Why The MCU's Next Thanos Should Buck Marvel's Villain Trend
Marvel has been subtly reinforcing the idea that the MCU's next Thanos-level threat should be stronger, but the franchise's major Phase 4 villain should actually go in a different direction. The MCU has been dominating the box office for years thanks to its sprawling interconnected narrative, which helped Avengers: Endgame shatter records. Phases 1-3 of the MCU worked towards telling the Infinity Saga, something which came to an end with Thanos's defeat in Endgame.
After it took the amassed might of the Avengers to scrape a narrow victory over the Mad Titan, it would seem that the next MCU threat must be somehow worse than Thanos. This isn't just a matter of narrative escalation, either: the Avengers' ranks continue to grow, making the team even more powerful than they were in Avengers: Endgame. It's a problem that most directly translates into theories regarding Thanos's replacement as the MCU's big villain, most of which center on the character's power level as a major factor.
Related: Wait — Is That Galactus In Thor: Love & Thunder?!
However, this line of thinking establishes a worrying trend. There are only a finite amount of all-powerful villains, and if the MCU continues to up the strength levels of its big bads, the franchise will soon run out of options. However, seeds have already been planted throughout the MCU's Phase 4 that intelligence is more powerful than brute (or magical/cosmic) force — even in Thanos's Endgame defeat — and this would prove the perfect way to alter one of the franchise's most concerning trajectories.
The MCU often places a disproportionate amount of importance on which Avenger is the strongest or most powerful. Such comparisons were always inevitable, but where the franchise's villains
Read more on screenrant.com
