Thanos and death are completely linked, but the question of whether the Mad Titan might
actually meet his demise in Avengers: Endgame isn't as clear as it may seem.
There are plenty of reasons we could see his nihilistic life come to an end in Endgame...but
there are also some good arguments that we probably won't.
The comics version of the snap that wipes out half of all life doesn't happen at the
end of 1991's Infinity Gauntlet, or even close to it.
It actually happens about halfway through the first issue.
That's partially because the story so much of the movie Infinity War covers — with
Thanos acquiring the Infinity Gems — occurs in the prequel comic Thanos Quest.
It's also not the end of the story.
After a massive battle in space that ends with Thanos defeating most of the remaining
assembled superheroes from Earth, he has to contend with the Marvel Universe's cosmic
heavy hitters.
Eventually, he loses possession of the gauntlet and it becomes something of a hyper-powerful
football.
Nebula is the first to recover it, and Thanos has to join forces with the revived superheroes
to get it away from her.
Then Adam Warlock takes possession of it, and he blasts Thanos into space, where the
Mad Titan seemingly explodes.
What really happens is Thanos is sent 60 days into the future, where he's living on an unnamed
planet and suffering from a fuzzy memory.
He remembers his failures, though, and he promises Warlock that he will lead a "quiet
life" as a farmer.
Infinity War doesn't perfectly mirror Infinity Gauntlet's story, but it hits enough similar
beats that Endgame could recreate its ending.
According to Marvel, one of Thanos's powers is "immortality."
But he does dies one sort of death well before Infinity Gauntlet even starts.
Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 from 1977 is one long fight between Thanos and a whole host
of Marvel superheroes, and it ends with Adam Warlock using the power of the Soul Gem to
turn Thanos to stone.
That story describes Thanos as "trapped within the petrified form of his own corruption,"
but 13 years later, when Death revives him in Silver Surfer #34, the cosmic nihilist
is described as having been full-on dead.
The Marvel Comics embodiment of Death can't have that, though, because she needs Thanos
to do her bidding.
It's not until 2018's Thanos #18 that Death finally decides to let The Mad Titan rest.
Determined to prove his worth to Death, an old Thanos transports his younger self to
the end of time for one big final showdown, hoping to die in the process.
The old Thanos loses the fight, but his younger self refuses to end his life.
It's only after the younger Thanos goes back to his time that Death declares his victory,
and allows the old Thanos to be erased from existence.
Comics stories keep going on and on forever, and creators often want to keep characters
around for future tales.
Movies have far more definitive endings, and it's more common for characters to die permanently.
Plus, superhero comics fit within their own particular genre, while superhero movies tend
to follow a more standard action-movie template.
Ask any film fan what the defining action movie of the last few decades is, and they'll
probably say it's the 1988 classic Die Hard, which ends with would-be terrorist Hans Gruber
falling to his death.
It's no surprise, then, that the Joker dies at the end of 1989's Batman.
And not only does he die, he dies in exactly the same way as Hans Gruber.
That movie kicked off a trend in which the main villains died in most of the subsequent
Batman films, The Rocketeer, X-Men 2, the first two Blade movies, Spider-Man and Spider-Man
2, Hulk, Man of Steel, Deadpool, Logan — the list goes on.
"I won't kill you.
But I don't have to save you."
It stands to reason, then, that Thanos could share the fate of all those films' bad guys,
particularly since Endgame is clearly aiming for a grittier tone than some other MCU fare.
Some of the earliest MCU villains absolutely bit the big one.
Iron Man's Obidiah Stane and Iron Man 2's Ivan Vanko both died.
Malekith the Dark Elf didn't live to make cookies another day after Thor: The Dark World.
And thousands of members of the alien race the Chitauri were nuked in Avengers.
Ultron also seems to be pretty dead.
At least as dead as an evil AI can be.
But more recent entries into the Marvel Cinematic Universe have made conscious efforts to avoid
villain deaths.
In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Peter Parker goes out of his way to save the Vulture from imminent
death in the aftermath of a plane crash.
In Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers chooses to send Yon-Rogg back to the Kree with a message
not to mess with Earth, rather than take her revenge.
Of course, there are exceptions to that rule, too.
Hela doesn't make it out of Thor: Ragnarok alive, for example.
And Killmonger chooses to die rather than go to jail in Black Panther.
Yet it's clear villains at least don't have to die in MCU movies.
In some very real ways, the stories of MCU movies are still driven by the realities of
the movie industry, including actors' contracts.
In the lead-up to Endgame, rumors have swirled about the fates of Chris Evans' Captain America
and Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man, among others, because their contracts are seemingly coming
to an end.
On the other side of things, Josh Brolin, the actor who plays Thanos, may still have
a few movies left on his contract after Endgame.
ScreenRant categorizes him as "staying" on as part of the MCU for a bit longer, noting
that he signed a "multi-picture contract" with Marvel Studios.
Endgame is technically Brolin's fourth MCU appearance, after cameos in Guardians of the
Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron, and his star turn in Infinity War.
Was his contract for more movies than that?
Marvel hasn't revealed the details.
In an interview on Conan, Brolin did indicate he's in for the long haul.
"They're gonna tell me what I"m doing.
I'll say, 'Yes, sir,' and then I'll leave.
And I get to play Thanos for, like, a few years."
Rumors are often like dust in the wind, but we'd say this one has maybe a 50/50 shot.
According to Total Film, word is swirling that Brolin's Thanos will be appearing "in
some capacity" in the MCU Phase 4 film Eternals.
And it makes sense.
Thanos' comic book brother, Starfox, is an Eternal, a member of an ancient and powerful
band of early humans who left Earth and settled in space.
Technically, Thanos is one, too.
Like Starfox, he was one of the Eternals who lived on Saturn's moon Titan.
Naturally, there's a catch.
If Eternals is an origin story similar to what happens in the comics, then it will take
place thousands of years before the current MCU — which means there would be no issue
with Thanos appearing, even if he dies in Endgame.
Unless, of course, there's also a modern-day component to Eternals, like when the story
flashed forward at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger.
The MCU probably won't be rid of Thanos whether he dies or not.
There's always the potential of him showing up in a flashback or a prequel like Eternals
may turn out to be.
The Red Skull returned in Infinity War some 75 years after his apparent death in Captain
America: The First Avenger.
Instead of killing him, the Tesseract transports him to the planet Vormir, where he becomes
a sort of cursed guardian of the Soul Stone.
Arnim Zola, much like his comics counterpart, kept his consciousness alive in a computer.
And Loki has died how many times now?
"Sorry I tried to rule earth.
They’d be lucky to have you
Sorry about the thing with the Tessaract I just couldn't help myself"
Endgame is a movie in which fans have an expectation that dozens of characters will come back to
life after blinking out of existence in Infinity War.
The MCU is officially enough of a comic book world that death can be little more than a
stumbling block rather than a hard ending.
If Thanos does die in Endgame, will it even matter?
Maybe the more poetic and fitting end for a genocidal creep like Thanos isn't his own
death, which he doesn't seem to fear, but to see his work undone, then have to live
with his failure.
Just like in Infinity Gauntlet.
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