How to Beat Thanos
Spoilers ahoy! Turn away now if you don’t want to be spoiled on Infinity War or Thanos. You have been warned.
Avengers: Infinity war has been out a week now which has given us time to decompress after the events of the film’s ending. Of course, we’re talking about the fact that Thanos managed to acquire every Infinity Stone, place them into his gauntlet and obliterate half of the universe. For all intents and purposes, Thanos has won. He accomplished his plan to balance the universe, and in the process killed off many beloved heroes and characters.
This is a comic book movie though, so the villain can’t have the last laugh, and we’re expecting the Avengers to save the day in Avengers 4 when it releases next year. Things don’t look great though, what with Doctor Strange, most of the Guardians, Spider-Man and even Nick Fury out of the picture, but there are some ways that the remaining members could defeat Thanos. For a bit of insight, we need only look at the comics for inspiration, as the Avengers have beaten the Mad Titan before, here’s how.
In Marvel Comics’ The Infinity Gauntlet, by Jim Starlin, George Pérez and Ron Lim, the story begins with Thanos clicking his fingers and wiping out half of the universe. This isn’t surprising given that the MCU never rips stories from the comics exactly, but uses them for inspiration instead. Even so, the comic starts in a similar place as to where the movie leaves off. The Infinity Gauntlet features a character called Adam Warlock, who has only been alluded to in the MCU at this point. It also offers an alternate story where Nebula is tortured by Thanos, until she gets the opportunity to ambush him and steal the gauntlet.
This then leads Thanos to team up with Warlock and the other remaining superheroes to take down Nebula. They trick her into resurrecting the dead heroes, who proceed to battle Nebula. All but Adam Warlock and Silver Surfer make it out alive, transporting themselves to another realm called the Soul World. In the comics, Adam Warlock has a deep connection to the soul stone, so uses it to cause a rift which blows the gauntlet off Nebula’s hand. The Infinity Gauntlet then ends up in the righteous hands of Warlock, who looks after it from then on. Thanos is bummed out for losing so detonates a bomb on his belt. Thor casts him out into space where he manages to escape to a far-off planet where he lives out the rest of his days as a farmer.
Now, we’re assuming that Adam Warlock will not play a part in Avengers 4, given that he has yet to be properly introduced yet. Instead, it is likely that Captain Marvel will take his place and help turn the tide against Thanos. Nick Fury is seen calling out to her at the end of Infinity War, so she is definitely on her way. Captain Marvel will likely use her power over the Quantum Realm, which Ant-Man and the Wasp are set to explore in their movie, to bring back some of the heroes or manipulate time in some way. Kevin Feige has previously described her as ‘the most powerful MCU character yet’ so she sure seems up to the challenge. Other than the fact that Captain Marvel will be involved in some way, we have very little idea as to how Thanos will be beaten in Avengers 4. What we do know though, is that Doctor Strange foresaw a future where they won, and gave Thanos the Time Stone in order to start a path along the right timeline. With him gone though, it’s up to the remaining heroes to continue the fight.
Check out what we liked about Infinity War, as well as some questions we still have.
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