Thanos is the true main antagonist of The Avengers film series and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Background
Personality
Thanos wished to spare other planets from the fate of his home world, Titan. However, he did it for drastic and evil desires, even killing those who stood in his way. Thanos still would keep his word, as he promised to help Ronan destroy Xandar in exchange for the power stone, promised Loki the Earth in exchange for the Tesseract, and even spared Tony Stark in exchange for Doctor Strange giving him the Time Stone.
Despite his cruel nature, he loved his children unconditionally. He especially felt unconditional love towards Gamora, who was dubbed his favorite daughter and was ridden with guilt in having to kill her. However, he punished them harshly if they failed him. For example, Maw said there would be judgement if he failed Thanos in getting the Time Stone that Doctor Strange protected with his magic. Despite Maw failing, Thanos knew he was dead but knew that he at least tried. He later tore Nebula apart and had any part of her replaced to make her stronger every time she failed against Gamora; however, he did not realize that it just tore her apart, both physically and emotionally until the last moments of his life, where Thanos acknowledged he should have paid more attention to her and how he underestimated her.
However, after Thanos saw his future self from 2018 viewing past Nebula's memories and his death, he realized that people would not be able to move on from the Decimation and remember life before it and decided to rip the universe atom by atom and recreate it in his own image. However, he accepted his defeat at the hands of Tony Stark.
Appearances
Marvel's The Avengers
Thanos gives Loki a scepter that has the mind stone in it, hoping that Loki will take the people of Earth. However, Loki fails to bring him the Tesserect after Loki is taken by Thor to Asgard.
Guardians of the Galaxy
It is revealed that Thanos is working in the shadows, having Ronan retrieve the Power Stone. Instead of giving it to Thanos, Ronan betrays his former master and decides to go and destroy Xandar.
Age of Ultron
After the failures of Loki and Ronan the Accuser, Thanos went to a secret vault that held the Infinity Gauntlet and proclaimed that he would find the Infinity Stones himself.
Avengers: Infinity War
Thanos begins his reign of terror by killing off half of the Asgardians and half of Xandar by stealing the Power Stone and taking the Space Stone from Loki, before killing the God of Mischief after he attempted to betray Thanos again, and letting Thor float through space. He later manipulated reality on Knowhere with the Reality Stone to get Gamora, who he forced to lead him to the Soul Stone, being guarded by the Red Skull. He sacrificed his daughter for the Infinity Stone and battled the heroes on Titan but emerged victorious after Peter Quill lost his temper with Thanos after learning he had killed Gamora.
Later, Thor attempted to kill Thanos with Stormbreaker, his new axe, and to avenge his brother and peoples' deaths. However, Thanos, with a snap of his fingers, wiped off half of the universe, erasing random people.
Trivia
- Thanos was almost cut from Guardians of the Galaxy but Gunn decided to keep him in the final film in order to connecto Guardians of the Galaxy to The Avengers (2012).
Gallery
Series  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|