Avengers: Endgame Concept Art Reveals Alternate Look At Injured Thanos

A brand new Avengers: Endgame concept art reveals an alternate look at injured Thanos following his catastrophic snap at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. Teased as early as 2011’s Thor, the main Infinity Saga villain was lurking in the shadows for the longest time. Instead, he commissioned the help of other bad guys to kick start his plan of collecting all six Infinity Stones. Unfortunately, his minions continued to fail at their missions, forcing him to do the job himself.

With a mix of great timing (thanks to the break-up of the Avengers after Captain America: Civil War) and a carefully laid-out plan, not to mention his unwavering will, Thanos ultimately succeeded in his goal. He collected all six elemental crystals and used it to balance the universe by snapping half of its living population out of existence. That’s despite the gallant effort put up by the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and their allies to stop him. Wielding the gauntlet to accomplish his mission didn’t come without any personal sacrifices. Aside from having to murder Gamora, the Mad Titan also endured major physical injuries.

At the start of Endgame, a Captain Marvel-reinforced Avengers sought Thanos to exact revenge and potentially undo his snap. They quickly find him retired in the garden, and surprisingly not putting a fight. The badly injured Mad Titan has accepted his death since he’s accomplished his life’s calling. Now, a different version of how that scene could have panned out can be seen by fans thanks to concept artist, Stephen Schirle. The image also shows the Infinity Gauntlet not fused to his arm like in the movie, giving the public a look at his damaged hand. Check it out below:

Aside from the gauntlet not attached to Thanos’ hand after Infinity War, there’s also a couple of difference between this concept art and what happened in Endgame. Looking at this illustration, it appears as if the Mad Titan was perfectly at peace, and even waiting for the Avengers to arrive and go at him. In the movie, he was ambushed by the heroes, and while he didn’t put up a fight, he wasn’t actively waiting for them to arrive. It’s also worth noting that both Captain Marvel and Rocket Raccoon are not in this visualization, although they were in the theatrical cut. Aside from the changes, one story detail that was maintained in the movie is the non-existence of the Infinity Stones by the time the Avenger reach Thanos.

If this concept art made it into the big screen, it’s curious what it’s ramifications would’ve been to the subsequent snaps in Avengers: Endgame. Smart Hulk’s version, which brought back all those perished after Thanos’ Decimation, left his arm damaged. So while he’s able to withstand the power of all six Infinity Stones, it saddled him with a permanent injury. Things were obviously graver with Tony Stark who also wielded the Infinity Gauntlet to defeat the Mad Titan and his minions and died in the process. Since his metal glove was organically part of his suit, almost half of his upper body got burned as his armor melted into his body.