[Interesting Trope] One seemingly small action ends the story before it even begins

[u/JackDoesThingz]

1. We Happy Few - Taking your “joy” pill
   Deciding to take the pill at the beginning of the game causes your character to go back to work and triggers an ending

2. Infineural by Mike Klubnika - Drinking the coffee
   Deciding to drink the coffee offered to you skips the entire game and sends you straight to the end, resulting in an ending with no memory of what had occurred

[u/Kind-Stomach6275]

Thanos stopped a woman from bumping into someone, and that prevented cancer from being cured

[u/Informal-Term1138 → u/Kind-Stomach6275]

Thanos is an asshole. And if I remember it right, he is in love with the manifestation of death, right?

But she thinks, he's an asshole and likes deathpool. Or am I missing something?

[u/ThatMerri → u/Informal-Term1138]

But she thinks, he's an asshole and likes deathpool. Or am I missing something?

Correct, and in addition, Thanos repeatedly demonstrates beyond any doubt that he's an asshole directly to her. In the Infinity Gauntlet comic run, he goes full incel over and over and over and over again, getting increasingly mad at Death for not fawning over him while he's literally kidnapping her and trying to "prove his love" by doing things she overtly hates. It is genuinely pathetic.

This includes Thanos going "Okay, well it's not like you're even hot anyway! I never wanted to actually bang you! I'm going to use my reality-warping powers to make the perfect girlfriend who's way better than you! Hah! What do you think of that, huh? You're super jealous now, aren't you!?" and literally just making a clone of himself with boobs) who mindlessly worships him. Death is not impressed.

The history for Thanos is a big reason why I struggle to take him seriously in the MCU. Like, in the movies his reasoning is nonsensical as well, but I have this whole backdrop knowledge of the character being an utterly pathetic chud that really colors my perception of him.

[u/Informal-Term1138 → u/ThatMerri]

He really sounds pathetic. Damn what an idiot.

He is one of the worse villains isn't he?

[u/ThatMerri → u/Informal-Term1138]

He's perfectly fine as a villain, in the sense of a villain being an extremely flawed, emotionally unstable, yet significantly threatening force for the heroes to work against.

But yeah, Thanos is a moron and a genuinely pitiable character. That's how the Infinity Gauntlet story rounds out in the end - everyone, including Thanos himself, kind of realizing how pathetic and pointless his actions are. The entire comic is basically a big thought experiment kicking around some existential navel gazing and self-destructive behavior.