Thanos = This Generation's Darth Vader

[Spider-Fan]

This is not a question you can answer now. Ask this again in like, 5 years at minimum. I love Thanos and he is easily one of the best villains in a CBM. But Avengers 4 isn't even out yet. I think how iconic Thanos will be heavily depends on how the story finishes.

Also, I am of the opinion that really, we only ever had 1 Darth Vader...his name is Darth Vader. Ledger's Joker certainly was huge, but Darth Vader is on a tier by himself, IMO.

 

[Drizzle]

Sure but remember Thanos is a pop culture reference in countries where Star Wars is not even a thing. Globally, I honestly don't think this is even an argument.

If there are countries where Star Wars isn't a thing, I can guarantee you that they probably don't care about Thanos either.

 

[Flint Marko]

If there are countries where Star Wars isn't a thing, I can guarantee you that they probably don't care about Thanos either.

I don’t agree with this thread’s premise (at least not yet like Spider-fan said) but I’m pretty sure China and India don’t give a **** about Star Wars, whereas Marvel is huge in both countries. I actually recently got back from India and was overwhelmed with how many Marvel shirts I saw people wearing on the streets, mostly Cap.

 

[semper]

He could be this generations Darth Vader. Especially since he'll get another movie the showcase his awesome villainy.

But as others have said, it's simply too early to know. Vader became what he was because 5-10 years after Star Wars: A New Hope was released, he was still a huge figure in mainstream pop culture. And kept becoming bigger after the original trilogy ended. There are no shortcuts to finding that out. You basically have to wait it out, and see how big a deal Thanos is to people in the upcoming years.

One thing that might actually stop Thanos from reaching Vader levels in pop culture, is ironically enough, Marvel itself.

Marvel is not Star Wars under George Lucas. They will not stop making Avengers/Marvel films for 20 years, and just let the legend of their big bad grow in people's imaginations.

Marvel will keep pumping out movies every year. Why would they want to peak with Thanos as their ultimate big bad?

They will want to top Thanos if possible. And with the Fox Accquistion, that's kind of possible to do. For example they've got Dr Doom now, who has been botched by Fox a couple of times, but if done right by Marvel, can potentially surpass Thanos and match Vader's pop culture impact. If Marvel nails Doom, I can see people sort of relegating Thanos to second place.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I have my doubts that Marvel can get another event of this magnitude to work like this. No doubt they will try to do it again sometime down the line, but I don't think what they are doing with IW/A4 is going to be equalled. Even with characters like Galactus and such who are at their core more powerful. Think of it like Avengers vs AoU. Avengers was an event like we have never seen. AoU was another Avengers movie. I think whatever big bad they try to top Thanos with will have similar results.

 

[semper]

I have my doubts that Marvel can get another event of this magnitude to work like this. No doubt they will try to do it again sometime down the line, but I don't think what they are doing with IW/A4 is going to be equalled. Even with characters like Galactus and such who are at their core more powerful. Think of it like Avengers vs AoU. Avengers was an event like we have never seen. AoU was another Avengers movie. I think whatever big bad they try to top Thanos with will have similar results.

To be honest, I think Marvel can easily make an event of this magnitude work again....if not do it bigger. They can include the X-Men and Fantastic Four in their universe event crossover now, not just the Avengers and the Guardians.

Two storylines in particular could create Thanos/Vader level villains. Age Of Apocalypse and Secret Wars. These are universe altering event crossovers on par with Infinity War. Fox has kind screwed up Apocalypse and Doom, but I don't think Marvel will care. If they stick close to the comics storylines, both Apocalpyse and Doom can be Thanos level.

Doom with the power of the Beyonder, remaking the universe in his own image? That's actually bigger (and more dramatically interesting) than what Thanos just did. And I feel like Feige is going to go there.

I think it'll be different enough to Infinity War as well, since all the heroes and villains will be playing very different versions of themselves in an alternate reality. Which hasn't been done yet.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Bane is the true Darth Vader of this generation.
Both of them are the badass army leading villains who end up being lackeys for the person behind the curtains.

 

[Spider-Fan]

To be honest, I think Marvel can easily make an event of this magnitude work again....if not do it bigger. They can include the X-Men and Fantastic Four in their universe event crossover now, not just the Avengers and the Guardians.

Two storylines in particular could create Thanos/Vader level villains. Age Of Apocalypse and Secret Wars. These are universe altering event crossovers on par with Infinity War. Fox has kind screwed up Apocalypse and Doom, but I don't think Marvel will care. If they stick close to the comics storylines, both Apocalpyse and Doom can be Thanos level.

Doom with the power of the Beyonder, remaking the universe in his own image? That's actually bigger (and more dramatically interesting) than what Thanos just did. And I feel like Feige is going to go there.

I think it'll be different enough to Infinity War as well, since all the heroes and villains will be playing very different versions of themselves in an alternate reality. Which hasn't been done yet.

I don't think the novelty of the gigantic crossover will be as strong next time, even if the FF/X-Men are involved. AoU added to the Avengers roster, but it didn't do anything to up their hype.

 

[DarkKnight88]

This thread is hyperbole, much?

 

[DrCosmic]

Bane is the true Darth Vader of this generation.
Both of them are the badass army leading villains who end up being lackeys for the person behind the curtains.

with breathing problems. Way to bury the lead Aziz

but seriously, Thanos has too much buzz to see if any of it lands, to say nothing of the final verdict, to say nothing of the fact that his introduction (Avengers, or if you insist, GOTG) is a pittance compared to the intros for Vader or Ledger's Joker.

It is too early to tell, but what Thanos has going for him, what keeps him in the public eye is his very unique relationship with the Avengers, with the biggest movie franchise. That unique position gives him a lot of buzz, and he will be memorable for that, like Agent Smith, or Voldemort, but at the end of the day, he has an uninformative low key generic character design, a profoundly unintelligent objective and doesn't challenge the heroes so much as he challenges the audience's expectations of the Marvel formula. He is almost entirely a metatextual villain, and as such can't make the impact on the basic thematic or story levels that Vader, Joker, Lecter and other top villains run roughshod over.

Here are some seats. Thanos can have one and you can have the rest.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

with breathing problems.

 

[Jh7058622]

Greens= This Generation's Darth Vader

I didn't want to say it but...

[YT]B9L8nsJLCHg[/YT]

 

[The Joker]

You are trying to measure the pop culture impact of a character 3 months after he became relevant, to Darth Vader.

What facts? Do you have numbers you'd like to present? How many memes per second or something? How much merch has Thanos shifted compared to Vader?

That you made a thread titled, "This Generation's Darth Vader" says it all really. Vader has never been any generations anything other then Darth Vader. Because he is Darth Vader, just like the Joker is the Joker.

This thread is hyperbole, much?

Putting it mildly

 

[Erzengel]

I love the MCU but Thanos isn't Vader.

It's not even close.

 

[DACrowe]

So basically all you got is your own opinion and not the reality outside on how much prevalent Thanos is across pop culture? The thread literally states its about how much Thanos has now crossed into pop culture in much the same way Vader has in the past.

And yeah, Joker is there but he is only good for certain memes. His backstory of the chaos agent, at least in TDK does not lend itself to as many memes as Thanos and the infinity stones does. Its great to live in a bubble but its also great to sometimes come out and see what else is going on. I will accept that the prevalence of social media today helps any character that catches on to reach deep across the world faster but there is no reason to not recognize and accept a simple fact.

Memes? The Joker won an Oscar posthumously (the first performance to do that since 1977 before it) and is often cited as one of the great villainous performances in cinematic history alongside Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa, and yes Darth Vader. I mean we just saw the 10th anniversary filled with testimonials for folks still in awe of that character and performance.

Tell you what: it is too early to tell if folks are really that transported by Thanos, but we'll see if he is still as culturally relevant in 10 years as the Joker. Or hell in five years as much as Bane is. If you're basing it solely on memes, Bane had just as much popularity on social media for years after 2012, but I ain't comparing him to the Joker, much less Vader. Meanwhile you're comparing him to a character that folks still generally quote and discuss nearly 40 years after being killed off on screen. A character so beloved that a mediocre trilogy based on his origins made billions at the box office.

Gah, talk about bubbles...

 

[jmc]

Memorable villain perhaps, but I don't think there can really be another Darth Vader type character. Vader in some sense was the original big-bad fantasy villain, and whilst we've had many bad guys come and cement their name along side, it's hard to imagine one who's had the same level of cultural impact as Vader. The Joker is probably the only one to really rival him, but it's been across multiple mediums not just film.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Here's a better question... Does he have to be? Does Thanos HAVE to be as big or bigger than Vader? Is this a question of validation or some such? INFINITY WAR was the biggest film of the year and a damn fine super hero movie and yes, Thanos as played by Brolin was a HUGE part of that. Still... I wouldn't put him into Vader territory yet, but I again ask... Does he have to be in Vader territory for whatever reason?

 

[Breogan]

Thanos = This Generation's Darth Vader

He's this Generation's Darth Vader?
Nooooo! That was supposed to be me!
\

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Here's a better question... Does he have to be? Does Thanos HAVE to be as big or bigger than Vader? Is this a question of validation or some such? INFINITY WAR was the biggest film of the year and a damn fine super hero movie and yes, Thanos as played by Brolin was a HUGE part of that. Still... I wouldn't put him into Vader territory yet, but I again ask... Does he have to be in Vader territory for whatever reason?

No he doesn't. But you can't make a pissing contest out of something like that so here we are.

 

[honestbharani]

I think it is, because Darth Vader is so ubiquitous it doesn't matter if someone has seen or likes Star Wars. That's not even taking into account that the character has been enjoyed by 3 generations of people. Tom Hardy's Bane was huge around the same TDKR came out and he still is extremely recognizable, but that doesn't mean I would put him on the level of Darth Vader. Thanos is no slouch, but I think you're overestimating his impact as it stands right now.

Fair points. Joker and Bane were very recognizable but I would say it is more because of how iconic Joker and Ledger's performance was that Bane became a thing than anything from the movie itself. It also helps when you look funny like Hardy did in that movie. Vader has had the time for the impact and most people who were kids or teens when they saw the original trilogy today are well grown adults, so we will see how Thanos ages.


Irrespective of that though, my feeling is that the very fact they were able to create a full CGI character and a storyline and a moment that has been this iconic already is a tremendous achievement and I really don't see why some posters have to work so hard to argue against the OP which was basically passing kudos to the men responsible for creating such a great character on screen.

 

[honestbharani]

You say you are bringing facts, and then provide none. Then state your feelings and you think its true. It's almost like you continue to contradict yourself, while stating an opinion as fact.

You are confusing my posts with what you are doing.

 

[honestbharani]

This is not a question you can answer now. Ask this again in like, 5 years at minimum. I love Thanos and he is easily one of the best villains in a CBM. But Avengers 4 isn't even out yet. I think how iconic Thanos will be heavily depends on how the story finishes.

Also, I am of the opinion that really, we only ever had 1 Darth Vader...his name is Darth Vader. Ledger's Joker certainly was huge, but Darth Vader is on a tier by himself, IMO.

Fair enough. I can see why we need time to judge this but as I explained in an earlier post, the title was an oversimplification of my point as I could not put in the sentence I actually wanted. It was too big for a title.

The intent of the thread itself is to showcase how big an achievement it is for Russos to aim to emulate something as irreplaceable as Vader and then actually succeed to such an extent that Thanos has pervaded pop culture across the world. Unfortunately few folks here wanna consider it a pissing contest and do not even have the time to read my posts fully before responding in obnoxious tangents. Its a good discussion to have if he really is at that level or not but honestly what is not up for debate is the immense success and penetration he has in pop culture around the world.

If there are countries where Star Wars isn't a thing, I can guarantee you that they probably don't care about Thanos either.

I don't think you know much about other countries or their entertainment tastes or even basic news of how well Marvel movies do in certain Asian countries compared to Star Wars...

I don’t agree with this thread’s premise (at least not yet like Spider-fan said) but I’m pretty sure China and India don’t give a **** about Star Wars, whereas Marvel is huge in both countries. I actually recently got back from India and was overwhelmed with how many Marvel shirts I saw people wearing on the streets, mostly Cap.

But the premise of the thread was not that he has achieved this level. It is that it was so so ambitious for them to even aim at Vader's level and then have the success they have had. I feel it merits recognition and praise but you always got the few who wanna butt in with "anything Marvel is bad and #notdeepenough for me.

He could be this generations Darth Vader. Especially since he'll get another movie the showcase his awesome villainy.

But as others have said, it's simply too early to know. Vader became what he was because 5-10 years after Star Wars: A New Hope was released, he was still a huge figure in mainstream pop culture. And kept becoming bigger after the original trilogy ended. There are no shortcuts to finding that out. You basically have to wait it out, and see how big a deal Thanos is to people in the upcoming years.

One thing that might actually stop Thanos from reaching Vader levels in pop culture, is ironically enough, Marvel itself.

Marvel is not Star Wars under George Lucas. They will not stop making Avengers/Marvel films for 20 years, and just let the legend of their big bad grow in people's imaginations.

Marvel will keep pumping out movies every year. Why would they want to peak with Thanos as their ultimate big bad?

They will want to top Thanos if possible. And with the Fox Accquistion, that's kind of possible to do. For example they've got Dr Doom now, who has been botched by Fox a couple of times, but if done right by Marvel, can potentially surpass Thanos and match Vader's pop culture impact. If Marvel nails Doom, I can see people sort of relegating Thanos to second place.

Interesting points and I don't want to rule out these guys being able to do it again with another character but I just feel the novelty will not be there. IW was not just an Avengers movie, it brought in so many others like Guardians, Strange, BP, Spiderman etc and there were so many first time interactions within the movie. It was an event and I just don't think they can keep doing so many events. There are only so many times you can keep introducing new characters. IMO Thanos has become so big because he was this good in THIS movie. Not all other movies offer the same platform. And I don't see them replicating IW again, A4 maybe bigger due to its nature as the conclusion of this entire run but beyond that, I dont think they will and I dont think they will even try for sometime to come.

I have my doubts that Marvel can get another event of this magnitude to work like this. No doubt they will try to do it again sometime down the line, but I don't think what they are doing with IW/A4 is going to be equalled. Even with characters like Galactus and such who are at their core more powerful. Think of it like Avengers vs AoU. Avengers was an event like we have never seen. AoU was another Avengers movie. I think whatever big bad they try to top Thanos with will have similar results.

Agree.

with breathing problems. Way to bury the lead Aziz

but seriously, Thanos has too much buzz to see if any of it lands, to say nothing of the final verdict, to say nothing of the fact that his introduction (Avengers, or if you insist, GOTG) is a pittance compared to the intros for Vader or Ledger's Joker.

It is too early to tell, but what Thanos has going for him, what keeps him in the public eye is his very unique relationship with the Avengers, with the biggest movie franchise. That unique position gives him a lot of buzz, and he will be memorable for that, like Agent Smith, or Voldemort, but at the end of the day, he has an uninformative low key generic character design, a profoundly unintelligent objective and doesn't challenge the heroes so much as he challenges the audience's expectations of the Marvel formula. He is almost entirely a metatextual villain, and as such can't make the impact on the basic thematic or story levels that Vader, Joker, Lecter and other top villains run roughshod over.

Here are some seats. Thanos can have one and you can have the rest.

I disagree with your assessment of Thanos and his characterization entirely and I feel he was easily better written with a better backstory than Joker in TDK was but I do agree that we need to wait and see if the buzz lasts. A lot depends on how he comes up in A4 as many others have pointed out. So we will wait and see, I guess.

Here's a better question... Does he have to be? Does Thanos HAVE to be as big or bigger than Vader? Is this a question of validation or some such? INFINITY WAR was the biggest film of the year and a damn fine super hero movie and yes, Thanos as played by Brolin was a HUGE part of that. Still... I wouldn't put him into Vader territory yet, but I again ask... Does he have to be in Vader territory for whatever reason?

Only because I found it unfathomable that anyone can even state it as their aim that they want someone to be this generation's Vader and then nail it as well as they have done with Thanos in IW.

No he doesn't. But you can't make a pissing contest out of something like that so here we are.

It says a lot about you and your posting style that inspite of a very simple OP and a detailed explanation post later, you still think of this as a pissing contest. There is a lot of great discussion being had here inspite of your posts in this thread, and THAT is enough proof that the thread has very good reason to exist.

 

[honestbharani]

Memes? The Joker won an Oscar posthumously (the first performance to do that since 1977 before it) and is often cited as one of the great villainous performances in cinematic history alongside Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa, and yes Darth Vader. I mean we just saw the 10th anniversary filled with testimonials for folks still in awe of that character and performance.

Tell you what: it is too early to tell if folks are really that transported by Thanos, but we'll see if he is still as culturally relevant in 10 years as the Joker. Or hell in five years as much as Bane is. If you're basing it solely on memes, Bane had just as much popularity on social media for years after 2012, but I ain't comparing him to the Joker, much less Vader. Meanwhile you're comparing him to a character that folks still generally quote and discuss nearly 40 years after being killed off on screen. A character so beloved that a mediocre trilogy based on his origins made billions at the box office.

Gah, talk about bubbles...

I think Ledger was amazing as the Joker and I am not comparing performances here, and I thought it was obvious from all my other posts. I think Ledger's was a greater performance than Brolin's but I feel Thanos was a much better character than The Joker.

And the mediocre trilogy made billions not JUST because of Vader but because it was Star Wars. You act as if Obi and others did not exist. I know you hate to have your bubbles burst but sorry, while I take your point that we have to wait and see if he is this popular 40 years from now, that does not take away from actual OP or what I have explained later here. And its not just about memes or maybe you don't understand what popculture impact actually means. It means to pervade so many different facets of everyday life and Thanos IMO has. Like I said, no one speaks about Vader in cricket match commentaries but everyone was talking about Thanos months after IW was released. It was there in the local soccer games, it was there in a tennis tournament. Its simply something that has injected itself into the heart of daily conversations around various different subjects in social media, memes are just one very small part of it.

But hey, you gotta step outside the bubble to understand it, something you seem to hate.

 

[wampa1]

You're comparing apples to oranges to bananas. Even the Joker isn't in the same league as Vader.

If you're talking cultural impact and how the character resonated with little kids, 10-12 year olds have probably never even seen The Dark Knight and those that have will skew overwhelmingly male.

I maintain that the villain with the most cultural cache of the last decade or so is Voldemort.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

You're comparing apples to oranges to bananas. Even the Joker isn't in the same league as Vader.

If you're talking cultural impact and how the character resonated with little kids, 10-12 year olds have probably never even seen The Dark Knight and those that have will skew overwhelmingly male.

I maintain that the villain with the most cultural cache of the last decade or so is Voldemort.

Its Voldemort of Joffrey from GoT. Which is of course a television show that started as a book, and a lot of Voldemort's cred comes from the book, but there you go. Actually the GoT villains on the whole probably up there.