Marvel Officially Just Made Thanos' Snap Look Like a Joke
Simon Gallagher has worked in movie and TV journalism for more than 17 years. He has written more than 6000 articles and reviews, and edited thousands more. He is an expert in the entertainment industry, particularly in the golden age of screen superheroes. Simon is also a Rotten Tomatoes approved critic.
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Marvel just made Thanos’ snap look like a walk in the park compared to what’s coming, and it has nothing to do with a villain. Looking back over the MCU’s most hyped announcements, the return of Robert Downey Jr as Doctor Doom has to rank pretty highly in almost everyone’s assessment. It came with a huge shock factor, and the intrigue around why Doom will look the same as the now-dead Iron Man instantly kicked off a huge wave of speculation.
It was an inspired move by Marvel Studios, whose plans had been derailed catastrophically by Jonathan Majors’ firing and the collapse of the Kang Dynasty. Years of not-quite-intricate setup was consigned to the scrapheap, and the two upcoming Avengers movies came perilously close to being completely redundant. But then in stepped Downey Jr with the Avengers: Doomsday rebrand, and suddenly the wayward Multiverse Saga suddenly had renewed purpose.
Replacing Kang with Latveria’s most famous export was already a significant upgrade in pure Marvel lore terms: Kang has history and is good, but he’s not up to the same level as Doctor Doom. Hell, few are. But there was still the small matter of how years of building and the legwork done in explaining timeline branches and incursions could be tied to Doom. Now, we have the answer, thanks to Avengers: Endgame Encore’s release.
The new footage added to Avengers: Endgame Encore bridges the narrative gap between Avengers: Endgame’s original ending and Doom’s impending arrival, adding context that transforms him from a conquering evil into something else entirely. And it all comes down to the collapse of the Multiverse.
Avengers: Endgame Encore Just Killed More People Than Thanos
When Thanos snapped his fingers at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, he erased half of all living creatures in the universe. It was a mass execution on an unprecedented scale, wiping out trillions of lives across space in an instant. But crucially, no matter how vast the body count might have seemed in that harrowing moment, the devastating toll remained confined to a single timeline. There were other Thanoses and other Snaps - some of which were thwarted - but the one we saw wasn’t a Multiverse-spanning event.
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01
The Avengers first assembled in Marvel Comics in 1963. In the original comic, the team formed to battle a villain who had been manipulated by his adopted brother. Which villain brought the original Avengers together?
✓ Correct! In Avengers #1 (September 1963), Loki manipulated the Hulk into going on a rampage, which led Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, and the Wasp to band together. They defeated Loki and decided to form a permanent team — the Avengers were born.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is Loki. In the original 1963 comic, Loki tricked the Hulk into a rampage, which brought together Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, and the Wasp. Ultron came later, Thanos is a cosmic threat, and Kang is a time-traveling villain.
02
In the MCU, Tony Stark famously declared “I am Iron Man” at a press conference, breaking the superhero tradition of secret identities. In which year’s MCU film did Tony Stark first appear as Iron Man?
✓ Correct! Iron Man (2008) launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe and starred Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. The film’s post-credits scene with Nick Fury teased the Avengers Initiative, kicking off the most successful film franchise in history.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is 2008. Iron Man premiered on May 2, 2008, directed by Jon Favreau and starring Robert Downey Jr. It was the first film in the MCU and set the stage for everything that followed.
03
Thanos, the Mad Titan, sought to collect all six Infinity Stones to achieve his genocidal goal. In Avengers: Infinity War, he succeeded in his plan. What did Thanos do with the completed Infinity Gauntlet?
✓ Correct! With a single snap of his fingers, Thanos wiped out half of all living creatures in the universe. Known as “The Blip,” this devastating act erased trillions of lives and set the stage for the Avengers’ desperate time heist in Endgame to undo the damage.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is that Thanos snapped away half of all life in the universe. His twisted philosophy of “balance” drove him to commit universal genocide with a single snap, making it one of the most shocking moments in cinema history.
04
In Avengers: Endgame, Captain America proved worthy of wielding Thor’s enchanted hammer during the final battle against Thanos. What is the name of Thor’s hammer?
✓ Correct! Mjolnir, forged in the heart of a dying star, bears the inscription “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.” Captain America wielding it in Endgame was one of the most celebrated moments in MCU history.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is Mjolnir. Stormbreaker is the axe Thor forged in Infinity War, Gungnir is Odin’s spear, and Jarnbjorn is an axe Thor used in the comics before Mjolnir. Mjolnir is the iconic enchanted hammer.
05
Black Widow, born Natasha Romanoff, is one of the founding MCU Avengers. Before joining S.H.I.E.L.D., she was trained as an assassin in a secret Soviet program. What is the name of this program?
✓ Correct! The Red Room was a covert Soviet training facility that turned young girls into elite spies and assassins known as Black Widows. Natasha was subjected to brutal conditioning and sterilization. Her escape and defection to S.H.I.E.L.D. was explored in the 2021 Black Widow film.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is The Red Room. HYDRA is a separate evil organization, the Winter Soldier Program created Bucky Barnes, and Department X is from the comics. The Red Room is the infamous Soviet program that forged Natasha into Black Widow.
06
The Hulk was created when Dr. Bruce Banner was exposed to massive amounts of radiation during a weapons test. What type of radiation transformed Banner into the Hulk?
✓ Correct! Dr. Bruce Banner was caught in the blast of a gamma bomb he designed, absorbing a massive dose of gamma radiation. This transformed him into the Hulk — a being of near-limitless strength whose power increases with his rage. Gamma radiation remains central to the Hulk’s mythology.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is Gamma Radiation. Cosmic Rays gave the Fantastic Four their powers, Pym Particles are Ant-Man’s shrinking technology, and Terrigen Mist activates Inhuman abilities. Gamma radiation is what created the Incredible Hulk.
07
In the MCU, after Steve Rogers retired as Captain America, he passed his shield to a new hero to carry on the legacy. Who became the new Captain America?
✓ Correct! At the end of Avengers: Endgame, an elderly Steve Rogers chose Sam Wilson — the Falcon — to carry on the Captain America legacy. Sam’s journey to embrace the shield was explored in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series, and he fully took up the mantle as Captain America.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is Sam Wilson. While Bucky Barnes was Captain America in the comics, Steve chose Sam in the MCU. John Walker was temporarily given the shield by the government, and Isaiah Bradley was a forgotten super soldier from the past.
08
Ultron is an artificial intelligence who becomes one of the Avengers’ deadliest enemies. In the MCU’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, which Avenger inadvertently created Ultron?
✓ Correct! Tony Stark created the Ultron program as a global peacekeeping AI, using technology from Loki’s scepter (which contained the Mind Stone). The AI became sentient and immediately decided humanity needed to be eradicated. In the comics, Hank Pym created Ultron, but the MCU shifted this to Stark.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is Tony Stark. While Hank Pym created Ultron in the comics, the MCU changed this to Tony Stark. Bruce Banner assisted but it was Tony’s initiative. Vision was actually created from Ultron’s technology, not the other way around.
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The death toll introduced in Avengers: Endgame Encore’s new TVA scene completely eclipses the Mad Titan's notorious mass murder by such a significant level that it’s almost a joke. In the new scene, Owen Wilson’s Mobius and his TVA colleagues witness what Ke Huy Quan’s OB anxiously calls “the collapse of the Multiverse.” It starts instantly, with two universes - including the original X-Men universe - colliding, before hundreds and then thousands of universes collide. 3000 in total, which feels rather like a grim parallel to Iron Man’s touching tribute to his daughter…
At the scale officially confirmed, and assuming every colliding universe is destroyed, which seems likely even for the one shown firing missiles desperately to save itself, the death toll would be around 6000 times higher than Thanos’ kill count. That is an almost inconceivable level of loss.
Avengers: Doomsday Just Confirmed The MCU's True Thanos Replacement
The interesting thing about Thanos was that he was introduced into the MCU as a sort of contextless force of nature, until Gamora revealed his backstory and the tragedy of Titan. That origin story was better explained in the unfortunately decanonized Avengers: Infinity War prequel novel Thanos: Titan Consumed, which offered far more nuance to the “Mad Titan”. It also, crucially, revealed that Thanos initially intended himself to be part of the 50% of Titan’s population he suggested should be killed to save the others.
Thanos was misunderstood to a certain extent, but unbalanced the important subtle context of his life and Titan’s demise by also just being a really bad guy, too. He enjoyed killing, adding the dark note to his mission that “Fun isn't something one considers when balancing the universe, but this... does put a smile on my face.” Even that wasn’t enough to stop the rise of the “Thanos was Right” movement.
When the MCU was planning on Kang being Thanos’ replacement, the idea of a morally complex villain who had a somewhat justified agenda was pushed to the side. The Council of Kangs were presented as a force of evil, intent on dominion and destruction of anyone fighting back, in a more conventional good vs bad battle. That’s always less interesting, but it at least meant avoiding uncharitable comparisons with Thanos. Doctor Doom is a different matter entirely and is far more of a true Thanos replacement as a result.
We already had rumors that Doom was intent on saving the Multiverse, rather than simply avenging the destruction of his own universe, but now Avengers: Endgame Encore’s new footage has confirmed just how important it is that he succeeds. The collapse of the multiverse and the unspeakable level of loss make Doctor Doom a savior - the kind of savior Thanos saw himself as. He has conviction, and he has a compelling case, and it’s not hard to see why he would have followers.
The MCU Just Repeated the Oldest Avengers Curse
The darkest thing about the Avengers: Endgame Encore scene showing the collapse of the Multiverse and the trillions of deaths is that it also makes the Avengers responsible. It effectively confirms them as the villains, thanks to the parallel confirmation that the Time Heist was responsible for the incursions. Whether that’s solely because Captain America lived in the wrong timeline, or something more dramatic, the reason for Encore’s release was to draw a line firmly between the cause - the Time Heist - and the effect - the collapse of the Multiverse and the coming of Doom.
This isn’t a new idea, either: as long as there’s been Avengers, there’s been grim consequences. As William Hurt’s General Ross established in Captain America: Civil War’s opening act, every victory that saved the planet also came at a cost. The Battle of New York, the downing of the Triskelion, the mission in Sokovia, and the Lagos mission to thwart Crossbones led to the deaths of 300 innocents. 300 deaths and billions of dollars of damage that led to the collapse of the Avengers Initiative and the Sokovian Accords.
At every turn, the good work of the Avengers was ignored by some because of the collateral damage, despite the untold destruction and deaths that would have happened if Loki, Project Insight, Ultron, and Crossbones had taken their missions to completion. It’s ridiculous, but it fit with the MCU’s thematic obsession with the idea that “with great power comes great scrutiny”. A somewhat less cool variation on Spider-Man’s theme.
And it didn’t stop there: the “Thanos Was Right” movement suggested the Avengers shouldn’t have got involved at all, and now the new scenes in Avengers: Endgame Encore adds the same downer note to the Avengers’ greatest victory. They are, it seems, cursed to live in a world where they’re not only not appreciated, but also actively told they make things worse. They are, effectively, their own worst nightmares.
Avengers: Endgame Encore is in theaters worldwide now and Avengers: Doomsday lands on December 18.
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