As comic book fans, we're all remarkably well-versed in the art of criticising the stories that we are given that we are supposed to enjoy. When it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, most people attack the poorly developed and lacklustre villains that we've encountered across the course of eleven movies. It comes as no surprise to me that people have now resorted to attacking Thanos more than ever, however I believe it to be completely unsolicited. Thanos, in the MCU, has been seen all of four times on screen. Twice in Guardians of the Galaxy, once in Avengers and once more in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Two out of the four times we've seen him, he's been standing. One of the times we saw him featured only his head and the fourth only shows him sitting down.
As of late, I've been binge-reading everything Jim Starlin has ever written for Marvel in my endeavours to further adapt my Marvel Cinematic Universe theory. In the process, I've noticed something about the character of Thanos. Something that was essentially the very essence of his character for the majority of his early years. Thanos is a schemer first and a man of action second. Not only that, but he rarely if ever goes out and does something himself. He uses people. He enthralls people and forces them to do his bidding. This can be seen in Adam Warlock comics and Captain Marvel comics, the cornerstones of classic Marvel cosmic. In these two series, both of which I've read at length now, Thanos spends the majority of the time in the background allowing people like the Controller, Super Skrull and other cosmic villains to carry out his dirty work for him. Beyond that, he waits for the perfect moment of opportunity before he actually gets up and actively pursues his goal. Take for instance, when he first acquired the cosmic cube.
Before Thanos even leaves Titan and heads to Earth to retrieve the cosmic cube, he has had the likes of the Controller and Super Skrull go to Earth and wreak havoc as a means of either distraction, or to genuinely further his plans. However, it took a hell of a long time before that happened and once Thanos acquired the cube, you barely see him, because he's transformed himself into an omnipotent. In the grand scheme of things, Thanos does literally nothing except acquire that which he needs to grant him power in the easiest way possible. Now, let's take what we know from that and apply it to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, of which Thanos is supposedly the grand villain pulling all the strings.
Thanos has had Loki, The Other, Ronan, and subsequently Nebula, Korath and Gamora all under his control at some stage over the course of the MCU. He has used them all to ensure that the Infinity Stones are in places that are of a strategic advantage to him. Places that are the homes to those who would pose great threats to his plans. The Asgardians, the Nova Corps, and the Avengers now all have an Infinity Stone in their possession. Thanos's plans are now ready to be set into action, as shown by the fact he retrieved his gauntlet at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Why though, do I believe that the complaints about Thanos doing nothing show people to be ignorant? Mainly, it shows they haven't got a [frick]ing clue what they're talking about because they haven't read the right comic books and therefore, I don't think they have that much of a right to judge. I wouldn't go around denouncing homosexual sex as a pointless act that isn't interesting, because I've never had homosexual sex. So why is it that people think the same sort of rule doesn't apply to everything else? Be it that you say snails aren't great as a food, yet you've never eaten them. Or that Red Dwarf is a horrible show, yet you've never watched a single episode. I understand that people want to see Thanos doing more, but that's not what he does when he's just Thanos. He only gets active when he's all-powerful, and that hasn't happened yet.
I just felt like venting this, because I only recently realised how much of a potato Thanos was in his early years and thought it was actually pretty apt that Marvel have done sweet sod all with the character, because remarkably, it's staying true to the source material! Something else people constantly complain about when they don't know enough about what they're arguing for or against.
Anyway, have fun in the cmments section. I know I will.