One of the things I’ve learned about writing is that you can’t wait for inspiration in order to write. That said, when inspiration hits, you need to take advantage of it. I watched the Avengers – Infinity War with my older daughter this weekend and we had a conversation about the structure of the movie and how it works. Specifically, how Thanos is, in effect, the protagonist of the story, who goes through the hero’s journey. The twist is that he’s the villain. I’m going to be spoiling the movie, so if you don’t know what happens and don’t want to know, you should leave now.
Thanos has featured in several movies so far, so his story is told somewhat out of order. I’m going to go through the stages of the Hero’s Journey, a concept first described by Joseph Campbell.
The first stage is simply Stasis, the world as it is. For Thanos, we learn that the world Titan is suffering from overpopulation. Resources are becoming a problem and there is a real possibility of global annihilation. Thanos tries to work within the system, but his ideas are rejected. This is the initial hook, the Call to Adventure. He refuses the call, deciding to abide by the government’s decision. The world dies, and Thanos resolves to never allow that to happen again. This is the impetus to start the journey.
Typically, he would meet some sort of mentor at this point. The Obi-wan Kenobi or Gandalf of the story. Instead, he finds helpers, the Children of Thanos, including Gamora, Nebula, and the rest. He works to save those worlds that he finds by destroying half their population, the “solution” he had put forth before. There are fights, resistances, and even some failures. There are small sacrifices, and Thanos becomes even more resolved to his quest.
The next stage is called Approaching the Inmost Cave. This is when the hero is first put to the test. Thanos decides to find the Infinity Stones. With them, he’ll be able to “save” the universe. He sends Loki to find the Space Stone, but he fails and his army is destroyed. He sends Ronan the Accuser to get the Power Stone, but he’s betrayed by and the stone is lost. He sends Gamora to find the Soul Stone, but she fails to find it (at least as far as he knows). This is the point where he reaches the stage called Meeting the Shadow Self. What will he do? Will he fail in his quest, or will he find the resolve to continue? Being the “true hero”, Thanos resolves to get the Infinity Stones himself.
His first obstacle seems pretty easy. He devastates Nova Prime and takes the Power Stone. Then, he finds the Asgardians. It’s a moderately tough battle, but he gets the Space Stone. However, he gets his first setbacks. The Hulk is saved and Thor survives. Worse, Thor allies himself with the Guardians of the Galaxy, one of his enemies. Even more concerning, the Children of Thanos fail to get the Mind Stone and one of them is killed bringing the Time Stone back to Titan. The antagonists are fighting back. This is the Reversal, where it looks like the enemy might actually win.
The next stage is called the Ultimate Boon. This is where the protagonist gets the one thing that will help them succeed. In this story, it’s the recapture of Gamora. Only she can provide redemption and knowledge. In other stories, this might be the first time the protagonist declares their love for another, learning the secret to victory, or learning the weakness of the antagonist.
Next is the Refusal of the Return. Thanos tries to recruit Gamora back to his side, but she refuses. He only gets what he wants by exploiting his antagonist’s weakness, in this case, Gamora’s love for her sister. At the same time, his enemies are finding new weapons to use against him, from Thor working to get his new axe to the Wakandan’s having a way to remove the Mind Stone from Vision and destroy it.
At this point, Thanos needs help. Here, he gets a rescue from without. Gamora guides him to the where the Soul Stone can be found. This immediately follows the Epic Sacrifice, where the hero must give up what they most value to achieve their goal. This is often called the Dark Night of the Soul. He chooses to sacrifice the one person he loves the most to complete his quest.
Armed with the Soul Stone, Power Stone, Space Stone, and Reality Stone, he goes to Titan in the hopes of finding the other two stones already for him. Here is where he makes his Declaration, what his goal ultimately is, and how he will achieve it. After resolving his struggle with the Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man, Spiderman, and Doctor Strange, he is ready for the Final Confrontation.
He as five of the 6 stones. He only needs the Mind Stone to complete the quest. Arrayed against him are the rest of the Avengers, Guardians, the entirety of Wakonda, a wielder of an Infinity Stone, and eventually a very pissed off Thor and the Scarlet Witch, two of the most powerful beings of his antagonists. This is the climax of the plot, where the story question is answered. Thanos is even wounded, apparently mortally. In completing his mission, he is literally resurrected. He creates his new world, and nothing will ever be the same.
So, if Thanos follows the Hero’s Journey, why is he the villain? What’s the difference between him and Luke Skywalker? Luke kills thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands, of people when he destroys the Death Star. He’s trying to destroy the government for the Galaxy, after all, and there are people who actually think of him as the evil one. So, it isn’t motive (Thanos thinks he’s doing ultimate good), nor is it tactics (again, heroes kill lots of people in many stories. Just look at Gimli and Legolas playing games with how many kills they get in battle). The difference is that the hero changes with the world. Luke embraces the Force and becomes more than the farm boy/pilot he started off as. Aragorn turns away from being the Ranger and becomes King of Gondor. They’ve learned about the world and their place in it.
What did Thanos learn? He was just as convinced he was right at the beginning as he was at the end of the journey. He sacrifices it all for an idea, accepting no challenges to that idea. If you have the power to kill half the life in the universe because we’ll run out of resources if he doesn’t, why doesn’t he just double the resources? Still not enough? Double them again. You have the power to turn the moon into cheese at this point. How about using the power to convince sentient life to conserve their resources? If you’re really bloodthirsty, kill those who are taking more than their share.
Thanos is the villain because he went through the Journey and got nothing from the experience. True heroes sacrifice it all and come out redeemed. Thanos sacrificed it all and came out damned.
