It was a hugely gratifying moment in Avengers: Endgame. When Thanos is about to snap his fingers again to wipe out the whole universe this time, the Mad Titan decrees “I am inevitable.” It doesn’t work, though, as Tony Stark has pinched the Infinity Stones and instead snaps his own fingers to wipe Thanos from existence, quipping, “Well, I am Iron Man,” as he does so. One fan, however, has noticed a bit of blunder in this scene which makes the big purple bad guy seem like a total idiot.
Reddit user u/Caramello03 shared a short clip from the film on the r/MarvelStudios subreddit – which you can see here – pointing out that there’s a brief shot where Thanos is staring right at his thumb seconds before he starts to gloat and snap his fingers. At this moment, he really should’ve noticed that the Time Stone wasn’t where it ought to be, which should’ve tipped him off to the fact that all the Stones were missing from his Infinity Gauntlet. Apparently, though, the villain completely missed what was right in his face.
Given the framing of this shot, it does stretch credibility that Thanos wouldn’t have noticed the errant Time Stone, though it is only the shortest of moments, if you watch the clip. What’s more, the Titan’s fatal flaw in this scene was already lamp-shaded by the alien himself earlier on in the movie. When Nebula tells him the Avengers won’t be expecting them to use time travel to take the fight to them, Thanos replies “the arrogant never do.” Apparently, the arrogant never look at their thumbs closely enough, either.
He must’ve been kicking himself as he turned to dust. But he’s not the first supervillain to prioritize monologuing over double-checking the ins-and-outs of his evil plan, and he surely won’t be the last.
