regardless of which medium you’re familiar with Thanos through, the general crux of his biggest moment is the exact same: one finger snap wipes out half the population of the entire universe.
The logic behind this plan was that the sudden loss of population will free up greater resources to be used amongst those left alive. Like many a great desire, though, the endgame of this maybe doesn’t make all that much sense.
Even ignoring the fact that Thanos’ use of the Infinity Gauntlet ultimately caused his own suffering and eventual death, his plan was flawed from the get-go.
Removing half of the population doesn’t stop natural resources being finite. Eventually, things will run out. Added to that, many famed strategists and thinkers believe that smaller numbers of people leads to greater generosity – meaning people won’t be as strict or stingy with their resources.
Then, of course, there’s the fact that reproduction moves at a faster rate than death. So sure, Thanos’ plan might initially work in the extremely short-term, but then it’s totally out of the window and his desires were all for nought - even leading to his own death.