Was It The Avengers’ Original Plan to Keep Thanos Alive?
The what-if scenarios in all Marvel Cinematic Universe movies are sometimes overwhelming in scope, especially when placed into a multiverse scenario. Because Doctor Strange saw 14 million possible outcomes before the final battle in Avengers: Endgame occurred, he saw things nobody will ever be privy to. One of those might have been The Avengers planning to keep Thanos alive.
If this sounds like a crazy idea, fans are starting to wonder if there was a feeling of guilt over killing Thanos. Then again, arguments also exist on whether some Avengers had no qualms about putting Thanos out of existence.
Much of this can lead to a complicated argument about whether Thanos is really dead, not including parallels to capital punishment.
Thor seems to enact revenge on Thanos
A recent Reddit theory posits some Avengers might have let Thanos stay alive after the snap occurred. One good argument for this is Thanos destroyed the Infinity Stones, then went off to live by himself, presumably to never bother anyone again. Of course, this overlooked that little thing about wiping out half of all life on earth.
On Reddit, fans think had it not been Thor rallying his fellow Avengers to get back at Thanos, most of the other superheroes might have stayed resigned to what happened. A few seemed to accept the loss of their friends and family.
Perhaps this falls in line with the thought had they no longer meddled with Thanos, he would never be a problem again. Killing him could potentially create a domino effect of other problems. No doubt a few thought about what might happen if the snap reversed and the bizarre repercussions it would bring.
Once this occurred, it did open a lot of questions about how the world adjusts. Along with it comes the possibility of more enemies to come without having possession of the Infinity Stones.
How many of The Avengers really wanted to kill Thanos?
Another argument made on the above Reddit thread was the thought The Avengers team had no aversions to killing if they had to. A user pointed out a couple of the heroes were assassins in their prior lives. Killing for them would never be problematic if it meant doing so for a greater good.
Others were maybe a different story. Captain America might not have agreed to exterminate Thanos had they managed to bring him back as a prisoner.
In this scenario, some complicated situations might have ensued.
Bringing Thanos to earth as a prisoner might have been impossible anyway considering his godlike strength. Had they even managed that, imprisonment would be challenging when he had massive strength far beyond Hulk.
Death was seemingly inevitable, no matter how initially reluctant the superheroes were. The legal arguments about what Thanos did have certainly turned complex, particularly from those who saw odd positives in what he did to save earth.
Does the decision to kill Thanos speak to capital punishment in the real world?
When thinking big on the death of Thanos, his demise was better for everyone, if bringing questions about who really deserves to die. The MCU may have deeper questions in their plots than even they planned when placing Thanos’s death into the context of capital punishment.
Should someone die for taking out that many lives while simultaneously saving the planet? Imagine what a defense lawyer would have done with this had Thanos had a trial.
On a more personal level, Reddit above noted the death of Thanos was somewhat of a catharsis for Thor. He managed to get himself back in shape to take the mission on to reverse the snap and rid the universe of Thanos.
The problem, of course, is nothing seems to be forever in the world of the MCU. With the multiverse, the death of Thanos might not have the same meaning as it would in the real world.
Also, according to Comicbook.com, with the Russo Brothers once saying Thanos had feelings of guilt after the snap, a new argument could be made he might have been reformable.
