>Are we not supposed to think that Thanos is deranged? A perennial problem in writing villains is characterizing them as insane and stupid (to explain why they

>Are we not supposed to think that Thanos is deranged? A perennial problem in writing villains is characterizing them as insane and stupid (to explain why they do evil) but then in order to present a real threat to the hero they execute those evil and stupid plans with patience and intelligence. Thanos has an army! An entire naval fleet assembled from centuries of constant war. He's a space Napoleon. That required skill, intelligence and considerable effort, as several characters tell us. And then after achieving the goal he spent so many years thinking about, he makes a dumb mistake, apparently without realizing it? Same thing with the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008). Other characters say he's crazy. He himself says he's "just a dog chasing a car" with no plan or goals beyond causing chaos. Yet he is always executing complex plans which require precise timing? Not the behavior of a raving madman.