‘Legends of Tomorrow’: How Mallus Is the Arrowverse’s Thanos

In just a couple of weeks, The CW‘s Legends of Tomorrow season finale will be here and see the heroes face off with one of the most formidable “big bads” they’ve faced yet — the demon, Mallus. Threating to unleash unending pain on reality should he get free of his time prison, Mallus is going to be a tough villain to conquer and the only hope the Legends have is to bring together six mystical totems and lock Mallus away for good.

Six totems. One extremely powerful villain with the ability to wreak havoc on the whole universe. If Legends‘ Mallus sounds a lot like Thanos in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film Avengers: Infinity War that’s because he is. While the two stories are completely unconnected — Legends of Tomorrow is based off of DC Comics and Avengers: Infinity War is a Marvel property — Mallus and Thanos have a lot in common and, like Thanos snapping his fingers in Infinity War can cause utter devastation, if Mallus wins on Legends, things could be very bleak for the Arrowverse.

But how is Mallus the Arrowverse’s version of Thanos? There are a handful of similarities. For starters, Mallus is trying to get control of the six Zambesi Totems not unlike Thanos’ quest for the six Infinity Stones. Like the Stone, the Zambesi Totems grant their bearers the powers and abilities the Totems represent — Water, Earth, Fire, Air, Spirit, and Death. The Totems are also what imprisoned Mallus in the first place so Mallus is trying to make sure that the Totems end up in the hands of his devoted followers, so they can’t be used against him. Currently, the Legends have five of the six. In the upcoming Infinity War, Thanos is collecting the Infinity Stones not to prevent himself from being imprisoned, but to grant him ultimate power — which is what Mallus would have on Legends should he manage to escape.

When it comes to the threat that Mallus poses for the Arrowverse, Legends isn’t trying to handle him alone. Like Infinity War will see all of the heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe fight Thanos, Legends of Tomorrow has seen the core Legends team (Amaya Jiwe/Vixen, Mick Rory/Heat Wave, Nate Heywood/Steel, Ray Palmer/The Atom, Zari Tomaz, and Sara Lance/White Canary) work with others they might not normally team up with. Recently, Wally West/Kid Flash came on board the Waverider to help deal with Mallus. The team has also worked with John Constantine this season and both Constantine and Jonah Hex are set to appear in the season finale to help the Legends.

While there are obvious differences between Thanos and Mallus (Thanos being from space, for example) it’s still interesting that the Legends are dealing with a Thanos-type evil this season, one where the outcome of the big fight may very well change the course of their reality — especially if the big bad wins.

Do you think Mallus is the Arrowverse’s Thanos? Let us know in the comments!

Legends of Tomorrow airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.