Endgame Made The Avengers' Thanos Credits Scene Work (Without Lady Death)

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become well known for adding post-credits scenes to almost every movie, and while some of these never pay off, the one in The Avengers, starring Thanos, ultimately worked thanks to Avengers: Endgame. The Mad Titan made his MCU debut in the mid-credits scene of The Avengers, where he was revealed to be the mastermind behind the Chitauri invasion led by Loki, and that was only the beginning of his plans. Thanos became the main villain of the Infinity Saga, and his time in the MCU came to an end in the crossover event Avengers: Endgame.

Prior to Avengers: Infinity War, the MCU established that Thanos was on a quest to acquire all the Infinity Stones along with the Infinity Gauntlet, as his goal was to get rid of half of life in the universe to bring balance to it. Thanos achieved this in Infinity War, but his actions were reversed in Avengers: Endgame, and he and his armies were confronted by all the then-active MCU heroes and their allies, ultimately defeating the Mad Titan – and through this, Endgame made Thanos’ very first appearance at the end of The Avengers work, but without a character teased in that same scene.

Endgame Proved The Avengers' Post-Credits "Court Death" Line Was Right

Thanos and the Other in Avengers Post Credits Scene

The mid-credits scene of The Avengers took place after Loki and the Chitauri’s defeat and saw The Other approaching Thanos. The Other told the Mad Titan that humanity wasn’t as weak as they were promised, as they “stand, they are unruly” and can’t be ruled, warning Thanos that “to challenge them is to court death”. Thanos simply turned to The Other and smiled, showing not only that he was willing to challenge them but it was also a nod to Thanos’ relationship with Death in the comics. The Other was actually right, and it was proven years later in Avengers: Endgame, as Thanos went ahead and challenged humanity, and they ended up defeating him and effectively killing him thanks to Iron Man’s final snap.

Although Death hasn’t appeared since then and thus wasn’t made part of Thanos’ story, she does exist in the MCU. Death is one of the Comic Entities in the universe – along with Entropy, Infinity, and Eternity –, and her image is displayed on Morag along with the rest of the Entities. Death was shown again at the Gates of Eternity in Thor: Love and Thunder, as she has a statue alongside those of Eternity, the Living Tribunal, The Watcher, Eon, the One Above All, and Infinity. Death was left out of Thanos’ plans, but the mid-credits scene of The Avengers still makes sense thanks to Endgame proving that challenging humanity would lead to Thanos’ end.

Why The MCU Didn't Use Thanos' Lady Death Motivation

The Avengers’ Death tease was, at one point, planned to pay off as part of the Infinity Saga, but as Thanos’ story evolved, those plans were ultimately scrapped. Back in 2014, Josh Brolin spoke about Thanos’ relationship with Death (via IGN) and expressed his attraction to that particular storyline, which gave the audience hope for the Thanos/Death relationship to make it to the MCU. A couple of years later, while working on Avengers: Infinity War, directors Joe and Anthony Russo considered bringing Death to the big screen and make her Thanos’ main motivation for the snap (via Business Insider), just like in the comics, but they realized they would have had to spend a lot of time introducing Lady Death, a character the audience had no relationship to, so they decided to let her go and take the story on a different route. It’s unknown if Death will be properly introduced, like Eternity was in Love & Thunder, now that Thanos is dead, but so far, the MCU did a great job at telling Thanos’ story without relying on her.

Next: Why Marvel Recast Thanos After The Avengers