We have been conditioned by the shows we watch and the books we read. Reaction to the villains of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie demonstrates this. Most reviewers love the movie but feel the villains were weak, Thanos especially. Mike Ryan at Screen Crush thinks Thanos is Marvel’s biggest loser. Matt Singer thinks Thanos is a liability for Marvel if he is going to be their heroes’ main threat.
It’s easy to see why people feel this way. Thanos is betrayed three times in the movie, twice by his daughters and once by his ally. He has an underling killed in front of him. His reaction to any of this is to sit in his throne with a slightly perturbed look on his face.
That is not the way a supervillain should react. Ronan should have been crushed for merely daring to raise his weapon against one of Thanos’ henchmen. Vendettas should have been called against Gamora and Nebula. That’s what we expected to see.
This is what I was going to argue when I started to write my last blog post. Luckily Thanos is one of my favourite Marvel villains, so I had plenty of material to research and realize that the heroes, the reviewers, the audience, and even I were being duped.
There are some things that need to be considered. First, until Guardians of the Galaxy, none of the heroes knew Thanos existed, let alone was making plays for the Infinity Stones. There is no reason to believe that Loki knows about Thanos, and Loki was working for him. Even after Gamora explains Thanos’ involvement everyone on “Team Good Guys” thinks he was only after the orb.
It is very easy to consider Thanos to be defeated and a non-threat. However, I would dare to say that as far as Thanos is concerned everything has gone according to plan. Let’s look at all the movies that feature an Infinity Stone.
There will be *SPOILERS*
Captain America: The First Avenger: This film introduces us to the Tessearact, the first Infinity Stone. This is possibly the only instance where we see an Infinity Stone and Thanos is not involved in any way. Of course, for all we know his interest was piqued when the Red Skull first activated the Tesseract and this is when he began formulating his plan.
The Avengers: Thanos’ allies actually get a hold of the Tesseract and use it, only to lose it by the end of the film. Most people would consider this a step backward for Thanos. But remember, he was smiling in his end credits scene. The Tesseract was the first of five Infinity Stones. Was it really to his benefit to be holding it while he tried to gather the others? The Tesseract ends up in Asgard.
Thor: the Dark Word: This film introduces us to the second Infinity Stone, the Aether. Thanos does not play a role in this film, but the stone ends up in the hands of the Collector. It is hard to imagine that Thanos was not aware of this.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Thanos finally exposes himself here. It is interesting that Gamora betrays him with the intention of selling the Orb to the Collector. How did she find out about him? Thanos raised Gamora. I would be very surprised if he had no idea how she would react if she found out his plans. The most likely scenario is that Thanos manipulated Gamora into doing what she did. The Collector would end up with two of the stones and everyone would be satisfied with this. The Collector personifies the activity he is named for. He would hold the stones but never contemplate using them, like an avid comic collector with a mint condition collectible.
Nebula betrayed Thanos because he preferred Gamora over Nebula and never missed an opportunity to tell her so. Was he being callous of her feelings or manipulating her to betray him and side with Ronan?
If Thanos wanted the Collector to have both stones, why would he allow Ronan to go after the Orb? If Ronan succeeded, the Collector’s defenses would be weakened and the Aether would be vulnerable. If Ronan failed, Thanos would know what to expect when he would raid the collection at some point in the future.
The results of the movies are that three of the five stones have been exposed and Thanos knows exactly where to find them. It was never in his interest to collect the stones one by one. The movies make it obvious that while the stones make a person powerful, he or she is not invulnerable. Godlike power does not come until all the stones are gathered together. If he held onto the Tesseract in The Avengers, it is very likely that someone would figure out what he is after and try to stop him before he is ready.
Another failure reviewers mention is that at least two teams of heroes have been formed as a direct result of Thanos’ attempts for the stones. I would recommend you read the Infinity Gauntlet comic books. Pay attention to how the series ends. What happens is not so much the heroes winning as it is Thanos losing. He was the most powerful entity in the universe. Once he gathers all the stones, dozens of teams of superheroes would not be a match for him.
Thanos has not been thwarted yet.