Avengers: Endgame was a fan-pleasing finale to the MCU’s Infinity Arc. Despite a number of amazing scenes, fans often ask the question: “Why didn’t Ant-Man go inside Thanos’ butt and grow, killing him from the inside?”
After years of the disgusting meme circulating online, Ant-Man himself has commented on the Thanos butt meme, thanks to Avengers: Quantum Encounter, a dining adventure on the Disney Wish cruise ship.
Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man tries to explain
A video (covered by The Direct) starring Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man and Evangeline Lilly’s Wasp has a short bit where the shrinking hero tries to explain why he didn’t kill Thanos in a more “creative” way. Before he can go into any more detail, The Wasp interrupts him and they don’t follow up on that meme. It’s obvious why they didn’t explain because, well, it’s gross.
"Hi, I'm Scott Lang, but you might know me as Ant-Man... Look, before we start, let me address the elephant in the room. There's a lot of chatter out there asking why I didn't shrink down, go in and uh... kill Thanos in a really creative way. First of all, gross. Secondly, it's much more complicated than that. Allow me to explain-" - Paul Rudd's Ant-Man (
Obviously, Avengers: Endgame is a PG movie and they don’t want to gross out the audience with Thanos’ intestines and fecal matter going all over the screen. Plus, it would have ruined the tone of Endgame, so this is one of the few times where Marvel came off looking better for not listening to the fans.
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Memes becoming mainstream
While the video above referencing the Ant-Man Thanos butt meme is harmless enough, this does show how these dumb internet jokes are becoming mainstream and less funny. It’s not as bad as Jared Leto trying to capitalize on Morbin’ Time so they can make a second Morbius movie but this does set a bad precedent.
This isn’t the first time Marvel has leaned a bit into meme territory. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn says the infamous “I’m something of a scientist myself” line. At least in that context, it works since he’s an actual scientist and the movie was all about bringing in nostalgic feelings while paving the way for Spider-Man’s MCU future.
Considering how the entertainment industry is always about giving fans something to tune into, expect more memes to become mainstream in the future. At the least, this Thanos butt meme was limited to a Disney Cruise that only the one percent can afford to go to and not an MCU installment (yet).
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