Perhaps I Treated You Too Harshly

Editor's Note: This entry contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame; read at your own caution.

About

Perhaps I Treated You Too Harshly is a memorable quote uttered by the character Thanos in the 2019 Marvel superhero film Avengers: Endgame. It is frequently used in image macros and as a reaction image to express regret.

Origin

On April 26th, 2019, the film Avengers: Endgame was released in the United States.^[1] In the film, the Avengers confront the character Thanos (portrayed by Josh Brolin) about the powerful Infinity Stones, which could bring back the fallen, whom Thanos killed in Avengers: Infinity War. When Thanos tells the Avengers that he destroyed this stones, his daughter Nebula tells the team that he is not lying. Thanos says, "Thank you, daughter. Perhaps, I judged you too harshly."

Several weeks after the film's release, on June 3rd, Imgur ^[2] posted the earliest known usage of the image in a post entitled "Infinity stoned" (shown below)

Spread

Several months later, on August 7th, 2019, Redditor insertdefaultdance published a meme in the /r/dankmemes^[2] using the image as a reaction to the Vox article "Video games don't cause violent crimes." The post received more than 29,000 points (94% upvoted) and 200 comments in less than two years (shown below, left).

The image continued to spread throughout Reddit. For example, on August 20th, Redditor Myrtle_the_Imp shared a variation in the Star Wars /r/PrequelMemes ^[3] subreddit. The post received more than 500 points (98% upvoted) in less than two years (shown below, center).

On March 10th, 2020, another variation in the /r/PrequelMemes^[4] subreddit spread around Reddit. The meme, which mocks the cancelation and return of the Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series, is four-panel reaction image to Disney's decisions. The post received more than 11,500 points (97% upvoted) and 95 comments in less than one year (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References