Avengers: Infinity War - How Spider-Man Perfectly Foreshadowed Thanos' Danger In Civil War

"...And that makes you dangerous."

Spider Man Thanos
Marvel Studios

Though there's precious little time left now, going back and rewatching the entire MCU ahead of Infinity War's release is definitely a worthwhile idea. There's so much detail in the establishing films that it's way too easy to miss important hints that can reveal some of the thinking behind the story direction for the upcoming ensemble. (Luckily, we did the hard work for you here).

We've already heard that Civil War hid a detail in its opening act that will "explain" the time travel element of Avengers 4 (thanks to Tony Stark's BARF technology), but there's something else in the film's big revelation that offers a parallel to Thanos.

Even though he's a world-crushing Titan who wishes to wipe out half of existence, Thanos and Civil War's villain Helmut Zemo are kindred spirits. In fact, the film's approach to Zemo is arguably one of the most important foundation stones in the way Infinity War will present the Mad Titan. He won't be the grotesque, pantomime villain seeking the affections of Death that he was in the comics - instead, he will be just like Zemo, a man driven by personal justification that he believes makes him right.

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It's the same approach, in fact, that made Black Panther's Killmonger so great and we can probably expect to see similarly nuanced villains in the future of MCU movies. They work a hell of a lot better than the likes of Malekith and Ronan, after all.

Anyway, in Infinity War, we know that Thanos is intent on saving the universe from itself, no matter what the cost, and that he will be a more interesting villain than we've ever seen because of the marriage of his convictions, his morality and the more traditional cartoonish pointers of his evil. Fundamentally, he believes he is right, and that makes him the most dangerous villain we've seen, just as it did for Killmonger.

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And doesn't that little assessment sound familiar? It should, it's exactly what Spider-Man tells Captain America that Tony Stark has told him in his pre-Avengers mission briefing when the pair come face to face at the German airport.

Cap: "Did Stark tell anything else?"
Spider-Man: "That you're wrong. You think you're right. And that makes you dangerous."

Nothing is accidental in the MCU and it looks like Spidey foreshadowed just how dangerous Thanos would be - particularly to Tony Stark - when he eventually arrives in Infinity War. Pretty damn clever.

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