Children’s Book Shows How Thor Could Have Beat Thanos in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’

An excerpt from a children's book shows the Avengers handing Thanos a mighty defeat courtesy of Thor's enchanted hammer Mjolnir.

Infinity War part 2 leaked ending. from r/Marvel

Little Golden Books' The Threat of Thanos sees the Avengers — Iron Man, Thor, Black Panther, and Wasp — assemble to combat Thanos, who has collected all six Infinity Stones. In the pages shared above, a greedy and unworthy Thanos attempts to wield Thor's hammer, only for Thor to see it returned to him with a gesture.

The reclaimed Mjolnir yanks the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos' paw, an outcome the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy tried and failed to achieve in Marvel Studios' Avengers: Infinity War. There, Chris Hemsworth's Thor lacked Mjolnir — it was destroyed in Thor: Ragnarok — forcing the Asgardian Avenger to journey out into the universe to forge a new weapon, the Thanos-killing Stormbreaker.

The movie saw Iron Man, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Star-Lord, Drax, and Mantis attempt to free the near-completed Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos — very nearly separating the Mad Titan and the glove until a distraught Star-Lord disrupted the plan.

Star-Lord and actor Chris Pratt have since received some of the blame for Infinity War's disastrous ending — half of all life is obliterated with the snap of Thanos' fingers, powered by a completed Infinity Gauntlet — spurring a defense from directors Anthony and Joe Russo.

"That moment is very emotionally truthful, and I think that's why we bought it in the moment and that's why we loved it as a storytelling point, because it made him so vulnerable," Anthony Russo told ET of Star-Lord learning girlfriend Gamora was sacrificed by Thanos to claim the Soul Stone.

Because Earth's mightiest heroes were broken up following a schism explored in Captain America: Civil War, the blame is shared by team leaders Captain America and Iron Man — and an arrogant Thor, who avoided landing a killing blow on Thanos because he wanted the Mad Titan to know he had gotten his revenge for the murders of step-brother Loki and friend Heimdall.

"But you know, there's lots of choices that characters have made throughout the movie that sort of led them to lose. It wasn't simply that moment. If you go back to the end of Civil War, the entire rift between Cap and Tony is sort of a basis for why they lose in this film," he said.

"Thor gets the jump on Thanos at the end of the film, but instead of sort of killing him quickly, he sort of does it in a way where he can draw out his revenge and engage with Thanos in a way that arguably gives him a window to get away," Russo added.

"That's what we love about these characters — they're superheroes, they have amazing powers, but what makes them vulnerable is their emotional life and their emotional needs, and that's where things get complicated and that's where the story gets really rich."

Avengers 4 opens May 3, 2019.