Iron Man Killing Thanos in Avengers: Endgame Quietly Allowed 1 MCU Hero a Much Better Ending 4 Years Later

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While Tony only met Thanos during Infinity War, Thanos’ acts have been intertwined with Tony’s arc since The Avengers. The trauma that Tony suffers from throughout the MCU came from the Battle of New York, which was carried out by Loki on behalf of Thanos. So, it only made sense for Tony to be the one to kill him when Endgame finally came around. While there may have been a more obvious option, it’s probably a good thing they went with Tony.

Drax’s Character Arc Is Better Because He Didn’t Kill Thanos

Image courtesy of Marvel Studios

When Drax is first met in Guardians of the Galaxy, one of his few defining character traits is that he wants to kill Thanos. Thanos killed Drax’s family before the events of the film, turning Drax into the hardened warrior that he is throughout the MCU. Revenge was on Drax’s mind throughout all of his appearances in the MCU, with him hoping to be the one to strike him down. While Drax did battle Thanos in Infinity War, he never got the chance to get his revenge.

However, this is a good thing. Tony robbed Drax of the opportunity to get revenge, allowing Drax to go through a much more complex character arc after the events of Endgame. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Drax has to learn to move past his thirst for revenge. He has to learn how to properly cope with the deaths of his family. Even if the death of Thanos means that there is some cosmic justice, Drax knows that he wasn’t the one to carry it out.

This is a much healthier place for Drax to be, and it is a much more interesting concept for the film to tackle. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 made the notable decision to subvert expectations by having Peter and Gamora not end up together. Drax not getting his revenge is another instance of Gunn subverting well-established superhero tropes. Despite his failure to kill Thanos, Drax has to move on anyway.

While this isn’t in the text of any of the films, an interesting theme that Vol. 3 could have explored is related to this. The Guardians of the Galaxy movies are all about family, with the team loving and seeing each other in a way that the broken individuals can’t. When Drax was by himself, he could never have killed Thanos, even if that was his main goal. As part of a team, however, he was able to kill Thanos, as Drax’s actions contributed to the sequence of events that culminated in Tony’s snap.

Who Would Have Killed Thanos If Tony Stark Hadn’t?

The fact that Tony Stark killed Thanos was mostly out of convenience, as he just so happened to get the Nano Gauntlet and steal the Infinity Stones from Thanos. This means that it wasn’t just him who could have killed Thanos. One of the most obvious alternate options is Hulk. Hulk was shown to be able to wield the Infinity Stones, as he’s the one who brought everyone back from the Snap.

Thor is another option. He’s the one who killed that main timeline’s Thanos, so it wouldn’t be impossible for him to kill the Thanos from the past, either. Without the Infinity Stones, Thor could have easily decapitated him once again. The same can be said for other powerful Avengers like Scarlet Witch and Captain Marvel.

However, based on the logic of Avengers: Endgame, it looks like Tony may have been the only one who was able to kill him. As Doctor Strange famously says, there is only one universe in which they succeed at killing Thanos. Presumably, this is true, and the only way in which they win is if Tony succeeds at stealing the Infinity Stones and snapping Thanos away.

Thanos has been defeated in other timelines before, though, so he isn’t unstoppable. For example, the Illuminati killed him in one of the alternate universes seen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So, it isn’t outrageous to say that a number of different heroes could have killed Thanos if the prior events had gone slightly differently.

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