Answered using philosophy and ethics from Avengers: Infinity War

Are intentions or outcomes more important when judging whether actions are moral?

Your butt clenches as Thanos yanks the soul stone from Vision’s head and tosses his corpse onto the ground beside Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch. You plop another piece of buttery popcorn into your mouth as Thanos clutches the soul stone between two fingers, then releases it beside his gauntlet. Like two magnets being drawn together, the stone flies into the missing spot, and a surge of magnificent energy courses through his veins as he yells in both agony and satisfaction. Just as Thanos is about to snap his fingers, Thor strikes down from the sky and throws his hammer, Mjolnir, at Thanos. He groans as Thor pushes Mjolnir further into his chest, but with one last burst of energy, he actually does it. The damned purple potato really did it, you think. Not only did he beat the Avengers, he wiped out half of all life in the universe.

You shuffle out of the theater, deeply pondering the philosophy of Infinity War. Clearly, most people would agree with the notion that Thanos’s decision was completely immoral. Yet his intentions were entirely pure: he didn’t want future generations of life to suffer as his planet, Titan, had due to overpopulation, a Hollywood Tragedy of the Commons if you will. Thanos was a literal god — He had the power of all six infinity stones to Himself. What if instead of separating billions of families and killing off innocent life, Thanos had simply restarted the universe and constructed an absolute moral utopia? This way, everyone dies (Thanos included), so, technically speaking, nobody suffers. Aside from, you know, galactic genocide, this is actually not too shabby of an outcome.

But just to play devil’s advocate, let’s say He decided to let everyone live, but euthanized future generations, limiting them to one child maximum. In that case, He would be no different from a Purple Deng Xiaoping. But does this outcome Trump the other two? Would Thanos be infringing the basic human right of reproduction, or would He be saving the universe from itself?

I’d like to introduce one final piece of evidence before concluding my argument: Thanos is a literal sage. He admits Himself that He was “cursed with knowledge” (Avengers: Infinity War, 02:00:20), which means His intentions were far more sophisticated than those of the average extraterrestrial being. Like Dr. Strange on steroids, Thanos has most likely seen (and considered) an exponential number of possibilities, ultimately arriving at the decision to eliminate half of all life. According to this logic, you could even argue that the Avengers defeating Thanos was a net evil. Those damned “superheroes” are so short-sighted! Selfishly trying to revive those already martyred for a good cause rather than thinking a few centuries ahead. Isn’t preserving life and stability for future generations more important than sweet revenge?

Maybe I’m right, maybe I’m wrong. But then again, who am I to have an opinion? I’m just a mere fifteen-year-old mortal from sweet home Alabama.