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TL;DR I think he’s a poorly written villain. He did a whole lot wrong, and did so from egotistical motives. He’s much more evil than most give him credit. He kinda reminded me of a big purple Elliott Rodger. I get that that’s a hot take.
We had a thread earlier this year when Thanos came up. In it, I saw pretty consistent sentiment that supported the ever-popular “Thanos did nothing wrong” line of thinking.
Being an alive human connected to the grid in the 21st century, I had heard much about the Marvel movies; but never really cared about cheap (in the sense that they’re not particularly well written and are mainly cash grabs getting people to stare mindlessly at explosions and powers and attractive people in tights, never learning anything) superhero/comic movies and ignored them for the most part. Then Infinity War and Endgame happened, and the frenzy grew to a fever pitch. I read about MCU Thanos, and was not impressed at all regarding his motive or MO.
So, when my girl and I got Disney plus, I figured enough was enough; I’m gonna analyze this character and see what the deal is. I watched 9 movies that were relevant to Infinity War, then of course watched it and Endgame.
I posit that Thanos was never acting particularly benevolently; nor do I believe he was acting as regretfully as some scenes try to depict, such as the sacrifice of his daughter. He wasn’t trying to save anybody; and his evocation of “fairness” within an explicitly genocidal plan is despicable. He alleges/implies he is prepared to die along with everyone else with his snap; but this is just as much a cowardly way out of dealing with the actual long-term consequences (or at least long-term futility) of what murdering half the universe would entail.
In the thread I mentioned above, I posited that my favorite anti-villain, Madara Uchiha, is a far better character with far better development, far better motive, and far better overall plan. His plan was to cast a spell onto the moon so that it would hypnotize all who saw it ie the whole world, and everyone would each enter their own eternal dream-like world where there were no losers or loss; a world without the endless cycle of hatred and vengeance. This character grew up in a quasi-feudal society where clans warred constantly, such that eventually the children of his generation were thrust into combat; and brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, were lost before they could live any real life. His eight year old younger brother died in his arms when he himself was about 12. Madara wanted to end the cycle of conflict and, while his plan was to a degree illogical and understandably not accepted by the protagonists, I believe it reflected a much purer motive.
This quote sums up his motive:
“Wake up to reality! Nothing ever goes as planned in this world. The longer you live, the more you realize that in this reality, only pain, suffering, and futility exist. In this world, wherever there is light - there are also shadows. When a man learns to love, he must bear the risk of hatred. As long as the concept of winners exists, there must also be losers. The selfish desire of wanting to maintain peace causes wars, and hatred is born to protect love. Human beings are nothing but a medium of the general process of carrying out life. They do want to live in peace, but want to win it over by war because ultimately victory is what brings them peace.”
Thanos surely experienced tragedy; but his response to the whole series of events was really a rage over people not recognizing what he saw as his intellectual superiority. His idea to murder half his planet to prevent starvation was frankly child-like; a basic AI system would come up with something better (you could argue Ultron’s logic was better), and would likely be able to extrapolate the real long-term outcomes of the plan that were clouded from Thanos’ egotistical judgment. There was no evidence that it would work; and, when he was rejected and his planet eventually succumbed, he simply assumed he had been right and prosperity would have been achieved had they just listened to me and blindly accepted my brilliance. Resentment of those who had rejected him festered; “Fine, I’ll do it myself”.
Thanos frequently tried to frame what he was doing as something he didn’t particularly want to do; but had moments of clear bloodlust during the events of the MCU. While Madara displayed moments of bloodlust against those who opposed him, it made sense, because he was fighting in wars before and long after puberty; it’s all he ever knew. Thanos, on the other hand, relished in violence now and then because he refused to deal with rejection of his intelligence, and acted out of resentment towards his opponents. He took his frustrations with his species out on the rest of the universe.
I would love to discuss further, if anyone has any significant counter points. We can also discuss if Thanos’s plan would have actually worked long-term.
We had a thread earlier this year when Thanos came up. In it, I saw pretty consistent sentiment that supported the ever-popular “Thanos did nothing wrong” line of thinking.
Being an alive human connected to the grid in the 21st century, I had heard much about the Marvel movies; but never really cared about cheap (in the sense that they’re not particularly well written and are mainly cash grabs getting people to stare mindlessly at explosions and powers and attractive people in tights, never learning anything) superhero/comic movies and ignored them for the most part. Then Infinity War and Endgame happened, and the frenzy grew to a fever pitch. I read about MCU Thanos, and was not impressed at all regarding his motive or MO.
So, when my girl and I got Disney plus, I figured enough was enough; I’m gonna analyze this character and see what the deal is. I watched 9 movies that were relevant to Infinity War, then of course watched it and Endgame.
I posit that Thanos was never acting particularly benevolently; nor do I believe he was acting as regretfully as some scenes try to depict, such as the sacrifice of his daughter. He wasn’t trying to save anybody; and his evocation of “fairness” within an explicitly genocidal plan is despicable. He alleges/implies he is prepared to die along with everyone else with his snap; but this is just as much a cowardly way out of dealing with the actual long-term consequences (or at least long-term futility) of what murdering half the universe would entail.
In the thread I mentioned above, I posited that my favorite anti-villain, Madara Uchiha, is a far better character with far better development, far better motive, and far better overall plan. His plan was to cast a spell onto the moon so that it would hypnotize all who saw it ie the whole world, and everyone would each enter their own eternal dream-like world where there were no losers or loss; a world without the endless cycle of hatred and vengeance. This character grew up in a quasi-feudal society where clans warred constantly, such that eventually the children of his generation were thrust into combat; and brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, were lost before they could live any real life. His eight year old younger brother died in his arms when he himself was about 12. Madara wanted to end the cycle of conflict and, while his plan was to a degree illogical and understandably not accepted by the protagonists, I believe it reflected a much purer motive.
This quote sums up his motive:
“Wake up to reality! Nothing ever goes as planned in this world. The longer you live, the more you realize that in this reality, only pain, suffering, and futility exist. In this world, wherever there is light - there are also shadows. When a man learns to love, he must bear the risk of hatred. As long as the concept of winners exists, there must also be losers. The selfish desire of wanting to maintain peace causes wars, and hatred is born to protect love. Human beings are nothing but a medium of the general process of carrying out life. They do want to live in peace, but want to win it over by war because ultimately victory is what brings them peace.”
Thanos surely experienced tragedy; but his response to the whole series of events was really a rage over people not recognizing what he saw as his intellectual superiority. His idea to murder half his planet to prevent starvation was frankly child-like; a basic AI system would come up with something better (you could argue Ultron’s logic was better), and would likely be able to extrapolate the real long-term outcomes of the plan that were clouded from Thanos’ egotistical judgment. There was no evidence that it would work; and, when he was rejected and his planet eventually succumbed, he simply assumed he had been right and prosperity would have been achieved had they just listened to me and blindly accepted my brilliance. Resentment of those who had rejected him festered; “Fine, I’ll do it myself”.
Thanos frequently tried to frame what he was doing as something he didn’t particularly want to do; but had moments of clear bloodlust during the events of the MCU. While Madara displayed moments of bloodlust against those who opposed him, it made sense, because he was fighting in wars before and long after puberty; it’s all he ever knew. Thanos, on the other hand, relished in violence now and then because he refused to deal with rejection of his intelligence, and acted out of resentment towards his opponents. He took his frustrations with his species out on the rest of the universe.
I would love to discuss further, if anyone has any significant counter points. We can also discuss if Thanos’s plan would have actually worked long-term.