How could Thanos survive this attack?

Question

At the end of Avengers: Infinity War, Thor delivered a mortal chest wound to Thanos with Stormbreaker. Thanos survived long enough to 'make the Snap', ending half of all life in the universe before he died.

Yet after the Snap he was suddenly and completely healed. Shouldn't he have died of this mortal wound?

If using the infinity stones can kill half the life in the universe could it not also heal the users mortal wound at the same time — Revenant, Oct 29 '19 at 23:29
Related: https://www.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/comments/95qbwz/did_thanos_really_heal_himself/ — Shreedhar, Oct 30 '19 at 07:27
@Darren Avengers: Endgame technically... and twice at that. — TheLethalCarrot, Oct 30 '19 at 09:33
@TheLethalCarrot Well yes, everything in that sense is before he died. I'm typing this right now before I die! I think the implication is "immediately before he died" and I don't believe it's obvious he died at all at that point. — Darren, Oct 30 '19 at 09:36
@Darren He didn't and yeah the sentence is assuming he should die which isn't necessarily the case. I was just having a joke :) — TheLethalCarrot, Oct 30 '19 at 09:40
People survive stab wounds all the time. Life is, and I say this with full appreciation of the irony, not like in the movies. — Lightness Races in Orbit, Oct 31 '19 at 23:45
A 14" wide axe blade penetrating the chest from sternum to spine cleaving all internal organs in it's path (including the heart) isn't just a 'flesh wound'. Life expectancy is measured in seconds. Enough to make a pithy comment and snap your fingers if you're really tough. — Morgan, Nov 01 '19 at 00:12
Thanos does not even exist. If he can survive not even existing, he can survive anything at all. — RegDwight, Nov 01 '19 at 00:57

score 31 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 30 '19 at 18:23

31

Two things to consider here.

First, the Stormbreaker blow, while obviously very powerful, was not an insta-kill for someone as strong as Thanos (who's already powerful with or without Stones). Hence Thanos' line about how Thor "should have gone for the head". The slight delay between the blow and the resulting death, if not dealt with, allowed Thanos to snap.

Obviously the most likely that happened after that is that Thanos combined snapping half life in the universe with self-healing. The Time Stone can probably do that, as it managed to bring Vision back to life.

Not only is it likely, it actually fits well into Thanos' plans: if he allows himself to die, with the Stones still around, anyone¹ can erase what he just did. To ensure this doesn't happen, he has to be able to protect the Stones, and later destroy them, as we see in Endgame. Note that the destruction seemed to take a great deal of effort, which once again wouldn't have been possible if Thanos hadn't first ensured he got healed.

Note that as mentioned in TheLethalCarrot's answer, that healing didn't occur exactly while snapping, but possibly a tad bit after. In either case, Thanos still has to make sure he's fit for what happens next. It's possible he recovered without using the Time Stone, though he had good reasons to.

¹ _{Well, not anyone, but almost every superpowered hero in the MCU is located in a one-mile radius, and they're the most likely candidates.}

edited Oct 30 '19 at 18:23

Machavity

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answered Oct 29 '19 at 23:50

Jenayah

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Didn't he use the Time stone to reverse the injuries from the axe? – Shreedhar Oct 30 '19 at 07:30
Wasn't he himself suprised that he survived? – Kami Kaze Oct 30 '19 at 07:58
1

@KamiKaze That would have made "Endgame" rather short: Thanos accidentally snaps himself, Hulk brings everyone back, Thor aims for the head. Less of a film, more of a post-credits scene... – Chronocidal Oct 30 '19 at 08:37
@Chronocidal I challenged the fact that thanos combined a self-heal with the snap. As he seemed not certain that he survived it, as far as I remember. He seemed not to consider the second usage at this point. – Kami Kaze Oct 30 '19 at 08:49
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-1 Thanos still has the wound and Stormbreaker in his chest after the Snap. I agree he used the Time Stone to reverse it but the timing you give is off. (Temporary DV if you correct it.) – TheLethalCarrot Oct 30 '19 at 09:24
@TheLethalCarrot trusted the question too much then, corrected. In any case Thanos has to recover though, and the Time Stone can definitely help – Jenayah Oct 30 '19 at 10:03
@Jenayah Aye I agree he used the Time Stone to do so, he just didn't use it when he Snapped but sometime after. The sometime after appears to be at the same time he uses the Space Stone but could also be when he gets to wherever he is going. – TheLethalCarrot Oct 30 '19 at 10:05
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Wouldn't the Reality stone allow Thanos to heal himself? He doesn't need to turn back time, if he can change the reality of the wound. – tbrookside Oct 30 '19 at 16:50
Going for the head really wouldn't have been the best play, though. – reirab Oct 30 '19 at 21:22
then why couldn't Iron Man heal himself ? – Nigel Fds Oct 31 '19 at 01:22
@NigelFds see https://movies.stackexchange.com/q/99671/63559 – Jenayah Oct 31 '19 at 07:18

score 26 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 30 '19 at 09:24

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Yet after the snap he was suddenly and completely healed.

I challenge this assertion. After the Snap, he still had Stormbreaker in his chest, it falls out when he uses the Space Stone to teleport away, presumably to Titan II.

There are a couple of things to note about this image here:

The wound is still clearly visible with Stormbreaker in his chest and so he had not yet healed himself.
There is a slight green tinge effect around the wound which could mean Thanos was currently using the Time Stone to reverse Stormbreaker hitting him which could also be why it fell from his chest.

Therefore, to answer your question he survived the attack because he used the Time Stone to reverse it and so it "never happened".

How he survived the initial blow is well, he's Thanos. He's a Titan, a race already incredibly strong, and on top of that he's a mutant amongst them. The blow simply wasn't enough to kill someone as strong as Thanos. Note that in Avengers: Endgame Thanos pushes Stormbreaker into Thor's chest and he also survives even without reversing it's effects on him. So it seems that Stormbreaker isn't that powerful in terms of hitting someone in the chest.

answered Oct 30 '19 at 09:24

TheLethalCarrot

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Stormbreaker was way deeper in Thanos' chest in IW than it was in Thor's in Endgame. – Shreedhar Oct 30 '19 at 09:47
@Shreedhar Oh sure, it's a comparison, not the exact same situation. – TheLethalCarrot Oct 30 '19 at 09:49
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I don't think SB even reaches Thor's chest, it just penetrated his armor – Azor Ahai -him- Oct 30 '19 at 14:17
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@AzorAhai I thought it did, I'll have a look back later on when I can. Either way that's a side piece of evidence to the main point there. – TheLethalCarrot Oct 30 '19 at 14:22
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Rewatching the last scene greatly supports the time stone theory. When thanos settles on Titan-2, even his armor is repaired. He can have the best healing capability but I’m sure he can’t heal his armor thus, time stone. @TheLethalCarrot – Shreedhar Oct 31 '19 at 16:27
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Interesting theory, but if he used only the timestone to do it, that would have undone the snap as well (since it went in pre-snap). Seems like it would be safer and easier to just will himself better. – T.E.D. Oct 31 '19 at 18:01
@T.E.D. Incorrect, the Time Stone can affect only specific events/things so wouldn’t have affected the Snap. – TheLethalCarrot Oct 31 '19 at 18:16
I don't know that I've noticed it doing that, pior to being deposited in the Gauntlet. (Not saying you're wrong. My memory isn't something to bet one's life on) Do you know of an example? – T.E.D. Oct 31 '19 at 18:19
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@T.E.D. The apple scene in Doctor Strange and Vision in IW are two off the top of my head. In the IW example we see Wanda is unaffected by the Time Stone. – TheLethalCarrot Oct 31 '19 at 18:23

How could Thanos survive this attack?

2 Answers2