AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR Writers Explain Why Thanos' Motivation Is Different From His Comic Book Counterpart

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR Writers Explain Why Thanos' Motivation Is Different From His Comic Book Counterpart

It's been known for quite a while now that Thanos' motivation in Avengers: Infinity War will be different from the comic book version of the villain, and now the film's writers have explained the decision.

By VHernandez - Apr 22, 2018 11:04 PM EST
Filed Under: Avengers: Infinity War
Source: Comingsoon.net
After first appearing in the Avengers back in 2012, the Mad Titan Thanos is finally set to have a central role in a Marvel Studios film, and many fans are rightfully excited. This excitement has only been fueled by comments from the film’s cast and crew, which describe Avengers: Infinity War as being told largely from the perspective of Thanos.

However, while such comments caused a lot of excitement, others which explained the Titan’s motivation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, were unsurprisingly met with less positive reactions from some fans. The bulk of these reactions stemmed from the fact that the MCU will seemingly forego the role of Thanos’ infatuation with Death in the villain’s actions.

Now, ahead of Infinity War’s release date, the film’s writers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, have explained the reason behind this change from the comics.

“At the very beginning, just because it’s such a focal point of the comics, we talked about it,” McFeely told Comingsoon.net, revealing that Marvel had discussed keeping true to the comics before explaining why it wasn’t right for the movie. “It is not something that brings you closer to his motivation. It’s not something where the average moviegoer says, ‘Now I can kinda empathize with him because he’s in love with Death!’ “

While this is a solid and insighful explanation from the writer, the exclusion of Death will still undoubtedly be a disappointment for some fans. Still, the writers also explained that they will be keeping true to some elements of Thanos’ comic book counterpart:


“But I think we took that passion that he has… he really is in love with Death in the comics! He’s a lovelorn, kinda sad little fella. We wanted to maintain that level of emotion on his part, just redirected.”

This redirection of Thanos’ emotions likely refers to the fact that in the MCU Thanos is highly motivated to save the universe from disaster, a motivation that is said to be the result of the destruction that befell his homeworld of Titan

Anyways, what do you fold make of these comments from the writers? Do you think this is a good reason to deviate from the comics, or are you disappointed with change? Whatever your thoughts may be, make sure to comment below.
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axelhayden
axelhayden - 4/22/2018, 11:34 PM
sad move...
Deonox
Deonox - 4/23/2018, 7:42 AM
@axelhayden - I actually welcome this change. idk about y'all but as powerful as Thanos is, and as much as I love the concept, Thanos is really whiny in the infinity gauntlet story line
Brave
Brave - 4/22/2018, 11:37 PM
He's still Thanos...

Brave
Brave - 4/22/2018, 11:51 PM
@Brave - why was that user's comments deleted? He was just expressing disdain. I don't think he was trolling lol, but it's the editor's rules. So....yeah.
Shroombeast
Shroombeast - 4/23/2018, 12:52 AM
@Brave - I have no idea what I said that was so controversial.
NotoriousWolf23
NotoriousWolf23 - 4/22/2018, 11:39 PM
Probably for the better. Some things need to say in the comics imo.
Invasion96
Invasion96 - 4/22/2018, 11:43 PM
“He’s a lovelorn,kinda sad little fella.” Aka we didn’t want our big bad villain to be a simp. Not everything translates well to the big screen and the majority of audiences wouldn’t go for that. I can already see the jokes
Stark: “So you’re gonna do all this just so some chick can love you. Grow a pair”
NotoriousWolf23
NotoriousWolf23 - 4/22/2018, 11:44 PM
@Invasion96 - like i said in my comment above. Some things in the comics just don't translate well onscreen. That's my opinion tho.
Invasion96
Invasion96 - 4/22/2018, 11:44 PM
The movie comes out Friday my anticipation isn’t wavering whatsoever if you don’t like this... lemme get ya ticket I’ll see the movie again for free
ChangAlang
ChangAlang - 4/22/2018, 11:56 PM
@Invasion96 - Some of the community though😉

Luminus
Luminus - 4/23/2018, 12:20 AM
@ChangAlang - This is how road rage happens. The things you do in a car that are seemingly acceptable (honking horns, skipping) would cause beef if you did while not in a car.
ChangAlang
ChangAlang - 4/23/2018, 1:30 AM
Totally agree @Luminus Definitely not condoning! One of our road rules is “merge like a zip”.
Luminus
Luminus - 4/23/2018, 2:34 AM
@ChangAlang - Had to look up that term. lol:

ChangAlang
ChangAlang - 4/23/2018, 2:47 AM
@Luminus - hahahaha... it's silly but effective.
LongMayHeReign
LongMayHeReign - 4/22/2018, 11:45 PM
Killing people for the sake of love doesn't make anyone sympathize with a villain unless you yourself have killed for love. Considering that most if not all the general audience and the hardcore comic fans probably have not done this heinous act I think it was a good choice.

Every single MCU villain that was just evil for the sake of being evil was terrible. But the one's that you can understand why they do what they do (Killmonger, Vulture, Zemo) makes them stand out more.
Spock0Clock
Spock0Clock - 4/22/2018, 11:54 PM
Done right, it's a really interesting and effective philosophical motivation. It makes literal a real phenomenon that pervades so much of human society. So many people "love death" in a thousand different ways that could be explored, and Thanos is the perfect person to explore it with. The most common religion in America actively asserts that true paradise and justice can only be attained through death, and big swathes of those believers also think that a climactic moment of death and spiritual rebirth for the entire planet is coming soon.

And yeah, I'm sure it's icky for mostly secular-people who write these kinds of movies to really dig into this nonsense, but it's not "unrelatable" to all those people.

It's a shame they whiffed on this. Maybe his MCU motivation will be compelling and interesting, too. But this is just an excuse for not trying.
Ronan3Accuser
Ronan3Accuser - 4/23/2018, 12:25 AM
Cdraven23
Cdraven23 - 4/23/2018, 12:33 AM
I'm so excited, it's a good time to be a comicbook fan,never in my wildest dreams I'd imagine a movie this big can't wait for friday
THEDARKKNIGHT1939
THEDARKKNIGHT1939 - 4/23/2018, 12:40 AM
Keeping the same motivations would have still allowed for some empathy because everything Thanos does is to gain the respect and affection from someone he loves. How exactly is a love story, as twisted as it is, not relatable? But I guess it's understandable that they wouldn't introduce the character of Death this late into the game.

With that said, instead of a real person, they could have still made Thanos in love death as a concept. As much as the average person sees beauty in birth, Thanos sees beauty in an organism becoming lifeless. Not every villain needs to be empathized with, they just need clear motivations. I think everyone would be on board with Thanos having a mindset like that just as they were on board with Joker being in love with chaos.
Cdraven23
Cdraven23 - 4/23/2018, 12:41 AM
@THEDARKKNIGHT1939 - yes but that won't sell toys
connorblaze
connorblaze - 4/23/2018, 12:49 AM
The best villains aren’t empathetic. They’re charismatic psychopaths. They’re great because we don’t understand them and that makes them scary. The Joker. The Devil. Hannibal Lecter. They still have understandable motives though, they’re just ones that appeal to our dark side. Who didn’t watch The Dark Knight and feel that the Joker made some damn good points, even though his whole thing was basically ‘burn it call cause people suck’. They should have made him a psychopath who hallucinated a woman who told him to kill everyone. Kinda like the relationship between Kevin Costner and William Hurt in Mr Brooks. Would have been really interesting and sinister. I don’t mind that they’ve tried to mKe him empathetic but from what we’ve heard, his motive is even harder to empathize with than ‘[frick] people’ because it doesn’t make any goddamn sense and it’s a bit silly.
benjithegreat
benjithegreat - 4/23/2018, 12:56 AM
I still think they could have made him work. He's just obsessed with the Concept of death - he's more of a Mad Scientist - it's his obsession. He wants to be a part of it and "help with it", and witness it, and find new ways to reach it, etc. He just finds it fascinating and amazing. The only difference is it's not actually a personification. It's not a "person", but an idea. I think it could be very cool!
Cdraven23
Cdraven23 - 4/23/2018, 1:09 AM
@benjithegreat - true we all now just hope that what we'll have in the movie gets to still be a badass looking Thanos I'm keeeping high hopes on that
benjithegreat
benjithegreat - 4/23/2018, 4:34 PM
@Cdraven23 - Totally - my favorite part of the Infinity Gauntlet was watching how creatively he dispatched the heroes : I just taps SheHulk & Namor and they start corroding into some sort of mold - He turns Nova into just a pile of building blocks - he turns Thor to glass and tosses him out into space - punches his fist right through The Vision and rips his insides out - turns Wolvie's bones to jelly - removes Starfox's mouth - and on and on - it's so cool - I REEEALLY hope they do that sort of thing here - althoguh the one thing they've said is that if they die in these movies - they stay dead - not sure how that works as the Soul Stone has to come into play to a degree.
CaptainElrond
CaptainElrond - 4/23/2018, 1:08 AM
The idea that life is a danger to the universe, at least sentient life, is more or less true. While i do like the death concept and emphasize with it. I do think his plan makes a certain amount of sense.
Ragnarocknroll
Ragnarocknroll - 4/23/2018, 1:27 AM
I for one, welcome this decision.
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