Trevor Noah knocks Marvel’s The Avengers: 'Group of Heroes Who Are Not Doing the Thing'

On a recent episode of his weekly podcast What Now?, Trevor Noah took aim at how Marvel ’s The Avengers operate, arguing the team mostly swoops in after catastrophe strikes instead of using their power to keep disasters from happening in the first place. He even singled out the logic around the Infinity Stones as the kind of threat the heroes could have headed off rather than cleaned up after.

“When you watch it now with fresh eyes and not surprise, the whole movie is a group of heroes who are not doing the thing that they need to do before it happens,” he said.

Noah framed the movies as stories about people who love fighting bad guys, but don’t use the same strength and influence to make choices that would prevent the chaos. He went a step further and floated the idea that, depending on whose version of events you hear, Thanos might read less like a clear-cut villain — arguing that audiences only see him that way because the story isn’t told from his side.

The Thanos debate

Noah’s take puts him in the same conversation as Antony Starr, who plays Homelander on The Boys. In a Wired interview, Starr said the Mad Titan is his favorite big-screen baddie — not because of what he does, but because of the thinking behind it.

“He was doing a horrific thing, but he had such a good philosophy behind it about balancing the universe. And there’s a little part of me that’s like, ‘He’s got a pretty good point,’” he said.

Starr was clear he doesn’t endorse Thanos’ snap — calling the strategy terrible — but said the character’s obsession with balance made him compelling. Starr made the remarks during a Wired sit-down.