We all know Thanos is gearing up to take out the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy in the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War film, but should we be that excited to see him? Thanos has been set up as the “Big Bad” since the end of the first Avengers film. Since then he has only appeared twice in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He had a small part in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 and appeared in a post credits scene of Avengers: Age of Ultron. In my opinion, Thanos has proven himself to be a terrible villain for the MCU, and I can list four reasons why. Beware: there will be SPOILERS for the MCU listed below.
4. He Gave Away The Mind Stone
After Loki disappeared at the end of Thor we see him appear as the main villain in the The Avengers. In between the two films he came into contact with Thanos who provided him with a powerful scepter capable of controlling and opening people’s minds. Loki was sent to Earth to take over the planet and retrieve the Tesseract for his new master. Of course, he fails and is imprisoned back on Asgard. We later find out in Avengers: Age of Ultron that the scepter housed the Mind Stone. This would mean that Thanos gave an Infinity Stone to someone he barely knew so that he could retrieve another Infinity Stone, the Space Stone. This makes no sense because if Thanos is as powerful as we have been led to believe, then he should have retrieved the stone himself. Even if he felt that task was beneath him, why not send a member of his Black Order to retrieve it? Surely, he trusts them more than he trusts Loki.
3. He Did Not Go After The Power Stone Himself
Here is another example of Thanos sending someone else to do his dirty work for him. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1, we find out that Thanos made a deal with Ronan the Accuser for the Power Stone. If Ronan retrieves the Power Stone for Thanos, then Thanos will destroy Xandar for Ronan. Star-Lord ends up finding the stone first, leading into the plot of the film. Two things are wrong with this situation. Once again, why doesn’t Thanos go retrieve the stone himself, or send a member of his Black Order? As a matter of fact, two members of his Black Order, Gamora and Nebula, were loaned to Ronan as additional muscle. Ignoring this fact, Ronan actually sent his ally, Korath, along with some Sakaarans, to retrieve the stone. If I were performing a task for the intergalactic tyrant, then I would make sure to handle it personally, lest I face the consequences of failure. Yet, as we learn later in the film, Thanos is all bark and no bite.
2. He Already Lost Two Members Of His Black Order
During Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1, we learn from Nebula that she and Gamora have other adopted siblings. As we recently found out, the Black Order is made up of Thanos’ forcibly-adopted children. This would mean that Nebula and Gamora are also members of this group. They have both shown great fighting ability and tremendous strength in the two Guardians films and are truly forces to be reckoned with. We do not yet know their strength compared to their other siblings, nor if their siblings have the same hatred for Thanos as they do. That being said, these sisters have since rebelled against their father and they plan to kill him. Gamora joined the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Nebula is off doing her own thing. Why would Thanos even allow his children to leave his employ? Why hasn’t he hunted them down and punished them, or at least sent his other children to perform the task for him? It’s evident that Nebula and Gamora both still fear Thanos and know that taking him out is no easy task. Still, you would think they would want to get as far away as possible, if he is as bad as they say.
1. His Infinity Gauntlet May Be A Fake
After Avengers: Age of Ultron we know that Thanos will now be taking a more active role in gathering the Infinity Stones. He dawns an Infinity Gauntlet and states, “Fine — I’ll do it myself”. This is weird because we previously saw an Infinity gauntlet in Odin’s vault in Thor. Kevin Feige himself has admitted that there are two Infinity Gauntlets in the MCU when speaking with Cinema Blend.
“There are two different gloves…That was not Odin’s vault that you see at the end.”
Why would there need to be two Infinity Gantlets when there are only six Infinity Stones? Either there are six additional infinity stones that we don’t know about, or one of them is a forgery. In the comics, the Infinity Gauntlet is normally right-handed. The more regal looking gauntlet we see in Odin’s treasure vault is right-handed, and the more basic gauntlet that Thanos wields is left-handed. If we follow the comics, this leads me to believe that Thanos has the fake gauntlet and will not be able to use the true power of the Infinity Stones in Avengers: Infinity War. I was luckily able to see the San Diego Comic-Con Avengers: Infinity War trailer and know what Thanos is bringing to the table. However, we do also have the fourth untitled Avengers film to look forward to, so maybe Thanos bites the dust early, or he is like Mandarin in Iron Man 3, and he is just a puppet.
Avengers: Infinity War is due to hit theaters on April 27, 2018.
What are your thoughts on Thanos’ involvement in the MCU? Leave your comments below.