Why Thanos Only Wants to Destroy Half of the Universe in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’

Every great villain is the hero of their own story, and Thanos is no different in Avengers: Infinity War.

The character is deftly played by Josh Brolin in the film, who brings a sense of optimism — if not altruism — to his goals. He knows what he’s doing is awful, but Thanos also realizes no one else is strong enough to achieve what’s necessary: wiping out half the life of all of existence.

And while he could spend his time going from planet to planet, culling here and committing mass genocide there, it’s too time consuming and, quite frankly, a little violent. That’s why he needs the Infinity Stones, so he can achieve his goals with the snap of his fingers and then take a rest in a nice, quiet place in the galaxy.

Why Thanos feels the need to do this is somewhat foggy, as is the goal. He explains that his home world of Titan was once a beautiful place teaming with life — too much life, actually, and it ended to their downfall. Too many mouths to feed, not enough resources. Apparently, by eliminating half of all life, there will be plenty more to to go around for those who remain.

Again, it still doesn’t explain why “half” is the important figure here, but we’re too scared to ask Thanos to check his math, so let’s just go with it.

Thanos’ motivations received some drastic changes from those in the comic books, where the Mad Titan is obsessed with the personification of Death to the point where he claims he actually loves her and wants to court her. Death, though, seems eternally unimpressed with his actions, and so he wants to impress her by racking up a body count that would make her blush.

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige spoke to Vulture about the change to Thanos and why it was necessary for the film.

“We talked about his motivation, and much of the motivation connected to Lady Death is about balance,” said Feige. “It’s the balance between life and death, the belief that life was getting unchecked and out of hand and there needed to be a correction. We wanted to make that the driving force of Thanos and his backstory. That’s where Chris and Steve and Joe and Anthony [Russo] found a more natural, grounded way … well, as grounded as a giant Mad Titan can be.”

The updated motivations work well for what’s been established in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has barely scratched the surface of parallel realities and alternate timelines, much less other planes of existence and beings personifying universal constructs.

Thanos is still terrifying. And what more can be done when he actually achieves his goals?

Avengers: Infinity War is now playing in theaters.

What did you think of Thanos’ big showcase? Let us know how you felt about the Mad Titan in the comments!