Thanos is an excellent villain

(Marvel: Infinity War and Endgame spoilers ahead)





(Marvel: Infinity War and Endgame spoilers ahead)





(No, seriously, Marvel: Infinity War and Endgame spoilers are ahead)





I'm a member of the Thanos fan club. Not because I think he should be nominated for citizen of the year, or because /r/thanosdidnothingwrong. I like Thanos because he is an excellent villain. He manages to be evil on a scale hither to undreamt of, while displaying none of the cliche attributes of the megalomaniacal action movie villain, which typically include:

• Pointless cruelty
• World domination for its own sake
• Stupidity

With Thanos, we get something different -- he has a conviction. He wants to destroy half of all life in the universe so that the other half can "thrive." He will accept whatever means that he must to justify that end, but does not indulge himself in casual cruelty. A good demonstration of his attributes as a character can be seen in this scene from Infinity War.



It can't be ignored that in this scene, his troops commit genocide while one of his top subordinates tells everyone that they are being given salvation, etc. etc. But we also see that Thanos is kind to Gamora, saving her from what's about to happen and distracting her while his troops do the deed. This shows a terrifying duality: he is simultaneously committing a monumental act of evil and a small act of kindness. He wraps it in a justification of how the universe must be kept in balance. And over the course of several movies, he barely strays from the exact goal that he says he is after. Nebula says it herself in Endgame: "Father is many things. A liar is not one of them."

And that's not all -- Thanos displays several attributes that makes him a terrifying and unique villain.

Thanos is tough

The heros have to execute multi-character combos to keep Thanos from closing his fist. And that's without any infinity stones, as seen near the climax of Endgame. Thanos is a tough challenge to beat, even in a series with overpowered characters. Even Captain Marvel, who can one-shot a space battleship can't beat Thanos one-on-one. Heck, in Infinity War, he wins. Out of one million possible scenarios Dr. Strange sees with the Time Stone, Thanos wins. He is one tough cookie.

Thanos isn't stupid

Thanos doesn't make any major strategic blunders in Infinity War or Endgame. He moves in force to collect the infinity stones, using each one as an advantage in acquiring the others. He already has the capability to use them and one of the more useful stones (the power stone) in his possession before going after the harder opponents. He acquires the Time Stone before going after the one stone that his enemies know how to permanently destroy. Once he acquires all the stones, he uses them immediately. And after he uses them, he destroys them, making it "impossible" to undo what he has done. It's a really good plan.

He didn't seem to know that time travel would come up, but as soon as the heroes started traveling back in time, he reacted quickly to the situation. His response is particularly fascinating. As soon as he gets the capability to travel through time himself, he goes straight for the jugular, launching a surprise attack with his space battleship and almost wins.

Conclusion

Thanos is a terrifying villain not because he is an insane megalomaniac, but because he knows exactly what he wants, and has the resources and power to get it. And more than anything else, because he wins. Completely, absolutely. At least for one movie, with a year or so of wait time in between. The ending of Infinity War was uncommonly bold. Few movies are willing to go there. To let the bad guy win. And because they were willing to do that, Endgame is that much more powerful when the heros are finally able to undo what was done.