Who said it: Thanos or Margaret Sanger?

Spoiler warnings if you're one of the eight people in America who hasn't seen “Avengers: Infinity War” yet.

With that disclaimer out of the way, for the rest of us who have seen it, the ultimate story of the Marvel Cinematic Universe struck a familiar chord. That's because Thanos, the mad titan, is driven by the same Malthusian/utilitarian ethics that inspired the 20th century's most influential woman — Margaret Sanger. She may have inspired more real-life death cults than any human being in modern history — primarily Planned Parenthood (otherwise known as Murder, Inc.).

Don't miss a minute of Steve Deace on CRTV! Sign up for your FREE 30-day trial today!

Like Sanger, Thanos is motivated by the progressive obsession that overpopulation — not our sin — is the leading cause of suffering, plus the self-assuredness that he alone should wield the power to do something about it and determine who lives and dies for the "common good." These twin impulses are what drove both Thanos and Sanger to cause far more suffering than they ever alleviated, because they acted contrary to the created order, from their own narrow viewpoint, instead. You know, that whole "ye be like God" thing. It's the same reason why progressive solutions to our problems just create even more or worse problems.

Let’s play a game called “Who said it — Thanos or Sanger?

• "In time, you will know what it's like to lose. To feel so desperately that you're right. Yet to fail all the same. Dread it. Run from it. Destiny still arrives."
• "It means the release and cultivation of the better elements in our society, and the gradual suppression, elimination and eventual extinction, of defective stocks."
• "When I'm done, half of humanity will still exist. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be."
• "The most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective.
• "But I could snap my fingers... and you'd all cease to exist."
• "We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population."
• "And now destiny is here. Or should I say, I am."
• "I wish to take advantage of the present opportunity to point out that the unbalance between the birth rate of the ‘unfit’ and the ‘fit,’ admittedly the greatest present menace to civilization."
• "A small price to pay for salvation."
• "I think the greatest sin in the world is bringing children into the world, that have disease from their parents, that have no chance in the world to be a human being practically."
• "The hardest choices require the strongest will."

I wonder how many of those progressive actors performing as superheroes in Marvel's latest blockbuster realized that the manifestation of their own worldview is the villain here?