Highlights
- Thanos is the ultimate MCU villain because his goal of wiping out half of all life, although horrifying, makes a twisted kind of sense.
- Thanos underestimates the power of unity and the superheroes’ determination to stop him, leading to the downfall of his flawed plan.
- Kang the Conqueror is a more complicated villain than Thanos, with complex motivations and multiple versions of himself.
The Avengers have faced off against a number of formidable villains over the years in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but all the individual movies lead up to a battle with an overarching villain when the heroes join forces in the Avengers movies. Thanos was the big bad leading up to the stunning double bill of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and the current villain in phase five is Kang the Conqueror, though questions remain around his future involvement in the MCU due to assault charges leveled against Jonathan Majors, who plays the complicated villain.
Thanos was played by Josh Brolin, and the character was an alien warlord from the planet Titan, and his big agenda is to wipe out half of all life to stop overpopulation and prevent an inevitable extinction. He must do this by obtaining six infinity stones which will give him the power to do so. His big plan comes to fruition in Avengers: Infinity War when he assembles all the stones and wipes out half of the universe with the snap of his fingers. The events of this movie led directly into the events of Avengers: Endgame, which saw the Avengers fight back against him and turn the clock back on his wicked plan.
RELATED: Jonathan Majors’ Future As Kang Is Even More Chaotic After New Criminal Case Details Surface
Thanos was defeated, and this paved the way for a new villain to take his mantle in Phase Five with the introduction of Kang the Conqueror. A tough act to follow after Thanos became one of the best villains of all time, but Kang is an intriguing villain with the potential to cause the Avengers great harm moving forward. But Thanos will likely remain the number one villain in the MCU for one particular reason.
Thanos always had a clear goal
The scary thing about Thanos’s ultimate goal in the MCU was that it made a degree of sense, despite being orchestrated in a dreadful way. Every villain is a hero in their own story, and this is very true in relation to Thanos. He will always be the ultimate MCU villain because he had one clear goal, and if it wasn’t for some cheeky time travel workaround in Avengers: Endgame, he would’ve achieved it. In the long run, it might have worked to improve the universe, and that is a disturbing thought.
With all six stones I could simply snap my fingers, and they would cease to exist. I call that mercy
Thanos is a despicable villain, despite his reasoning making a bit of sense. The coldness of its execution, quite literally, leaves the surviving Avengers reeling, with half of the universe turning to dust. Making people cease to exist is what Thanos calls mercy, and this is where his plan becomes flawed. He underestimates the power of unity, and the power of the superheroes fighting against him. He might want to save the world in his own twisted way, but he’s still very much out for himself and has no qualms killing innocents to achieve his goal.
Kang is more complicated than Thanos
Avengers: Endgame sees the end of Thanos and his wicked albeit understandable plan, and the tragic death of Tony Stark/Iron Man, paving the way for a more complicated villain in the form of Kang the Conqueror. Marvel had a different tack when introducing Kang into the MCU. Whereas Thanos was teased throughout the first few phases of the MCU, until he made a proper fully formed appearance in Infinity War and Endgame, Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania introduced Kang as the main villain of its story, in the start of a wild story arc potentially leading up to the end of phase five, and into phase six.
Kang’s existence is as complex as his motivations, having lived for an eternity, in a constant loop of interfering with his past and future through time travel. Kang doesn’t relate to the struggles and motivations of normal human beings, and because of the multiple versions that exist of Kang, each variant has different intentions to the others, making it a very complicated arc for the character.
I don’t live in a straight line, and with time, I can skip to the end.
The Avengers movies Thanos appears in are arguably the best and will remain so because his motivations were so clear. To make Kang’s future even more complicated is the current issue with the actor who plays him. Jonathan Majors is currently embroiled in an assault case, which puts Marvel in a bit of a quandary on what to do with the Kang character if Majors is convicted. Even if he is cleared, the court of public opinion might leave Marvel with no choice other than to axe the character, leaving the rest of phase five in trouble. Rumors have been circulating that Dr Doom might be introduced to take over from Kang, and as good as this villain is, it’ll feel strange if the character of Kang doesn’t continue, as so much work has been put into forming his arc. Either way, Thanos is a far superior villain to him, and will go down in history as one of the great villains of all time.
MCU
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is a sprawling movie and television franchise that weaves together individual stories of superheroes including Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man, Hulk, Black Widow, and many more. The first film in the franchise, Iron Man, was released in 2008. The MCU has garnered critical praise and financial success, earning billions at the box office and becoming a cultural phenomenon.
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