Thanos kicked a whole load of ass in Avengers: Infinity War. While he obviously had some help from the Infinity Stones, he’s clearly an excellent hand-to-hand warrior, as shown by him going toe-to-toe with the Hulk in the opening scene on board the Asgardian ship. But, if this leaked photo is authentic, then it seems as if he’s going to switch up his fighting style in Avengers 4 to accommodate a new sword. And it looks absolutely brutal.
It appears to be a twin-bladed weapon and the scratches on the metal indicate that it’s seen quite a bit of use over the years. However, the aesthetics of this thing don’t really look like Thanos’ style. If you check out his armor in the flashback scenes in Infinity War, he seems to be drawn towards ornate golden designs. Then again, after he achieved his ambition of wiping out half of all life in the universe he settled down to become a humble farmer, so perhaps the plainer aesthetics of this indicate a shift in mindset.
It’s worth asking why Thanos even needs a sword at all, though. Well, as the Russo Brothers explained on the directors’ commentary track for Infinity War, the Gauntlet and his arm are damaged. Clearly, not even the mighty Mad Titan can contain the power of the Infinity Stones – not to mention cause such a universe-changing act with them – without consequences.
We’ve had repeated rumors that Avengers 4 will feature time travel, perhaps beginning sometime after the ending of Infinity War with the world still adjusting to the new status quo. If the time jump’s significant, we could be seeing a very different Thanos in the upcoming sequel, perhaps feeling guilt for his actions and for killing Gamora to achieve them.
Whether that’s true or not, if Thanos is indeed wielding this beast, the Avengers had better watch out!