Infinity War Thanos's Motivation (SPOILERS)

[Mike Murdock]

I had posted a thread before about my theory on this and it turns out I was right, but I thought it would be useful to discuss his motives. I had said before that I thought they would be drawing from this specific motive that he mentioned to Silver Surfer about why he wanted the Infinity Gems:

One of the things the Surfer noticed is that he came off as almost scholarly. There was a sort of dispassionate thinking with how he wanted to kill half the universe. The movie took that and ran with it. So I thought I'd ask what people thought. Did they find his motives believable? Compelling? Did you buy that he was more than a nihilist? Did you buy that he felt he was sacrificing for his goal?

 

[The Endless]

I bought it. He carried his responsibility like a burden. Through the writing and Brolin's performance I truly believed that he thought he was doing the right thing and that it pained him.

 

[Tg11]

How do you figure he was doing the right thing in that warped evil mind of his? Yeah he wants to shape the universe basically in his image

 

[jaqua99]

Yes. He was brilliant and wasnt just a villain, he was the main character and so interesting. Would have liked more of his backstory.

Skull name dropped it. "Thanos, son of Eros"

 

[Tg11]

Yeah if you can understand evil motivation then sure but at the same time I didn't feel for his character at all in any way. Yeah at times you could feel his emotions but do you really think that those raw emotions out of him were real? Hell, yeah he is the main character. The movie revolves around him and his motivations for doing anything but let's be honest here the way he went about getting the stones was a thing of beauty. However, he is bound to get what is coming to him in Avengers 4 anyway.

 

[The Endless]

How do you figure he was doing the right thing in that warped evil mind of his? Yeah he wants to shape the universe basically in his image

I didn't get that from him at all. He didn't want to rule or want people to worship him. He was just doing the universe a favour in his eyes.

At the end he retires to his little cottage on his own.

 

[Mjölnir]

Thanos is in a way a tragic hero. He has seen that the only solution to saving the universe is to do something terrible, something that will also only be achieved at great personal cost, but his failures in the past has given him the resolve to do what no other will be able to. All for the greater good.

In another way he's of course a cold killer, but it's hard to know whether that's who he is at his core or if that's what he's had to become.

 

[Tg11]

Yeah but at the expense of all life in the universe basically because there is hardly anyone left standing except for him and certain Avengers but that is it.

 

[Mike Murdock]

Skull name dropped it. "Thanos, son of Eros"

I don't know why it wasn't A'lars. Then again, the Silver Surfer cartoon made Thanos and Mentor brothers so everyone seems to screw up. Still, Star Fox as his dad is unnecessary.

 

[Donner]

Yeah but at the expense of all life in the universe basically because there is hardly anyone left standing except for him and certain Avengers but that is it.

No, half of the life in the universe is gone, not all of it. And his motivations for this are clear. And they make sense.

Also, they weren't going to pan over the entire universe to show more people. It's obvious that it's not just Thanos and the Avengers left.

 

[kevork89]

Yeah as messed up as what he did is, I kind of get it. He was quite a fantastic well fleshed out villain which lacks in a lot of movies in general because villains motivations are always just oh I want power and wanna kill everyone. He doesn’t want powerr, wealth, fame etc. He wants balance and like he said the universe basically can’t sustain the amount of people/aliens that are out of there.

 

[Mike Murdock]

It felt like more than half the Avengers, but less than half of the trees ended up dying. Not quite the half you'd expect.

 

[Venom 1988]

Yes. He was brilliant and wasnt just a villain, he was the main character and so interesting. Would have liked more of his backstory.

Skull name dropped it. "Thanos, son of Eros"

I heard him say "son of..." but I didn't catch the name. Did he really say Eros? That would be kind of weird if they make Eros his father instead of brother.

 

[Mike Murdock]

In the movie theater, I heard Elos. But, given that it's not A'Lars, Eros would make more sense.

 

[ElMariachi]

The motivation is scary because there people who believe it in real life. Depopulation is a real dream for some who think the planet has too many people to sustain. Maybe they are right but the optimists feel we can make it work through technology.

 

[jaqua99]

I don't know why it wasn't A'lars. Then again, the Silver Surfer cartoon made Thanos and Mentor brothers so everyone seems to screw up. Still, Star Fox as his dad is unnecessary.

Oh he may have said A'lars, his accent made it hard to understand

 

[giveyourself12%]

Thanos is in a way a tragic hero. He has seen that the only solution to saving the universe is to do something terrible, something that will also only be achieved at great personal cost, but his failures in the past has given him the resolve to do what no other will be able to. All for the greater good.

In another way he's of course a cold killer, but it's hard to know whether that's who he is at his core or if that's what he's had to become.

Reminds me of Fitz from Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. in a recent episode.

 

[Aximili86]

No, half of the life in the universe is gone, not all of it. And his motivations for this are clear. And they make sense.

Making sense is different to justifiable, though. He's complex, he's intellectual, totally. But he's wrong, he's all kinds of wrong. It's evil-without-knowing-or-admitting-you're evil.

He's not out for a power grab, personal gain & indulgence like Schmidt was. He's not out for revenge like Ronan or Malekith.

But he's still a very-likely-insane (or at the very least incapable of basic empathy outside of his own close circle) genocidal **** playing god. He can justify it to himself, but it still doesn't fly with anyone with half a moral center.

It's the ol' extremist "the earth can't sustain 10 billion people, we'll probably have to take drastic measures before it gets there" philosophy among some hardcore earth-lover types. Yeah, technically it's right in a pure cold clinical sense, it doesn't mean it's ever going to be right to just cull people en-masse though. Thanos is wackadoodle no matter which way you come at it.

 

[Bren]

I thought he sold the emotions very well, but I can't buy into his ideology.
So his planet had an issue and he was proved 'right' - certainly doesn't mean it applies everywhere. The universe is a frigging massive place.

Loved him in the film nonetheless.

 

[MarvelFan]

I recently read Thanos Rising by Jason Aaron. (For the preparation of the movie)

In that book, it tells the story with the birth of a defect child named Thanos , son of A'Lars and Suisan.
At the beginning, before Thanos has become what he is in the future, he is nothing more than a lonely kid who wants nothing but love and someone to love him back. But chains of events in th book tells that he is manipulated (by none other than Death herself) to pulls several murder and destruction.

In the end of the book, though, after knowing that his life is manipulated up to that point, Thanos seems ingnored Death's seduction and temptation. That is a little bit contradicts with Infinity Gauntlet where in that story, Thanos is the one who seeks and wants to attract Death by destroying the universe.

Now, after watching Infinity War, I realized that MCU Thanos is not the same as 616 Thanos. In the MCU, McFeely and Markus brings more layer and humanize him a bit (a love he shows Gamora here reminded me of the story Jason Aaron tells that Thanos is also can feel love in his heart) without getting rid of his mad and sadistic nature. In MCU, there is no Death manipulating him into balancing the universe, it is all on his own doing.

I enjoyed both alterrations, nonetheless.
The titan planet pre destruction on the movie simply a copy from the first page of Thanos Rising.
I loved it!

 

[nightwing06]

I understood him,but didnt agree with his methods

 

[dougal]

Yes, there were some huge religious themes flowing through this movie. It starts with Loki saying to Thanos that he will never be God. Why not? Because Thanos is trying to be God by sacrificing others. He just does not get it. Compare that with all the other individuals that ask to be sacrificed for the greater good. Thanos even rested after it was done (Genesis)!

And look how people die. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.

 

[Levsky]

Oh he may have said A'lars, his accent made it hard to understand

I thought it was Alars. In subtitles in my theater it was Alars, too.

 

[captaintass]

He just wanted to murder people.

If you have an omnipotent item that can do literally ANYTHING why kill half the people because of dwindling resources? How about using the Infinity Stones to create enough resources for everyone instead?

 

[Bren]

I thought that the powers of the gauntlet/stones are not limitless, or at least limited by user - based on it (and his arm) being burnt after the snap.

And maybe he's just one of those guys who thinks the simplest plan (to his mind) is the best.