With anticipation rapidly building for the Avengers’ big showdown with Thanos in Endgame there’s all kind of theories doing the rounds on how things will pan out.
One thing we’re pretty confident of is that we’re going to lose at least one Avenger from the MCU – we also kind of assumed that the movie would be the end of Thanos.
Maybe things aren’t going to be as clear-cut as that though.
There’s a new rumour doing the rounds that Endgame may not be the last we see of Josh Brolin’s character and that he’ll actually appear in another MCU movie after Marvel’s phase 3 finale.
This new theory stems from Thanos’ sibling – which was never touched upon in Infinity War. In the Marvel comics, Thanos has a brother named Starfox who is an Eternal – a race of superhero-like beings that existed way before the Avengers.
Thanos and Starfox have clashed multiple times in the comics and some fans think these Eternals will play some part in Marvel’s phase 4. Which means it’s probably fair to assume that Thanos could make an appearance.
Another theory surrounding Brolin’s character has recently done the rounds, focusing in on why Thanos didn’t just kill the Guardians of the Galaxy when he quite clearly would have been capable.
During that battle on Titan, we see Thanos use the Power Stone, something we have seen be used to destroy ENTIRE planets. Surely a direct hit from that bad boy would most certainly kill at least the Guardians of the Galaxy?
That being said, what if Thanos didn’t actually want to kill them? That’s the theory Reddit user bondoh argues: “When I first saw the movie, I thought it was weird that Star-Lord, Drax, and Nebula were able to take such a direct blast from the Power Stone without dying, especially since the first Guardians movie made it clear that this gem can destroy entire planets.”
They continued: “Now in fairness, Thanos does show he can control the degree of the power and uses it to brush away three people on earth without any sign of using the Soul Stone.
“However on Titan, right after he snapped out of the hypnosis, he was angrier than at any other point of the movie, and therefore seemed to lose control more than at any other time. Throwing the moon being the pinnacle of that rampage.
“But many have pointed out how gentle he was in the second half of the movie, how he seemed to go out of his way to not kill people on Titan or Earth because he wanted the Snap to decide.
“But I think having come close to losing the Gauntlet he lost control and pushed out a blast from the Power gem more than what he meant to.”
They added: “Which is why….directly after he drops the two Guardians and Nebula with the blast from the Power Stone, it cuts to the shot where Iron Man attacks with a blade.
“At the very beginning of that shot, in a blink and you’ll miss it moment, you can see that the Soul Stone is glowing.
“And not just a little bit but clearly activated. There’s no other reason for it to be activated at that moment unless it was to keep those three alive since they fell so limp it looked like he basically killed them.”
It’s not unreasonable to believe that Thanos was actually quite measured in what he was trying to achieve. After all, there are multiple occasions throughout Infinity War where we see him explaining his thought process and justifications for doing what he’s doing.