Note: This post contains a massive spoiler for Avengers: Endgame, which some of you may have already seen.
Trump’s fans love to plaster his head onto famous action characters and champs, from the photoshop that put his honey-glazed, bulbous head upon peak Rocky Balboa’s ripped bod — which they seemed to claim was real? — or the far more disturbing video that had him as Colin Firth in the first Kingsman, shooting his many enemies in the head. Trump, or those on his team, often tweet these out, given them further traction. But even this one qualifies as weird: The current president’s re-election campaign tweeted out an image that turns him into Thanos. As you may recall, the bulky purple dude played by Josh Brolin is the bad guy.
Luckily there were plenty of people on social media to point out not on that but that, while successful at this mission during the bleak-o-rama conclusion of Avengers: Infinity War, he’s defeated at the end of its sequel, Avengers: Endgame. And not only that, but when Thanos is turned to dust in the wind, so are his many followers/supporters.
In other words, while it may make those still on Team Trump giddy to think of the president disappearing Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, et al., if you follow the Thanos comparison to its conclusion then they come back and give him, and those that champion him, a taste of their own medicine.
Does this mean the president and his campaign team haven’t actually seen Avengers: Endgame? They have been a bit busy trying to stop the president from being impeached on multiple charges. If so, there were plenty of people to spoil it for him.
So you're arguing that Trump is Thanos ("The Mad Titan") who wants to kill half of all living things, but in the end winds up defeated and dying, taking all of his sycophantic followers down with him?
Great work, everyone. https://t.co/gFLPVch2An
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) December 10, 2019
You know Thanos is the bad guy, right? And you know that right after this scene, the good guys defeat him? https://t.co/xYK2YEtT7s
— Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) December 10, 2019
So Trump is Thanos and the Democrats are the Avengers trying to restore democracy that evil Republicans have nearly destroyed.
Glad we’re on the same page.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) December 10, 2019
https://twitter.com/SjwSpiderman/status/1204518893890482176
The Trump campaign is now comparing the President to Thanos, the genocidal villain from The Avengers. This is bizarre. Even for them. (And they leave out the part where Thanos loses in the end) https://t.co/Cc4cWp1dbe
— David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) December 10, 2019
Ummm…somebody forgot to tell the trump War Room how Avengers Endgame ended for Thanos.
He was the BAD GUY, btw.
Impeachment is INEVITABLE. https://t.co/xIAU8shpT2
— BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ (@mmpadellan) December 10, 2019
Of course, the scene in question is actually from Avengers: Endgame, so maybe Trump and company paused at the wrong moment.
https://twitter.com/sam1tron/status/1204513878492798976
Others pointed out Thanos was also a genocidal maniac.
Thanos murdered billions https://t.co/zuo14LGc0N
— Michael Tannenbaum (@iamTannenbaum) December 10, 2019
Others said the comparison was insulting…to Thanos.
3/ While his plan to wipe out half the universe is horrible, Thanos is doing it for ethical reasons, not just to build a hotel on some shitty mobbed-up planet.
— Greg Olear (@gregolear) December 10, 2019
This ain't fair to Thanos. He only wanted to kill half of all livin' things. https://t.co/eFwgz3sdmn
— Tea Pain (@TeaPainUSA) December 10, 2019
Only Thanos would scam Army Emergency Relief, the Children’s Aid Society, Citymeals-on-Wheels, Give an Hour, Martha’s Table, the United Negro College Fund, the United Way of National Capital Area, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. https://t.co/9v2R4UDf7r
— Schooley (@Rschooley) December 10, 2019
Something’s in the water for demagogues with weird hair who happen to be in major positions of power, because, as someone pointed out, this landed the the same day Boris Johnson tried to compare himself to the creepy stalker from Love, Actually.
So Trump’s identifying as Thanos and Boris Johnson’s identifying as that creepy stalker guy from LOVE, ACTUALLY?
The world is so full of a number of things, isn’t it?
— Kurt Busiek (@KurtBusiek) December 10, 2019
One final, excellent point: Thanos doesn’t have tiny hands.
2/ Thanos has YUGE fucking hands. Seriously giant.
— Greg Olear (@gregolear) December 10, 2019
In any case, the truth is that Trump won’t be able to wipe out his enemies with a mere snap, especially since Tuesday was the day some of them have formally issued two articles of impeachment against him.
Update: One person who was definitely not amused by this Trump video: the creator of Thanos. Mere hours after the video — and the bewildered mockery it inspired — went viral, Jim Starlin, the legendary comics artist who birthed the bulky being in 1973, released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, crying foul.
“After my initial feeling of being violated, seeing that pompous fool using my creation to stroke his infantile ego, it finally struck me that the leader of my country and the free world actually enjoys comparing himself to a mass murderer,” Starlin said. “How sick is that? These are sad and strange times we are going through. Fortunately all things, even national nightmares, eventually come to an end.”