It’s been nearly a half decade since Avengers: Infinity War released to theaters, but time hasn’t put quite enough distance between viewers and one of the most infuriating moments in the entire franchise.
Infinity War persists as one of the very best films the franchise has to offer, and continues to sport the most shocking ending of any MCU film. It absolutely dazzled audiences when it released in 2018, but one scene stands out years later as one of the worst decisions by any character in the robust Marvel lineup.
Midway through the two-and-a-half-hour movie, a plan to stop Thanos begins to unfold. Tony, situated on Titan with the Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange, preps the team to serve as the second-to-last defense against the Mad Titan. They hatch a plan to put the massive alien to sleep, steal the Infinity Gauntlet, and stop his deadly campaign in its tracks.
The plan very nearly works until Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill discovers the culprit behind Thanos’ despair. Upon realizing that Thanos killed Gamora to seize the Soul Stone, Quill utterly decimates the plan, attacking Thanos and rousing him from his magically-induced sleep. The gauntlet is mere inches from removal, but it’s not enough. The Mad Titan seizes it from Spider-Man, hurls Mantis across the desolate landscape, and ultimately makes his escape to Wakanda. There, he is able to capture the Mind Stone, complete the gauntlet, and end half of the life on every planet in the galaxy.
All of this could have been avoided, one apt Redditor pointed out, if the team on Titan had merely acted a bit more decisively. Instead of putting Thanos to sleep and attempting to steal the gauntlet, why didn’t they end the Mad Titan for good while his guard was down? Redditor Gebby254 pointed out, “Nebula or Drax could have fatally slit/stabbed his throat,” ending the conflict once and for all, and asked the masses why this wasn’t the plan from the start.
There was no shortage of answers from longtime MCU fans, many of which pointed to Thanos’ intimidating durability. The top comment points out that “they dropped a building on him, and it just pissed him off,” before wondering what, exactly, a knife could accomplish against such an impressive foe.
Commenters were also quick to point out that several characters met their ends after assuming that a knife was enough to harm Thanos. Both Loki and Gamora attempted to kill him with a blade only to lose their lives by Thanos’ hand.
“‘All that for a drop of blood’ comes to mind,” one commenter pointed out. “Dude is resilient as fuck. It took a literal god axe to hurt him.”
Even that wasn’t enough to kill him. It’s easy to forget how devastatingly strong Thanos is, even without the Infinity Stones, but by the time he goes up against the team on Titan, he’s managed to secure all but two of the ancient, powerful gems. He’s all but unstoppable, which is perhaps why a non-traditional approach was needed.
None of this is quite enough to satisfy the folks picking apart those Infinity War scenes, of course, but it’s certainly a fun conversation to read. Quite a few ideas were pitched in the comment section, from Arya Stark’s Valyrian Steel blade to Doctor Strange’s portals, but none of them are likely to pack enough punch to end the Mad Titan for good.