The Snap, also known as the Blip, was the event in which Thanos snapped his fingers while using the Infinity Gauntlet, resulting in the extermination of half of all life in the universe. Wanting to restore balance to the universe by averting universal resource conflicts due to overpopulation, Thanos embarked on a quest to assemble all six Infinity Stones needed to achieve this goal. In 2018, during the Battle of Wakanda, Thanos activated the completed gauntlet and initiated the Snap, causing a universal genocide which eliminated fifty percent of all life, randomly disintegrating individuals into dust.
The Snap had devastating universal repercussions. On Earth, the Snap led to a five-year period in which the world fell into societal collapse and many countries abandoned their national borders. In 2023, the victims of the Snap were resurrected by the Avengers, after they went back in time to alternate timelines to acquire their own set of Infinity Stones.