‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Directors Join in Thanos’ Reddit Culling

After shocking fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe by having Thanos‘ wipe out half of the universe in Avengers: Infinity War, directors The Russo Brothers have decided to submit themselves to Thanos’ culling — at least on Reddit.

Last week, the “Thanos Did Nothing Wrong” subreddit announced plans to ban half of its users at random, similarly to how Thanos (Josh Brolin) wiped out half the universe at random in Infinity War. Since then there have been all sorts of interesting developments from the subreddit’s users petitioning that Brolin himself be the one to push the ban button — thus having “Thanos” be the one to do it — as well as a petition to ensure that Hawkeye actor Jeremy Renner can’t join the sub. The reasoning behind banning Renner from, well, being in a position to be banned, is that they want to maintain accuracy as much as possible.

That said, the Russo Brothers have been allowed to join. They posted a screenshot on their Instagram account revealing that they have subscribed to the subreddit and will be subject to the random mass banning set to take place on Monday, July 9 at an undisclosed time.

“We have both submitted to the culling…” the caption on the Instagram post read.

It appears that when they say that they both joined, they do mean both, too. Posts from “anthony-russo” and “Joe-Russo” have both popped up in the sub since that Instagram pot with one sharing a video from Thanos himself — Josh Brolin — briefly addressing the group before snappings his fingers. The video was also shared by the Russo’s verified Twitter account as well.

Of course, while this subreddit version of “The Snappening” and the Russo’s participation in it is lighthearted and fun, when it comes to the event in the movie itself that had a lot of emotional weight to it.

“It was always a plan to show beyond that because when we made the decision to have the snaps themselves, that’s a plot trick to cut to black after an incident like that happens,” co-director Joe Russo told ComicBook.com. “And it doesn’t give you any emotional resonance or catharsis. What he said thinking about it realistically; the true heartbreak doesn’t lie in the fact that he snapped his fingers, it lies in the fact that people have to watch loved ones, and we have to watch characters that we care about die. And that’s where the real heartbreak lies for the characters who live in the Universe and for those of us watching the movie.”

Do you think the Russo Brothers will survive the digital Snappening? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.