Although the effects of Thanos’ actions inAvengers: Infinity Warhave long since been reversed in theMCU, his misguided plan is still being questioned years later. Thanos’ plan to eliminate half of the universe was what the Infinity Saga was building towards, culminating inAvengers: Infinity WarandEndgame. Half of the universe’s population disappeared because ofThanos’ MCU snap, and while there are glaring problems with his actions, some Marvel fans have actually argued that his intentions for doing so were not completely wrong.
Thanos always maintained that his plan was for the betterment of the universe. As he witnessed first-hand how his home planet of Titan was rendered inhabitable because of overpopulation and a subsequent lack of resources, he insisted that his plan withthe Infinity Stoneswas to be helpful rather than harmful. A previous theory that connected Thanos to the Eternals still feels like one of the strongest ways to explain his actions, but that doesn’t negate the fact that the Snap was a devastating event that would never play out how he wanted it to inthe MCU timeline.
Thanos' Infinity War Plan Was Riddled With Problems
Thanos’ vision with the Snap was that getting rid of half of the universe would stop the looming problem of overpopulation. By his logic, those who were left would have enough resources to live comfortably, meaning the overall quality of life would go up. However,Avengers: Infinity WarandEndgamedemonstrated how that was clearly not realistic. Years after the Snap,the quality of life was shown to be even worseas cities became chaotic and unkempt. Even if the remaining population had an abundance of resources, many were still debilitated by the grief of losing loved ones.
Every MCU Problem Caused By Reversing Thanos' Infinity War Snap
Reversing Thanos' snap was the heroes' main goal in Avengers: Endgame, but Falcon and Winter Soldier proves that it also brought in a lot of problems.
The Snap ultimately created more problems than it solved, which is a very strong argument for why Thanos’ views stemmed from delusion. Even if his core reasoning had a type of logic to it, no sane individual would ever jump to killing half of the universe as the solution. Thanos should’ve known that the remaining population wouldn’t just sit and take their new reality, andtheir inevitable uprising was what caused his downfall. His plan was never one that was meant to work, as it was already riddled with problems from the start.
A fan theory about Thanos stemmed from 2021’sEternals, and it’s still one of the best theories to explain hisInfinity Waractions.Eternalsintroduced the illness Mahd Wy’ry, which is a dementia-like condition that affects the individual’s memories and actions. Thena was shown to suffer from the illness because of the sheer amount of memories she had from immortality, followed by the routine memory wipes after Emergences. The theory suggests thatThanos also suffered from Mahd Wy’ry, and thathis idea of overpopulation ruining planets stemmed from a subconscious memory of witnessing Emergences.
Thanos’ Mad Titan title has a new meaning with this theory. If he really did suffer from Mahd Wy’ry, then his whole plan with the Snap might’ve been the result of the “Mad Titan” literally going “mad.” Of course, there are many caveats to the theory, such as Titan guarding the seed of an Eternal, and Thanos being an Eternal himself. However, the theory is still one of the stronger ones to explain his misguidedAvengers: Infinity Waractions, and why he jumped to such a drastic plan.
