Thanatos is a Worse Enemy than Thanos

Warning: this blog post contains huge spoilers for the movie Avengers: Infinity War.

Even when a movie or story is not Christian in any explicit way, if the story touches our hearts it is almost certainly because it reflects, if only dimly, some of the truth found in God’s Word and God’s real world that we live in.

In Marvel’s latest superhero movie it is not the heroes, but the villain, which reflects (dimly) a truth I want to write about.

The villain is named Thanos. His name is a shortened version of the Greek word for death, which is thanatos. All the mighty, heroic efforts of the Avengers, from Thor to Dr.Strange to the Hulk to Captain America (and many others) completely fail to stop Thanos. He’s unstoppable. In Thanos’s own words, “Dread it. Run from it. Destiny still arrives."

And in that way Thanos is indeed like death. Humans dread and fear death (Hebrews 2:15). We do all kinds of things to guard against it. Sometimes we are able to delay it. Yet, all the great efforts of humans throughout all the generations of mankind have had a 100% failure rate in avoiding death. Someone far more powerful than Thanos has decreed this destiny:

NIV Hebrews 9:27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,

Of course, thanatos (death) is a much worse enemy than Thanos. After all, Thanos only kills half the inhabitants of the universe. More importantly, death is not a character in a comic book movie we can ignore. It’s real.

Thanatos is more terrible than Thanos in a yet deeper way. In the movie, Thanos’s multitudes of victims are innocent. They did not deserve what Thanos does to them. But the real life situation is much worse for us. Every single one of us deserves death, and we know it (Romans 1:32).

NIV Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 6:23 NIV)

NIV Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned-- (Rom. 5:12 NIV)

There’s Good News!

The word “gospel” means “good news”. And it is very good news indeed. We have a real life Savior who is far greater than any comic book superhero. For thousands of years death defeated every single human -- until a baby was born in Bethlehem whose name means “The Lord Saves.” He lived a sinless life. “Look, nothing deserving death has been done by Him” (Luke 23:15). He died in our place, but death could not hold the Righteous One (Acts 2:24). Jesus Christ has overcome death and the grave!

NIV 1 Corinthians 15:55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

One More Way Avengers Infinity War (and other Superhero Movies) Resonates with Us

The heroes in Avengers have a mission that involves saving the world. They are willing to sacrifice, suffer, and even to die to fulfill their mission. This resonates deeply with us because our Lord has called us to work with Him in His mission to save the world (Matthew 28:18-20, 1 Corinthians 3:9). Through ordinary people like us, a real mission to save humanity is underway. We are facing real enemies: the world, the flesh (our own wrong desires), and the Devil. Do we have superpowers? We can’t fly or knock down buildings. But we can pray, speak God’s truth, and use the gifts His Holy Spirit gives to us. When we do these things, the very power that brought the universe into existence is working in us and through us.

Like the stories in the movies, our mission requires suffering, sacrifice, and losing our very lives (Mark 8:34-35). But we don’t fear these things. Our Lord, the real Superhero, has promised that even though we die, we will live again. He proved this by His own powerful resurrection from death. All of us who trust in Him will be resurrected to new life. Immortal life. Where there is no more thanatos. Hallelujah!

Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .