Marvel confirms The Collector survived Avengers: Infinity War, which continues a brilliant Thanos trend. It was presumed that Taneleer Tivan died in Phase 3 after Thanos visited Knowhere and left with the Reality Stone in his possession. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special confirms that this is not the case, as The Collector sold Knowhere to the Guardians recently. This is only possible because the Mad Titan did not kill the Marvel villain who the Guardians of the Galaxy previously interacted with.

Knowing that The Collector is alive after Avengers: Infinity War continues the smart way that Marvel Studios has portrayed the McU's greatest villain. Even though Thanos' end goal was killing half of the universe's population in Avengers: Infinity War, he did not crave killing like many other villains. He repeatedly showed characters a strange sense of mercy by not killing them even after defeating them and obtaining the Infinity Stones he wanted.