I'm Back and Ready to Discuss Avengers

So, I'm emotionally compromised again.

Oh, hello! I'm back. I've been traveling abroad in England, so I wasn't able to post anything while I was gone. I had a good time, riding the rails all over the United Kingdom, but I am glad to be back. It can be tiring to be in a new city every night.

Some highlights of my trip include attending Evensong at Westminster Abbey, seeing a play at the Globe Theatre, finding a little old chocolate house in Kendal, and pretty much all of the Lake District in general.

And having my birthday in Bath and going to the Pump Room for my cake:

That was pretty great.

Anyway, like I said, I'm emotionally compromised again. Netflix just released Part 3 of Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia and I just finished binging the new season. It's intense. And really, really good. If you're into fantasy, adventure, and kid's animated shows that are actually really serious and dark, and you haven't been watching this, you should start it up. Really well done, Netflix. Well done.

I guess it was time to get another fictional fist to the face, now that I've finally cooled down enough over Avengers: Infinity War (AAAAAAHHHH!) to blog about it. (In semi-related news, I bought a Spider-Man running shirt for my marathon. Which is this weekend, so more AAAAAHHH.)

I noticed some things in the movie that I've wanted to speak about. Now, since time has passed, I can.

Um, spoiler alert. You have been warned.

So I want to talk about Thanos. He was way, way more interesting as a villain than I was expecting.

Not that I was expecting much. I was expecting your typical Big Bad Comic Book Villain with megalomania and monologues, but lacking in motivation beyond "I'm bad and I do what I want" (no offense to Loki). That's not what we got.

The Thanos in Infinity War is mad, yes, and he is driven by motivations that don't make a lot of sense to anyone who actually values life. Which is, hopefully, everyone. But, I was interested to see a Thanos who has thought out his plan, who can explain it in a rational way, and, most importantly, sees himself as the sacrificing hero.

We haven't had this type of villain before. Think about it. In Iron Man, we have Obediah Stane, who wants to take over as CEO of Stark Industries. Greed and power are the motivators. In Captain America, we have HYDRA and the Red Skull, who are seeking ultimate power and domination. Ultron wants the complete destruction of the human race because he thinks robots and androids like himself and Vision are the future. So...power and domination, in a more computer way. And don't get me started on Star-Lord's psycho father Ego.

Helmut Zemo (the Civil War villain) and Wanda and Pietro Maximoff (before they join the Avengers) are all seeking revenge for past wrongs done to them by the Avengers. Not power, then, but vengeance. You can put Ronan the Accuser in this category, too.

And who can forget Loki, the "full-tilt diva" who wears a cape and monologues until forcibly stopped by Hulk? He's a more complicated villain, given his backstory, but he really acts the megalomaniac villain for the Avengers, seeking power and domination. A throne.

This is really the only villains the Avengers have fought: the power-mad and the vengeance-crazed. These are people who want what they want, and they'll do whatever it takes to get it. It's all about them.

Which is why I think they weren't ready for Thanos.

Thanos thinks he's the hero. He thinks the universe will thank him for annihilating half of all life so that the other half can live with more prosperity. He honestly thinks this. Yes, he's insane. But to himself, he's doing the right thing. It's not about him; it's about everyone else.

So he acts the part of the hero. He doesn't monologue or posture, and he doesn't make sure the heroes know that his actions are his fault.

Terry Pratchett, in his book Men at Arms, says this:

“Something Vimes had learned as a young guard drifted up from memory. If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. They want you to know you're going to die. So they'll talk. They'll gloat.

They'll watch you squirm. They'll put off the moment of murder like another man will put off a good cigar.

So hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word.” 

So far, for the Avengers, this has been true: they've been fighting evil men. And that's how they treat Thanos, like another evil man. They expect the power-madness and selfishness, and that's not what they get.

Of course, Thanos is the villain. Anyone who thinks the solution to a problem is killing people is not the hero. But he behaves like one and has, to himself, heroic motivations, which is why I don't think the Avengers and Guardians were ready for him.

Gamora doesn't believe Thanos can love, so she's unprepared for when he sacrifices her as his greatest treasure. And later, Scarlet Witch tells Thanos that he can't imagine the pain she's in. The Avengers have decided that Thanos is just like their other villains, when he's really not.

Thanos, at least to himself, is a good man. And he behaves like Pratchett describes.

Thanos doesn't gloat. He comes in, takes the stone, and goes to find the next one. He doesn't wait or seem to enjoy people's suffering. He behaves like a merciful hero, although he's really not.

 
Thanos also is willing to make sacrifices for the greater good. Although it hurts him to do it, costs him "everything," he throws his daughter Gamora off a cliff, killing her for the Soul Stone. He does this not for himself, but for the universe. He doesn't want statues and monuments to his name, and he doesn't want to rule the universe. He's tired of the quest. His goal, when all of it is over, is to rest quietly on a farm.

This doesn't sound like a villain's MO. This is what a hero does. The Avengers and Guardians weren't ready for this because they have to fight someone who behaves like they do. Like a hero. And after Civil War, we can see how bad they are at fighting people who draw strength from the same things they do: determination and a belief in a higher, moral purpose.

(I'd also like to point out that Star-Lord and Thor were motivated by revenge, and because of that, Star-Lord lashed out, preventing the others from taking the gauntlet, and Thor hit Thanos in the chest, not the head, so Thanos could see who was killing him. Star-Lord and Thor's "villain" actions might have cost them all the fight.)

Infinity War was a loss for the Avengers and the Guardians, and I think it's because for the first time they had a super-powerful foe that didn't fit the villain mold in motivations and actions. They were scattered and unsure of what they were dealing with.

Now, for the second half, I am hoping that with his mission complete, Thanos has lost some of that "heroic" determination. And, with so much lost, the Avengers have redoubled theirs to set things right.