Thanos Tried To Be A Hero

The MCU has had many great villains throughout its existence. Killmonger, Hela, Ultron, all of them were villains that captured our attention with ease. However, there is no greater villain than the Big Bad himself, Thanos. One could even argue that he is up there with Darth Vader and Voldemort for greatest movie villains of all time. The thing is as good of a bad guy as he was, it has been pointed out that his long list of horrible actions might have been carried out with the greater good in mind. Now that The Eternals has come and gone from theaters, we have been given further evidence to support this argument. Sure he may have snapped half of all life in the universe out of existence but was it all in the name of saving all life in the universe. Imagine that, one of the greatest movie villains of all time was trying to be a hero.

The Eternals

Now that it has been released on Disney+ most of us have been able to watch The Eternals. So, if you happen to be one of the few who haven't yet, then you should know that there are spoilers ahead. This MCU origin story is about the Eternals, a race of synthetic beings created by the Celestials. Guardians of the Galaxy already showed us how massive and powerful the Celestials were but we dive a lot deeper into their story with The Eternals. One of the most important details that we learned about them is how they are born.

The Celestials created the Eternals in order for them to oversee the advancement of intelligent life on different planets throughout the universe, at least that's what they were told. The truth is, however, that the reason for this mission is because Celestials need the energy of billions of people in order for them to be born. The primary issue is that when they are born, they emerge out of the core of their host planet like a baby coming out of their mother's womb. Given their massive size, this process completely destroys the planet, killing all life on it. The leader of the Eternals, Ajax, knew the truth about their mission but after living amongst humans for centuries, she began to question the Celestial Arishem. This causes an internal struggle amongst the Eternals, the group split between carrying out their mission or saving the human race. It is mentioned in the movie that Thanos's snap had delayed the birthing process for all Celestials. Could it be possible that these were his intentions all along?

What The Eternals Means For Thanos

Throughout the entire Infinity Saga, Thanos was depicted as the most ruthless villain in the entire universe. However, the best part about his character was the fact that some people could understand his perspective. Overpopulation is an issue that we seem to be dealing with today and in the MCU, it was an issue that seemed to exist for all intelligent life. When you implement the information that we received in The Eternals, it adds an element of urgency to Thanos's goals. Is it possible that he knew about this the entire time? The Mad Titan makes no mention of this throughout Infinity war & Endgame. So, it's not obvious that his intentions were to stop the Celestials. However, the post-credit scene of The Eternals reveals a piece of information that proves Thanos may have been trying to stop the Celestials after all.

At the end of The Eternals, Sirsi, Kingo, and Phastos are taken by the Celestial Arishem to stand trial for their decision to kill Tiamut. In the first post-credit scene, when the rest of the group is discussing how they are to handle the situation, a new MCU character makes his first appearance, none other than Thanos's brother himself, Star Fox. Star Fox is another Eternal who, like Earth's Eternals, was created by Arishem. If Thanos's brother was created by Arishem, then there is a good probability that Thanos was too. Therefore, if Star Fox knows about the Celestials, then it's highly unlikely that Thanos doesn't; especially with his vast knowledge of the universe due to his search for the Infinity Stones.

Like the Eternals, Star Fox had also made the decision to defy Arishem. Maybe Thanos had made the same choice as his brother but decided to use a different method to handle the situation. If this is true, then it means that despite all of his horrible actions, Thanos truly believed that everything he did was necessary for the greater good. That means that in a fucked up way, Thanos could be seen as trying to be a hero to the universe.

Ok... Maybe Not A Hero

Whatever his intentions may have been, it's obvious that there could have been a better way. While he may have truly believed that he was fighting for the greater good, he is still an extremist by every means. After all, how could someone who has carried out mass genocide on hundreds of planets, who's sacrificed the person he loved the most in order to achieve his goals ever be considered a hero? As powerful as he was, he would've been extremely effective had he chosen to stop the Celestials the same way Sirsi and the rest of Earth's Eternals did. Instead, he chose to cause as much death and suffering as he needed to in order to complete his mission. We have been able to see examples of the suffering Thanos has caused through his daughter's Nebula and Gamora. Although, the greatest example has to be Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 when he is sitting with Mantis on a balcony.

Drax is telling Mantis about his family and she decides to use her powers in order to see how much pain he was feeling. While Drax sits smiling up at the sunset, Mantis breaks out in tears at the amount of anguish he was truly in because of the loss of his family. When I watch this scene, it's extremely hard for me to view Thanos as some kind of hero. If you ask me, the Titan may have been trying to do something heroic but he was by no means a hero.