Thanos in the MCU did literally nothing of any consequence. The math proves it.
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on Feb. 6, 2022, 10:16 p.m. by TypicalTimmy
In 2018 when Infinity War occured, Earth's population was at 7,600,000,000 or 7.6 billion people.
Then with a snap of his fingers, Thanos reduced the population down to half, or 3.8 billion.
If we assume an extremely aggressive estimate of a further 800 million people dying as a result of initial plane crashes, train crashes, traffic accidents, starvation, proceeding wars, lack of clean water, dying in hospitals being left unattended, pregnant mothers being dusted while their unborn children are not, etc and we cut this all the way down to 3 billion people...
...that's only the population Earth saw in the 1960s.
From 1960 to 2018, Earth's population more than doubled from 3 billion to 7.6 billion. Meaning, in less than one average Human's lifetime from 2018 to the future of 2078, assuming Endgame never occurs, Earth's population would have recovered back to pre-snap values.
If we take Earth as a baseline, this means that the entirety of the Universe would recover it's population density in less than 100 years. On a cosmological scale, this is so inconsequentially insignificant that it means fundamentally nothing.
All that, for a drop of nothing.
TypicalTimmy says... #3
But Thanos says that there's already too many mouths to feed and not enough to go around, which means he views 7.8 billion as already too much. Even if we assume that the +20B is more in line with his estimates of being unbalanced, he only delays the inevitable. If Earth were to grow in population from 7.8 billion to 20 billion in the span of 50 years, it'd only take that much longer from 2078 to 2128. Again, whether it is 50 years or 100 years, it means absolutely nothing in the span of the universe.
What's more is that Thanos didn't just dust 50% of all Human life on Earth (the same applies for each planet with life), but 50% of all life. This includes plants, fungi, bacteria, animals and so forth. So if anything, he actually kept the exact same balance.
If you have an area of 100 million people and 50 million tons of bio-resources such as timber and meat, and you reduce it to 50 million people and 25 millions tons of bio-resources, you've kept the exact same ratio and have, once again, done nothing.
A current popular theory is that he was attempting to delay the emergence of Celestials across the universe by reducing population totals, thanks to the information we gained in The Eternals. But if this is true, he could have just as easily made all planets with Celestial seeds inert. So Tiamat in Earth would merely cease to be. That would have been a far better use of the powers at hand - lol.
Instead, he genocided 1/2 of all life in the universe, just for it to bounce back in 50 years - 100 years.
February 6, 2022 10:31 p.m. Edited.
Omniscience_is_life says... #4
Is the best idea then to destroy 75% of humans, and nothing else? How would that affect the likelihood that an overly high number of necessary individuals would disintegrate, thus imperiling the rest? We as a society would have such a hard time surviving a 50% population loss, and I struggle to think we'd make it through more.
That being said, maybe the whole idea is flawed in the first place (gee, ya think Omni?)
Maybe Thanos should have teleported all of humanity to a planet three times as large, with three times the natural resources. Then, I suppose, we'd lose a lot of progress in terms of homes built... maybe he could snap those as well...
February 6, 2022 10:39 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #5
I've even seen arguments where he should have doubled the resources, but then this poses the issue of further being ungrateful. The math works out that the population would double in half the time if resources were doubled, because no checks are in place to stop expansion. If you allow a population to flourish, than flourish it shall.
All I'm saying is, when you actually apply logic to a comic movie's plot, it doesn't work (shocker, I know) lol.
I think if Thanos truly wanted to save the universe, he could have done so with a different course of action. Merely alter the physics of the universe such that perpetual motion is a reality.
- Time stone helps stall and reverse entropy
- Space stone helps bring energies together in the universe
- Reality stone helps subvert and change physics
- Power stone, well, powers this whole endeavour
- Mind stone helps give each population the knowledge that perpetual motion now exists
- And lastly, the soul stone helps ease tensions and war so peace can be finally achieved
Now that perpetual motion is real, energy is infinite and thus all things are achievable. Unlimited resources and energy, at the fingertips of every single society in existence - forever.
Then he could retire, not on a grateful universe, but with the weight of all those he murdered to protect all those he saved. We change from a Thanos who views himself as the hero, to a Thanos who views himself as a true monster. And thus, him finding seclusion in exile feels a lot more appropriate where he could live out his days memorializing those who fell before his wrath, in sacrifice of the rest.
February 6, 2022 10:48 p.m. Edited.
I think Thanos was just obsessed with the idea of "balance" and "randomized equality", and didn't think out the consequences of his actions. He just wanted to destroy half the universe, and twisted himself into thinking it was somehow an improvement.
Also, it seems like only animals and the sufficiently animal-like (looking at you, Groot) were affected. Plants didn't seem to be affected at all, and that may or may not be extrapolated to other biological kingdoms. So "half of all life" should more accurately be "half of all sapient life". And this is all assuming "life" refers to DNA-based, self-replicating objects with cellular organization and the ability to respond to external stimuli. Turns out that "life" is poorly defined just here on Earth without bringing aliens/gods/aliens with godlike power/ultra dimensional creatures into the mix.
Basically, if you want to see biologists yelling at each other, ask how the Snap works.
February 7, 2022 12:03 a.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #7
It does beg the question on whether or not Korg and his kind survived, or if the Celestials survived, or if the undead (as shown to exist in Ragnarok) survived.
So many questions, so little time.
I'd love to see in Multiverse of Madness an alternate Thanos show up, where our heroes attempt to kill him a third time, only to discover this is a benevolent version who actually helped his universe survive. Then he sees ours, and how broken it is, and decides to help us as well.
That'd be so nice :,)
Speaking of Multiverse of Madness, I heard that the actor who played Justin Hammer, Sam Rockwell, was slated as one of the picks for Tony Stark before it was given to RDJr. I think it'd be spectacular to see Sam Rockwell return AS IRONMAN, but an "evil" version from his own universe, where he got the role :D
- Spiderman, hugging Ironman from behind
- "OMG MR. STARK I'VE MISSED YOU SO MUC--"
- Justin Hammer, opening his viser and pushing Parker away
- "And just who the Hell are you?"
February 7, 2022 12:13 a.m. Edited.
Maybe humans are really good at reproducing and other planets would take longer to repopulate
February 7, 2022 7:47 a.m.
I'm gonna be honest, I didn't hate Thanos, it was a pretty decent storyline, but it all really made me appreciate Age of Ultron a lot more. That was a really good movie, and the first time I saw it, it was kind of like, well it's not the original Avengers. But in hindsight, it's witty, has actual consequence, has a villain who is threatening on a different level than anyone can deal with, and just kind of works. I stopped watching Marvel after the snap, because well, it was played a bit. If they really offed characters, it would have been incredible, but you just knew they were all coming back, you know? There was no tension after the snap. The next movies were basically just how they wanted to explain what had to happen, which, is so lame. I've heard that the Marvel writers claim to love writing themselves in a corner so that they can think of how to get out, and that sounds like an interesting way to do things, but it can sure backfire.
February 7, 2022 8:13 a.m.
I don't think that Thanos particularly cared about Earth. His goal was dusting half of all life across the universe, not Earth. He probably figured that, once the snap happened, people (of all species) would realize that things are better now, and would control their population going forward.
OG Thanos just wanted to get together with Death.
February 7, 2022 9:54 a.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #11
Personally I think Age of Ultron got way too much praise than it deserved. Many people are quick to point out poor CG in other films (MCU or otherwise) yet for some reason they let AoU's absolutely atrocious CG slide because it's a Marvel property? And the plot was nonsensical. If Ultron truly wanted to hit the reset button, he wouldn't have hole'd up in a castle and dropped a bit of dirt on a random city. Even that, his supposed "astroid" plan, yeah that's several billion tons but it's only falling at the normal speed of gravity? Would it cause an earthquake and tsunamis? Sure. But a cataclysmic apocalypse? Hardly. Even his whole premise of being an AI. Why allow Ironmans suit to function? Why allow the Quinjet to fly? Why allow comms array?
In What If, he nuked it all. But in AoU, it's reciting Disney cartoon lines and playing in dirt.
February 7, 2022 12:08 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #12
And while I'm at it, I hate Ragnarok. That movie is trash. Zero idea how it's praised as one of their best.
February 7, 2022 12:09 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #13
Honestly Ragnarok was fine for what it was. Buddy-Buddy Hulk-Thor comedy worked great. Dark, glooming Asgardian warfare? Perfect.
My issue is the jarring dichotomy brought when a whimsical and silly comedy takes up 1/2 of a dark and gritty apocalyptic film, and vise versa.
Individually, they are both entertaining and enjoyable. But combined? I personally simply can not stand it.
February 7, 2022 12:54 p.m. Edited.
TypicalTimmy I love Ragnarok but I'll completely agree that that's a fair assessment. If nothing else, I really like that they took a chance and did something different. It's the same reason that I always liked Legacy of Korra. Is it objectively as good as the original Avatar? Not really. But they could have just made another Avatar or just made another Thor movie, and they didn't, and they put real effort into making something new and doing it in an interesting way.
Omniscience_is_life says... #2
While this is endlessly hilarious to ponder, it misses the fact that, in 2078, there would be 7.6 billion people instead of the over-20 billon I'm sure there would be without the snap.
February 6, 2022 10:25 p.m.