Thanos (Squid Game)

Choi Su-bong (Korean: 최수봉), known by his stage name Thanos (Korean: 타노스) and as Player 230, is a character in the second season of the Netflix series Squid Game. He is one of the participants in the fictional Squid Game competition, after he went into debt after investing in a failed cryptocurrency by a YouTuber called MG Coin. He uses drugs during the game, behaving erratically and attacking other players. Thanos is a prominent character in the series and his team being the leader and the archenemy of Lee Myung-gi. The character is named after the character Thanos from Marvel Comics.

Thanos is portrayed by Choi Seung-hyun (better known as T.O.P), a rapper who belonged to the K-pop band BigBang. In 2016 he was convicted of marijuana use, which led to a surge of anti-fans among South Koreans. While the character was not created for him, director Hwang Dong-hyuk aimed to find someone who stopped working due to drugs for the role.

The casting of T.O.P caused controversy among South Koreans, including censorship of his face on the Korean show This Morning Daily. This controversy came with criticism of the performance. Hwang expressed surprise that he still had controversy over his drug use, and called him brave for doing the role of a drug user, believing he would be received better in countries with a lower stigma against marijuana use. He was more well received outside of Korea, being voted overwhelmingly the favorite character by Netflix viewers. International commenters also criticized the negative response to T.O.P over his drug use as harsh and unreasonable. He has been contrasted with season 1 villain Jang Deok-su, who was noted by critics as having more of a presence. His performance received both praise and criticism, with differing opinions on whether the way he acted improved or worsened the season.