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Avengers: Infinity War - Why Thanos Had To SNAP To Use The Gauntlet
Why did Thanos (Josh Brolin) have to snap to use the Infinity Stones in Avengers: Infinity War? One of the most shocking plot twists in the MCU involved the Mad Titan winning over the Avengers at the end of the 2018 Joe and Anthony Russo movie. After collecting all six Infinity Stones, he snapped to get rid of half of life in the universe, but did the villain really have to click his fingers to get the outcome he wanted?
After years of teasing via a mix of post-credits appearances and glorified cameos in previous films, Marvel Studios fully introduced Thanos in Infinity War. The big bad of the Infinity Saga, the Mad Titan's goal was to collect all six Infinity Stones and use it to wipe out half of the galactic population, believing that this will result in a balanced universe. The Avengers and their allies banded together to make sure that this wouldn't happen, but despite their gallant efforts, Thanos still succeeded - effectively handing the MCU heroes' their first real loss.
Early in Infinity War, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) explained to the Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) what her adoptive father's plan was. Before he got his hands on the Infinity Stones, Thanos would go planet to planet, executing his plan on a smaller scale, but with the power of all six crystals, he can do it all at once with a snap of his finger. In reality, he really didn't have to do any physical action to activate the gems once he had them in his gauntlet except for closing his wrist as established in his fight in Titan. According to Infinity War co-writer Christopher McFeely in the film's commentary, they wanted to introduce a small physical rule such as closing his fist with how he can use the stones. Given all this, why did he still bother snapping when simply balling his hand would've also done the job?
The answer lies in the comics and Thanos' creator Jim Starlin. The writer explained (via Mashable) that while writing Infinity Gauntlet #1, the snap is "the most dismissive gesture" that he could think of that would juxtapose to what the Mad Titan is actually accomplishing. He admittedly added that never did he think that almost 30-years after, the villain's clicking of his fingers on the big screen will be this massive pop culture phenomenon. Starlin's answer means that Thanos didn't really have to snap to activate Infinity Stones as they react to the wielder's mental commands, but for the purpose of storytelling, he wanted a visual representation of what he's doing with the crystals.
Thanos' snap is one of his best moments in the comic books, so naturally, Marvel Studios wanted to adapt that on the big screen when using the character in Infinity War. While the film and its sequel, Avengers: Endgame weren't really based on any print narrative, the MCU has a habit of cherry-picking certain moments from its source material and using them in their projects. This way, they can update Marvel's stories for new viewers, while also offering long-time comic book readers something familiar. In addition to that, it honors creators like Starlin, Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and Jack Kirby among others who laid the storytelling foundation of the Marvel universe as well. Thanks to Avengers: Infinity War, now even those who aren't well-versed with the comic books now associate the simple snapping of the fingers to Thanos and the decimation.
