Infinity War: What Would Zombie Thanos’ Snap Do?

Warning: This article contains spoilers for What If...? episode 5.

In Marvel's What If...? episode 5, the Marvel Cinematic Universe reveals a timeline where Thanos becomes a victim of a zombie apocalypse, which could completely change his Avengers: Infinity War snap. What If...? episode 5 introduces zombies to the MCU, showing a zombie-like virus escaping from the Quantum Realm. The Avengers make the disease worse. After the superheroes fall victim to the zombie apocalypse, no one stands a chance. The world becomes overridden by zombies, and everyone from Iron Man to Doctor Strange joins the undead army. In the end, the few remaining heroes, including Spider-Man (voiced by Hudson Thames), T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), and Ant-Man's (Paul Rudd) disembodied head, travel to Wakanda with the Mind Stone to try to distribute a cure.

Thanos (Josh Brolin) enacts his plan to destroy half of all life in Infinity War. Though the Mad Titan has been secretly pulling strings behind the scenes of the MCU the entire time, Infinity War finally reveals the character meticulously collecting all the Infinity Stones. Thanos then snaps his fingers before the Avengers can stop him. The snap causes half of all life to disappear from the universe, delivering the Avengers their first actual loss in the MCU. Though the Avengers later reverse Thanos' snap in Avengers: Endgame, the act still has devastating consequences that will continue to affect the MCU into the future.

In What If...? episode 5, Marvel changes up Thanos' snap. After the episode shows heroes heading to Wakanda, Thanos also makes an appearance, and it's clear zombies already got to him. However, despite his zombification, Thanos has nearly all of the Infinity Stones in his gauntlet, and he seems like he still wants to go ahead with his snap. But, of course, now that Thanos is a zombie, his snap could potentially have drastically different changes.

Thanos in Infinity War and Zombie Thanos in What If

Thanos could use the snap to create more life. What If...? episode 5 implies that zombies aren't killing people just to kill them. They are doing it because they crave living flesh. With that in mind, it makes sense that Thanos could abandon his plan to eliminate half of all life. Considering most of the life on Earth is already dead, it seems like a moot point anyway. Instead, Thanos could use his Infinity War snap to create more life. Because of Thanos' snap, the zombies could have an endless supply of fresh meals. If Thanos craves flesh as much as his fellow zombies do, creating more life is the only thing he'd want.

Then again, Thanos is stubborn, so there are other options. Though Marvel's zombies are technically undead, they are still animated creatures seeking out resources. If Thanos sticks to a version of his original plan, he could eliminate half of all zombies, thereby allowing more resources for the remaining zombies. However, though zombies have overtaken the Earth, that doesn't mean they've attacked other planets. Thanos' Avengers: Infinity War plan to eliminate half of the life in the universe extends far beyond Earth, so even a zombified Thanos may stick to his original plan. After all, he does believe it's "inevitable."

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Marvel's What If...? releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.