Are you a Marvel fan wondering about Thanos' character and its symbolism? Look no further! We have done our research, analyzed the movies, and decoded what it means through headings such as Early signs of Thanos' megalomania, The Infinity Stones - what do they represent?, and Bringing balance to life.
Early Signs of Thanos' Megalomania
Thanos is not your average villain. He doesn't seek power for himself or wish to rule over others. His ultimate goal is to bring balance to the universe by eradicating half of all living beings in it. But how did this obsession begin?
A Titan with Intense Sorrow
Eternals #2 shows us that even as a child, Thanos was different from his kind-hearted mother Sui-San (ejecting herself into space after seeing her deformed son) and father Mentor who were pacifists. Born with purple skin due to his deviant gene which gave him increased strength, speed, stamina along with customised physiology amongst other traits also caused him ostracization from society resulting in lack of emotional regulation over time causing mental problems - an existential crisis involving worthlessness.
Lover turned Hater
Thanos's love for Lady Death drove his actions towards genocide.Right from The Invincible Iron Man #55, where we see him becoming enamored with Death personifiedand conducting killings on behalf of death only made matters worse for thanian titan paving path towards infinity war saga.
A Madman Gets Mader
As time passed, he grew more convinced that he had been chosen by fate(Avengers: Endgame) or destiny(Infinity War)to carry out this cleansing mission on behalf of humankind because without action humans would eventually perish anyways.It couldbe argued that he wishes to lessen living size or increase resources by suggestion hero failure but he would only be satisfied with thanian solution -half universe destroyed per cyclical need. This delusional thinking became an all-consuming obsession.
The Infinity Stones - What Do They Represent?
Thanos seeks the infinity stones in order to fulfill his destiny of balancing the universe. But what do these powerful artifacts really represent?
Space Stone (Blue)
The Space Stone is stored within the Tesseract from Captain America: The First Avenger. It represents space and grants its wielder the ability to teleport or travel through space.
Time Stone (Green)
The Time stone is a green gem that enables time manipulation, such as slowing down or speeding up time.The people behind Doctor Strange couldn't have given it a better name afterall!
Power Stone(Purple)
This stone augments one's strength giving the beholder immense power.It was introduced in Guardians of Galaxy and used on Xandar before it reached Thanos
Mind Stone(Yellow)
Through this yellow-colored jewell,the weilder gains access to telepathic abilities, memory empathy & enhancements useful for combat Introduced first in Avengers S1 where Loki uses tesseract [Space]to open portal thereby prompting Fury to initiate tesseract program to harness energy/strategy.Afterwards banner attempts reverse choice proving successful[Mindstone]
Bringing Balance To Life
If bringing balance means destroying half of all life then how can Thanos' actions be justified? In actuality there are actually two ways this act could aid in achieving equilibrium --- population control and resource allocation. For example:
- Lessening strain on unbalanced natural resources
- Slowing Climate Change by reducing carbon footprint
- More efficient utilization of Energy via decreased demand (by industrial reduction) -certainly sounds like natural remedies huh Greta!!
However,does having some ultimate motive justify violence?
Moreover if everything requires equal weightage then why destroy universe rather than balance resource-assignable planets or specific problem-solving missions(freeing over-populated/under-fed areas of human misery for ex) As a result it takes away the normative that while earth /mankind maybe capable of being enlightened in morals,culture etc. ,there are still certain boundaries not meant to be crossed.This throws Thanos' philosophy into question and depicts him as a delusional immoral killer.
The Color Theory
Have you noticed his purple skin, golden armor,and fiery-orange eyes? These colors actually represent something too.
Purple
Purple represents royalty, luxury and ambition; perfect for the Titan who sees himself above everyone else.
Gold
Gold represents prestige,timelessness and money-all attributes worthy of an Infinity Stone collector we say!
Orange
Orange elicits feelings such as excitement, warmth,fervency etc.Considering the level at which Thanos operates this colour couldn't have been more aptly used let's agree with The Director Anthony Russo on this
In Conclusion,
Thanos is truly one-of-a-kind but when we take the time to look closer,it's kind of easy to see where he was headed with all this.So if there's anything good we can learn from him is...that even bad guys know how important colours (metaphorically n literally)could impact their universal conquest plan!