After about a decade of build-up, Avengers: Infinity War finally showed us the Mad Titan, and it definitely wasn’t an anticlimax. Not only was the mocapped performance by Josh Brolin absolutely fantastic, but he was a believably powerful foe in combat, making it all too realistic that the combined might of Earth’s superheroes would be unable to take him down.
But now that we’ve seen Thanos in action, where does Avengers: Endgame go for a villain? The Mad Titan will appear in the film, sure, but if he’s once again the main enemy, the movie will run the risk of being repetitive. That’s why the following fan theory from Reddit user Reinheart123 could make sense.
He argues that if you pay attention to Thor: Ragnarok, the script takes care to define Hela as Thor’s half-sister. But if Odin’s her father, then who’s her mother? And who bestowed on her the powers of the Goddess of Death that seemed to be way beyond even the Asgardian’s control? Well, what if this mysterious mother was Death herself, and what if Death was the true villain of Avengers: Endgame?
That might sound pretty damn bizarre, but Death in the Marvel Universe hasn’t usually been some skeleton wielding a scythe. Rather, she’s been a mysterious, taciturn and beautiful woman. In fact, Thanos’ motivation in the original comics is to wipe out half the universe as a romantic gesture to impress Death, who he’s desperately in love with. While the MCU Thanos doesn’t have that same ambition, their comic relationship could easily be exploited to give the Mad Titan a foil who he can’t dismiss as someone who doesn’t understand his plight. He might also be a bit annoyed that, if this were true, Odin banged Death. Fair play to him.
On top of that, we know Katherine Langford’s joined the cast in a mystery role, so who knows? The Avengers: Endgame trailer played the actual plot of the film pretty close to its chest as well, so right now, anything seems like fair game if you ask me.
