'Avengers: Infinity War' Director On How Thanos Changes Completely Once He Removes His Armor

Thanos did not kill for sport after the first scene of Avengers: Infinity War which is reflected in his choice to drop the armor he had been wearing.

Spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War follow. Major spoilers!

After wiping out half of the Asgardians aboard Thor's ship, Thanos dropped his plated armor in favor of an Infinity Gauntlet with a pair of Infinity Stones in it. He had already killed Heimdall and Loki, prompting an expectation of the Mad Titan to slaughter any hero he comes across. However, the only kill on his way to the infamous finger snap in Wakanda was Gamora, a sacrifice necessary to obtain the Soul Stone. According to the directors of Avengers: Infinity War on the film's commentary track attached to its digital downloads, the dropping of the arm reflects this shift from murderous mentality to a relentless mission.

"It's interesting because as Thanos moves forward in the film from this moment, once he disposes of his armor, he almost becomes a holy warrior where he doesn't spend a lot of energy intentionally trying to murder people, unless they're in some way a threat to his agenda," co-director Joe Russo said. "But almost no one ends up being a threat to the agenda except for Tony, who I think feels he has this sort of existential connection to Thanos. It's the one moment where he is actively...since brutally murdering Loki for disobedience, where he actively is going to murder someone for standing in his way. Of course he sacrifices Gamora, but that is to obtain the Soul Stone."

In fact, later on in the commentary track, the writers and directors went into further detail about why Tony Stark was the first hero Thanos made a true attempt at slaughtering without an Infinity Stone reward.

"The journey that Tony's been on as a genius scientist is that the evolution of his armor. This is the best it's ever gonna get for Tony and it's nanotech," Joe Russo said. "He goes to the cutting edge of what his mind can deliver, and it still is not enough to beat Thanos. In fact, it barely keeps him in the fight."

The development of Tony's armor and his growing necessity to protect the world (as has been on display, especially in films like Avengers: Age of Ultron), make Thanos and Tony similar in their ideas of building a future, though their proposed solutions are drastically different.

"You realize this interesting parallel between Thanos and Tony," Markus said. "They're both aware of something from an early point and constantly having to deal with being smarter. Thanos is a futurist as much as Tony Stark."

When it comes down to it, Thanos knows Stark as the man who thwarted his efforts to take over Earth via Loki in 2012's The Avengers. "Which is why he's aware of Stark from the original Battle of New York as the person who undid the plan," Joe Russo said, giving extra meaning to Thanos having respect for Iron Man.

"Part of what we wanted to do out of the gate was to unsettle you as you're watching the film," Joe Russo said. "You're sitting in the theater thinking most characters have been safe in the Marvel universe for over a decade and we wanted to knock you off kilter and make the audience understand that the stakes were going be significant and the cost was going to be very high in the movie."

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