Marvel Cinematic Universe fans were treated to two versions of Thanos in Avengers: Endgame: the original one who unleashed The Decimation and was decapitated by Thor at the beginning of the movie, and the one from 2014 who traveled to 2023 with his army to attack Earth.
Since the younger Thanos didn’t have any Infinity Stones, he relied on brute force to dispatch his enemies, and during Avengers: Endgame’s climactic battle, he wielded a cool-looking weapon, seen above. But it turns out that Jim Starlin, who created Thanos, was not a fan of this weapon because it reminded him of a dark time in the Mad Titan’s comic book history: when he committed crimes in a helicopter.
Jim Starlin hilariously told the following to Digital Spy:
The one thing they did and I will never forgive the Russos and [writers] Markus and McFeely was they brought that weapon he had in, which is inspired from the Thanos helicopter which most everybody had almost forgot all about. Originally, the ThanosCopter was created by Larry Lieber for some kids' books called Spidey Super Stories. Thanos was running around robbing banks with the name Thanos written on the side of his copter which always struck me as a little strange all by itself. But I tried to ignore it and I thought people had forgot about it, but they stuck it in the movie. I had a couple of writers credit me with creating it and I'm like, ‘No, it wasn't me.’
To clarify, Jim Starlin liked everything else about Avengers: Endgame, but seeing that Thanos’ blade was inspired by the helicopter he used to rob banks in the ‘70s was one step too far! Starlin is responsible for Thanos’ existence and has penned many of his most iconic stories, but he’s making it clear that he doesn’t want to be associated with his helicopter-riding phase, which inspired the blade he used against Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and many other heroes in Avengers: Endgame.
In case you’ve never seen the ThanosCopter, take a look at this glorious(?) vehicle below.
All this boils down to is a really amusing case of nitpicking, but fortunately, Jim Starlin doesn’t have to be reminded about the ThanosCopter on the big screen ever again. When Iron Man sacrificed his life to channel the power of the Infinity Stones, he dusted past Thanos and his minions, so unless the Mad Titan is somehow resurrected, we won’t have to worry about him ever again… well, at least in the present day narrative.
Let’s not forget that Marvel has The Eternals coming up, and in the comics, Thanos is a hybrid of that species and their sworn enemies, the Deviants. There’s no indication yet that Thanos will appear in The Eternals, but if the story primarily takes place long before the events of the modern MCU, that allows for an even younger Thanos to appear in either this movie or a sequel.
Rest assured, if there’s any word on Thanos popping up in the MCU again, we here at CinemaBlend will let you know about it. For now, you can see what’s coming up for the franchise in our Marvel movies guide.
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