Was Thanos right all along? In the years since Avengers: Endgame’s release, plenty of fans have argued that the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s big bad wasn’t so bad after all. All he really wanted was to solve overpopulation, right? Even within the MCU, Thanos seemingly has his supporters. Thankfully, in Episode 2, Moon Knight is finally setting the record straight.
Sorry, Thanos fans, if there’s one thing Moon Knight proves, it’s just how wrong the big purple space god really was. (Spoilers ahead for Moon Knight Episodes 1 and 2.)
Moon Knight vs. Thanos
Longtime Marvel fans may have noticed a trend: the MCU loves a villain with utopian goals. From Killmonger to the Flag Smashers, the franchise’s best bad guys typically start out pretty good. Then, about two-thirds of the way through the story, they shift from well-meaning to pure evil, setting the stage for a simple good vs. bad showdown.
Thanos is perhaps the best example. The supervillain won us over with his dream of a universe without pain or suffering (made possibly by cutting the population in half). But by Avengers: Endgame, it became clear that Thanos’ plan was severely flawed and his true goal was total domination over all living things.
Moon Knight seems to be on the same track. By all accounts, Arthur Harrow seems like a good guy. His only victims are people judged to be evil by an ancient all-seeing god (even if some of those sins haven’t actually happened yet).
In Episode 2, we see the results of Harrow’s mission. He’s transformed a dangerous London neighborhood into a utopia where food is free, no one locks their doors, and everyone speaks multiple languages.
You can probably see where this is going: Harrow will reveal his true evil plan and Moon Knight will have to stop him. We’ve all seen this story before. Literally.
But in the meantime, Moon Knight’s villain is revealing an even bigger flaw with Thanos.
Thanos vs. Arthur Harrow
In a sense, Thanos and Harrow both want the same thing. They both see a problem with the world (or the universe) and they both have a similar solution: radically decrease the population.
The only problem? Thanos did so indiscriminately, and the results weren’t pretty. The opening scenes of Avengers: Endgame reveal that Thanos most definitely was not right. The world he left behind is in total ruin. A hopeless place with no solution in sight — until the Avengers undo his damage.
By comparison, Harrow’s plan seems to actually work. Sort of. His society may seem idyllic, but he also seemingly endorses child murder in Moon Knight Episode 2, which pretty much proves he’s a villain. Beyond that, we have a feeling his true intentions by Moon Knight’s finale won’t be quite as benevolent as what we’ve seen so far.
In the meantime, though, one thing is clear. Compared to Arthur Harrow, Thanos and his plan to save the universe is total trash.
Moon Knight is streaming now on Disney+.