The 12th episode of the comedy’s 30th season saw Maggie’s iconic pacifier becoming an Infinity Stone for the Mad Titan’s Gauntlet. Once he took it from the toddler and added it to his collection, four-fifths of the yellow family – Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa – turned to dust.
That left just Maggie to sit and happily watch TV with Thanos.
The Simpsons has long been adept at poking fun at popular culture, and this latest in the show’s long list of couch gags – which close the opening credits sequence and are different every episode – seems to have gone down well with fans.
At time of writing it has had almost 100,000 views on YouTube since airing on TV last night.
Watch it above.
The latest episode, called The Girl on the Bus, guest starred Terry Gross and acting royalty Patti LuPone.
The gag is well-timed in the run-up to the release of Avengers: Infinity War’s sequel, Avengers: Endgame, which is in cinemas this spring.
The blockbuster will show the aftermath of the Infinity War snap, as the surviving heroes reel from the devastation Thanos caused in that massive cliffhanger.
Matt Groening’s animations have form with blockbuster movie references: last week an old shot from a 2000 episode of Futurama returned to prominence when it jokily predicted the release of a Star Wars 9.
Now, Star Wars 9 actually is in production and due out at the end of 2019 – although Futurama’s predicted title of Yoda’s Bar Mitzvah is obviously unlikely to be its name.
Among The Simpsons’ most successful movie references have been a Raiders of the Lost Ark nod in season three, which saw Bart swiping a cookie-jar and outrunning Homer.
There was also a brilliant The Terminator nod in the season two episode in which Homer sets Patty up with Principle Skinner; using a robotic scan similar to the one Arnie’s robo-assassin has as he sized up potential suitors.
And who could forget the time in season three when Lisa woke up to find a horse’s head in her bed – akin to that horrifying moment from The Godfather?