Eternals Reveals Thanos’ Avengers: Infinity War Plan Backfired

Marvel Studios reveals in Eternals that Thanos’ Avengers: Infinity War plan backfired. Considering Thanos’ connection to the Eternals in the comics, Marvel Cinematic Universe fans heavily speculated about the Mad Titan’s potential role in Eternals. The Phase 4 movie ultimately didn’t feature Thanos – even if it did include the MCU debut of his brother Eros – but it’s still tied to his story. This includes revealing that Thanos’ Avengers: Infinity War plan prevented Earth’s destruction.

After slowly teasing Thanos and the Avengers meeting ever since The Avengers, Marvel Studios properly brought him to the MCU in Avengers: Infinity War. It was in the Phase 3 film that he took matters into his own hands and began acquiring the Infinity Stones himself. Thanos wanted all six Infinity Stones so he could put them in the Infinity Gauntlet, snap his fingers, and eliminate half of all life across the universe. It was a devastating cosmic event that showed just how dangerous Thanos really was, even if Marvel’s What If…? showed how small his plan was in comparison to Ultron’s. However, Eternals adds a new twist to the MCU’s mythology that changes Thanos’ plan and shows that it backfired.

Marvel reveals in Eternals that a Celestial known as Tiamut has been growing inside Earth for thousands of years. Tiamut will emerge from within the planet and destroy Earth once the human population reaches a level where they provide enough energy for the Celestial to surface. While this happens in Eternals after Avengers: Endgame, the movie reveals that humanity achieved the necessary energy level right before Avengers: Infinity War. The Emergence was set to happen at that point, but that was before Thanos used the Infinity Stones to eliminate half of all life on Earth and across the universe. In this way, Thanos prevented Earth’s destruction, showing that his Avengers: Infinity War plan backfired.

It is quite ironic that Thanos unknowingly played a crucial part in delaying Earth’s destruction. The Mad Titan waited for several years to begin acting on his plan to bring balance to the universe. If he would’ve just waited another week or two, Earth would’ve been destroyed prior to his need to conquer it. That would mean that all of the Earth-based MCU heroes would no longer be around to try and stop him either. If he could still gather all six Infinity Stones, the only MCU characters who could’ve stood against him would be Thor, Captain Marvel, and the Guardians of the Galaxy. As a result, Thanos’ timing meant that the Earth wasn’t destroyed by The Emergence and the Avengers were still around to reverse the snap five years later.

While Thanos’ endgame in Avengers: Infinity War was rebalancing the universe, Earth’s destruction could’ve ensured that his rebalancing would’ve been permanent. Without Earth’s Mightiest Heroes around and half of the universe’s population snapped away, it would take a very different collection of MCU heroes to stop Thanos. That said, it is unclear what would’ve happened to the Time Stone and Mind Stone if Earth had been destroyed. Tiamut could’ve taken control of them and made it even tougher for Thanos to pull off his Avengers: Infinity War plan. Instead, Eternals makes it, so the Mad Titan actually played a small part in saving Earth.

About The Author

Cooper Hood
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Cooper Hood is a news and feature writer for Screen Rant. He joined Screen Rant in late 2016 following a year-long stint with MCU Exchange, which came after first developing an MCU blog of his own. He graduated college in 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in Media & Public Communication, with a minor in Media Production. Cooper’s love for movies began by watching Toy Story and Lion King on repeat as a child, but it wasn’t until The Avengers that he took an invested interest in movies and the filmmaking process, leading him to discover the world of film journalism. Every year Cooper looks forward to seeing the latest blockbusters from the likes of Marvel, DC, and Star Wars, but also loves the rush to catch up on Oscar films near the end of the year. When he isn’t writing about or watching new releases, Cooper is a fantasy football obsessive and looking to expand his Blu-Ray collection – because physical media is still king! Follow Cooper on Twitter @MovieCooper.

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