Thanks to HBO's Peacemaker, the DCEU finally has its version of the MCU's Thanos, featuring aliens seeking the greater good by any means necessary.
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Peacemaker episode 8!
In Peacemaker's finale episode, the DCEU's true Thanos is finally revealed. While Darkseid and Marvel's Mad Titan may share similarities, it's actually Peacemaker's villains who are the most like the MCU big bad. Sharing the same values as Thanos himself, the alien race known simply as the Butterflies resembles the wielder of the Infinity Stones as they both sought to bring about the greater good (by any means necessary).
In HBO's Peacemaker, directed by James Gunn, the Butterflies are an alien race of flying insectoid creatures who can crawl into human bodies and take over their minds, having access to all of their memories which allows them to infiltrate humanity with ease. While Peacemaker's team believed that they intended to take over the world after intel suggested they were taking over key figures in society, the truth is revealed to John Cena's titular character in the finale episode, their mission bearing quite the resemblance to the Mad Titan's in the MCU.
According to the leading Butterfly named Goff in Peacemaker's finale episode, the Butterflies are not a malicious force seeking to take over humankind. Instead, they saw humanity headed down the same dark path of self-destruction they had endured, causing their homeworld to fall to ruin. As such, they made a vow not to let that happen by whatever means necessary (such as infiltrating humanity to save it from itself). Not only does this mirror Peacemaker's vow to achieve peace no matter who he had to kill to get it, but it also resembles Thanos' mission to erase half of all life to balance the universe for the greater good of the universe.
While DC's Darkseid may certainly look more than Thanos, the Butterflies' core mission is more on par with the Mad Titan's values beyond mere cosmic conquering. Despite their brutal methods, they truly believed that they were saviors, working towards humanity's benefit by making the hard decisions for them, just like Thanos who chose to make the hard decision to end one half of life to save the other, "having the strongest will" to make it happen with the Infinity Stones.
While the Butterflies attempted to recruit Peacemaker to their cause seeing as how their missions and vows for peace were practically the same, Chris Smith rejected their offer and killed their massive space cow (the Butteflies' only food source), knowing that his friends would still be in danger of being hurt. Regardless, the desire for peace and humanity's ultimate benefit was quite the dynamic goal for Peacemaker's villains, making them one of the DCEU's closest counterparts to the MCU's Thanos.
More: Peacemaker Finale's DCEU Cameo Reveals A Lot About New Era DC Films
Peacemaker is now streaming on HBO Max.
