Social:Thanos (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

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Short description: Character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Thanos
Marvel Cinematic Universe character
Thanos on his home planet of Titan portrayed by Josh Brolin in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) via motion and facial capture
Thanos as portrayed by Josh Brolin via motion capture in Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
First appearanceThe Avengers (2012)
Last appearanceAvengers: Endgame (2019)
Based onScript error: No such module "Based on".
Adapted by
Portrayed byJosh Brolin
Voiced byJosh Brolin (What If...?)
Motion captureDamion Poitier (The Avengers)
Information
AliasThe Mad Titan
SpeciesTitan
Affiliation
  • Children of Thanos
  • Chitauri
  • Sakaarans
  • Outriders
Weapon
  • Infinity Gauntlet
  • Double-sided sword
Family
  • A'lars (father)
  • Eros (brother)
Children
  • Gamora (adoptive daughter)
  • Nebula (adoptive daughter)
  • Corvus Glaive (adoptive son)
  • Cull Obsidian (adoptive son)
  • Ebony Maw (adoptive son)
  • Proxima Midnight (adoptive daughter)
Home
  • Titan
  • Garden

Thanos is a fictional character portrayed primarily by Josh Brolin in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise, based on the Marvel Comics supervillain of the same name. Thanos is depicted as an alien warlord from the doomed planet Titan with a universe-spanning agenda to wipe out half of all life to stabilize overpopulation and prevent what he views as life's inevitable extinction. To do this, he sets out to obtain the six Infinity Stones, cosmic gems with the power to achieve his goal. With the help of his adopted children, Thanos fights against the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and their allies, in the Infinity War, succeeds in assembling the Stones, and disintegrates half of all life in the universe in an event that is known as the Blip. After escaping to the Garden and destroying the Stones, he is eventually killed by Thor. Five years later, an alternate version of Thanos from 2014 time travels to 2023 to battle the Avengers once again, but is killed by Tony Stark.

Thanos is a key figure in the 23 films that make up the MCU's Infinity Saga, having appeared in five of its films, most notably Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Several versions of Thanos from alternate realities in the MCU multiverse also appear in Endgame, the Disney+ animated series What If...? (2021–present), and the Phase Four film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022).

Thanos' appearance changed drastically over the course of his appearances as advances in CGI and motion capture technology allowed for better capture of Brolin's facial features. A new facial capture application called Masquerade was created for Infinity War and Endgame using machine learning. The character has been well-received by critics and fans alike, with Brolin winning multiple awards for his performance. Thanos is often credited as one of the MCU's best villains, as well as one of the greatest film villains of all time. After his appearance in Infinity War, he became a key figure in popular culture and memes, making appearances in a variety of other media.

Fictional character biography

Thanos' story in the MCU takes place in the Earth-616 universe.[lower-alpha 2] The fictional biography below includes events that happened to Thanos from more than one Earth-616 timeline, as well as events that happened to him from multiple other universes.

Early life

Thanos was born approximately 1,000 years ago on the planet Titan to A'Lars, along with his brother Eros.[1][2] Eventually Thanos comes to realize that the growth of Titan's population will inevitably result in its downfall due to a lack of resources, and so he proposes to kill half of the planet's population at random. However, his people reject his solution as pure madness and cast him out. Over time, Thanos' prediction comes to pass, and he witnesses the death of his people until he and Eros are the only surviving members of the Titan race.[2][3][4]

Balancing the universe

Thanos concludes that other planets would eventually suffer the same fate as Titan, and believes that it is his destiny to eliminate half of the universe's population so that the survivors may thrive. To realize his plan, he takes command of a warship, the Sanctuary II, and embarks on a campaign of conquest involving the mass killing of half the population of planets. He becomes greatly feared for his power and influence. Thanos also takes control of various armies, including the Chitauri, the Sakaarans, and the Outriders,[5][6][3] and forges alliances with the Other and Ronan the Accuser. He occasionally adopts orphan children from planets he invades, including Gamora, Nebula, Ebony Maw, Corvus Glaive, Cull Obsidian, and Proxima Midnight. Thanos gives special attention to Gamora, whom he considers his favorite.[6] Eventually Thanos learns of the six Infinity Stones and, realizing he could use them to wipe out half the life in the universe in an instant, makes it his mission to collect them. The first one he obtains, at some time before 2012, is the Mind Stone, which he places in a scepter.[5]

In 2012, Thanos directs the Other to form an alliance with Loki, and provides him with the Mind Stone scepter and the Chitauri army to subjugate Earth in exchange for the retrieval of the Space Stone within the Tesseract. Following Loki's defeat by the Avengers and the loss of the Mind Stone, the Other reports on the failed attack on Earth to Thanos.[5] In 2014, Thanos locates the Power Stone and sends Ronan, Gamora, and Nebula to retrieve it. However, all three betray him: Gamora joins the Guardians of the Galaxy, Ronan decides to keep the Power Stone for himself and renounces his alliance with Thanos, and Nebula sides with Ronan when he vows to kill Thanos after destroying Xandar. The Guardians of the Galaxy defeat Ronan and leave the Power Stone with the Nova Corps.[6] In 2015, Thanos arrives on Nidavellir and forces the native Dwarves to forge the Infinity Gauntlet to hold all six Stones, before killing all of them, except for Eitri.[3][7] Thanos is angered at his recruits' failures, so he dons the Gauntlet and vows to find the Stones himself.[8]

The Blip

In 2018, Thanos is accompanied by his children Ebony Maw, Corvus Glaive, Cull Obsidian, and Proxima Midnight, as they decimate Xandar to retrieve the Power Stone. Shortly after, they intercept the Statesman, carrying Asgardian refugees following their world's destruction, and Thanos kills half of them, while also incapacitating Thor. Thanos attempts to barter the Tesseract from Loki in exchange for Thor's life, but Thanos is attacked by the Hulk, whom he easily defeats. Heimdall is then killed by Thanos after saving Hulk. Thanos then destroys the Tesseract, obtaining the Space Stone inside, and orders his children to retrieve the Mind Stone and Time Stone from Earth before rendezvousing with him on Titan. After killing Loki, Thanos destroys the Statesman, and teleports himself and his children away, unknowingly leaving Thor alive.[3]

Thanos travels to Knowhere and obtains the Reality Stone from Taneleer Tivan. The Guardians of the Galaxy: Peter Quill, Drax, Mantis, and Gamora arrive to try and stop him. Thanos uses the Reality Stone to quickly defeat them before capturing Gamora and teleporting away with her. Knowing she had learned the location of the Soul Stone, he coerces her into revealing it to him in exchange for sparing Nebula, whom he has captured and has been torturing. Thanos and Gamora travel to Vormir, where the Soul Stone's keeper, Johann Schmidt, informs them that the Soul Stone requires the sacrifice of a loved one, requiring Thanos to tearfully throw Gamora off a cliff to her death.[3]

Thanos arrives on Titan expecting to meet Ebony Maw, but instead encounters Stephen Strange and learns that Maw has been killed. Thanos is then ambushed by Tony Stark, Peter Parker, Quill, Drax, and Mantis. A battle ensues, and Nebula also arrives to fight him. Thanos is briefly incapacitated by their combined efforts but before Stark and Parker can remove the Infinity Gauntlet from his hand, Nebula realizes that he murdered Gamora, leading Quill to impulsively attack him in a fit of rage. Thanos breaks free of their hold and overpowers them. After stabbing Stark, he prepares to kill him, but is stopped by Strange, who barters the Time Stone in exchange for sparing Stark's life.[3]

In Wakanda, Cull Obsidian, Proxima Midnight, and Corvus Glaive launch an invasion, but fail to retrieve the Mind Stone and perish in the ensuing battle. Thanos teleports to Wakanda and encounters resistance from the Avengers and their allies: Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff, Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, James Rhodes, T'Challa, Okoye, Rocket, and Groot. He effortlessly overpowers them as he prepares to take the Mind Stone from Vision. Wanda Maximoff is able to hold him off for a few moments as she kills Vision in order to destroy the Mind Stone. However, Thanos uses the Time Stone to reverse her actions; he tears the Mind Stone from Vision's head, killing him. Thanos knocks Maximoff out and places the final Stone in his Gauntlet. However, he is pierced in the chest by Thor's axe, Stormbreaker. Badly wounded, Thanos is taunted by a vengeful Thor but manages to snap his fingers, successfully decimating half of all life in the universe. With his mission complete, he teleports away to the Garden, where he rests.[3]

Death

Twenty-three days later, Thanos, now living on the Garden, is ambushed by Rogers, Romanoff, Thor, Rhodes, Banner, Carol Danvers, Rocket, and Nebula who seek to obtain the Stones to reverse his actions. They manage to subdue him and Thor cuts off his left arm, only to find the Gauntlet empty. Thanos reveals that he used the Stones to destroy the Stones in order to avoid the temptation of using them further and to prevent his mission from ever being undone, prompting Thor to decapitate him.[9]

Legacy within Earth-616

Thanos' actions have a universal impact, and the surviving Avengers work to quell the chaos he caused on Earth and other planets until finally undoing his actions five years later in 2023.[9] Maximoff has flashbacks of Thanos deactivating Vision, and in her extreme grief, has a mental breakdown and unknowingly creates a false reality.[10] Ajak, leader of the Eternals, informs Ikaris that when Thanos erased half of all life in the universe, he inadvertently delayed an apocalyptic event called the Emergence, saving the Earth and many other planets from complete destruction.[11] She further explains that when the Avengers restored the population, it created the necessary conditions for the Emergence, but also convinces her that the Earth deserves saving. After the Eternals stop the Emergence and some of them prepare to locate others of their kind spread across the universe, their ship is boarded by Eros, brother of Thanos.[2]

The sudden return of the population has a drastic impact as well, such as on Earth, where its governments attempt to reintegrate the Blipped population. This creates socio-economic conflicts and entities like the Flag Smashers who believe that Thanos was right. They feel that life was better during the Blip and use terrorism against the Global Repatriation Council because they feel that the GRC cares more about the people who returned than the ones who were not Blipped.[12] Additionally, the phrase "Thanos was right" is observed in popular human culture. People graffiti the phrase in public spaces and use it on merchandise for profit.[13][14][15] In New Asgard, Valkyrie and Miek attend the grand opening of "Infinity Conez" which sells ice cream cones with candy around the top of the ice cream to represent each Infinity Stone.[16][17]

Battle at the Avengers Compound

In an alternate 2014, Thanos, after conquering a planet, dispatches Gamora and Nebula to Ronan's ship to retrieve the Power Stone. However, he becomes aware of the Avengers using time travel when Nebula alerts him to the arrival of her future self. Thanos then extracts the memories of 2023-Nebula via 2014-Nebula's consciousness. He learns that his future self succeeded and that the Avengers killed him, and are attempting to undo his work. He has the 2014-Nebula impersonate her future self and travel to 2023 so that she can use the Quantum Realm to bring Thanos and his army there.[9]

The Avengers successfully obtain the Stones and revive Thanos' victims in 2023. Immediately afterward, Thanos, within his ship Sanctuary II, exits the Quantum Realm and opens fire on the Avengers Compound, destroying it. While his army searches for the Stones, Thanos engages in an intense fight with Stark, Rogers, and Thor, during which he declares that the Avengers' mission to undo his deceased future self's work has hardened his resolve, and that for the universe to be truly balanced, all of existence must be destroyed, rebuilt anew, and repopulated with life that only knows gratitude.[9]

Thanos defeats Stark and Thor, leaving only Rogers left standing. He calls forth his entire army but the restored Avengers, Guardians, Wakandan and Asgardian armies, the Masters of the Mystic Arts, and the Ravagers arrive and engage Thanos and his army in a final battle. After a struggle, Thanos obtains the Stark Nano Gauntlet, but Stark is able to distract him long enough to steal back the Stones from the gauntlet. The warlord can only watch on as Stark snaps his fingers. Though Thanos and his army are erased from existence, and it ends in the Avengers' winning the battle, using the Nano Gauntlet also resulted in Stark losing his life.[9]

Alternate versions

Other versions of Thanos are depicted in the alternate realities of the MCU multiverse.

Joining the Ravagers

Thanos in the Disney+ series What If...? episode "What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?", voiced by Josh Brolin
Thanos as depicted in animated form in the Disney+ series What If...?, voiced by Josh Brolin

In an alternate reality, Star-Lord T'Challa convinces Thanos to change his ways and join the Ravagers by claiming that there are other ways to preserve the universe's known resources. Thanos participates in their mission against the Collector in 2008 where he fights Cull Obsidian and Proxima Midnight. In this reality, the pair are no longer at his service after the Collector fills the power vacuum and becomes the kingpin of the intergalactic underworld after Thanos joins the Ravagers. Instead, they become the Collector's private security force along with Ebony Maw and Corvus Glaive. Thanos struggles in the fight, but Nebula comes to help him, and together they defeat Cull Obsidian and Proxima Midnight.[18]

Other universes

In an alternate 2018, Thanos arrives on Earth in Wakanda with a nearly complete Infinity Gauntlet, but is infected by a quantum virus and transforms into a zombie.[19] In another alternate universe, Thanos arrives on Earth to retrieve the Mind Stone after collecting the other Infinity Stones, but is swiftly killed by Ultron who uses a laser attack to slice him in half.[20] In a separate reality, Thanos is killed by Gamora who claims his warlord position, armor, and blade.[21][lower-alpha 3] On Earth-838, another alternate universe, Thanos is killed on Titan by the Illuminati, who use the power of the Book of Vishanti to impale him with his own double-sided sword.[23]

Concept and creation

Background and development

Jim Starlin conceived Thanos during a college psychology course and introduced him as a villain in The Invincible Iron Man #55 (February 1973). Thanos was based on the Freudian concept of Thanatos, more commonly referred to as the death drive. Thanatos in Greek mythology was the personification of death and Thanos has been featured pursuing the female personification of Death.[24][25] In the comics, Thanos is a mutant member of the race of superhumans known as the Titanian Eternals. The character possesses abilities common to the Eternals, and is able to demonstrate invulnerability and superhuman strength, speed, and stamina, among other qualities.[26]

Casting and appearances

Josh Brolin at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con wielding a model Infinity Gauntlet
Josh Brolin wielding a model Infinity Gauntlet at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con

Thanos made his MCU debut in The Avengers (2012), in which Damion Poitier portrayed the character and was only credited as Man #1.[27] It was Joss Whedon's idea to include Thanos in the film as his only instructions from Kevin Feige were that the film's villains should be aliens, and the rest was up to Whedon.[28] In May 2014, Josh Brolin signed a multi-film contract to portray Thanos, debuting in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Thanos was originally going to have a larger role in the film, but Whedon felt that the character needed to be introduced to the franchise gradually.[29] Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely stated that Thanos' previous appearances in the franchise helped legitimize him as a threat prior to Avengers: Infinity War (2018). Despite this, little screen time had been devoted to Thanos' history and motivations. Markus stated, "We don't get an element of surprise [with his introduction in Infinity War]... You can count on a lot of scenes where we illuminate a lot about him very early", with McFeely adding, "It is incumbent upon us to give him a real story, real stakes, real personality, and a real point of view".[30]

Infinity War went through numerous story iterations, and over the course of development Thanos' presence in the film grew. VFX supervisor Dan Deleeuw noted "Thanos went from supporting villain to one of the main characters driving the plot".[31] In one draft, the film was told directly from Thanos' perspective with him serving as narrator.[32] Exploring more of Thanos' backstory via flashbacks was considered at one point, but only concept art was created and no scenes were filmed involving a younger Thanos.[33] Despite leading the cast in screen time in Infinity War[34] and being considered the main character of the film by many, Thanos had a secondary role in Avengers: Endgame (2019). McFeely explained "we had to give ourselves permission to backseat the villain [...] You're rolling around in the loss and the time heist, and you think it's sort of Avengers against nature".[35] Joe Russo stated that after Thanos was successful in Infinity War, he is now "done. He did it. He's retired".[36] Since at the end of Infinity War Thanos had acquired the enormously powerful Infinity Stones, Markus and McFeely had difficulty deciding how to include him in the plot of Endgame until executive producer Trinh Tran suggested that they kill Thanos in the film's first act.[37] Markus explained that the character's early death "reinforced Thanos' agenda. He was done ... it was like, 'If I've got to die, I can die now'".[37]

Footage of Thanos killing Loki in Infinity War is shown in a scene of the first episode of the Disney+ television series Loki where Loki sees what his future would have looked like if he hadn't used the Tesseract to escape after the Battle of New York in 2012, creating a branched timeline.[9][38][39]

Characterization

Thanos' storyline in The Infinity Gauntlet (1991), which was one of the comics that influenced Infinity War, features his attempt to woo the female manifestation of Death.[40] This plot was omitted from the films, as the filmmakers instead chose to pair the character with Gamora and focus on their father-daughter relationship. McFeely explained this choice by noting that Thanos and Gamora had a lot of history that they wanted to explore, which would add layers to Thanos to avoid him becoming "the big mustache-twisting bad guy who wants ultimate power just to take over the world and sit on a throne."[41] Avoiding the Death storyline moved away from the tease Whedon used in The Avengers with the character, where Thanos felt that by challenging the Avengers, he was courting death. Though the tease was purposely ambiguous, Whedon felt when he featured Thanos, he did not know what to do with him, feeling that he hung Thanos out to dry. Whedon added that "I love Thanos. I love his apocalyptic vision, his love affair with death. I love his power. But, I don't really understand it". Whedon enjoyed the approach the writers and Russos took in Infinity War, giving Thanos "an actual perspective and [making] him feel righteous to himself", since the Death storyline would not necessarily translate well.[42]

Even when not using the Infinity Stones, Thanos is shown to be a skilled physical fighter, defeating the Hulk in hand-to-hand combat in Infinity War and wielding a double-sided sword in combat in Endgame. Like the original comic book version of the character, Thanos in the MCU possesses superhuman strength, speed, and stamina.[26][43][44]

Design and special effects

Digital Domain worked on creating Thanos for Infinity War and Endgame, producing over 400 visual effects shots.[45] The company created a new facial capture application called Masquerade, based on the concept of machine learning through computer algorithms, specifically for the film, beginning work on the system 3–4 months before filming began to develop and test it. They presented their results to Brolin, the Russos, and executives from Marvel ahead of filming to demonstrate the subtleties Brolin would be able to bring to the character, which helped inform Brolin on how to portray the character.[45] Before the start of filming, Brolin's facial expressions were captured with ILM's Medusa system, which along with his motion capture data, were fed to Masquerade to "create a higher-resolution version of what Brolin did on set" so animators could apply that to the CGI character.[31] Digital Design considered having "snap" briefly pop up on screen when Thanos snapped his fingers as a reference to how the snap occurred in the Infinity Gauntlet comic. Digital Domain's VFX Supervisor Kelly Port said "as a fun aside, we explored the idea of lifting the actual graphic from the frame of the comic showing the snap, the little yellow action triangles for a single frame of the moment of the snap. They appreciated the idea but didn't ultimately go for it".[46]

Physical appearance changes

Thanos' physical appearance changed for nearly every one of his appearances. These images show what he looked like in The Avengers (2012) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).
Thanos' previous physical appearances from The Avengers (2012) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Thanos' design changed drastically between his first appearance in The Avengers and his larger role in Infinity War. With Brolin's first appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy, motion capture technology was used to capture Brolin's facial features, with Thanos' skin also being changed to a darker shade of purple than it had been in The Avengers. Advancements in CGI and motion capture technology allowed for the use of more of Brolin's features in Infinity War and Endgame. The shade of purple for Thanos' skin was changed again for the films, now becoming lighter. In earlier appearances, Thanos had four scars on his cheeks and eleven lines on his chin, but the number of scars was reduced to three and the number of chin lines was reduced to nine with his Infinity War design update.[47] The design of Thanos took into account the versions that appeared in previous films but were adjusted more towards Brolin's features, which also helped with matching his performance to the digital character.[31]

Portrayal

Brolin's portrayal of Thanos was inspired by Marlon Brando's performance as Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (1979). In an interview in October 2020, Brolin said "[Kurtz] is very elusive and insane but what he is saying makes sense and is poetical ... I started seeing the parallel which I liked for me. I loved being able to resort to a film like Apocalypse Now when I was doing something like Avengers".[48]

Reception

Critics have praised Josh Brolin's performance as Thanos
Josh Brolin's performance as Thanos has been praised by many critics.[49]

The MCU's rendition of Thanos has received critical acclaim, being regarded as one of the best MCU villains to date,[50][51][52][53][54] as well as one of the greatest film villains of all-time.[55] In 2022, WatchMojo named Thanos the 10th greatest film villain of all-time.[56] He has also been regarded as one of the best villains of the 2010s[57][58] and the 21st century so far.[59] Multiple critics praised Brolin's performance, both vocally and for the emotions he conveyed through the motion capture. The performance allowed the audience to empathize with Thanos even though he was the villain,[60][61][62][63] while also allowing the audience to believe Thanos' pain.[62][63] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised both the character and Brolin: "[Thanos is] thunderously voiced by a dynamite Josh Brolin in a motion capture performance that radiates ferocity and unexpected feeling".[64] The Atlantic called Thanos an "unexpectedly resonant monster, filled with sadness and even a perverse sense of honor".[63]

Critics called Thanos a significant improvement over previous antagonists in the franchise.[65] According to Screen Rant, the MCU struggled to create captivating antagonists throughout its first two phases. However, this changed in Phase Three with well-received villains such as Killmonger and Vulture, culminating in Thanos, whose "repudiation of the MCU's narrative worship of its heroes creates a deep uncertainty in our expectation that follows through each encounter toward the inevitable, horrifying conclusion".[52] George Marston attributed Thanos' success to "the weight behind his character" because the best villains are the ones who see themselves as the hero. As a result, Brolin's performance almost makes Thanos seem likable or reasonable, at least until "the utter horror" of him accomplishing his goal sets in.[54] Similarly, The Washington Post declared Thanos Marvel's most compelling villain due to his "deep, reflective intelligence" as well as his "profound adherence to his belief system".[51]

Some fans criticized Thanos' portrayal in Endgame, feeling that the 2014 variant of him was more openly villainous than the characterization established in Infinity War, and saying that he ended up "swapping his unusual plan of balancing the population with a less evocative idea of destroying then reforming the galaxy".[66] Screen Rant felt that once Thanos learns of the Avengers' plot to reverse what his older self had done, he "regresses by falling back upon a one-dimensional aim to just destroy the universe wholesale", which made him seem more like a "generic big bad" in the film. The reviewer argued that his lack of history with the Avengers resulted in the nuances and connections being lost, which was most notable in his climatic battle with Maximoff as she still had Vision's death on her mind after Thanos killed him five years prior,[3] but Thanos dismisses her because at that point in his life he hadn't killed Vision.[67]

Cultural impact

Thanos and his "snap" spawned much audience enthusiasm. The website, DidThanosKill.Me was created for fans to see if they would have been spared by Thanos or not by simply telling them either "You were spared by Thanos" or "You were slain by Thanos".[68] The ending of Infinity War also spawned the creation of the Reddit subreddit, /r/thanosdidnothingwrong. A user within the subreddit suggested that half of the approximately 20,000 subscribers at the time be banned from the subreddit, in order to mimic the events of the film. After the community agreed to the measure, the moderators approached Reddit's administrators to see if the mass ban would be possible. Once the administrators agreed to the random ban of half the subscribers, it was set to occur on July 9, 2018.[69] Notice of the impending ban made the subreddit's subscribers increase to over 700,000, including both of the Russo brothers.[70] Ahead of the ban, Brolin posted a video saying "Here we go, Reddit users", and ending it with a snap.[71] Over 60,000 people watched a live Twitch stream of the ban occurring, which lasted several hours.[70] The ban of over 300,000 accounts, which included Anthony Russo, was the largest in Reddit's history.[70][72] Those banned then gathered in the new subreddit, /r/inthesoulstone.[69][70] One Reddit user who participated described the ban as embodying "the spirit of the Internet" with people "banding together, en masse, around something relatively meaningless but somehow decidedly awesome and hilarious".[72] Andrew Tigani of Screen Rant said this showed "how impactful the film has already become to pop culture. It is also a testament to how valuable fan interaction can be via social media".[71]

A popular tongue-in-cheek fan theory regarding Thanos' defeat in Endgame before the film's release, jokingly referred to by the portmanteau "Thanus", claimed that Thanos would be killed by Ant-Man entering his anus and then expanding himself, blowing off Thanos' body. This theory became a widespread Internet meme.[73] After the film was released and proved the theory wrong, Christopher Markus revealed that due to the strong nature of the Titans, Ant-Man would have been unable to expand himself and would simply be crushed against the walls of Thanos' rectum.[35] In 2022, The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke confirmed that a character introduced in season three, Termite, was a parody of Ant-Man, and his actions of killing people by shrinking to enter their bodies and expanding was partially inspired by the Internet memes about Ant-Man entering Thanos' rectum.[74]

Following the premiere of Endgame, Google included a clickable icon of the Infinity Gauntlet in Google Search results for "Thanos" or "Infinity Gauntlet" as an Easter egg. The icon, when clicked, made a finger-snapping motion before half of the search results disappeared, akin to the disappearance of characters following the Blip.[75]

During the 2020 United States presidential election campaign, a Twitter account affiliated with the 2020 Trump campaign posted an Internet meme of then-incumbent U.S. President Donald Trump superimposed on a clip of Thanos declaring himself "inevitable" in Endgame, with the meme reposted by Trump's own Instagram account.[76] Thanos creator Jim Starlin subsequently criticized Trump, saying he "actually enjoys comparing himself to a mass murderer".[77][78] In August 2020 Starlin revealed a new villain for an issue of Dreadstar Returns named King Plunddo Tram that heavily resembled Trump, with Plunddo Tram being an anagram of Donald Trump.[79] In the issue, Tram is beheaded, with Starlin saying "a certain politician using a character of mine in one of his political ads may have riled me a bit. I figured he was open game at that point".[80]

In March 2021, to congratulate James Cameron on Avatar (2009) regaining the title as the number one film of all-time at the worldwide box office over Endgame, the Russo brothers used an image with Thanos' armor scarecrow and the Avengers' logo dusting away into the Avatar logo.[81][82]

Scientific analysis and accuracy

After the release of Infinity War, scientific studies were published relating to the Snap, focusing on a variety of aspects including whether it would be possible for Thanos to even snap his fingers while wearing the Infinity Gauntlet. The 2021 study concluded that it wouldn't be physically possible due to the lack of friction between the metal surface of the Gauntlet.[83] A study published in 2020 focused on the ability to control matter as Thanos does while using the Infinity Stones. The researchers found that on a macroscopic level, someone would need a large amount of energy to control matter, similarly to the Stones. However, microscopicly scientists can mimic Thanos' control of matter at the colloidal level. The researchers were able to make billions of colloidal particles with changeable responsiveness, patchiness, shapes, and sizes by manipulating them using triggers, including temperature, pH, and light.[84]

In other media

  • In the "couch gag" of season 30, episode 12 of The Simpsons, Thanos occupies the family couch and uses the Infinity Gauntlet to wipe out all of the Simpson family except for Maggie.[85]
  • Thanos' name appears on a guest list in The Simpsons short Plusaversary.[86][87]
  • In Deadpool 2 (2018), Deadpool mockingly calls Cable "Thanos" as both characters are played by Josh Brolin.[88]
  • In 2018, the video game Fortnite featured a mode where players were able to play as Thanos for a limited period.[89] In 2021, Thanos became a cosmetic outfit available for purchase.[90]
  • An alternate version of Thanos, "King Thanos", will serve as the main antagonist of a multiverse-centric attraction at Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure.[91]

Accolades

Year Work Award Category Result Template:Ref heading
2018 Avengers: Infinity War MTV Movie & TV Awards Best Villain Nominated [92]
Teen Choice Awards Choice Villain Nominated [93]
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards Best Motion Capture Performance Won [94]
Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society Best Visual Effects or Animated Performance Won [95]
Seattle Film Critics Society Awards Best Villain Nominated [96]
2019 Austin Film Critics Association Awards Best Motion Capture/Special Effects Performance Won [97]
Visual Effects Society Awards Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature Won [98]
Saturn Awards Best Supporting Actor Won [99]
Avengers: Endgame MTV Movie & TV Awards Best Villain Won [100]
Best Fight[lower-alpha 4] Nominated
Teen Choice Awards Choice Villain Won [101]
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards Best Motion Capture Performance Won [102]
2020 Austin Film Critics Association Awards Best Motion Capture/Special Effects Performance Won [103]
Hollywood Critics Association Awards Best Animated or VFX Performance Nominated [104]

Merchandise

Several toys have been released since Thanos' Guardians of the Galaxy appearance. For that film, Hot Toys released a figure of Thanos with his throne,[105] while Funko released two variants of a Funko Pop, including one that glows in the dark.[106][107] The number of Thanos toy and merchandise items increased leading up to the release of Infinity War in theaters. Hot Toys released a figure of Thanos and a 1:1 scale Infinity Gauntlet,[108][109] while Funko released a variety of Pops, including multiple variations of regular-sized figures, as well as a 10-inch jumbo Pop.[110] Pops after the film released included a set of six chrome Thanos figures each in the color of one of the Infinity Stones and movie moment Pops, which are Pops that feature characters in scenes from movies. These included Thanos vs. Captain America and Thor respectively.[111][112] Funko has also included a variety of Thanos items in their Marvel Collector Corps subscription boxes, including the Infinity War box, which included a Pop of Thanos in Sanctuary II, a keycap, and an Infinity Gauntlet mug.[113] LEGO released a BrickHeadz and a traditional set featuring Iron Man, Star-Lord, and Gamora minifigures alongside a Thanos bigfigure,[114][115] while Hasbro released a five pack of Marvel Legends with Thanos and his children.[116] Hot Toys released two figures of Thanos after Endgame debuted in theaters; a regular version which came with the Infinity Gauntlet[117] and a battle damaged version that came with the Nano Gauntlet.[118] As with the initial wave of figures for Infinity War, Funko released both a regular sized and a 10 inch tall Thanos before Endgame was in theaters,[119] while Pops after the film released included Thanos in his Garden attire.[120] After the season one finale of What If...?, Funko announced a Ravager Thanos Pop.[121]

A variety of Thanos-related toys were released for both Marvel Studios' tenth anniversary and the Infinity Saga. For the anniversary, Funko released an updated version of Thanos from Guardians of the Galaxy, this time with him sitting on his throne.[122] To celebrate the Infinity Saga, Funko released a Thanos Pop using the colors of the Infinity Stones,[123] while LEGO released multiple sets, including two sets for Endgame's final battle. One included Sanctuary II[124] and the other was set at the Avengers' Compound.[125] LEGO also released an Infinity Gauntlet with articulating fingers, allowing for builders to put it in a snapping pose,[126] while Hasbro released a Marvel Legends two-pack featuring a battle damaged Iron Man in his mark LXXXV armor and a battle damaged Thanos.[127]

Entertainment Weekly released an issue of their magazine for Infinity War featuring Thanos on the cover and a cover story interview with Brolin.[128] Empire had two covers for each of Infinity War[129][130] and Endgame[131][132] featuring Thanos; one available to the general public and one that was exclusive to subscribers. Many posters were available for purchase including the theatrical posters for Infinity War and Endgame which both featured Thanos. Other posters included one exclusive to Odeon Cinemas[133] and one featuring the children of Thanos.[134] Limited edition posters were released for Marvel Studios' tenth anniversary, as well as to celebrate the Infinity Saga with posters for the four Avengers films. Two posters were released for the tenth anniversary, one including the heroes and one for Thanos and the other villains.[135] For the Avengers posters, Thanos was prominently included on the Infinity War and Endgame versions.[136] Other pieces of merchandise include Fatheads,[137] apparel, accessories, art books, and a variety of Infinity Gauntlet items.[138][139][140]

See also

  • Characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Notes

  1. Whedon and Penn co-wrote The Avengers (2012), where Thanos debuted in a minor role. Markus and McFeely were responsible for giving Thanos his first major MCU role with Avengers: Infinity War (2018).
  2. The main MCU universe was established to be Earth-616 in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022).
  3. An episode showing these events was supposed to be featured during season 1, but the episode was postponed to season 2 due to issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[22]
  4. Shared with Chris Evans

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