Are Thanos And Death Not Going To Be A Thing In The MCU?

When Thanos got his hands on ultimate power in the classic Infinity Gauntlet Marvel Comics mini-series, he didn’t fool around. He used the unified Infinity Gems to snuff out half the life in the universe, literally with a snap of his fingers. And though the Mad Titan has never been shy about killing those who displease him, he was following in the immortal words of Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting in that case: He did it all for love.

A twisted love, to be sure, since the object of his affection has always been Death, as in the actual embodiment of the concept of death. Everything he does, he does it for her, and I apologize for almost lapsing into more Bryan Adams there.

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Cosmic entities like Death are par for the course for longtime readers of Marvel Comics, but there’s a school of thought that suggests they might be a step too far for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That being the case, is it possible the architects of the MCU might change things up and have Thanos motivated by love for someone else?

According to Geek.com, that might be exactly what happens by the time we get to Avengers: Infinity War. That site recently ran an exclusive report about how Hela, the Asgardian goddess of death, would be the Big Bad in Thor: Ragnarok (and potentially played by Cate Blanchett, which would admittedly be pretty sweet). As in the comics, she would be the lord of Hel, the Asgardian underworld — though how that would work given the more sci-fi bent the MCU has given Norse mythology isn’t entirely clear — and Niffleheim. Marvel mythology has traditionally made Hel one of the Nine Realms and Niffleheim an associated but separate domain, but that could be reversed for the films.

In any case, Hela would be closely associated with the dead from her first appearance in an MCU movie, which would then set up a different potential love interest for Thanos:

"There has been speculation that the character of Hela could replace the physical embodiment of Death that Mad Titan Thanos falls in love with when he obtains the Infinity Gauntlet in the comic books on which the Avengers: Infinity War movies are loosely based. The general thought is that having a character representing Death suddenly appear in a big Avengers movie would be more confusing to audiences than a character they already know represents Death from a previous movie."

That certainly makes some sense from a logistical standpoint, particularly if Blanchett really is going to be Hela. Why have her around for just one appearance when you can feature her again on an even grander stage?

Still, I hope that simplifying things for the general public isn’t the primary thought behind this plan if it comes to pass. Even non-comic book fans have pretty much bought in to the overall fabric of the MCU, and they haven’t shown signs of throwing up their hands even as things have become more fantastical and less grounded in reality. Ant-Man just introduced the quantum realm last year, and if audiences can keep up with whatever strange dimensions they’ll encounter in Doctor Strange later in 2016, I don’t think accepting a being that represents death itself is really going to be a bridge too far.

Plus with all due respect to Hela and her awesome headgear, Death would just be a cool visual element to have in Infinity War. Classic Grim Reaper appearance one moment, hooded lady the next? I’m sure the special effects folks could have some fun with that.

Marvel has been extremely skillful to this point in building its movie universe at taking certain elements straight from the comics and modifying others when it feels a story would be better served by the changes made. The traditionalist in me hopes Thanos is professing his love for Death herself by the end of Phase Three, but I’d keep an open mind if Hela ends up as the woman who owns his heart if that’s the way things shake out.

Next: Avengers: Infinity War Won't Have 67 Main Characters

(via Cinema Blend)

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