When I’m done, half of humanity will still exist. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.” — Thanos
Avengers: Infinity War is the 19th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and boasts to be one of Marvel’s biggest and boldest cinematic offerings in terms of the scale of its cast, visual effects, narrative, as well as its thematic subject matter.
Arguably, the story’s protagonist is actually the main villain named Thanos, sometimes nicknamed as “The Mad Titan.” Simply, his goal is to collect the six Infinity Stones scattered across the universe by whatever means possible. He whosoever wields the complete set of Infinity Stones, housed within a cosmic glove called the Infinity Gauntlet, will have the power of a god, literally willing anything the bearer wills at a click of his fingers. The will of this would-be tyrant is only one: to wipe out half of the population of intelligent life in the entire universe. The only thing standing in his way are Earth’s mightiest heroes collectively known as the Avengers, with additional help from the Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-man, Doctor Strange, and Black Panther and his Wakandan army. Thanos represents the greatest threat the heroes have ever faced and it will take their united effort and selfless sacrifice for them to defeat the Mad Titan. Indeed, by the movie’s end (spoiler alert!), many of the heroes have fallen and suffer bitter defeat as Thanos has seemingly fulfilled his epic quest. In the film’s closing shot, Thanos emerges out of a nipa hut looking out to a somber sunrise on some tranquil planet enjoying the peace which he has hard earned, albeit with a few drop of tears and a lot of bloodshed.
What makes Avengers: Infinity War stand out from other typical superhero films is the depiction of its villain as a sympathetic and tragic character with clear motivations for his actions, unlike other supervillains in this genre who are often evil for evil sake. Thanos comes from the planet Titan, which was once a lush and technologically advanced civilization but collapsed and destroyed itself because of overpopulation. Thanos had warned the planet’s leaders of the impending doom if drastic action was not taken but they did not heed his advice. That advice, of course, was to reduce the planet’s population by 50% so that resources would not be depleted and nature and intelligent life would live in harmony. With the destruction of his home planet on his conscience, he vowed to not let the same fate happen to the rest of the universe. Hence, Thanos believes it is his destiny to gather the Infinity Stones to “correct” the universe and achieve “balance” so that life may properly flourish.
Here is an intelligent creature, with a powerful will, who unshakingly believes he has a mission that serves the greater good. Thanos appears to have no moral compunction whatsoever as to the radical and violent means he will take to achieve his noble goal. Every death or casualty (usually someone who stands in his way) is a necessary sacrifice towards this greater good. There is one critical moment, a key dramatic scene in the movie, where Thanos must exchange his own adopted daughter’s life to claim one of the elusive Infinity Stones. Here we see a rare glimpse of remorse in the Mad Titan, a shed of humanity, which soon he overcomes as he throws his beloved daughter off a cliff. Such is the cost to be the savior of the universe.
Is it morally justified to sacrifice the life of one person (or many) for the greater good? This is a classic question in moral philosophy that has sometimes complicated implications. Thanos’ actions — particularly the sacrificing of life — prescribe to the principle of utility that favors the consequences of actions in so much as they are good, outweighing often the means it took to arrive at that consequence. The result of the action becomes the measure of what is right and wrong, and in the film Thanos is convinced his actions are morally justified because of the ultimate good that will result of it. Because he sees the bigger picture of saving the entire universe, Thanos feels the taking of some lives will produce the greatest happiness for all — that is, whoever is left remaining to enjoy it. Philosophers Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill have advocated such a utilitarianism that aims for the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people.
The glaring problem with Thanos’ noble quest for the happiness of all is that his goal to wipe out 50% of life in the universe to benefit the other 50% hardly constitutes “the greatest number of people.” Here we see his morality as dangerously askew, despite the Mad Titan’s “good intention.”
Another ethical consideration of Thanos’ actions is perhaps the appeal to the principle of double effect which is often invoked to justify the permissibility of an action that causes serious harm as a side effect of promoting some good end. St. Thomas Aquinas first introduced this principle in his Summa Theologiae — using the example of killing an assailant in self-defense — although the principle has permutated throughout time. The principle of double effect is based on the notion that there is a moral difference between an intended consequence of an act and a consequence that was not foreseen nor intended. In the case of Thanos, the taking of life is not his intention but a necessary side-effect to a greater objective, which is to save lives and civilizations throughout the universe. The principle of double effect is often misinterpreted to absolve harmful actions as long as the intention is good, but morality cannot be simply measured or reduced to mere “good intentions” as ethics takes into account the object and circumstances of an action as a whole, and not just intention alone, to make a moral judgment.
Thanos’ quest to use the Infinity Stones to bring balance in the universe by wiping out half the population of the universe has many parallels in our contemporary situation. His argument for overpopulation as the cause of the suffering and collapsing of civilizations is a view widely adopted today. The tragedy that happened on Thanos’ own planet is what is known as a Malthusian catastrophe where the population growth of a civilization has outpaced its agricultural production and therefore not able to sustain its population with enough food and other life-giving resources. Overpopulation is also often to blame for the poverty that ravages many Third World countries like the Philippines. This popular Malthusian view of overpopulation is often used as the scientific justification for population control policies such as contraception, abortion and even euthanasia. The killing of unborn babies and inept elderly has increasingly become morally acceptable in our times, with government laws and international bodies like the United Nations giving support to this “culture of death.”
The Mad Titan’s path to dispose of certain life for the greater good can also be compared to the bioethical issue of embryonic stem cell research in which the most potent stem cells (used for the benefit of finding cures and regenerating vital cells and organs) are extracted from human embryos but at the cost of destroying those embryos themselves. Indeed, many will benefit from the potential remedies these particular kind of stem cells provide but it is an utter disregard for life in that an embryo is still considered a living being infused with a human soul, supported by the scientific assertion that life begins after conception. The philosopher Pope John Paul II, reaffirming that the means cannot justify the ends, writes in his encyclical that “no evil done with a good intention can be excused.”
In conclusion, Thanos, as the major villain of Avengers: Infinity War and the overarching Marvel Cinematic Universe, can be either seen as a messianic genius who is bold enough to do whatever is necessary for the best interests of the universe or a cosmic genocidal maniac. Although he seems to appeal to the lofty ideal of saving lives, his actions reveal that he has little regard for the dignity of life itself. The supreme end of utility — and, in fact, of moral philosophy all together — is happiness. Instead of a truly utilitarian quest for the happiness of all, by the movie’s end we see his glorious triumph as nothing more than an egoist’s exercise for his own personal happiness while he leaves half a universe in mourning and suffering.
