The MCU villain Thanos was considered to be one of the most nuanced and well-written antagonists of the franchise. The Marvel universe rarely boasted of compelling villains, with characters such as Loki, Killmonger, and Ultron being the few who were appreciated for their characterization. However, Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War was lauded for his portrayal.
Thanos was on a quest to collect all Infinity Stones so that he could restore balance in the world by eliminating half of the population on Earth. He reasons by taking an example of his home planet Titan, which became a victim of overpopulation and lack of resources, which resulted in its destruction. Now, a fan theory speaks about Thanos’ knowledge of the Celestials and how his knowledge about The Emergence could have been a reason for his quest.
Thanos And His Quest To Bring A Balance In The Universe
Actor Josh Brolin played the role of Thanos in the climactic event films of the ‘Infinity Saga’, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. The writing of the character was lauded by critics and fans alike, mostly due to his justifiable reason to cause genocide and end half of the population of the world.
In the MCU, Thanos was a resident of the planet Titan, which succumbs to overpopulation and lack of adequate resources. Despite being technologically advanced and possessing intelligent life forms, the planet perished. Thanos was said to be the only one who saw the future coming and urged the masses to take his warnings seriously, which fell on deaf ears.
Also read: How Many Times Has Thanos Died in MCU After Killing Half of the Avengers?
After the destruction of his planet, the Mad Titan decided to embark on a crusade to ‘save the universe’ from depleting its own resources. He traveled from planet to planet, committing genocide and ‘restoring the balance’, and became known as a warlord. He adopts Gamora when he goes to restore the balance on the planet Zen-Whoberi.
Thanos then trained his sons and daughters, orphans, he collected from various planets, to find the Infinity Stones across the Universe. He planned to obtain all six Infinity Stones to eliminate half of the population of the universe. While he is pushed back by the Avengers, he becomes successful and becomes the cause of the Blip.
Also read: Josh Brolin Was Embarrassed to Play Thanos, An Avengers Star Made Him See the Light
Thanos Knew About The Celestials
Thanos’ story of balance and resources was one of the deepest motivations for a villain in the MCU. While most villains in the franchise worked with the intention of world domination, Thanos’ ‘world-saving’ arc was appreciated by audiences all around. He also did not take the Avengers seriously and did not want to hurt them until the very end.
However, a recent fan theory after the release of the film Eternals spoke of Thanos being aware of the antagonists of the Eternals, the Celestials. The Celestials were born at moments when a planet reaches a defined number of its population with intelligent lifeforms. The Celestials then cause the destruction of that universe. This event was called the Emergence.
The fan theory by Reddit user TheZburator mentioned that his home planet Titan may be a victim of a Celestial and that Thanos’ intention behind keeping the ‘balance’ of the universe might be in order to delay the Emergence. The Emergence was once delayed by the Eternals after they delayed Tiamut’s birth. With the Blip, the Emergence on Earth was once again delayed.
The fan theory makes the Mad Titan one of the most complicated antagonists as his reasoning behind his actions was always done in accordance with saving the universe from mindless violence. Though his actions were questionable, the MCU antagonist will go down in history as one of the greatest villains in pop culture history.
