What the MCU version of Thanos gets right; and what it doesn't

The hype was real for this character, ever since the stinger of The Avengers (2012) revealed his involvement in Loki's invasion of New York. A sinister, purple-skinned brute who grins at the prospect of undertaking a so-called suicide mission; what's not to love about that?

The comic counterpart of this character, if you ignore his Ultimates version entirely, is an enigma: he's not out for conquest or money or something like that; he's out for love. He's in love with lady Death, who is a humanoid entity in the Marvel universe. He has been her willing thrall for decades since his first publication. He eventually became the Avatar of Death, having been granted vast powers that made his former self look like a choir-boy in comparison. As a Titanian Eternal, he can manipulate cosmic energy for many purposes, such expending it via energy beams, giving himself the ability of flight, improving his strength & durability, and many other feats. He's also a telepath, who has been so difficult to defeat in this way that even Moondragon, a high-level telepath in the Marvel universe, was unable to beat him with such powers. Also, good luck beating him at all; he's gone toe-to-toe with Galactus, Odin, Thor, the full-power of Blackbolt, and recently the Phoenix Force-powered Thane, one of his last-remaining ill-begotten children. 

Then the movie about Thanos finally arrived, and while far from perfect (it is one part of a two film story arc, after all), it mostly hit the right notes. Our long-awaited greater-scope villain made a bombastic entry to the big screen in a big way. He's been praised by many so far that he's the best villain in the MCU; some even say he's one of the best villains in any comic-book movie.

I disagree with the last part, unfortunately.

Mind, I have come to accept, years ago, that these movies won't adapt everything from the comics so closely, or faithfully, rather. This is not the issue I have with the film. My problem with his depiction here is the lack of consistency, not only with previously-stated facts about his character in the MCU, but with his character development and backstory as well.


Here's a checklist of what they get right:

• His super strength, which rivals, if not dwarfs those of the Incredible Hulk & Thor.
• His nigh-invulnerable body.
• His place of birth; Titan.
• His exile from Titan for his grandiose, yet extreme schemes involving the deaths of many from his home world.
• His reputation as a feared galactic conqueror.
• His ability to wield the infinity gems.
• His ability to speak to others, even his enemies, in a respectable, if not commendable tone. He's not the most erudite in the MCU but he's close enough. But he's not arrogant, either.

Now here's what they get wrong:

• His motivation. Everything about it is wrong; it doesn't jive with his character at all. Why does he care about the welfare of worlds across the universe? With the reality-bending powers of the stones he could literally do anything, yet his first compunction is to murder half of all sentient life throughout the cosmos? And that's all he wants to do? No appeasement to the gods, especially Death, so that he can be deemed their equal?
• His (as seen so far) total lack of cosmic energy manipulation abilities, as well as telekinesis, the ability to fly, and telepathy (more a defensive version, but he has been shown to 'speak' to people through their minds). Eye beams powerful enough to knock Thor off his feet? Nope. Generating black holes when and where he wants? Nada. Surrounding himself with energy shields on a whim? Zilch.
• His infamous affection for Death, which is a humanoid entity in the comics. His sole motivation in the classic Infinity Gauntlet storyline, from which the film derives most of its influence, is to become her equal by showing, with the gauntlet, that he is comparable to a god himself. He ends up screwing this up by virtue of becoming more powerful than Death itself. 
• His exile from Titan, which was due to him growing into a mass murderer who tried to forcefully usurp power from his own father. After some time of traveling the cosmos, gathering power in more ways than one, he comes back with a vengeance. A nuclear one. He was the reason they were wiped out, not some ambiguous doomsday scenario that was explained poorly and in haste. Somehow his people were wiped out by overpopulation alone? Nobody survived? Nobody had the wherewithal to, y'know, fix the situation by any means necessary? What the fuck?
• The jarring retcon of previously-stated facts of his escapades throughout the universe, such as his previously established annihilation of Gamora's people. Instead, it turns out that he killed half (to save the other half, it seems) of her people, sparing the rest, while she herself suggests that many of the rest lost the will to live. Same could be suggested of Drax the Destroyer (who wasn't originally an Earthling in this continuity) and Nebula and their people. With this movie we can now assume that he killed half of their people and spared the rest out of some insane savior logic. Who goes around the universe doing that? If you're going around killing half of the population of each inhabited planet, don't you think there would be massive repercussions of their own? Apparently he's doing all of that to save the universe from itself. WHAT?!
• His murder of his own mother.