In Bruce Banner’s lecture hall, a student asked: “Why didn’t Thanos just make unlimited food?”

— Or something like that.
My memory isn’t perfect.

But it did take me off guard. Why did Thanos see that his only option was to poof half of universal life?

It tickled the really teeny tiny itty bitty part of my brain that is still in alignment with stories and literature.

And I think I have an answer.
It’s not “the” answer, but it’s an answer.

I think it’s masculinity, sort of.

Thanos is really an anti-hero.
He has good intentions but goes about it in a way that doesn’t adhere to the social norms of the time.

The character displays this.

His intention was to save the universe from eating itself.
– That’s a heroic goal.

But, being an anti-hero, he chooses the shortest and, truthfully, the least messy path to achieve that goal – to eliminate the useless eaters (so to speak).

This is completed without malice, regardless of the person, the status, or age. Truly, D.E.I. in action.

Remembering that the goal is good but methods are not a societal norm, the norm would be to feed everyone and promote a life of ease.

Sound familiar?
A zero-need society.

People wouldn’t have to do anything unless they wanted to. There would be no need for labor. Actually, if you think about it, work, or labor, would be wrong.

Any type of work would be a creative endeavor. It would be something that a person wants to do instead of needing to do. Everything would belong to everyone because there would not be a need for ownership.

If you don’t have to earn anything, why work?

There would be no need for productivity. There wouldn’t be a need for incentive. There would be no drive to better oneself since everything is guaranteed.

Doesn’t this kind of sound like Socialism?

So… in 2015, or whenever the movie came out, the writers of the script and corporations (Disney) favored socialism.

Again – antihero – Thanos embodies what isn’t considered heroic for the time.

* He’s physically dominant.
* He’s masculine.
* Despite it all, family-centered (through Gamora and Nebula)
* He encouraged and rewarded competition between his daughters. – They didn’t receive participation awards.
* He had advisors. His empire (or whatever) wasn’t run by committee.

When this script was written and the movie filmed, the Me Too movement was well established. The concept of toxic masculinity was on the rise. Empathy and subjectivity seemed to be the new “truth,”


If Thanos were a hero or female, food would have been provided to everyone. All people would live in a perfect or close-to-perfect nanny state where food would have to be continually provided and managed.


And, in real life, those solutions don’t work.
They cause long-term harm to the people they are meant to help.

So, that’s why Thanos didn’t create food.

He bucked socially acceptable norms while attempting to achieve a ‘greater good.’

So- that’s why he’s an anti-hero.


He had good intentions, but was a 2015 lost and bumbling man who could not possibly understand that societal truth overrides what is actually true.