that’s just not true. you are supposed to walk away thinking that. well, i guess more accurately, you’re supposed to be thinking it -during- the movie, not afterwards, because afterwards you’re really just supposed to be going “OMG THE SUPERHEROES ARE DYING!” you can look up w/ google how the writers talked about thanos going through a hero’s journey and such
joker isn’t a good example either. do you remember how in TDK they played with that boat scene and made it look like the criminals were gonna press the button and he’d be right? the dilemma of “oh no, maybe people ARE shitty, maybe he’s right…” is a source of the tension for the entire finale of that movie. even though he’s crazy, the narrative still suggests he might actually be right, that he’s not totally stupid and might even be right is what makes him effective/scary as a villain
You don’t know what protagonist means
I think you don’t realize that they’re kind of synonyms. You can sympathize with a character and still understand, ethically, that they are wrong. The problem with thanos is that I -don’t- understand his motivation, it doesn’t make a bit of sense