Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War had a lot of cards to play with. But apart from the OG 6 Avengers, two of the most crucial characters were Thanos and Gamora. Thanos was obviously the big bad in both those films, but his adopted Zehoberei daughter was essential to his entire story arc. They had a unique relationship and she was clearly his favorite.
To clarify one thing, Thanos deeply cared for Gamora in both Infinity War and Endgame. Thanos in Endgame was just a 4 years younger variant of Thanos from Infinity War. He was not an alternate universe variant but belonged to the same timeline of Earth-616 (or 199999 if you will!). He may have grown a little soft on his enemies in those 4 years between the two movies, but his fondness for Gamora remained the same. So, the right question to simply ask is – Did Thanos Love Gamora? Well yes! He did, and we’ve got proof of it!
Was it Love or Preference?
Thanos was the Mad Titan! He was an intellectual extremist who suggested random genocide of half of Titan’s population to save the rest of the planet. But when he got exiled and Titan perished for not listening to him, he knew what he had to do in order to save the rest of the universe from the same fate. So, he became hellbent on wiping out half of the Universe’s population to allow the other half to survive. How can a person with these crazy motivations love someone?
One could argue that Thanos didn’t really love anyone in the whole wide Universe, and he just preferred Gamora over all his adopted children. Ever since he picked up Gamora and Nebula, he trained them to be ruthless assassins. Both of them fought to please him and more often than not, Gamora turned out to be the victor. She was the one who impressed him the most so she got all the appreciation while Nebula got the boot.
As a child, Thanos wasn’t loved by his mother because of his hideous looks due to the Deviant syndrome in his genes. He grew up in a hostile internal and external environment on Titan. So, showing ruthlessness towards his children, and stern decisiveness in his actions is all he learned. All of his couped-up anger came out on Nebula, while he rewarded Gamora for following his ideals. This kind of enactment paralleled his own childhood as he probably grew up in a similar dynamic involving Starfox and his parents. Starfox was Gamora, and he used to be Nebula.
So you may conclude that Thanos didn’t truly love Gamora, but re-enacted his own childhood and preferred Gamora over Nebula. But I’d say that he did love her, and Infinity War proves that!
Why Thanos Truly Loved Gamora
Thanos may have been delusional, but he wasn’t pure evil! In his mind, he was the savior that the universe needed! And someone who thinks like that is capable of love for sure. After picking up Gamora from her planet, he showed pity on her. And as she kept on impressing him in life, his pity turned into fondness, and gradually into love. But that love wasn’t bigger than his goal, his ambition. Thanos was a twisted guy and he loved Gamora in his own maniacal way. And that can be proven by the Soul Stone segment.
Thanos was required to sacrifice someone he truly loved in order to gain the soul stone. He couldn’t have just faked his love for the green meanie, because then his sacrifice wouldn’t have worked. The fact that he got the Soul Stone proves that Gamora was the only person in the entire universe whom he deeply cared for. He always saw her as his daughter and that’s why he met her in that orange intersectional plane of untethered consciousness known as the Soul World.
Also Read: 10 Forgotten Facts From Gamora’s Past
He loved Gamora, but his goal was much bigger. He sacrificed his love to see a better universe. On the other hand, someone like Tony loved his daughter more than Thanos ever could. He sacrificed himself so his daughter could live in a better universe! Love existed in both these scenarios, but it’s just that Thanos was more driven toward his ambition!
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