What is Thanos Edits?

Thanos Edits is a series of photoshops, image macros, and jokes riffing on Thanos's helmet-less design in Avengers: Infinity War, ranging from hats pasted onto his head to full character swaps.

Where did Thanos Edits come from?

It started on November 28, 2017, when Marvel released the first Infinity War trailer on YouTube and Twitter user @kibblesmith posted a 'little hats' thread ending on Thanos.

What does Thanos Edits mean?

The joke is that Thanos looked odd without his signature golden helmet in the trailer, so fans photoshopped hats onto him or slotted his face into unrelated pop culture scenes like Salt Bae and Pawn Stars.

How do you use Thanos Edits?

Typically people either drop a hat onto a trailer screenshot of bare-headed Thanos or paste his head onto another recognizable character or meme template, often comparing him to Bruce Willis or calling him a giant grape.

Is Thanos Edits still popular?

The specific hat wave peaked around the trailer drop in late November 2017, but the format helped seed the broader run of Thanos memes that ran through the 2018 film's release.

Thanos Edits

2017photoshop memeclassic

Published September 30, 2026

Thanos Edits refers to a wave of photoshops and jokes mocking the redesigned look of Marvel villain Thanos after the first Avengers: Infinity War trailer premiered in November 2017. Fans zeroed in on his missing headgear and started stitching him into pop culture scenes, turning a blockbuster reveal into a week of hat jokes, Salt Bae mashups, and giant-grape comparisons.

thanos memes marvel photoshop memes face swap memes villain memes

Overview

Thanos Edits covers the flood of photoshops, image macros, and jokes aimed at Thanos's redesigned face in Avengers: Infinity War, particularly the fact that the movie ditched his classic golden helmet in favor of a bare, wrinkled head1. The core gag is simple: put a hat on him, or drop his head into any pop culture scene where the swap looks absurd. The trailer even prompted directors to explain that his lack of armor was symbolic, which only gave fans more ammo1.

The photoshops split into two lanes. One is literal hat replacements, from baseball caps to LL Cool J's Kangol, treating Thanos like a bald guy who forgot his lid2. The other lane is character swaps, sticking his purple face on Salt Bae, Rick Harrison from Pawn Stars, or Team Fortress 2's Heavy, turning the Mad Titan into a stock meme template4 5. A running comparison called him a "giant grape," which stuck long enough to become one of the earliest recurring Thanos jokes9.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Twitter / Reddit (viral spread)

Creator

Unknown

Date

2017

Catalyst event: On November 28, 2017, Marvel released the first Avengers: Infinity War trailer on YouTube, giving audiences their first proper look at Thanos in live action. The video pulled in more than 47 million views within 24 hours3. Earliest known meme wave: the same day, Twitter user @kibblesmith posted a thread showing Marvel characters missing their "little hats," ending on Thanos with the caption "AVENGERS: THE SEARCH FOR THANOS' LITTLE HAT," which racked up more than 100 retweets and 800 likes in the first day6.

Marvel did not create the meme. Fans did, remixing screenshots pulled straight from the official trailer3. The AV Club framed the reaction bluntly, saying Thanos looked hard to take seriously without the helmet, and noted the running joke that he suddenly resembled Bruce Willis2.

How It Spread

The hat gag moved fast. On November 28, 2017, Twitter published a Moments page collecting the reactions, and outlets including ComicBook.com and The AV Club rounded up the best tweets before the day ended1 2. ComicBook.com's roundup pulled in photoshops of Thanos wearing every hat under the sun plus jokes that the movie's real plot was Thanos searching for his stolen headgear1.

Reddit picked it up the same day. On /r/ComicBooks, user mtlgrems posted an illustration of Thanos redrawn as Salt Bae, which climbed past 5,000 points at 93% upvoted in under 24 hours4. Over on /r/marvelstudios, user DarkJedi3000 pasted Thanos's head onto Rick Harrison from Pawn Stars, hitting 3,000 points on Reddit and 300,000+ views on an Imgur mirror5 7. A /r/TF2 side-by-side of Thanos and Heavy from Team Fortress 2 by user b0to cleared 1,000 points8.

On November 29, 2017, a Redditor on /r/dankmemes posted a "Who Would Win?" template pitting "Earth's mightiest heroes" against Thanos, described only as a "giant grape," which pulled 1,200+ points in under 12 hours9. That grape framing stuck as one of the defining Thanos punchlines heading into the film's 2018 release6.

Timeline

2017-11-28

Marvel drops the first Avengers: Infinity War trailer on YouTube, revealing Thanos without his helmet. The video crosses 47 million views in 24 hours.

2017-11-28

Twitter user @kibblesmith posts the 'little hats' thread ending on Thanos, kicking off the hat-photoshop wave.

2017-11-28

Twitter Moments and outlets including ComicBook.com and The AV Club publish roundups of the Thanos hat reactions.

2017-11-28

Redditor mtlgrems posts a Salt Bae Thanos illustration to /r/ComicBooks, passing 5,000 points.

2017-11-28

Redditor DarkJedi3000 photoshops Thanos onto Rick Harrison in /r/marvelstudios; the Imgur mirror hits 300,000+ views.

2017-11-29

A /r/dankmemes 'Who Would Win?' post frames Thanos as a 'giant grape,' locking in one of the meme's most repeated lines.