Avengers: Why Thanos Didn’t Kill Thor in Infinity War

Here's why Thanos didn't kill Thor at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War. Marvel Studios began the culmination of the Infinity Saga in the 2018 Joe and Anthony Russo film by properly debuting the arc's main villain: Thanos. Given his rushed introduction, the filmmakers had to find an efficient way to establish him as a worthy opponent to the Avengers, which they achieved with the movie's opening scene; in it, Thanos easily defeated Hulk in hand-to-hand combat and then killed Loki by choking him. Yet the Mad Titan never went after Thor, despite the God of Thunder being the most obvious threat to his plan.

As one of, if not the most powerful hero in the MCU at that point, it makes sense that Thor was the one who almost came close to spoiling the Mad Titan's plans. Had it not been for his gloating, he could've effectively stopped Thanos with the help of Stormbreaker. It's safe to assume that Thanos knew about Thor's abilities, so why didn't he just proactively eliminate the threat he posed by killing him when he had the chance at the start of the movie?

While Thanos is powerful with or without the Infinity Stones, he was more of a cerebral antagonist (and Thor is not exactly a cerebral hero). Known to be a conqueror of planets trying to bring balance to the universe, Thanos began seeking the Infinity Stones after learning that it presented an easier way to accomplish his goal. Interestingly, Thanos didn't see himself as a villain despite his nefarious plan; he was convinced that he was doing it for the greater good. And since he's not motivated by greed or sadism like most villains, he was also not prone to killing beyond it being a means to an end. So while he essentially killed half of life in the universe with the snap, he saw those deaths as necessary for the galaxy to thrive. This is ultimately the reason why he didn't go out of his way to kill Thor (or any other character) at the beginning of Infinity War. He believed everything he did was part of his life's purpose — it's nothing personal.

Avengers Infinity War - Thor Stabs Thanos

This doesn't mean, however, that Thanos wasn't capable of killing. He had a few personal kills in the MCU including Loki and Heimdall. Later on, in Infinity War, he also murdered Gamora and Vision. However, most of these deaths were either provoked or in the service of Thanos' goal. The Mad Titan decided to go after Thor's best friend and brother after they sneakily sent Hulk to Earth to tip off the other Avengers and attempted at brazenly crossing him face to face respectively. Meanwhile, both Gamora and Vision's deaths were critical in securing the Soul and Mind Stone which were integral to his plans.

It's also possible that the reason Thanos didn't go after Thor is because the Mad Titan had assumed the Asgardian was already dealt with. While Thanos didn't specifically try to kill the God of Thunder, he and the Black Order detonated the Asgardian refugee ship after he acquired the Space Stone from Loki. So perhaps he assumed that Thor was effectively killed in the blast. The Mad Titan only ever went out of his way to kill Iron Man, sensing that he posed the biggest threat to his mission. Fortunately, Doctor Strange bargained for Tony Stark's life in exchange for the Time Stone.

Of course, for the sake of Marvel Studios' storytelling, Thor, and his fellow original Avengers had to survive Avengers: Infinity War since Avengers: Endgame functioned as their final mission as MCU's founding heroes. Fortunately for them, they're able to provide a justified explanation to this otherwise unlikely phenomena. Furthermore, The God of Thunder was also best poised to survive the Infinity Saga considering that they've just cracked the best approach to the character thanks to Thor: Ragnarok.

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