Power is the capacity to produce effects on others (House, 1984), or the potential to influence others (Bass, 1990). What better way to explain power and influence than with some larger than life characters. Many very influential leaders have been depicted on the big screen to include characters such as Captain America and his many perfect traits. With the latest big movie Avengers Infinity Wars just released, a newer character gets to showcase their power and influence as well. If the overall concept of power is expressed as a function of the leader, the followers, and the situation (PSU, 2018), then Thanos is a solid representation of it.
Born on Saturn’s moon of Titan, Thanos lived in a colony of powerful, genetically engineered offshoot of the human race known as the Eternals. Growing up, Thanos began a strong fascination with death and nihilism and more than any of his people, sought out personal power and increased strength until he became more powerful than any of his brethren (Ohitsme. & Shadow1186, 2009). Thanos also conceived a strong belief that the universe was unbalanced in terms of life and death and that he was needed to restore that balance. He goes on saying, “It’s a simple calculus. This universe is finite, its resources, finite… if life is left unchecked, life will cease to exist. It needs correcting” (Feige & Russo, 2018). Thanos then proceeded to search for and collect all six of the Infinity Stones: Reality, Space, Power, Time, Mind, Soul. With the powerful Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos would be able to harness the power of these stones and with a snap of his fingers, wipe out half of the universe’s population of living beings (Ohitsme. & Shadow1186, 2009).
Perez, G. (1991). Infinity Gauntlet #3. Licensed under Marvel Unlimited.
To complete such a galactic goal, Thanos would not be able to do so by himself. He would need to play a strong leadership role in order to get other to side with and work towards this personal goals. Emotional appeals, the exchange of favors, and threats are all influence tactics that a person uses to change another person’s attitudes, beliefs, values, or behaviors (PSU, 2018). Though Thanos does try to appeal emotionally to his daughter, Gamora, about why his plan is the right one and offers Dr. Strange to spare Tony Stark’s life in exchange for the Time Stone, his go to tactic would still have to be the use of threats. He threatens those that oppose him, he threatens those that follow him if they fail, he threatens entire worlds, and even the Galaxy itself. He does all of this as a leader to continue to persuade all that come in contact with him that his goal will be and needs to be accomplished.
French and Raven (1959) came up with five bases of power that individuals can influence others. These are expert power, referent power, legitimate power, reward power, and coercive power. Coercive power is more of Thanos’ behavior as it is the ability to control others through the fear of punishment or the loss of valued outcomes. Coercive power can be used appropriately or inappropriately (PSU, 2018). An example of coercive power being used inappropriately is brought up by Brian Dodd (2018) saying, “Leaders Can Have Good Intentions And Still Be Misguided.” In this he was joking that Thanos was basically a galactic environmentalists whose solution to the hunger crisis was to exterminate half the population.
The need for power is the motivation to influence or control others (McClelland, 1975). Referring to an earlier quote about the universe’s finite resources, Thanos continues to argue that, “I’m the only one who knows that. At least I’m the only one who has the will to act on it” (Feige & Russo, 2018). Thanos is obsessed with taking on this burden to “balance” life. Watching first-hand what happened to his own planet, he is motivated to fix the universe and will do so no matter what the cost. He has a high need for personal power which would make him selfish, impulsive, uninhibited, and lacking in self-control. These people exercise power for their own needs, not for the good of the organization. This is clearly shown as he looses many of his closest and strongest warriors to include personally killing his own daughter along the way. “I did not ask for your trust. I demand only your obedience.” (Feige & Russo, 2018).
Out of the nine influence tactics, we can compare Thanos more closely with rational persuasion. In this, agents use logical arguments or factual evidence to influence others (PSU, 2018). Thanos explains why half the universe should die while attempting to appeal to his daughter Gamora by speaking about his half genocide of her own home planet. “Going to bed hungry. Scrounging for scraps. Your planet was on the brink of collapse. I was the one that stopped that. You know what has happened since then? The children have known nothing but full bellies and clear skies. It’s a paradise” (Feige & Russo, 2018). Her emotional attachment makes it hard for her to grasp, but it does appear that this talk does strike a chord with her. Thanos also tries to rationalize with Dr. Strange about the need for him to wield the Infinity Gauntlet with the stones. Thanos considers his intention as a benevolent one.
“With all six Stones, I could simply snap my fingers. They would all cease to exist. I call that… mercy.”
“And then what?” Dr. Strange retorts.
“I finally rest. And watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. The hardest choices require the strongest wills” (Feige & Russo, 2018).
Finally, clothing can affect one’s power. When we want to be seen as more powerful we often dress in suits (PSU, 2018). A classic study by Bickman (1974) shows this effect. Thanos may not come to work in a three-piece suit, but has typically been associated as wearing full body armor and helmet. However, he spends much of the time in the new movie in a more casual look. As explained by Avengers: Infinity War director Joe Russo (Raymond, 2017), “[Thanos] has a more casual approach in this film, and it’s very philosophical for him. It’s part of his character definition. It’s a spiritual journey for him to collect the Stones, and one with which he doesn’t need armor. Once he starts acquiring the Stones, he doesn’t need armor in the same way he did when he was a war lord. It’s a very symbolic costume.
Thanos’ role as a leader of the universe can probably be considered one of the largest tasks a leader could take on. He has to find a way to collect enough power to persuade all to follow him and his ideas. This is not an easy task as there are many obstacles that get in his and his followers way. Thank understands this and still shows his conviction when he says, “Fun isn’t something one considers when balancing the universe. But this does put a smile on my face” (Feige & Russo, 2018).
Linoa, C. J. (2018). But this… does put a smile on my face. Licensed under Flickr Hive Mind on Flickr.com.
References
Bass, B. M., (1990). Bass and Stogdill’s Handbook of Leadership. 3rd ed. New York: Free Press.
Bickman, L (1974). The social power of a uniform. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 47-61.
Dodd, B. (2018). 32 leadership quotes and lessons from Avengers: Infinity War. Retrieved from https://briandoddonleadership.com/2018/04/26/32-leadership-quotes-and-lessons-from-avengers-infinity-war/
Feige, K. (Producer), & Russo, A. (Director). (2018). Avengers: Infinity War [Motion Picture]. United States. Marvel Studios.
French, J. & Raven, B. H. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies of Social Power. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research.
House, R. J. (1984). Power in Organizations: A Social Psychological Perspective. Unpublished manuscript, University of Toronto.
Linoa, C. J. (2018). But this… does put a smile on my face. Flickr Hive Mind [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://hiveminer.com/Tags/legends%2Cthanos
McClelland, D. C. (1975). Power: The Inner Experience. New York: Irvington.
Ohitsme. & Shadow1186. (2009). Thanos – Marvel Universe Wiki: The definitive online source for Marvel super hero bios. Retrieved from http://marvel.com/universe/Thanos#axzz5HLDjc6GX
Pennsylvania State University. (2018). Lesson 7: Power and influence. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1940315/assignments/9999103?module_item_id=24597540
Perez, G. (1991). Infinity Gauntlet #3. Retrieved from http://doyouevencomicbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Thanos-Snap.jpg
Raymond, N. (2017). Avengers: Infinity War director explains Thanos’ “casual’ costume. Retrieved from https://screenrant.com/avengers-infinity-war-thanos-costume-explained/
Even though I think you did a great job about connecting the issues from the lesson material and readings towards something that is recently relatable, but I would had like to seen you connect Thanos to a possible leader that you may know. For example, do you have a manager or supervisor that has tendencies like Thanos? I do like the approach that you took though because it was different then most of the other blogs I have read, so it may it more interesting and it was easier for me to learn more about the concepts being taught. Like I did state you did doing a great job by connecting how someone like Thanos uses various power styles to influence people to do what he wants so he can accomplish his goal. That is the main premise beyond power, is that it when utilized with a person that knows what they are doing then they can impact the world that is around them. We seem use various tactics like pressure or get personal and each person he deals with then he displays a different tactics. He knows to display these different strategies with the different people that he meets, so that he can gain the best favor out of that person. Even though he has subordinates, would you say that he displays great leadership abilities and what do you foresee the outcome of his style turning into? In my opinion, he does not display great leadership skills because once he has abused his powers then he will probably become lonely. What would happen if you want to complete some other task then he probably would not have any followers after what he had done. Thanos bests shows us what happens when you use power and how you use it in terms of short term and long term relationships. What he teaches us is that if you want a long term relationship with followers then it would be best to not display some of the tactics he used. Awesome blog post.
Great blog entry David! The Avengers Infinity War movie was fascinating. Your addition of pictures was smart and helpful. When you explained the Infinity Gaunlet and how Thanos’ costume is related to his leadership it was nice to have those images right there to review. Although I’m a little skeptical to base any theory applications on the characters of a fictional story, your presentation is focused mainly on power and influence in the leadership by Thanos. Well done. Also, you should know that when I used the Bing search engine and typed in “Thanos as a leader,” this blog was the #1 result. Nice SEO!
While I agree with you that Thanos is the most powerful leader in the universe based on physical or magical strength, I disagree that Thanos is the most influential leader in the universe. I say this because besides a few followers (members of the Black Order), Thanos’ leadership was in direct opposition to all avengers and all living beings. Thanos is a dictator. Sure, he has the Black Order followers, but I never saw a time when he used coercive power over his followers. The Black Order seems to be a few individuals who are just motivated by death and destruction. Their shared goal is to kill half the beings of the universe. The path is through obtaining all the Infinity Stones. In this situation, the leadership approach would be path-goal and Thanos’ behavior would be supportive. Thanos’ even refers to his followers as his children. There are times in the movie where Thanos gives nurturance like when he adopted Gamora and shielded her from seeing a mass killing. Thanos defines goals, clarifies path, removes obstacles and provides support (Northouse, 2016, pg. 116).
The point I’m attempting to make is Thanos had one kind of power but no leadership influence (except for his few followers). Thanos adopted Gamora, had power over her and raised her but had no influence (she tries to kill him to end his desired outcome). Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, former chief rabbi of the UK suggests that “influence is consistently successful while power wreaks havoc” (Kuhel, 2017). If power and influence can be two distinct factors regarding leadership, then Thanos seems to use one factor (power) more effectively than the other. In the movie, I remember seeing plenty of situations where Thanos used coercive power over individuals (to influence) and it was not effective (for example: the scene where Loki pretended to follow Thanos to kill Thanos and a similar situation with Gamora). Rabbi Lord Sacks proposes that there is a difference between power and influence (Kuhel, 2017):
“There are two distinctive types of leadership. One is power and the other is influence. These two styles are often considered synonymous, as if you have one, it’s assumed you probably have the other. But a closer look at these two forms of leadership shows they work in widely different ways.”
I would go so far as to say that any one individual from the Avengers group had more influential power than Thanos (unless your goal is killing half the universe). If power by influence is more successful than power by strength, then I’d challenge that an Avenger is more powerful, and, Thanos is not “The Most Powerful Leader in the Universe” (Herrera, 2018, title). Alternatively, I’d say: Thanos is the most powerful being in the universe. And this is only because of magical strength. Thanos leads only a few degenerates. “Leadership is not a one-way event, but an interactive event” (Williams, 2018, L01). I can assure you that there will be a sequel to Infinity War. Maybe then we will see the other form of power (influence) in real comparison.
Reference
Herrera, David M. (June 3, 2018). Penn State. PSYCH 485 blog. The Most Powerful Leader in the Universe: Thanos. Retrieved on 6/3/18 at https://sites.psu.edu/leadership/2018/06/03/the-most-powerful-leader-in-the-universe-thanos/#respond
Kuhel, Beth. (Nov. 2, 2018). Forbes. Power Vs. Influence: Knowing: The Difference Could Make Or Break Your Company. Retrieved on 6/3/18 at https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/11/02/power-vs-influence-knowing-the-difference-could-make-or-break-your-company/#78b0a3b5357c
Northouse, Peter. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Williams, Jason. (2018). Pennsylvania State University. Lesson 1: Introduction to Leadership. Definition of Leadership. Retrieved on 6/3/2081 at https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1940315/modules/items/24597413