Thanos (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

"The only matter I do not take seriously, boy, is you. Your politics bore me, your demeanor is that of a pouty child! And apparently, you have alienated my favorite daughter, Gamora. I shall honor our agreement, Kree, if you bring me the Orb. But return to me again empty-handed, and I will bathe the stairways in your blood."

- Thanos to Ronan the Accuser

"You think you know pain, Asguardian? He will make you long for as sweet as pain!"

- The Other describes Thanos' wrath

"Fine. I'll do it myself."

- Thanos as he claims the Infinity Gauntlet

Thanos is the main antagonist of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, serving a direct antagonistic role as the true main antagonist in parts one and two of The Avengers: Infinity War and serving a background antagonistic role in other MCU movies.

He is a powerful alien warlord who rules over a dead dimension and commands a massive army known as the Chitauri. He allied himself with Lokito invade Earth, and allied with Ronan the Accuser to destroy Xandar, both in exchange for the deliverance of two powerful infinity gems, but they both failed to accomplish this task and had betrayed him.

He was portrayed by Damion Poitier in The Avengers and by Josh Brolin in Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron and Brolin will reprise Thanos' role in Avengers: Infinity War - Part 1 & Part 2 .

History
Thanos' past is unknown at this point and how he came to power. Not even his species has been fully discovered, sans the assumption that he is an Eternal. It is known that at some point, he gained control over the deadly army of the Chitauri, and took the assassin Gamora as his daughter after killing her people. Thanos greatly desired the Infinity Gems, objects of immense power that held considerable dominance over the various forces that occupied the universe, and forged several alliances in order to locate them.

The Avengers (2012)
In The Avengers, Thanos appears in a post-credits scene as the Bigger Bad and quaternary antagonist.

Other tells Thanos that the Tesseract is in a small world, a human world. It also informs him that Loki is ready to lead the Chitauri. In a post-credits scene, Thanos is revealed to have been Loki's benefactor, having provided the Chitauri Army used by Loki in his attempted invasion of Earth. When advised by his intermediary (known simply as the "Other" ) that opposing the Avengers would be "to court death," Thanos glances at the camera and flashes an evil grin.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)


In Guardians of the Galaxy, Thanos once again appears as the Bigger Bad and quaternary antagonist

Thanos plays a more active role in the film, where he has enlisted the help of Ronan, Korath, and his daughters, Gamora and Nebula, to retrieve the Orb for him. As it turns out, Gamora is not actually Thanos' daughter, since Thanos killed Gamora's family and snatched her as an infant to train her into the perfect assassin, having abused and tormented her in the process of doing so. This causes Gamora to betray Thanos, which leads to a chain of events that leads to Gamora finding her true calling as a protector of the universe and a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

When Ronan and Nebula are called to discuss Gamora's betrayal, Ronan kills The Other, who was speaking for Thanos. Thanos does not react to this but is angry at Ronan for not obtaining the Orb (and for apparently alienating Gamora). He says he will destroy Xandar for Ronan if he brings him the Orb, and will kill him if he does not.

Thanos promised Ronan that he will help Ronan destroy Xandar in exchange for Ronan's services. However, once Ronan gets ahold of the Orb, he feels he no longer needs Thanos help and also decides to betray him. Nebula also decides to betray Thanos out of jealousy over Thanos showing preference for Gamora over her. Ronan and Nebula take Korath with them. In the end, Ronan and Korath are killed by the Guardians of the Galaxy (including Gamora), Nebula escapes and becomes a renegade villain independent of Thanos, and the Guardians give the Orb to the Nova Corps for safekeeping.

Thanos, however, is still determined to find the six Infinity Stones and the Infinity Gauntlet so he can use them to conquer the universe.

The Avengers:Age of Ultron (2015)
"Fine. I'll do it myself."

- Thanos vows to hunt down the Infinity Stones himself as he steals an Infinity Gauntlet.



Following Ultron's defeat at the hands of the Avengers, Thanos appears in the film's mid-credits scene. Fed up with Loki's failure and Ronan's betrayal, he breaks into an unknown vault and acquires an Infinity Gauntlet, swearing to collect all of the Infinity Stones himself.

The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (2018)
Thanos will appear as the main antagonist in the film The Avengers:Infinity War Part 1 (2018).

The Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 (2019)
Thanos will appear as the main antagonist in the film The Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 (2019).

Powers and Abilities
Thanos has not demonstrated his powers at this point. However, it is conceivable that he is extremely powerful, able to strike fear into an Asgardian like Loki and command the Chitauri army unchallenged. Korath says he is the most powerful being in the universe, although Ronan was confident he could kill Thanos with the power of the Orb. Nevertheless, Thanos displayed no sign of concern after Ronan threatened him.