While he was killed at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, Kree mass murderer Ronan actually won thanks to Avengers: Infinity War. That he managed to do so despite defying Thanos - and threatening to kill him - is all the more impressive and speaks to the Mad Titan’s singular focus at the end of the Infinity Saga. Ronan may have thought his quest to destroy Xandar was the most important thing in the universe, but to Thanos, it was trivial and his involvement was no more than a means to an end.

Having debuted chronologically in Captain Marvel as a fearsome Kree warrior, Ronan’s appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy presents a completely different character. Presumably forced into exile by Carol Danvers and the surviving Skrull forces, Ronan had become a murderous zealot, dangerously committed to his quest to wipe out Xandar for betraying his people. His alliance with Thanos was no more than a means to an end, as his servitude in finding the Power Stone would have been rewarded by the destruction of his enemy’s home planet. Typically, Ronan betrayed his partner, taking the stone for himself and vowing to come for Thanos after dispensing with Ronan.

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Interestingly, while Thanos may have killed Ronan in normal circumstances for his betrayal - something he would not accept in anyone - he ended up keeping up his side of the bargain thanks to his own eventual quest to gain control of the Power Stone. It may not have been seen on screen, but the report of Xandar’s decimation in Infinity War confirms that the Nova Corps and the people of that planet paid a terrible price for defending the Stone. In effect, Ronan was handed a post-mortem victory.

Ronan wielding the Power Stone on his ship in Guardians of the Galaxy Lee Pace

Thanos’ reaction to Ronan’s theft of the Power Stone was intriguing. Rather than expressing anguish, the Titan seemed merely amused at the threat to him, almost as if it were sport. Ronan, after all, was no match for him in his own exalted opinion of himself and even the Power Stone offered little evidence of him being a true threat. Given Ronan’s emotional volatility, it would make sense that Thanos expected him to fail as he quickly would on Xandar’s surface. Either that or Thanos simply did not care for the motivations and threats of those he considered deeply unworthy of his attention.

But in destroying much of Xandar and presumably wiping out the Nova Corps as the last line of defense for the Power Stone (particularly if he unleashed his outrider army on them), Thanos still rewarded Ronan. The fact that he refused to draw the line in spite and not give his treacherous former ally what he wanted even in death reconfirms how committed he was to getting the stone as a means to enacting the snap. Everything and everyone else was merely white noise and the fact that Infinity War didn’t even depict Xandar’s fall confirms as much again. It even works as a final insult to Ronan, whose life’s burning ambition was relegated to a mere footnote in Thanos’ true purpose.

Next: Endgame: Everything That Made Thanos' Attack Possible

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