“[Tony] has this sort of existential connection to Thanos.”– Joe Russo
“You realize this interesting parallel between Thanos and Tony. They’re both aware of something from an early point and constantly having to deal with being smarter. Thanos is a futurist as much as Tony Stark.” – Christopher Markus
Tony and Thanos appear to be two heads to the same coin. Between them, they share a lot of remarkable similarities. But what separates them is heart. Tony has compassion, while Thanos does not.
This is emphasized in Avengers: Infinity War. Thanos hurls his adopted daughter, Gamora, off a cliff; while Tony promises his son-figure, Peter, he will catch him when he falls.
Tony wants to save the universe by safeguarding as many lives as he can, while Thanos believes saving the
universe
necessitates massive loss of life. They are equal, yet opposite.
“Because the Soul Stone” is not a good enough reason why Thanos knew Stark.
I think we, the audience, are supposed to be asking ourselves, “Why does Thanos know him? How?” Because it was a dramatized moment. The narrative deliberately pulled our attention to this scene. Thanos says, “Stark,” like it’s significant somehow–and clearly Tony feels the same way because he stops to ask Thanos, “You know me?” It’s very much a “did I hear that right?” beat. Thanos then says, “I do. You’re not the only one cursed with knowledge.”
If this was all the Soul Stone granting Thanos knowledge of every person in existence, why doesn’t Thanos call anyone else by their name after he gets the Soul Stone? Why don’t we see any more displays of this power? Why didn’t the Soul Stone light upwhen Thanos said Tony’s name such as it did when Thanos used the Soul Stone to pinpoint which Strange was the real one after Strange multiplied himself?
Many point to Red Skull’s comment on Vormir to mean that the Soul Stone somehow imparts wielders with the ability to know people’s identities. Admittedly, it is incredibly similar language used in both scenes – but maybe there’s a reason for that.
Like Thanos, Red Skull indicates he knows who Thanos and Gamora are by dropping their names (”Welcome, Thanos, son of Alars. Gamora, daughter of Thanos”). Then a similar response: “You know us?” and Red Skull says “It is my curse to know all who journey here.” Like Thanos’s quote, Skull is comparing knowing people’s identity to a curse–and perhaps Red Skull is even knowledgeable of what Thanos and Gamora’s fates will be.
But later Red Skull says the Soul Stone is a “treasure [he] cannot possess,” which makes it pretty clear that Red Skull is not getting this ability from the Soul Stone, but it is perhaps part of his banishment. A punishment given to him by the Infinity Stones.
Furthermore, I think some scenes in Avengers: Infinity War were meant to demonstrate that Thanos has absolutely no idea who the other Avengers are – nor can he magically sense them.
When Thanos arrives on Titan, he is taken by surprise that Strange isn’t alone. When Strange says, “our will,” Thanos is like “Our?” and then gets surprise attacked. If the Soul Stone granted the passive ability to know people, wouldn’t Thanos have just… sensed that Strange wasn’t alone?
When Steve Rogers holds back Thanos for a few seconds, Thanos has a look of abject WTF on his face.
Either Thanos has no idea who Steve is (hence the look of confusion) or he at least didn’t know enough about him to know Steve had that kind of raw strength, in which case… womp womp to the “Soul Stone grants you knowledge of every soul in existence” theory – Thanos shouldn’t have been shocked by Steve at all.
Given all that? I don’t see how it was the Soul Stone. It just doesn’t fit.
Now, what about other ways Thanos could’ve known Tony?
First, let’s examine the line itself. What does Thanos mean when he says, “You’re not the only one cursed with knowledge.”
One interpretation of this is that Thanos is indicating on some level he and Tony are the same. After all, both of them foresaw the destruction of their home-worlds and did their best to mitigate the threat.
In which case… Thanos has intimate knowledge of the events of Age of Ultron. And, if that this is true, then Thanos must’ve been spying on the Avengers this whole time–or at least spying on Tony in particular. Did Thanos play some role in the events of that film? (He does have an appearance at the end when he says, “I’ll do it myself.”) Is Thanos literally inside Tony’s head, able to scour his thoughts? (Because how else does he know Tony has been having nightmares about Thanos for the past six years?)
One possibility is that Thanos, being the master tactician he is, wanted to gather more intel about the red-and-gold Avenger who took out his Chitauri army. I mean… who wouldn’t want to know the person who destroyed an entire fleet? It’s smart.
But what blows a hole in that theory is: why was it only once Tony spoke that Thanos recognized him? That’s what I keep circling back to anyway: Thanos only called Tony out once he heard Tony’s voice, which I think is a clue. Perhaps it’s something as simple as he didn’t recognize Tony in his new armor, but given Tony’s known on Earth as “Iron Man” and the “armored Avenger,” wouldn’t the Earthling in the red-and-gold metal suit (albeit upgraded) be enough of a tip-off? Like… Thanos is a genius and he wouldn’t put two-and-two together?
The other interpretation of this is that not only is Thanos aware of Tony’s penchant for prophecy (by saying Tony is “cursed with knowledge”), but, by virtue of simply knowing who Tony is, Thanos himself is cursed.
In which case… knowing Tony’s identity is somehow comparable enough a “curse” as foreseeing the destruction of your planet. (like damn in this case what the hell Tony? what did you do to Thanos to rattle him so bad?)
If this is true, then perhaps Thanos sees Tony as his own “nightmare,” much like how Tony sees Thanos as his. Maybe Thanos has seen into a future where Tony is the one who stops Thanos from fulfilling his goal.
This could fit why Thanos wanted to not just kill Tony, but absolutely murder him. Notice how Thanos doesn’t kill anyone who doesn’t “have” to die. Yes, he kills Loki, but Loki was already on his shit list for losing the Space and Mind Stones (attempting to stab him was just the nail in the coffin). Thanos “had” to kill Gamora (to acquire the Soul Stone). And Thanos “had” to kill Vision (to acquire the Mind Stone). Yeah, he kills half the populations he comes across, but he sees that as mercy (and that’s his whole game).
But otherwise? Thanos bats the other heroes out of the way as though they’re nothing. He doesn’t go out of his way to end their lives. He lets Quill, Drax, and Mantis live after the scuffle on Knowhere (even though he easily could’ve left them for dead). He doesn’t kill Peter, Strange, or Nebula on Titan (even after they attacked him). He doesn’t kill any of the heroes in Wakanda aside from Vision (like he smacks Steve down, pins Natasha, traps Bruce in a rock, flings Rhodey to the side, etc.).
But Tony? Not only is Tony no longer a threat after their fight (since he’s been stabbed and is choking up blood), but Thanos is prepared to use all four of his Infinity Stones on him. Like… he was going to obliterate Tony.
WHY!? Why was Thanos going to do this to Tony when he let everyone else just lay out of commission on the side? Tony wasn’t going to get up again. He was “done.”
Only reason? Thanos sees Tony as a threat. A very real and dangerous threat. More than Thor. More than Steve. More than all the other Avengers.
Anyway, I am not sure exactly how Thanos knew Tony, but I am sure it wasn’t the Soul Stone – and I think it’s going to be something covered again in Avengers 4. There’s something going on there between the two of them.
EVERY SINGLE MARVEL FAN READ THIS FUCKING POST. READ IT ALL PLEASE.
I know the popular theory on how Thanos knew Tony’s name is ~the soul stone~
… but I love the idea that Tony has been inside Thanos’s head for six years just like Thanos has been inside Tony’s head for six years. Given how much they’ve been pushing parallels, it honestly wouldn’t surprise me.
Imagine Thanos waking up from a nightmare. He’s covered in a cold sweat, pulling the bed sheets tight around his shoulders. He starts rocking back and forth–
“Stark is out there…” he whispers under his breath. His purple ass is shook. ‘Cause he knows there’s this guy out there who is gonna fuck his shit up one day.
Like the idea of this big, bad Titan fretting over this goober:
Saaaaame! I really don’t think it’s all the Soul Stone – he was warned about humans not being as weak as they presumed after the Battle of New York. I’m pretty sure he’d wanna know more about the guy that took down his army.
I wanna know if Thanos sent some scouts to get some information about the meddling fucker who blew up his Chitauri warship.
What if Thanos’s scout pulled up videos of Tony from the Internet? The ones where Tony doesn’t have his clothes on?
Thanos sits there, pouring over Tony’s sex tapes and other drunken exploits, and he’s like, “………….. this is it? this is the guy??”
What if like Tony also, he doesn’t know of his name? Only remembering this silhouette of gleaming gold and red armor that delivered tremendous destruction to his army. Much like Tony who was traumatized by space after that, Thanos is shook at the sight of full bodied armors like Tony’s. His fear build up, constructing this image of a fearsome opponent that await him on some supposedly backwater planet.
He knew of Tony’s presence but not his name. He knew somewhere on Earth, there would be this person who would be powerful enough to destroy his armada again but he can’t chicken out now.
While I like the concept of Thanos sending the scout and finding those hilarious tapes, I want to build up the parallel of him and Tony who are aware of each other’s presence but not their name until the very battle itself.
Thanos only know of Tony’s name using the Soul stone. They each finally know the name to put on the fear that had been gripping them for the past six years.
Yes exactly. I wonder if Thanos had these haunting images, maybe even nightmares, of this armored angel from Earth who ripped his entire fleet to shreds.
If Thanos worried that, one day, the red and gold man would come to stand in his way again.
Maybe that’s why Thanos reassured Tony with the line “When I’m done, half of humanity will still be alive.” Thanos knew Tony was Earth’s Best Defender. That Tony was protecting Earth to the best of his ability. And Thanos gave Tony that reassurance as a gift because Tony – this human, this small, little mortal – rattled him. Even drew blood from his near indestructible hide.
That’s why Thanos was going to use all four stones. To 100% make sure the threat Tony posed was gone for good. Heck, Thanos even seemed to hesitate sparing Tony’s life for the Time Stone. Maybe because it was hard to let the possibility stand this red and gold armored angel would come back with avengence.
… and letting Tony live is gonna bite Thanos in the ass.
You know what? Between The Avengers and Avengers: Infinity War, I’d love it if Thanos actually sent an Outrider to Earth to find out all it could about the man who had sent the missile that destroyed the Chitauri mothership.
In the Infinity comic event, Thanos had done something similar. He sent an Outrider to invade Black Bolt’s mind to find out where the Illuminati were hiding the infinity gems.
It’d make sense if Tony was having his mind repeatedly violated by an invisible, sentient creature every night: that could explain why the nightmares in Iron Man 3 were so vivid, so realistic, to the point Tony said he couldn’t sleep. It’d also feed into the idea above that Tony was inside Thanos’ head just as much as the other way round.
Thanos is an intergalactic despot. His army had razed worlds far more advanced than Earth. At the beginning of the Avengers, the Other says:
The Tesseract has awakened. It is on a little world, a human world. They would wield its power, but our ally knows its workings as they never will. He is ready to lead, and our force, our Chitauri, will follow. A world will be his. The universe, yours. And the humans, what can they do but burn?
From the outset, Thanos and Co assumed the fight would be over in a snap (excuse the pun). Then, the next time we see the Other, who was Thanos’ de facto mouthpiece in that film, he says this:
Other: The Chitauri grow restless.
Loki: Let them gird themselves. I will lead them in the glorious battle.
Other: Battle? Against the meagre might of Earth?
Even at this point, Thanos is confident that Earth will fall with little resistance and the Space stone would be his.
Finally, after the Chitauri are defeated, the Other says:
Humans. They are not the cowering wretches we were promised. They stand. They are unruly, and therefore cannot be ruled. To challenge them is to court death.
And we know Thanos leers at the camera in the end shot. But the Avengers film ended in a massive blow to Thanos because it took out his entire army. The same army that destroyed Gamora’s planet with little to no resistance. Since the Chitauri all died Phantom Menace style, I’d think they have a central hive mind, which was on the ship that the nuke destroyed.
Which is why we don’t hear from Thanos for six years. If he had a backup army, wouldn’t they have found a way to Earth before Infinity War? That makes me think Thanos and the Black Order had to regroup and rebuild the army – this time with the Outriders. They don’t have a hive mind and they’re created explicitly for one purpose alone – destruction. Proxima even says in Wakanda that they have blood to spare.
It’s also interesting to me that Thanos saves Earth for last in his gems quest. He goes to Xandar, which you’d think would be technologically more advanced, to retrieve the power stone, then tracks the Asgardians for the space stone, then he heads to Knowhere for the reality stone and Vormir for the soul stone. It just so happens that when he arrives on Titan, he finds the time stone waiting for him. At any point after acquiring the power and space stone, Thanos could’ve gone to Earth. But he didn’t. He sent the Black Order instead – even though he calls them his children, Thanos only ever cares for Gamora. So the Black Order is actually dispensible to him, hence are sent to retrieve the time and mind stone.
Thanos leaves Earth last because he knows (“cursed with knowledge”) that the planet is a formidable adversary, that there’s a man out there named Stark who single-handedly destroyed his entire army. (Because Thanos obviously wouldn’t know that Tony flew the nuke through the portal to first save Manhattan. The destruction of the Chitauri was an added bonus. He’d think it was Stark’s idea to come through the portal and take out the Chitauri.)
Thanos is a strategist. Thor even alludes to this in AoU when he says someone is playing an intricate game. So I’d assume he’d respect another good, albeit accidental, strategist and that’s why he says he respects Tony. Because in his eyes, Tony didn’t hesitate to indiscrimately kill the Chitauri to save his home. He spilled blood to save Earth, something Thanos couldn’t do for Titan.
I absolutely love the idea of Tony being Thanos’ boogeyman just like Thanos had been Tony’s.
Edit: As @starkravinghazelnuts pointed out, the Other tells Thanos at the end of Avengers that to challenge the humans is to court death. And what’s one of Tony’s nickname again? Yep, the Merchant of Death. Ajsksllsdkkdnsas.
clintbbarton 