Why Thanos Isn’t Dead

Few villains have managed quite the impression that Thanos did when he featured as the major villain of Infinity War. We had seen him before in several small appearances, sure, but he was rendered in less impressive form for all of those, with each of them essentially serving to tease him as a big deal in the universe.

And prove a big deal he did, all the way up until his defeat at the climax of phase four, which saw him both beheaded and then destroyed by the same Gauntlet he'd used to try and wipe out half of all life.

And he did die. In fact, he died twice, if you want to get technical about it. But a question has continually popped up since Endgame's release a whopping year ago: will he stay dead? How could he come back - and what are the chances he will?

Now, initially it might sound supremely obvious. Endgame made it pretty clear that, if anyone was dumb enough to play with timeline events involving the Mad Titan, we'd probably see him back yet again.

But that's low-hanging fruit, and you've probably already worked it out for yourself. So let's get into the big leagues.

Thanos has died more times in Marvel comics than you have seen him used in memes - which is to say, a whole damn lot. He's died at least seven times in the canon comics, and a whole heaping load more in spin-offs and series in alternate universes. Again, this doesn't initially sound all that impressive - what villain hasn't played on the seesaw that is dying in comics, right? Well, the big deal isn't that he died and came back - it's how he came back.

Namely, it's that he's died every way the Snap could be seen to have taken him out, and has still come back to rub his wrinkly purple chin on everything you love.

With both of these facts in mind, there's a very real possibility that our canon MCU universe will be invaded by one of these Thanos...es. Thani? Anyways.