Did Thanos Spare The Guardians Intentionally?

Avengers: Endgame will come to the theaters in a couple of more months. However, that hasn’t reduced any enthusiasm for the details of Avengers: Infinity War. Fans have been poring over the film searching for information. And now one fan may have found something that suggests Thanos intentionally saved a few of the Guardians – at least until the snap.

As Infinity War fans would know, Star-Lord and Drax at last wound up dusted when Thanos snapped his fingers. Whereas, Nebula endured. However, as one Reddit user notes, amid the fight on Titan, the Mad Titan had a chance to kill those characters but then he didn’t.

What the theory states:

The Theory, which you can read here, states that while Thanos had shown that he can control the Power Stone on Titan when he came out of Mantis’ hypnotism, he was full of wrath. He even tossed a moon. He even brings down Star-Lord, Drax, and Nebula with an impact from the Power Stone. However, as this fan noted when he returned to take a look at the scene frame by frame, he saw that in the following shot the Soul Stone is shining and actuated.

The takeaway? Thanos initiated the Soul Stone so as to keep Star-Lord, Drax, and Nebula alive. That is, until the point that the snap could settle on the decision as to who lives and who passes on for him.

Why?

The possibility that the Thanos would save them at any rate briefly is one that’s odd. As fans learned in the film, the Mad Titan genuinely adored Gamora. After sacrificing her for the stone, he may have an unusual feeling of honour that would keep him from murdering those Gamora was close to. Melancholy is somewhat of a capricious thing, after all.

It’s also conceivable that Thanos just needed to abstain from killing anybody essentially. This was so the snap would do its work to create balance naturally. A few fans have brought up that Thanos is significantly less aggressive in the second half of the film. Thanos could have quite easily killed his way to the stones he wanted.

If there is a component of sorrow to The Mad Titan using the Soul Stone to save Star-Lord, Drax, and Nebula, it gives the character a touch of humanity. This is something that ties in well with another ongoing fan theory: that Thanos will in the long will turn into an anti-hero of sorts in the MCU

Source: Comicbook.com, Reddit