'Avengers: Infinity War' Writer Explains Why Thanos Waited So Long To Execute His Plan

‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Writer Explains Why Thanos Waited So Long To Execute His Plan

Six years. That’s how long it took between audiences' first glimpse of Thanos hovering in the shadows during the mid-credits scene ofThe Avengersand the game-changing destruction he rained down in this year’sAvengers: Infinity War. So…what’s with the delay? Why didn’t the eight-foot-tall alien warrior take things into his own hands even sooner?

It turns out there’s a good reason for why Thanos waited so long, andInfinity Warco-writerStephen McFeelyexplains it below.

LRM Onlinepulled a quote from Stephen McFeely, who co-wrote the script with Christopher Markus, off of theAvengers: Infinity Warcommentary. (The film just hit Digital HD and comes to Blu-ray later this month.) Here’s what McFeely said about Thanos’s timetable:

Normally you want, you know, your inciting incident, the catalyst for this to maybe be on screen and maybe be first. But given how we wanted to approach the story we buried it to basically the midpoint. And, you know, again, it keeps you off balance, but it’s definitely there."

Seems like he’s kinda throwing Nebula – a torture victim! – under the bus a little bit there, but his quote does actually answer the question of why Thanos didn’t take matters into his own hands earlier on the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline.

But this idea reminds me a little of a conversation aboutGame of Thronesand who was technically responsible for starting The War of the Five Kings. Was it Catelyn Stark kidnapping Tyrion at the inn? Jaime Lannister for pushing Bran out the window? Someone else entirely?

InInfinity War, who was ultimately responsible for Thanos’s “snap heard ‘round the universe”? Nebula, for cracking under torture? That seems unfair. Gamora, for sharing the secret information with her sister in the first place? Eh. I’d argue it goes all the way back to Thanos for kidnapping them and raising them the way he did. The devastating events of this movie begin and end with him…well, at least untilAvengers 4(theoretically) undoes some of that damage.

Avengers: Infinity Warhits 4K and Blu-ray onAugust 14, 2018.