Why Thanos From 'Avengers: Infinity War' Gets Sustainability So Wrong 12/05/19 12(45

12,002 views | May 1, 2018, 04:51pm

Why Thanos From 'Avengers:

Infinity War' Gets Sustainability So
Wrong
Solitaire Townsend Contributor

A sustainability plan? MARVEL

WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Infinity War (and the future
of humanity)

The new Avengers movie opens with an ageing playboy (and ex-arms-dealer)
convincing his girlfriend they should have a child.

Tony Stark's broodiness turns out to be a controversial move, not only due to his
not-very-parental lifestyle, but as population control is the unexpected cause of

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the titular war itself.

Over 10 years and 19 films Marvel has played with environmental themes. The
trash planet of Sakaar into which the whole universe dumps its waste "out of
sight" is a direct analogy of the trash ships of today. The Tivan Corporation mines
the giant head of a deceased Celestial for brain tissue and spinal fluid to sell on
the black market (a rather nifty example of the circular economy). Even Stark
himself invented a new element (and unlimited clean energy source) in his
basement particle accelerator.

In fact, the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe story arc wrestles with resources,
energy, social equity and long-term survival. It clearly operates within the same
rules of entropy as ours (except for the magic bits) and throws up the same
problems. But this outing takes that theme front and center. Avengers: Infinity
War could be renamed the The Sustainability War.

The anti-hero of this story-verse is the "Mad-Titan" Thanos. Mad because his
sustainability plan got him kicked off his home planet of Titan. Not a plot point
you might expect in a superhero movie, but rather compelling in this one.

Titan was suffering a population explosion, with the resultant resource crunch
and political instability. Thanos suggested that half the population be
exterminated (via an equal lottery) to relieve the pressure. Unsurprisingly this
didn’t go down well and Thanos was exiled. Unfortunately for the rest of the
universe, Titan then experienced the prophesied environmental and political
collapse, leaving it a Jared Diamond style husk and Thanos convinced he was
right all along. Which is when things go seriously wrong for the rest of us...

Thanos' grand plan has overtones of Jonathan Swift's A Modest

Proposal published in 1729. His satire suggests that the sensible way to deal with
famine and poverty in the Irish estates of absent English landowners is simple;
turn an abundant but useless resource into a valuable food source. So far so

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sensible - until he suggests eating Irish babies. With excruciating rationality Swift
outlines the economic and social benefits of his plan: reduced population,
improved treatment of women (as the producers of the new resource), and the
health benefits of fresh meat. The horror of his proposal is obvious, but the real
squirming discomfort comes from his flawless economics. Remove the word
"babies" and every word sounds practical and even compassionate.

So does Thanos, who softly promises, “When I'm done, half of humanity will still
exist. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be”.

The Mad Titan sounds worryingly like some environmentalists. Over the years the
need for ‘population control and reduction’ has been widely called for as the
necessary solution to our resource and sustainability crisis. Thanos is the ultimate
Malthusian. After he fulfills his purpose, crumbling half of life in the universe
into dust, he retires to an idyll many environmentalists would enjoy – a simple
rural hut set in sunlit dappled fields. He had promised "not suffering, but
salvation," and in the final shot a tiny smile is playing on his face after a job well
done. Ouch.

But Thanos’ answer is as futile in fiction as it would be here in the real world.
Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
showed that even a catastrophic mass mortality event of 2 billion deaths in the
mid-21st century would still leave around 8.5 billion people by 2100. One child
policies similar to China’s would have even less of an impact. Population control
doesn’t control the population for long.

Thankfully, in the fight between growth and entropy, population isn’t the defining
issue. The solution has never been as simple as "less people". Consumption,
productivity, energy-return-on-investment, peace, pace of technological advance,
circularity, lifestyle, economics and even the stories we tell ourselves combine
into a wicked mesh of factors with unexpected plot-twists and cliff-hanging

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outcomes. In fact, throughout the marvel odyssey the real enemy has been simple
answers. Almost all of the "heroes" started out believing that their super-human
powers were enough to guarantee change. But each then had to learn
compromise, innovation, negotiation and teamwork instead. Often the movies’
denouements are far from perfect and with solutions that have unexpected
ramifications (like flattening cities whilst fighting off aliens). Each one of the
Avengers are dealing with the fallout from saving the world.

And that’s what real change looks like. Sustainability isn’t simple. Thanos says
that with a "click of his finger" he can save the universe. It’s going to take harder
work than that. That’s ultimately Thanos’ failure, the belief that sustainability can
happen in one fell swoop or single answer, rather than being everyday, constant
and unending work to keep the balance and find new solutions in the face of
unexpected new problems.

A sustainable future? MARVEL

As the teen-genius Shuri of Wakanda says, “just because something works doesn’t
mean it can’t be improved.” Unlike the self-righteous Thanos she is filled with

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curiosity, fascinated by the possible and prepared to work for change.

That’s what we need. In the next movie, and for our own future.

Read my new book The Happy Hero - How To Change Your Life By Changing
The World available now.

Solitaire Townsend Contributor

I believe that sustainability is the greatest entrepreneurial opportunity of a generation. So, in

2001 I co-founded the global change agency Futerra, which uses strategi... Read More

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