The MCU Just Suggested How Thanos Could Return

Through just five episodes, "Secret Invasion" has already given MCU fans some of the most shocking revelations in the entire franchise — including the reveal that Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes (Don Cheadle) has been a Skrull imposter for a long time, possibly since the events of "Captain America: Civil War." Episode 5 provides fans with yet another unexpected twist, as it's revealed that Nick Fury secretly collected Avenger blood in the aftermath of the "Avengers: Endgame."

After the Battle of Earth, Fury and his Skrull allies scoured the battlefield for any spilled blood and DNA the Avengers left behind. This revelation opens a lot of speculation about Avenger clones and superhuman DNA enhancement — as well as the possible return of the MCU's greatest villain, Thanos (Josh Brolin). While Nick Fury says that this so-called "Harvest" specifically targeted Avenger DNA on the battlefield, it's more than reasonable to suggest that Fury and his accomplices also picked up some of Thanos' blood along the way.

Since we've already seen Fury exploit dangerous interstellar weapons like the Tesseract, it's easy to imagine him trying to harness Thanos' power for his own advantage. Given the considerable hubris of Fury and SHIELD, it's possible that someone in the MCU might use the Harvest DNA to recreate Thanos and attempt to control him. As most viewers would assume, this could spell disaster for the entire MCU — even if the Infinity Stones are no longer a factor in this universe.

While Thanos himself destroyed the Infinity Stones and Infinity Gauntlet during "Avengers: Infinity War" (and those stones were later returned to the prime timeline in "Endgame"), there's no question that a cloned Thanos could cause untold chaos if he returned to the MCU.

Marvel Comics explored this concept with the introduction of the "Thanosi" in 2002's "Infinity Abyss (Vol. 1)." The Thanosi were a group of genetically-enhanced Thanos clones created by Thanos himself to test battle scenarios with his enemies, though he decided to discontinue this project after the clones proved too rebellious and destructive. Before he could dispatch them however, five of these clones escaped after a meteor struck their containment cell; including an Iron-Man-like Thanos named Armour, a Galactus-Thanos hybrid named Omega, and several other Thanos clones that combined the powers of Marvel heroes and villains. True to their genocidal progenitor, these five Thanosi set out on a scheme to kill off the entire Universe in one fell swoop, though the original Thanos ultimately foils them.

Because the MCU's Harvest"also contains the DNA of the Avengers, even these superpowered hybrids of Thanos aren't out of the question — especially if Nick Fury believes he can use that DNA to create a new protector for Earth. Though the Thanosi show just how dangerous Thanos clones can be, it's also very possible that a returned Thanos might actually be an antihero similar to the version we meet in "What If...?" 

Regardless of his alignment, it's clear that Thanos' return is now on the table with the introduction of the Harvest, though we'll have to wait and see if anything comes of this development in future MCU projects.