Why Thanos is the Best Avenger

We’re (hopefully) taught some important things as children:

• you can do anything you set your mind to, so aim high
• we’re all representatives of humanity, and being part of humanity comes with some responsibilities – vote, take care of the environment, take care of each other, etc
• do what you think is right, even if all your friends are doing what you think is wrong

[Spoilers ahead, for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame]

Thanos

Thanos witnessed a terrible tragedy, first hand. Even worse, he warned people that it would happen, and they didn’t listen. They didn’t accept his solution and they didn’t come up with a better solution. Because the people in power did nothing, and because he did not act independent of those in power, he watched while the people he cared about died horrible deaths.

This terrible event changed the path of his life. He swore to himself that no matter what else happened, he would be fully committed to preventing a similar tragedy in the future. He built a community around his mission, and spent his life doing what he thought was right.

And…he was really good at it.

Morality

Thanos was doing exactly what we’re all taught to do: learn from our past mistakes, decide what we think the right thing is to avoid those mistakes in the future, and commit hard to that course of action. Commit hard to what we think is right, and resist external pressure to change our minds – especially if no one can clearly explain why we should change our minds.

We could use this to transition to a discussion of absolute morality and why “what I think is right” is a dangerous rule to go by. But in the end, that’s all we got. We have to decide what we think is right, or we sit paralyzed and…kind of useless. Ideally we decide “what I think is right” based on a higher authority (e.g. “our lord and savior Thanos” [bad plan], or, you know, God [very best plan]), but once we decide, we have to commit. 

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. (James 1:6-10)

The Internet

Shiny Person: (n) a person who is so content and joyful with their place in the world that their soul shines. Typically happens when someone is so fully on board Plan God that it’s undeniable. Does not guarantee that someone is right in what they say. (SR definition)

The internet loves Thanos. He’s committed to what he believes in, and this is approximately half of what it takes to be a Shiny Person. People love Shiny People. The internet loves Thanos so much in fact that there’s an entire subreddit dedicated to how great he is.

The community on the subreddit set up a crazy scheme with the Reddit mods to ban half of the /r/thanosdidnothingwrong subreddit, called The Dusting. Shiny people tend to inspire other people to also be shiny, so…because Thanos was so committed, they were too. He gave them a kind of passive awesome permission to be that committed. This is one reason (of many…) why the internet is still an awesome place.

There are many many amazing memes about Thanos on the internet – the internet, which is mostly full of people wasting their time screaming about Trump or Brexit or appropriate levels of mom guilt at the top of their digital lungs. In the middle of all of that, Thanos presents a fascinating morality discussion and…it’s just fun to marvel (…no pun intended…) and laugh at the clever ways that people try to illustrate those morals. (Josh definitely had a blast picking his favorites out for this post, :-D)

Balance Restored

It probably seems like at least some of this is tongue-in-cheek. Actually…it’s not. Thanos was most guilty of having a bad plan. Removing half the population of the universe is, at best, a temporary measure. If you’re going to go to all that trouble to have infinite power literally at your fingertips, why wouldn’t you solve the problem in a forever kind of way?

The other vital step he missed was actual community – he built a community, yes, but mostly it was an army of which he was the unequivocal leader. That isn’t community. Community requires relationships deep enough that if you have a bad plan, someone will tell you. And…in response, you will genuinely consider if they’re right, and you will adapt your plan if so. The only person Thanos kind of listened to was Gamora, and…well, we know how that turned out.

So…do we love Thanos? Did we sit in awe of Avengers: Infinity War and get really giddy at the beautiful play on hero vs villain? Do we generally admire commitment, as well as complicated, arrogant, possibly crazy people?

YES!

Is Thanos the real hero of Avengers? Do we believe in his solution for global warming and reducing waste?

…we’ll leave that to you to decide.