Crazy but Not Stupid: An Argument for the MCU Take on Thanos

Fair warning: For those who have not yet seen Avengers: Infinity War, beware of spoilers ahead.

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So over the last week and half or so since Avengers: Infinity War hit the big screen, I’ve seen multiple people (usually males) making the same argument: MCU Thanos is stupider than comic Thanos in his motivation. I’ve participated in a couple of Facebook threads arguing that this is not the case, but it’s probably time to lay it all out in a single blog.

First, it may help to give brief overview of Thanos’ motivation for collecting the Infinity Stones in both mediums. In both the comic arc and the film, Thanos wants to collect the Infinity Stones and use the Infinity Gauntlet to wipe out about half of the universe’s population. The difference between the two versions really lies in his motivation for doing so. In the comic arc written by Jim Starlin in the early 1990s related to the Infinity Stones, Thanos’ motivation is to prove his love to Mistress Death. In the film, Thanos’ motivation is ultimately maintaining a balance of the universe in the use of the available resources in order to make life “better” for those left.

Here’s where we get into some spoiler territory in terms of MCU Thanos’ motivation. In the film, we see the destroyed planet of Titan, Thanos’ homeland. What we find out about the destruction of the planet is that it was a direct result of the mismanagement of finite resources. Thanos suggested that a portion of the population be executed using a lottery type system in order to preserve the resources and sustain life for those who are left. Obviously the idea of a random genocide was disregarded by those on his planet, and the idea was written off as madness. However, life on the planet was destroyed as Thanos predicted. This fulfilled prophecy is what motivates him to enact this plan on a universal scale as a means of maintaining life and balance in the universe.

In contrast, comic Thanos has found himself in love with Mistress Death. Mistress Death seeks a balance in the universe between life and death as such she tasks Thanos with killing half of the universe’s population because the number of the living exceeds the number who are dying in the lead up to the Infinity Gauntlet arc. However, this task is given to Thanos through an intermediary. In his quest to fulfill this task, Thanos discovers the Infinity Stones and goes about collecting them. Once he has done this, he return to Mistress Death but is still unable to directly converse with her as an equal and feels as though his affection is being rejected rather than understanding that he is now her superior. With the Infinity Gauntlet complete and angry at this rejection of his affection, he proceeds to leave love tokens for Mistress Death in the form of shrines, one of which he traps Nebula on the verge of death as beautiful piece of art. Still feeling rejected by Death, he continues to rage and cause destruction until Mephisto (a character not in the MCU) suggests that Death has not responded to his affections because he hasn’t completed his task. With a snap of his fingers, Thanos wipes out the half of the universe’s population.

Now this is where there are some comic fans who argue that MCU Thanos is stupid because his motivation is insufficient without the added plot point of pursuit of and rejection by Mistress Death. This is where I strongly disagree for a couple of reasons.

First off, they are writing off Thanos’ madness as stupidity. This just isn’t accurate. Just because you may or may not agree with someone’s rationale does not make it stupid in the same way that disagreeing with the facts does not make something fake news. Stupidity by definition is a lack of intelligence, understanding, reason, wit, and/or sense. Now, as flawed as the logic is in MCU’s Thanos’ plan, there is still reason to it therefore it cannot, by definition, be stupid. In contrast, the definition of madness indicates a frenzied or chaotic state or extreme foolish behavior. There is nothing in the definition of madness indicating that there is an absence of logic. In fact, in Hamlet, Polonius observes of Hamlet when he is acting crazy that “Though this be madness, yet there is a method in't.”

The argument for the stupidity of Thanos seems to hinge on the fact that he doesn’t use the Infinity Stones to solve the problem in another way. The question is consistently asked as to why Thanos doesn’t just make more resources to compensate for the universe’s population. There are a couple of reasons why this might not be the case.

One is that as a finite being, Thanos would have difficulty understanding the infinite power of the stones. The possession of all six Infinity Stones makes Thanos a cosmic entity of infinite power. The ability of the finite to understand the infinite is impossible. This is why humanity can never truly and fully understand the nature of God. Thanos has already decided on the best course of action to “save” the universe from itself, so the idea that he would suddenly know to use the power of the stones to create more resources to sustain the universe is not a given.

The second point expands on this point. With more resources to support the population of the universe already living, one does not necessarily solve the problem. Unless population growth is curbed, more and more resources would be necessary in order to sustain the growth. Ultimately, either limits on procreation would need to be enacted or culling of the herd so to speak would need to take place. However, as Thanos is a finite being, he likely sees the universe in finite terms. Even if he was able to produce more resources to sustain life using the Infinity Gauntlet, the growth of the universe would eventually be too much.

I know at this point that I probably sound like I am advocating for genocide. I do see the ethical implications of the act, but what I want to do is look at this purely from a utilitarian perspective. What course of action ultimately creates the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people. In his experience, when Thanos enacted this plan of killing half the population on other worlds, those worlds flourished. He has no reason to believe that he should do otherwise for the entire universe.

The final argument that must be looked at in terms of MCU Thanos versus comic Thanos is the current state of the world. In the last few years, there have been a number of mass killings by straight, white, cisgender men laced with misogyny. Most of these have been perpetrated by men who have labeled them as incels or involuntary celibates. There is a prevalent belief among this group of men that they are somehow “owed” sex from women and that the lack of sex is somehow a violation of their rights as men. The plot point of Thanos killing off half of the universe because he is pursuing and was rejected by Mistress Death seems to come straight out of the manifestos of some of those who have orchestrated these mass shootings in response to their own rejection by women. While he is ultimately the villain of the story, Marvel Studios was able to shape the story in a way that makes sense without giving any sort of extra motivation to this line of thinking. While not speaking specifically in terms of Avengers: Infinity War, comedian Jim Jefferies gave a humorous but enlightening overview of this issue in a recent episode of The Jim Jefferies Show on Comedy Central:

So to wrap all of this up, I find that the motivation of Thanos in the MCU take on the Infinity Gauntlet saga to be far more compelling than the comic take. In the comics, I did tend to think that the motivation of Thanos in regards to being rejected in love as poor storytelling. Even then, I felt that there was a tinge of misogyny to the plot in essentially placing the blame for Thanos’ decision to murder innocent people on the fact that he didn’t get the girl.

The Problem with the Greatest Royal Rumble in the Era of the Women’s Evolution

Women’s wrestling has made leaps and bounds in the last year and a half. There certainly has been a resurgence and evolution of the former Divas division. Women superstars have participated in the first ever Women’s Hell in a Cell, Money in the Bank ladder match, Royal Rumble, and Wrestlemania Battle Royale. Last summer saw a women’s tournament which led to the addition of more women competitors to the NXT roster. The women are certainly getting their due.

I would even argue that the storylines for women have improved. There is still obviously room to grow, but we are getting better after the Women’s Revolution storylines that centered around Ric Flair and other male competitors. Of course, there is still some hold over of previous issues. Many of the storylines still tend towards the “women all secretly hate one another” or a Mean Girls style angle, but we are seeing a wider variety of women in prominent roles. Women like Nia Jax and Ember Moon show girls and women that all body types can be successful in the WWE.

I am excited to see where the women’s division goes in terms of talent and storylines. I, sometimes, wonder if some of the changes that I would like to see in the division would happen if there were more women on the creative teams. I honestly don’t know if there are any women who really have the power to shape the stories that the WWE tells with this division. Surely, Stephanie McMahon has some influence, but ultimately, the final call lies with Vince McMahon, a 72 year old man who still relies on old tropes and ideas about how women interact with one another. It is getting better, but there is still a long way to go.

As a global entity, the WWE has fans all over the world. This can require a certain balancing act as not every society is the same in regards to the rights of women. Yet, WWE had a milestone match when Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss competed in United Arab Emirates in a first ever match of its kind. Now, their usual ring attire was exchanged for full body suits that covered their arms and legs completely, but this was a step in the right direction.

This brings me to the current issue of the Greatest Royal Rumble. The event will take place in Saudi Arabia, a country that has even more restrictions when it comes to the rights of women. Not only will women superstars not be allowed to compete at this event, Saudi women cannot even attend unless they are in the company of a male family member. This is problematic for a company who is trying to promote the evolution of women’s professional wrestling as being on par with the men.

WWE has tried to skirt around this issue as much as possible by hyping up the men’s matches on the card, but it hasn’t escaped the notice of many fans, particularly female fans. I know that this decision is ultimately Vince McMahon’s, and he is a businessman. There is a lot of potential money to be made in Saudi Arabia. It’s the same reason that US government continually looks the other way when it comes to the rights of women there. The belief that men and women should have equal rights only go as far as their pocketbook. The WWE certainly had an opportunity to take a stand and practice what they are preaching in terms of female empowerment and failed miserably.

Despite being a fan and wondering if WWE will finally take the Universal title off of Brock Lesnar (like they should have done forever ago), I will not be watching the Greatest Royal Rumble event. I feel like it is a slap in the face to the women’s division. It certainly makes the Women’s Evolution seem disingenuous and that female fans are not as important to the company as the almighty dollar. If the powers that be at the WWE truly believe in evolution of women's wrestling, they should have put their money where their mouth is and made the decision not to perform in a country that would not afford their female fans and performers the same rights as their male talent and fans.

Confessions of a Geek Girl Pt 9: #MeToo

I thought long and hard about sharing what I am about to share. It seems like something that so many women have gone through that I am just another voice in the greater chorus, but I realized that, even though it’s not something that I hide, I’m not forthcoming with the story either. When I saw the hashtag “Me too” going around on Facebook, I posted, but I didn’t really share my story. The truth is that it isn’t really just one incident but a series of incidences that so many women have also experienced.

When I was in middle school, I was a chunky, smart girl with glasses. I was also a joke to the popular guys in my class. They thought it was funny to pretend to like me. They would say crude things to me about my boobs (I was a DD cup by the time I was in 6^th grade) and make comments about how I probably stuffed my bra. They made me feel self-conscious about how I looked and all I wanted to do was hide my figure under the baggiest clothes I could find. Even if someone had honestly expressed interest in me, I wouldn’t know it because I had become so skeptical about any guy showing me any attention. I let their behavior towards me affect who I would be and didn’t date until I was senior in high school.

The next incident that shaped who I would be happened in college. I was a freshman and went out to the local bar. It was a place that was right by campus so everyone always went there to hang out and dance on Wednesday and Saturday nights. The place had a dance floor, and I loved to dance. This was 1998 so really the style of dance was more about grinding your body against other people. I was a sweaty mess from dancing in a large group of people. As I was leaving the dance floor, a football player grabbed my breasts and said “Nice tits.” I turned around and hit him. I was then asked to leave, and he faced no consequences for his actions which also included being drunk underage. I was sober at the time. Now, I do have to say that this guy was also in my Intermediate Composition class and did apologize for his behavior, but I just accepted his apology as pretended as if everything was ok and that it was no big deal. This was just more of my conditioning to accept any way that men chose to behave towards me. It was just the way that it was.

Now on to the age of 22, I was a recent college graduate and living back at home with my parents and had only had sex once before I began dating a guy who had an alcohol problem. He would drink heavily, and he was an angry drunk. Sometimes he would drink to the point of blacking out. It was one such evening when we were out at one of the clubs in my hometown, and he was clearly too drunk to drive home. It had been a nice summer evening, and my parents’ house where I lived was only about four blocks from the club, so I had walked down there to meet him. At the end of the night, he was too drunk to drive home, so I took his keys and drove him to my place. My dad was working third shift, and my mom was in bed asleep by the time we got there. We went up to my bedroom to go to sleep; however, he had other plans. He began to kiss and grope at me. He was very drunk and rather rough. I told him that I thought we should just go to sleep, but he really wouldn’t take no for an answer. He tried to have sex and held me down in my own bed. I can’t say that I was raped, but this was really only because he was so drunk that he could not maintain an erection. At this point, he passed out in my bed while I cried myself to sleep. The next morning I had bruises on my arms and legs. He had no recollection of what had happened the night before. 

It was at that moment that I should have broken up with him, but I stayed. I had convinced myself that this wasn’t a big deal. He had been drunk, and if he was sober, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place. I told myself that it was all my fault because I brought him home when he was drunk. What else should I expect in terms of his behavior? Hadn’t I already learned how drunk guys acted? As much as I tried to be ok, from that night on any time that he would try to kiss me or touch me, my body would immediately tense up. He became angry with me for my coldness and frigid behavior. I still hadn’t told him what happened, but I kept apologizing that I was so tense. He eventually broke up with me because every time he tried to be intimate I would become so tense. 

I am aware that there are some women and even men who have experienced far worse than what I have relayed. I think that reality is what kept me from sharing. I’ve come to realize though that these smaller incidences are all part of the bigger problem.

So yeah, #metoo.