There’s just so much stuff in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame that fans are still dissecting the two movies and noticing new elements that they never did before. Case in point: one person has picked up an incredible parallel between Thanos’ first scene in IW and his final one in Endgame.
User IAmTheWill shared their realization on the MovieDetails subreddit recently. They pointed to the importance of Thanos’ opening speech in IW. “I know what it’s like to lose, to feel so desperately that you’re right but to fail none the less,” the Mad Titan says to Thor and Loki after he’s decimated the Asgardian population. “It’s frightening, turns the legs to jelly.”
Well, fast-forward to the climax of Endgame and the tables have been turned, with Thanos finally being defeated when Iron Man uses the Infinity Gauntlet to wipe the villain and his army out of existence. As he watches everything he’s built turn to dust, “the first thing Thanos does is take a seat.” Legs feeling like jelly there, big guy?
In Infinity War (2018), Thanos’ opening monologue he says, “I know what it’s like to lose…. Turns the legs to jelly,” says the Reddit user. “Later in Avengers: Endgame (2019) upon realizing his loss – the first thing Thanos does is take a seat.”
This is an incredible detail, as it brings Thanos’ story across these two movies full circle in a way that we never noticed before. It also makes the Avengers’ victory all the sweeter. Before, the Titan was taunting Thor for losing but now, Thanos is the one to know that pain. It’s such a neat narrative callback that it’d be interesting to see whether this connection was intentional on the part of the creators. Even if it was just accidental, though, it still works to enhance his character arc.
But is this really the end for Thanos? Anything can happen in the Marvel universe, of course, but it doesn’t sound like the studio have any plans to resurrect him so soon after his defeat in Avengers: Endgame. Though with movies coming up that take place earlier in the timeline, he could always return for a cameo set prior to his death. In fact, a role in The Eternals is much theorized, given Thanos’ status as a Deviant, a mutated offshoot of the Eternals and their mortal enemies.