Will ‘Avengers: Endgame’ follow ‘Infinity War”s huge Reddit ban?
It seems like a million years ago when Stan Lee was alive, Avengers: Infinity War was the next Marvel movie scheduled, and Reddit was rich with a ton of spoilers. Following the release of Infinity War, Reddit had a mass cull which marked the single largest banning event the site had ever seen.
With Avengers: Endgame finally hitting theaters, we’re wondering if maybe, just maybe, Reddit might be planning another spoiler-based mass ban to coincide with the movie’s release.
Before we go into the gory details, we warn you now that if you haven’t seen Avengers: Infinity War and you plan to watch it, now might be a good point to stop reading. The ban and the story around it are by definition awash with spoilers from the film.
What’s the point of all this?
Well, it stems from Avengers: Infinity War and the character of the arch villain, Thanos (played by Josh Brolin). When he clicks his fingers at the end of the film, it kills half of the population of the universe so that the other half doesn’t have to starve or live in squalor. He does this after he has obtained all 6 of the Infinity Stones (we told you to look away). The ban of roughly 350,000 users occurred on July 9, 2018, in r/thanosdidnothingwrong.
As CNET pointed out: “To mirror the baddie’s quest, subreddit and Thanos’ fan page r/thanosdidnothingwrong decided to ban half of its subscribers with the snap of its (metaphorical) fingers.”
Live stream
Reddit has lightened the mood of this mass banning by streaming it on Twitch. The live stream of the ban names was part of the July 2018 event. You can watch live as the names of people who are being banned are streamed right there and then. If you see your own name pop up, we’ll understand if you have to stop reading this and go and make a cup of tea or call a friend to talk about it. Not seen your name? Then we’ll carry on.
Aside from the stream, what else is happening?
Well, there is a lot of Thanos-themed meme-sharing going on and Brolin himself (along with one of the film’s co-directors, Joe Russo) also got involved, filming short video clips that relate to the ban. Brolin and Russo contributed clips in 2018; Endgame saw no repeat mass ban.
The Ban’s Immediate Aftermath
Over 350,000 users were banned on July 9, 2018, in what was then the largest single purge in Reddit history. The subreddit retained just under 600,000 subscribers afterward. Banned members were encouraged to join r/inthesoulstone, which became the unofficial afterlife for the displaced half of the original community. The move kept the gag running while giving the newly “snapped” users a place to commiserate and continue posting memes.
Legacy and Long-Term Activity
The subreddit notes the meme is largely inactive following the 2019 end of the Infinity Saga. Sub remains online with reduced relevance. Occasional reposts and throwback threads still surface, but the daily traffic and coordinated events that defined the 2018 run have largely disappeared. The community survives more as a digital museum piece than an active fan hub.
Endgame Spoiler Handling on Reddit
Endgame release involved standard spoiler moderation and temporary subreddit lockdowns in fan communities. No Thanos-themed mass ban or large-scale culling event took place. Moderators across Marvel-related subs relied on existing rules, pinned warnings, and temporary restrictions rather than any theatrical repeat of the 2018 stunt. The absence of another coordinated purge kept the focus on conventional spoiler etiquette.
Cultural Impact of the Thanos Snap Meme
The event received coverage from major outlets including Vox, BBC, and Business Insider. Brolin and Russo brothers contributed video content. The stunt was widely reported as both a clever marketing echo and a rare moment when a subreddit turned its own moderation into performance art. The clips from Brolin and the Russos gave the meme mainstream visibility that extended well beyond the usual online circles.
Looking back, the 2018 ban stands as a one-off spectacle tied to a specific cultural moment rather than the start of a recurring tradition. The Infinity Saga wrapped in 2019, and with it went the conditions that made the original event possible. Endgame arrived without any parallel ban, leaving the Thanos snap meme as a finished chapter in Reddit lore rather than an ongoing threat to subscriber counts. The experiment showed how quickly a platform can turn a fictional villain’s logic into real-world participation, and how quickly the same platform can move on once the story ends.
