One of the most bizarre fan theories to circulate in the aftermath of Avengers: Infinity War went on to gain a level of infamy and notoriety on social media, and it was all to do with Ant-Man and Thanos. As the most dangerous villain the Marvel Cinematic Universe had ever seen, one who’d just wiped out half of all existence with a solitary click of his fingers, the Mad Titan was going to take some stopping.
Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang was a notable absentee from Infinity War alongside Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton, and a few enterprising fans believed the MCU’s tiniest superhero would ultimately save the day. While that’s true to an extent given that he was the one who set the time heist in motion and ultimately allowed Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to undo the effects of the Snap, that certainly wasn’t what the internet had in mind.
Instead, the so-called ‘Thanus’ theory was much more straightforward. Using Pym Particles, Ant-Man would simply shrink down to his smallest possible size, make his way up Thanos’ butt and expand into Giant-Man, blowing the purple warlord to smithereens and saving the universe with the minimum amount of fuss.
That didn’t happen for obvious reasons, but new fan art from Nikolay Mochkin has imagined an episode of Marvel’s What If…? where the theory comes to terrifying life, as you can see below.
As a Disney enterprise aimed at families, it would be safe to assume that the writers room for Season 2 of Marvel’s What If…? hasn’t thrown around Ant-Man flying up Thanos’ rear end to draw a line under the Infinity Saga in vastly different fashion, but it just goes to show the theory will never truly disappear.