Thanos Creator Calls Donald Trump’s ‘Avengers’-Themed Campaign Video “Sick” – Update

Geoff Boucher
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UPDATED with Jim Starlin reaction: What’s more presidential than a sadistic alien despot who wipes out half the universe? In a curious move, the campaign to re-elect President Donald Trump has circulated a mash-up photo and video that melds the head of chief executive with the hulking form of Thanos, the extraterrestrial menace made infamous in the Avengers films from Disney and Marvel Studios.

Thanos creator Jim Starlin slammed the campaign ad in a post on Instagram. “After my initial feeling of being violated, seeing that pompous dang fool using my creation to stroke his infantile ego, it finally struck me that the leader of my country and the free world actually enjoys comparing himself to a mass murderer. How sick is that?” Starlin, who created the character in 1973, wrote.

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“These are sad and strange times we are going through. Fortunately all things, even national nightmares, eventually come to an end,” Starlin added.

It’s not often that a presidential campaign gleefully will portray its candidate as a sadistic megalomaniac who wipes out 3.75 billion people, but that’s exactly what the Trump War Room did Tuesday on social media with a doctored video that pinches its motif and message from the mythology of the wildly popular superhero films.

Thanos (portrayed by Josh Brolin) is the end-all enemy who used the cosmic-powered Infinity Gauntlet to vanquish the mighty heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in last year’s Avengers: Infinity War (watch a trailer here). The grape-colored conqueror then celebrated his victory by snapping his fingers and wiping out half of all life forms in the entire universe. The Trump War Room image and video sent out today shows “President Thanos” adjusting his powerful glove with an expression of satisfied confidence and — snap! — ominously reducing Democratic leaders (including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff) to dust in the wind..

The imagery used clearly is meant to frame Trump as an unbeatable candidate (either in the election, the impeachment or both) but even that doesn’t make much sense because, ultimately, Thanos was defeated by the Avengers who use a time travel approach to get their much-needed rematch. The big guy was finally snuffed in this year’s Avengers: Endgame, which has been seen by millions of fans (it now ranks as the highest-grossing film in Hollywood history) even if the president’s circle somehow missed it.

View this post on Instagram

After my initial feeling of being violated, seeing that pompous dang fool using my creation to stroke his infantile ego, it finally struck me that the leader of my country and the free world actually enjoys comparing himself to a mass murderer. How sick is that? These are sad and strange times we are going through. Fortunately all things, even national nightmares, eventually come to an end.

A post shared by Jim Starlin (@jimstarlin) on Dec 10, 2019 at 4:10pm PST

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