Inspirations I: The Avengers and Thanos - Crafting a Memorable Villain

A look into the valuable lessons a Dungeon Master can learn from The Avenger's Infinity War and the purple baddie.

Despite having a nut sack for a chin, he kicks ass

The object of the Inspirations mini-series/subset of blogs is to look at other forms of media such as movies, books, TV shows, video games, etc. to serve as a point of reference or well... an inspiration for DMs out there trying to craft their games and worlds. This will be the first in a mini-series/subset of blog posts.

Before I continue, I do want to warn of spoilers for the Avengers: Infinity War. Nothing major, but there will be some, so you've been warned.

Like most people into comic books, or hell, popular movies, I went and saw Avenger's Infinity War, and I must say I was blown away. It was awesome. I will leave it at that since Kobold Stew is not a movie review blog, but I feel like there valuable lessons a Dungeon Master trying to write a compelling story for their campaign can learn.

Before diving into the major part of this post, I do want to just touch on the idea of this: Look at the movie as if it were a DnD session... well sort of... The story was able to focus on multiple BIG deal characters without it feeling clunky or that some characters where overly more important than others. This is a good way to look at story telling with your group as it breaks convention with most major story arcs focusing on a "chosen one," which is not a good idea when playing DnD and trying to tell a story with 4-6 on average main characters.

There were a fuck ton of characters in this movie. Some did feel more important than others, but looking at it as a storytelling exercise with many characters is still pretty good. The heroes who got major screen time and presence were the PCs to me while the background ones were more NPC material.

Sidebar over. Now to the main part of this post. Thanos. The Mad Titan. The Purple Pummeler. Wearer of Bedazzled Gauntlets. Thanos as a villain is done well... VERY well. He is a great example of two things that make for fun and cool and memorable villains in and outside of Dungeons and Dragons.

1) The build up of him as a villain and execution of the building tension with him and his power level

2) Him being a compelling villain and character

Let's look at number 1 first:

Thanos has been built up little by little with little nods in post-credit scenes and limited screen time since the first Avengers movie. He was not at the forefront, leading the main charge, and only took a more direct role in the first Guardians of the Galaxy. He sat in the shadows and let others do his bidding or watch as his plans came together. This was great as it only built up hype and excitement as we waited for him to finally come out swinging.

I feel a lot of Dungeon Masters, myself included, get really excited when we have an awesome BBEG planned and want to show them off when as soon as we get the opportunity. But we can learn from Thanos and the MCU here; wait. Have them sit in the background. They don't even have to be at the forefront of the quests and adventures the party is going on, but dropping little hints and nuggets will leave your players wanting more and want to see what unfolds next. On the plus side, you will get to play adventures with their own stories and lore while also building a larger story, and this progression will also help fit into the tiers of play as the party starts fighting minor, local threats at lower levels and building to bigger, more major threats as the main villain begins to show themselves more and more.

If only I had planned a little more like Marvel did with Thanos, revealing my "God of the Hunt" villain would have been more impactful like I had hoped

Speaking of him coming out swinging, when we first see him come out, he KICKS ASS and takes out a major character or two and a bunch of powerful what would be NPCs without breaking a sweat. This sets the tone with his big reveal. He is not to be messed with. This helps to set up the idea that he is the BIG BAD, and as he gains more power as the movie progresses, he doesn't just punch the heroes harder. He starts doing super cool and scary shit like pulling a goddamn moon out of the sky.

This can help show DMs how to not just lay it all out there at the big reveal, but rather either slowly give the villain more power, or hold your cards close to your chest and wait before shooting literal stars out of the sky at them. It makes for plenty of "holy shit" moments from players and makes multiple run-ins, most likely happening in different sessions, with this villain not only super cool but also memorable

Lesson numero 2: Making a compelling villain.

Thanos was a great villain because he broke the Marvel formula. He was different compared to many of the past villains. He wasn't just evil for evil's sake or wanted to rule the world. No. He was most certainly not a classic "mustache twirling" villain.

And no, compelling villains do not take candy from babies... at least as frequently

Thanos' reasons for obtaining all the infinity stones was to end half the life in the universe. "HOW DARE HE?! THAT IS EVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIL!" Not necessarily. He has seen what happens when the population of a world gets too big and resources go scarce. Quality of life greatly decreases, and sometimes even leads to the end of life on that world. According to Purple Hype, this will happen on a universal scale, and the influx of life will consume all resources in the universe, leading to its eventual decay. By ending half of the life in the universe, he can save it and prolong its existence. He just sees himself as the only one willing to do that.

A good villain doesn't see themselves as evil, but rather as doing the right thing. Thanos' base goal actually are in line with the heroes' base goal. Save the universe. He just has a different, more kill-y method to achieve that end. We even get a glimpse of what makes him different than the classic evil villain. He actually loves something more than himself. And as Thanos explains just why he is doing what he is doing, you, the audience, think for even just a split second, "He... kinda has a good point."

Now, to give Thanos all the credit for being a compelling villain would be a disservice to all the other great villains who came before him. For example, in Fallout (yes the OG Fallout), the big bad, known as the Master, plans to turn everyone into super mutants because he believes that all of humanities differences and variances are the basis for conflict and what led to humanity ending the world in nuclear fire.

In Arcanum: Of Steamwork and Magicka, the big bad's plan is to eliminate all life in the world, similar to our mighty titan, because in that world, heaven is a certain reality, and you the player are shown this at a point or two before the confrontation. This villain is just willing to let everyone die without sin because he sees life as suffering, and if people can die without sin, he is willing to damn himself to save everyone else. Willing to do what no one else does. Just like Thanos. And this is compelling, and as he explains his plan, you as the player can say "yea, you're right," because you might think he has a good reason, if even for a split second.

Chances are you haven't played it. You should, or at least just brush up on the story and lore. The setting and aesthetic is so cool to Arcanum

Now, people on the internet have pointed out the fallacy in Thanos' logic. "But if you have a reality altering gauntlet, why not just make infinite resources?" Well perhaps he is just so set in his ways, he didn't even think of that. But unlike the medium of film, RPGs allow the players to ask those questions to the villain directly and point out the flaws in their logic. And this can be played out in so many ways as how the villain reacts is up to you as the DM.

Returning to our example of OG Fallout, during the game, your character can learn that super mutants are sterile. This kind of puts a damper on the Master's plan. During your final confrontation with him, you can tell him what you discovered and CONVINCE HIM HIS PLAN WON'T WORK. His reaction? He reacts in utter horror as he realizes all the shitty things he has done to achieve his goal are for naught. He becomes utterly hopeless and ashamed, and ends up killing himself due to this.

This is just one of many ways your villain could react to a major flaw or fallacy to their plan/logic. There are others such as being stuck in their mind set, being confident they are right, or similarly to the Master. Just because your villain is compelling does not make them perfect or infallible.

and they can still be covered in spikes if you so desire

This post became more of an essay, and I apologize. To those who read all the way through, thank you! I hope you got something out of this and can pull something away from this. There is a lot to be learned from Avenger's Infinity War, and other media as well, and that is the goal of the Inspirations series of posts.

If you find a certain piece of media inspiring your Dungeons and Dragons experience, feel free to contact me here with the contact tab or on Twitter, and we can talk about it. What are your thoughts on all of this? Anything I miss? Other compelling villain examples you would like to include? The goal of Kobold Stew is to have it not be me just talking at you, but WITH you. Comment or tweet at me!

Until next time,

Mr Puddins