Anyone who’s excited about the release of Avengers: Endgame, which is now less than a month away, doesn’t have to be reminded that the internet is completely drowning in countless fan theories and suppositions about how the final story is going to unfold — and just how our favorite heroes, the ones still alive anyway, will be able to rally and defeat the movie’s finger-snapping genocidal villain.
We’ve reported on and picked apart many of those theories here, as regular readers of the blog are aware. Meanwhile, there is one theory out there which points to a way of defeating Thanos that’s so ridiculous, so borderline dumb but also so incredibly viral that it’s become the subject of petitions which have garnered thousands of signatures. Josh Brolin, who of course portrays Thanos, used his Instagram account a couple of days ago to poke fun at the theory in a lighthearted way, and the Russo brothers who directed Endgame have done the same.
The theory we’re talking about — well, to keep this post from descending into juvenile territory, let’s just say the idea is that Ant-Man would shrink to microscopic size. He would then crawl into Thanos’ posterior, where he would quickly enlarge himself to epic proportions so fast that Thanos explodes. Hurray, the day is saved.
Obviously, there’s no way this funny but borderline crude theory is going to make its way into a blockbuster like Endgame. It’s nevertheless been catching on since 2017 or so, with the inherent silliness powering its obvious virality — to the point that even the Russo brothers have now responded in their own way. As of the time of this writing, the profile picture on their Instagram account is a graphic that represents this theory.
Again, without getting too juvenile, the graphic is a Venn Diagram. One circle is described as Thanos’ left cheek, while an interconnected circle on the right is labeled as Thanos’ right cheek. In the middle? Why, there’s an illustration of Ant-Man, of course. You laugh, but, again, it’s currently the profile image on the Instagram account of the movie’s directors.
To perhaps bring this matter to a close of sorts, let’s revisit an answer given in response to this theory from the actor who plays Ant-Man himself:
