The Dark Evolution Of The MCU's Thanos

1. Avengers: Infinity War And Endgame

It's tempting to posit a theory that Thanos was a misunderstood hero. In actual fact, lots of people did in the wake of Infinity War. They saw his intent to rebalance the universe as the will of a good man that has been twisted into extremism. They would say that Thanos and Tony Stark are very similar characters and that their paths could be the same as both are intent on saving the universe no matter what it takes. They're both extremists, but their goals are fundamentally good.

But that's not entirely true, because that presumption is no more than a misunderstanding of his evolution across the entire MCU. And it's one we were encouraged to believe because of the genius of the Russos and their writing team. They made Thanos the main character in Infinity War and they made him perversely sympathetic. But there's no getting around the fact that he is also a megalomaniac with a messiah complex who delights in genocide and whose crimes against his own family are unspeakable.

As the Russos revealed after Infinity War came out, the sympathy you felt was no more than a trick. A horribly effective trick designed to add even more depth to the most complex villain the MCU had ever seen, who somewhat incredibly had started out as a one dimensional Big Boss figure.

Infinity War is the gloss on the complex, twisting building process that went into Thanos. When you begin to realise that his mentality is not merely to save the universe, you can begin to understand more of what the Russos meant about his messiah complex and why he is in no way a hero.

Thanos didn't pull the Decimation off because he wanted to be a good guy. He did it because he is a sociopath who was thwarted in his attempt to save Titan. That's why he didn't use the Stones to double the resources in the universe. As Joe Russo confirmed, his epiphany about getting the Stones and wiping out half of existence came when the Titans turned on him:

“Well, he was told ‘no’ to an idea that he had that he felt was the only solution, and then was proved right to himself when that solution was not acted upon. So his messianic complex — he is now committed to following through on the idea he had many many years ago. He is not a stable — although he appears stable at times, he is not a stable individual.”

He is fundamentally morally bankrupt. He doesn't believe that genocide is even something to consider when it comes to proving himself right. And while he's changed massively as a character since Joss Whedon first introduced him, it fits that this is the same character who was aroused by the idea of "courting death" and who treated his daughters like ants to be tortured with a magnifying glass. Even as he has evolved, the essential ideas that drove the character - that he is rotten to the core, have never changed. Just as surely as his big purple chin has remained the same.

The final evolution of Thanos is arguably the most intriguing of all. After Infinity War, Thanos is a redundant gunslinger, living in retirement. He might have achieved what he set out to do, but everything that we know about him beneath his apparent desire to save the universe suggests he is not a man bred for inaction. He is a war machine, plain and simple and the idea of him being put out to pasture, even on his own terms, does not match that psychological profile.

If he's got time to kill, he'll wish that's exactly what he was doing. Torture is his sport. Murder is his hobby. And while it's also tempting to think of him as a wounded animal running away from the Avengers in Endgame, the reality is that this will be EXACTLY what he wants.

Let's see how it ends...