Avengers: Endgame – Why does Thanos have a new weapon and armor again?

By Jesse Schedeen

The new Avengers suite, Avengers: Endgame, is almost upon us. And between the new trailer and the glimpses of recent toys, we finally have a good idea of ​​what Thanos looks like in the movie. Not only did the Mad Titan return to its original armored look, but it also uses an ugly double-bladed weapon.

This "new" look for Thanos, however, raises an interesting question. Why does a person with access to Gauntlet Infinity and his unlimited powers need raw weapons? Should not Thanos be above these concerns now? It is possible that the equipment of Thanos reveals a lot about the physical and mental state of the character in Endgame.

The status quo of Thanos was left unresolved in the last moments of Avengers: Infinity War. In his last scene, Mad Titan was alive but clearly felt the pain of having a hole the size of Stormbreaker in the chest. As far as we know at the time, he could have died from his injuries. It was not even clear whether this scene was unfolding in the real world or in the soul stone.

Based on the trailer, it seems that Thanos is still alive and has recovered to the point that he is ready for a rematch against Thor and the Avengers. But again, the fact that he recovered the armor he had abandoned at the beginning of Infinity War (and presented as a kind of scarecrow in the first trailer of Endgame) suggests that he is no longer also confident in his own strength. Thanos exercised divine power at the height of the war in Infinity War and almost reached his end in Thor's hands. The armor can be a way to protect yourself from another almost fatal blow. It can even be a psychological defense mechanism. As pretentious as it appears in the new trailer, Thanos is likely to fear what could happen to him when he will face all the might of the Earth's most powerful heroes.

This would also seem to go with his new weapon, which seems to be a double-blade sword. He appeared recently in Thanos toys pictures, but we can also see him in the trailer. Again, why would the crazy Titan need such a thing if he is still all powerful?

And what about the Infinity Gauntlet? The trailer and the toys clearly show that Thanos still has this powerful artifact, but is he still as formidable as he was before? It appeared in Infinity War that Thanos had severely damaged the glove when he had used it to eliminate half of life in the universe. The power needed for such an act seemed to have short-circuited it. The glove seems to have been repaired in Endgame, but it is possible that it does not work as well as before. Or maybe Thanos is afraid to support the challenge again, unless he has no other choice?

Basically, despite all that Thanos looks bigger and more mean than ever in this sequel, the truth can be very different. We might be looking at a villain who suffers the physical and psychological consequences of a cosmic mass murderer. It is perhaps weaker physically because of the combined toll of Thor's attack and the strain causing the decimation. He almost certainly feels the mental impact of so many sacrifices, including the person he truly loved, for the sake of his great mission.

Marvel comics have always made it clear that Thanos was his worst enemy. Although he projects the image of an all-powerful tyrant, deep inside him, he is still a lonely outsider who has grown up and who has been rejected by everyone on Titan. He has a latent self-hatred that drives him to sabotage his own projects at crucial moments. It is essentially like this that Thanos was defeated in the initial scenario of Infinity Gauntlet. Part of himself wanted to lose, so he unconsciously gave the Avengers the openness they needed to separate him from the challenge.

It's perhaps as well as the Avengers triumph in the movie. Thanos, overwhelmed by the pain and regret of his own actions, can once again be his worst enemy. We could even see a scenario in which Thanos, realizing that the Avengers have found a way to undo the Decimation, gives up and agrees to help them to give his daughter another chance to live. Thanos retreating under the protection of his armor could be a sign that the Mad Titan is not the threat that he was before.

Jesse is a writer with gentle manners for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket in follow @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.