10 Movie Post-Credits Scenes That Lied

The original Avengers movie of course ends with the superhero supergroup repelling the Chitauri's attempted invasion of Earth.

In the mid-credits scene, we see their leader, the Other (Alexis Denisof), telling Thanos (Damion Poitier) that "to challenge them is to court death."

While a superficial reading of the scene would simply suggest that the Other was telling Thanos that they severely underestimated humanity's ability to fend off an impending force, that's really not all that's being said.

Joss Whedon being a huge comic book fan and all, he was also clearly nodding towards the fact that, in the comics, Thanos' quest to annihilate half of all life in the universe was motivated by his desire to impress Mistress Death, the living embodiment of death.

The choice of words - "court Death" - was evidently deliberate on Whedon's part, to hint at Mistress Death's impending arrival.

But ultimately no solid plan for Thanos' arc in the Marvel Cinematic Universe had yet been nailed down, so the wording was vague enough that it gave everyone involved plausible deniability when they ultimately ditched this part of the lore.

In the end, the Russo brothers decided that, after much deliberation, Mistress Death was too risky a character to implement, especially with Avengers: Infinity War already having to juggle so many other characters.

They opted to streamline Thanos' story by removing Death entirely, and while it may have upset comic book purists hoping to see her in live-action form, the Russos certainly got away with the change where more casual audiences are concerned.