Thanos

Origin

Roughly 200,000 years ago in the aftermath of the Titan Schism, A’Lars (later known as Mentor) in his exile to Titan because of his heresy sought to prove his belief that Eternals could procreate naturally; was married to Sui-San in a ceremony that was presided over by the cosmic entities Kronos and Eon. The rings used to symbolize their union were the Quantum Bands. The bands were the missing link in Eternal physiology. Their immense power and ability to alter reality, thus making the impossible possible, allowing Mentor and Sui-san to procreate.

The child born from this union was Thanos.

Thanos was subject to the Deviant gene at birth. As a result, Thanos became that of a ‘mutant’ of Titan (the sixth orbiting moon of Saturn). He developed a purple, hide-like skin, along with strength and other physical abilities far surpassing that of other Titans.

This mutation also augmented the powers he inherently possessed as a descendant of the Eternals. Growing to become the most powerful Titan, his skin developed in such a fashion that allowed Thanos to absorb cosmic energy on an atomic level and then manipulate it as kinetic force via conscious choice.

Though never shunned by his family in his youth, Thanos was feared and avoided by his fellow Titan peers due to his unique qualities. His brother, Eros, was groomed from childhood to eventually replace their father in the role of leader among their people. Eros would, throughout their youth, be fawned over by loving friends and family, whom much favored him over Thanos. Feeling the sting of such ostracism, Thanos would find solace and purpose in other pursuits. On one fateful day, in an all but forgotten subterranean temple, an enterprising young Thanos would find companionship in the form of Mistress Death.

Decades would pass, and Thanos’s relationship with Mistress Death grew, eventually blossoming into a dark and forbidden romance. Under Death’s tutelage, he became even stronger and more powerful – well versed in the Black Arts, which had long been banned on Titan. She taught Thanos that knowledge is power, and that power is everything.

With the revelations of Thanos’s rebellious activities, his maturation, and rebellion against his father (The Mentor), Thanos’s ensuing exile was not far from realization. When his father discovered Thanos conducting forbidden dark art experiments, he expelled Thanos from Titan – though not without a heavy heart. Fueled by his hatred for this slight, Thanos would begin to amass even more knowledge, skill, and power via mysticism, meditation, and bionics during his century-long isolation.

Eventually, having surpassed all other Eternals in power and strength, Thanos decided to return to Titan to display his newfound might. Thanos would not come home with the intentions his father had hoped for after his punishment. Instead of atonement, Thanos attacked the planet with nuclear weaponry while orbiting Titan. Thanos had miscalculated Titan’s defenses in his haste to sate his anger, which allowed some to escape the onslaught. However, only a handful of what was once thousands survived the invasion. As chance would have it, neither Thanos’s brother nor father were on Titan during the assault. To Thanos’s deep regret, though, his mother was not so fortunate, having stayed on Titan. In the aftermath, Thanos left the remains of Titan and returned to space, proving his devotion and worth to Death was all that mattered to him. During this time in the cosmos, Thanos conquered and pillaged many worlds, acquiring vast resources such as an assortment of followers, technology, weapons, and space-craft.

At this point, Kronos (father of Mentor and the Earth-based Eternals’ All-Father Zuras) sought to act out against Thanos’s previous actions and any future actions he might take. Mentor pleaded this cause to Kronos in the interest that they might prevent further tragedy. To that end, Kronos created Drax the Destroyer to ward away the ill, which Kronos knew to be the future for The Mad Titan. Drax was formed as an avatar for the Eternal. Into Drax, Kronos would imbue the singular mission of seeking out Thanos to stop his schemes. Setting out upon his task, Drax would meet The Mad Titan on a living planet distant from our star system. The two mighty beings met in an incredibly violent physical confrontation. The clash rendered the landscape asunder, and the planet was destroyed – with the two combatants alone to drift within the debris. However, the planetary explosion would render Drax incapacitated, allowing the still-conscious Thanos to easily capture the Destroyer.

After having dispatched Drax in such a fashion, Thanos made further plans for the stepping stones in his growing empire. Taking an interest in Earth, Thanos sent his henchmen, the Blood Brothers, to survey and deal with potential obstacles to his ambitions (one of which would become Iron Man). In the cosmic prison where Thanos had left him, Drax awoke to the coming danger of Thanos’s plans. He then would reach out telepathically, warning Iron Man of the threat nearing his planet and the history the Titan had for violence. Yet the message was too late, as the brothers apprehended Tony before he could receive the distress call from Drax.

The brothers would return Tony to Thanos’s staging grounds. During this time, Tony drew upon an escape plan and ambushed the Brothers in an unsuspecting moment. Though able to catch the Brothers off-guard, Thanos became aware of the scuffle and stepped in. Thanos would crush the metal gloves around Tony’s hands beneath his heel while Tony lay battered from a single Titan blow. However, Mentor had been monitoring events from Titan and fired unknown energy that reached Thanos, simultaneously saving Tony and setting Drax free. Thanos wasted no time deploying the brothers as a distraction while he began the self-destruct sequence and made his escape. After a fierce battle against the armored hordes of Thanos, the heroes then attacked the Titan himself. Yet to the heroes’ dismay, they had attacked a robot look-alike left to keep them occupied until the ensuing explosion, which would allow for the Titan’s full retreat. Witnessing this, Mentor was able to ward the heroes away before the blast reached critical mass. In the aftermath, Thanos’s fortress was destroyed, but his whereabouts were unknown.

True to his beginnings, Thanos ever seeks out the mysteries to power for personal use or as a ward from enemies seeking retribution. Yet even as Thanos continuously seeks power, he is forever-wed to his quest to be found worthy as Death’s cohort. He has succeeded on multiple occasions, but is consistently defeated by his enemies. Most often, though (as in the case of the Cosmic Cube, The Infinity Gauntlet, and lastly, in the story told in Marvel: The End), it is a result of a deep psychological construct. In critical moments during these events, Thanos provides a window to his enemies into his subconscious, revealing a belief that he does not deserve or even want the power he seeks. This has been most often presented by the personification of his foil, Adam Warlock, who maintains a prescient link to Thanos through their extended contact within the Soul Gem.

Creation

Thanos was created by Jim Starlin, and first appeared in Iron Man Vol.1 issue 55 (1973).

Originally conceived by Starlin as a cosmic scientist based on Jack Kirby’s Fourth World character Metron, the appearance and feel of Thanos was changed when Starlin was told: “If you are going to copy the New Gods, why not use the really cool one?”

Major Story Arcs

The Cosmic Cube

Thanos first appeared on the scene during Iron Man Vol 1 # 55, as a intergalactic tyrant with an unbridled lust for power and omnipotence, although its worth nothing that, he has been called near omnipotent without any amp from an enternal source during Iron Man Vl 1 # 90.

In this story arc Thanos has come to Earth in search of the cosmic cube. He is at this time the ruler of Titan and has an army of outcast from various planets recruited for his cause. He had also allied himself with the Blood Brothers as well as The Controller and few Skrull subordinates whom he turns into stone. The first hero shown fighting Thanos was Drax the Destroyer, who was defeated when their resulting fight lay waste to an un-named planet. He was next opposed by Iron Man and Drax, who manage to destroy him only to realize it was a robot and not Thanos himself.

He was next opposed by The Thing and Captain Marvel. Thing was knocked out with a mere flick of his finger while Captain Marvel was forcefully transformed into Rick Jones by Thanos. Thanos gets crucial information on locating the cosmic cube during Captain Marvel Vol 1 # 27, and finally gets the cube 2 issues after. He then uses the cube to imprison Mentor and Eros and he uses the same cube to slay his ally The Controller.

Thanos plans to give Earth as a gift to Lady Death. He teleports and has the Avengers helpless using the cosmic cube, show them he has an army and has already defeated Kronos, but a transformation from Mar-Vell to Rick Jones frees the Avengers. Thanos display of powers displaces the moon, and Thanos loses the cosmic cube. Without the cube, Thanos defeats Starfox, Iron Man, Destroyer, Captain Marvel and Moondragon then uses the cube to turn himself into God.

Thanos has become one with the universe but Destroyer continues to attack him. Captain Marvel has however found the cosmic cube but its empty because it has all been drained by Thanos. Thanos makes metal monster to fight Captain Marvel and Iron Man who stop fighting when Captain Marvel turns back to Rick Jones, who convinces Thanos to fight him without his godlike powers. Thanos agrees to fight Captain Marvel without his godlike powers and defeat with rather casually. Thanos is once against attacked by Destroyer who is easily repelled but Captain Marvel manages to find the cube, break it thereby depowering Thanos. Death is seen on panel laughing.

The Power Of Warlock

Adam Warlock’s future counterpart, the Magus has come to our reality to ensure that Adam Warlock does eventually become who he is meant to be, the evil Adam Magus who is later revealed to be the chooses champion of Life, created in order to defeat a champion of Death, who happens to be Thanos. Thanos appears inside Magus ship, while Adam Warlock and his consorts are trying to find a way to stop Magus to offer assistant. Before Adam Warlock can ask about the true nature of why Thanos is helping him they are swarmed by 25,000 Black Knights who Thanos, Adam Warlock and Gamora together defeat.

Thanos explains Warlock why he is helping him, namely because he needs to use his soul gem in the future, and he would much rather face against Warlock than his godlike counterpart Magus and shows his new equipment, “Knoweledge I” a time machine he created. Thanos and Warlock are then attacked, inside his ship, by Magus and his followers. Thanos eventually manipulates Adam Warlock into unleashing the power of his soul gem , thereby killing the whole Army. Thanos also explains how defeating Magus is the priority and that Thanos can deal with Magus as long as Warlock travel to his past and stop the creation of Magus.

Warlock using the time machine travel in his time line, before being turned into Magus to siphon off his soul thereby preventing that reality from ever being created. Thanos on the other hand if left fighting the god-like Magus. Magus is eventually defeated when Warlock completes his tasks and Magus simply fades out of existence. In doing so Thanos as apparently absorbed powers from Adam Warlock’s soul gem which he is going to use for his own ill purpose.

The Final Threat

This is a story that steam directly after Thanos’s involvement during Power Of Warlock story arc. He has now collected the energies from Warlock soul gem as well as gone on a crusade, off panel, collecting energies from various other infinity gem. He then merges these energies into a giant synthetic gem that gives him the power to destroy entire stars. He plans to use this ionic canon to destroy every stars in the universe.

Gamora learns of Thanos’ plans and goes to warn Warlock but while en route is killed by Thanos’ nemesis Drax the Destroyer. Around this time, Pip the Troll finds himself on Thanos’ doorstep and, believing Thanos to still be an ally, boards his ship in the hopes of receiving Thanos’ assistance in locating Warlock. Thanos seizes Pip and wipes his mind, leaving his near lifeless body for Warlock to find later on.

With the ship ready, Thanos goes about destroying stars in the universe , meanwhile Moondragon gives a telepathic summons for Avengers to help them stop Thanos. Avengers then face Thanos in Marvel Two In One Annual # 2, but they are quickly defeated thanks to Thanos ship and his army. Thanos has avengers helpless agains him. Thanos is then opposed by Thing and Spiderman, Thing does not last very long in a confrontation with Thanos, Spiderman however , guided by Lord Order and Master Chaos manages to find the control center of energy prision that is holding the Avengers and destroys it. This frees the Avengers , some of whom are stopped by Thanos lackey while Thing and Thor battle Thanos in a losing battle. Spiderman however manage to locate the Soul Gem, encased in a glass casing, breaks the glass thereby freeing the spirit of Adam Warlock, seething with the energies of the Soul Gem who turns Thanos into stone.

Thanos Legacy

After Drax discovers Thanos was turned into stone, he blames Captain Marvel and gets enraged, feeling that the sole purpose of his whole life has been spoiled by the Kree warrior. He finds him and they battle. Soon, ISAAC, Titan’s living computer, calls them onto Titan saying that a fleet of Thanos’ faithfuls is about to attack Titan in memory of their former leader. It is actually a trap since, before he died, Thanos had programmed ISAAC to carry on his masterplan. Soon Captain Marvel and Drax realize that ISAAC is actually their ennemy and that Thanos, through Isaac, used Titan’s life-baths in order to bring new servants to life like Chaos, Stellarax, Elysius or Lord Gaea. They decide to save Eros and Mentor whose lives are in danger and with the help of Elysius who decides to betray Isaac, they manage to set them free. Stellarax appears to be a traitor too, willing to conquer Earth and come back to conquer Titan and Isaac too.

After a giant battle, Captain Marvel nearly sacrifices himself and defeats Isaac after having saved Drax’s life. The latter then decides to stop being a destroyer and start creating. Thanos and his legacy are no longer a danger since his last plan was reduced to nothing. Thanos still had worshipers and some had even taken his stone body onto an altar and lived in the Sanctuary, praying for Thanos’ resurrection.

Death of Captain Marvel

When Captain Marvel goes into a coma, Thanos welcomes him in his own way, telling him that he has always been his greatest enemy, his nemesis and that his death has to be honorable. According to the Mad Titan, sickness is not a suitable way of dying for Mar-Vell. Thus, Thanos offers him one last majestic fight. Finally, Death appears and kisses Mar-Vell. Thanos invites him to take her hand and let her be his guide to the beginning of something else.

Return from Death

After spending nearly two and a half decades out of the Marvel Universe from the end of Marvel Two-In-One Annual # 2 Thanos was returned to life by mistress Death herself. She claimed she sensed a unbalance in the universe. The cosmic divide between life and death was changing at a problematic rate.Who better then to serve as an avatar for her whims than the son of Titan. She would ultimately task out her knight-errant to right this matter. With that before him, Thanos would set out to destroy half of the existing universe. His quest to ultimately acquire the means to do so would be told in the two part series: The Thanos Quest. En route to this end, Thanos quickly makes a new mortal enemies, most notably in the Silver Surfer in whose series he would make his re-entry into the Marvel landscape.

Quick on the heels of Thanos’ rebirth, Mentor and Chronos revive Drax the Destroyer as well to track and destroy him. This cosmic cycle involving the two mortal enemies would see play again in subsequent stories found in Annihilation – harking to the foundations for both characters in their first appearance in Iron Man.

Told in linear fashion but having occurred separately, Silver Surfer would battle Thanos shortly after his rebirth as the Titan sought out the means for acquiring the Infinity Gems. Surfer would then go on to seemingly defeat Thanos only to find it is in fact the body of Geatar, a loyal henchman of Nebula (Thanos’ supposed granddaughter), guised in the Titan’s attire. Thanos then allows himself to be thought dead for a time while he resumes his pursuit of the Infinity Gems.

The Thanos Quest & The Infinity Gauntlet

For the Dark Titan, Thanos, the Infinity Gauntlet was the Holy Grail, the ultimate prize to be coveted above all else. Although he had possessed the gems before, he admitted to not knowing how to properly use them. It was Thanos who began calling the sol gems the Infinity Gems.

With it came omnipotence: the absolute control of all aspects of time, space, power, reality, the mind, and the soul. The gaining of supreme might meant the beginning of a black nightmare for the entire universe. Now, on the edge of Armageddon and led by a mysterious Adam Warlock, Earth’s superheroes joined in a desperate attempt to thwart this nihilistic god’s insane plunge into galactic self-destruction. Should the heroes fail, the astral gods of the universe wait to step into the fray. But in such an awesome cosmic conflict will anyone prevail? Will anyone survive?

Each gem (Time, Space, Power, Soul, Mind, Reality) individually gives the user mastery over its dominion. Collectively, the wielder would possess the power to destroy and create universes and all beings in them. He crafted a scheme to collect the Infinity Gems from those who currently held them. Each owner of a gem was themselves an Elder of The Universe, a sole survivor of one of the first intelligent races since the Big Bang. Each had attained near immortality. The exception to this was the In-Betweener, who possessed the soul gem. In an awesome display of cunning, power, speed and manipulation he was able to gather the gems from the Elders of the Universe and place them on a gauntlet. This event was dubbed ‘ The Thanos Quest.’

Drax and the Silver Surfer together battle Thanos, who easily dispatches them; sticking them in Soul World where they encounter Warlock, Pip and Gamora and set into motion the events that will soon bring them back to life. Warlock helps the pair out of soul world. With the Infinity Gauntlet now his, Thanos announced his presence to the universe once more, recruited Mephisto as his servant and, in an attempt to impress and please his love, Lady Death, he wiped out half the life in the universe with a snap of his fingers. To further impress Death, Thanos kidnaps his brother Starfox and his barely alive so-called descendant Nebula and tortured them horrendously. This proved not to impress Death, and Thanos’ anger creates a devastating shock-wave across the universe. So to simultaneously soothe his ego and show up Death, Thanos creates new life in his image, his new lover Terraxia.

At this point, Adam Warlock gathers a strike force of the remaining superheroes of earth (and Doctor Doom) to take Thanos on, though he keeps himself and the Silver Surfer in reserve while sending Captain America and the rest under Cap’s command to their likely doom. Thanos massacres Warlock’s forces but is so distracted by his efforts to impress Death that Warlock’s true plan of having the Surfer swoop down and snatch the Infinity Gauntlet off Thanos’ hand nearly works. Woken up to his folly, Thanos wises up just in time for the next strike force, consisting entirely of cosmic entities attacks. Even the Great Powers of the Universe ( Eternity and sister Infinity, Lord Chaos and Master Order, Galactus, etc.) were unable to subdue him. Thanos’ power also surpassed Mistress Death, herself a supreme power of the universe, who turns on and attacks him at this stage.

It was not that combined efforts of the universe’s heroes that led to Thanos’ downfall, but his own hubris. Thanos once again uses his power to become one with the universe, leaving his physical form behind like he did while in control of the cosmic cube, and while he was insubstantial, Nebula grabbed the Gauntlet from him and reversed everything that he had done, killing Terraxia and returning the massacred heroes to life.

Warlock tells Thanos that because he was encased in the Soul Gem that he knows Thanos’ secrets, dreams and personality better than anyone, including Thanos himself. He tells Thanos that although he seeks ultimate power he feels he does not deserve it. This is why after three chances at godlike powers he has failed. Subconsciously, Thanos always supplied the means for his own defeat. He agrees to help the heroes retrieve the gauntlet from Nebula. After a new scuffle against Nebula, the Gauntlet is claimed by Adam Warlock.

Thanos, defeated, fakes his death once more and briefly continues to serve Death. Realizing he can never please her, he secludes himself to rest, farm and meditate on an unnamed planet. His costume is used as a scarecrow and he becomes a simple farmer, although he still dabbles in the affairs of the universe. At some point not too long from here, the Living Tribunal rules that the Infinity Gems must not be allowed to work together anymore, so Warlock is obligated to disperse them. Warlock forms the Infinity Watch, keeping the soul gem to himself but giving the others away to those he trusts (Pip, Gamora, Moondragon, Drax, and a secret unseen final person who is later revealed to be Thanos). Warlock giving Thanos the reality gem (by all means the most dangerous of them all) is never shown.

The Infinity War

Thanos has sensed a great energy in the universe and decides to leave his farm to investigate. He soon discovers the source – the Magus has returned and plans to rule the universe in his own evil way. Magus believes Thanos to be similar to himself, but after some time, Thanos has thought much and changed his priorities. He believes that neither of them are meant to possess such power. The Magus casts him from his dimension.

Thanos realizes he will acquire assistance in his efforts to stop Magus once again. He goes to Adam Warlock and the Infinity Watch to form an alliance. They traveled to Death’s realm and used the Infinity Well to learn how Magus came to be and what his plans were. They soon learned of the gathering of Earth’s heroes. Thanos realized this was no coincidence and Magus must have planned all of the events thus far.

The Magus leads them all to a dimension nearby his own, in hopes of them battling. He as lead Earth’s heroes to believe Thanos and Adam Warlock are behind everything. They battle but are interrupted by Galactus, and he uses a scan to read all of their thoughts. They soon realize they are on the same side. Warlock gathers the Infinity Gems together at Thanos’ request to use the power to stop the Magus. However the gems lose their power when brought together, the doing of the Living Tribunal. The Magus then abducts Warlock.

Thanos takes command against the wishes of Earth’s heroes. He tells them that only he can save them now. He gets the Ultimate Nullifier from Galactus’ Ship. He claims that he is not pure enough to use it and whoever does will be killed. He chooses Quasar to make the sacrifice to save the universe. He know fully understands Magus’ plans and deceptions and adjusts to them. But Quasar hesitates and the Magus is able to obtain the Infinity Gauntlet when it is re-powered by Eternity and the Living Tribunal.

Thanos knows he must know make his move. Captain America does not trust him and tells him they are coming too. Thanos tricks them into fighting a battle with the doppelgangers as opposed to sending them on a suicide run. He plans to face the Magus on his own.

He finds his own doppelganger, who plans to turn on the Magus. They battle each other and the true Thanos is the victor, despite his doppelgangers power advantage. It is here that Thanos overcomes his own self doubt and is able to absorb his power and knowledge to finally become whole again since the events of the Infinity Gauntlet. He stands and fights the Magus and manages to distract him long enough for Adam Warlock to break free of the Magus’ capture. Thanos had planned all along for the Magus to miss one important key – the Infinity Gauntlet had a fake Reality Gem, thus he was not omnipotent. Adam Warlock defeats the Magus but this puts him in a catatonic state.

Thanos parts ways with the Infinity Watch whose gems have been given back to them. Thanos is now a changed man, being instrumental in the defeat of Magus and saving the universe. At no point in time did Thanos attempt to take the power as his own. He returns to his farm and contemplates. He believes he is now able to handle the godly power he once could not, but does it truly want it anymore?

I , Thanos

There is a short story within Infinity War that runs through Marvel Comics Present 108-111 called I, Thanos. Thanos spirit gets abducted by Lady Death and his spirit gets pulled to Death’s Castle. There Thanos is opposed by Lady Death’s Legion of Doomed. Thanos fight and defeats the Legion of Doomed only to be confronted by Lady Death herself.

Lady Death explains Thanos why she hasnt fallen in love with him. Lady Death by virtue of being an abstract was always meant to stand alone and not be in anyone debt. Lady Death can however allows mortal beings to love her which is what she allowed Thanos but that was not enough for him. So Thanos sought to make himself Death’s equal by collecting Infinity Gauntlet, which did not make Thanos Death’s equal but rather her superior.

This also brought about one of the most unique experience in Death career, and that Lady Death now required saving, from Thanos. The savior appeared in form of Adam Warlock who ultimately was instrumental in Thanos defeat. Ever since that day Lady Death is haunted by the image of Adam Warlock her savior and this is one thing Lady Death wants to change. So Lady Death makes a very simple offer to Thanos, kill Adam Warlock and I will be yours forever.

Thanos is allowed to leave, he goes to where Infinity Watch as well as Adam Warlock are staying. Thanos contemplates killing Adam Warlock for the love of Lady Death, but knows well enough that killing Adam Warlock would mean that there would be no one to Death his dark self, Adam Magus and the universe is doomed. Thanos is left pondering if he is willing to sacrifice the universe for what he has always desired, the cold embrace of Lady Death. Thanos eventually decides not to kill Adam Warlock for the betterment of the Universe.

The Infinity Crusade

Thanos was once again on the side of good when the Magus good counterpart the Goddess threatened the universe. He was sought out by Adam Warlock this time, and Adam had a plan that put much trust in Thanos, who is revealed to be the final member of the Infinity Watch in possession of the Reality Gem. For information, they make a deal with Mephisto for important information regarding the Cosmic Cubes, and agree to give him just one of the cubes after the Goddess’ defeat. Warlock entrusts Thanos with the Soul Gem so Warlock may travel back to the Soul World and speak with the Magus.

Meanwhile, Thanos enlists the help of the Silver Surfer and after that, the remaining heroes of Earth. He creates a distraction with the Surfer and brings out one of his older weapons created for the destruction of the universe that he calls the Dreadnaught 666. He hopes his plans to stop the Goddess succeed and gets all the pieces into place. But he remains unsure of who the victors will be.

He fires the Dreadnaught into the planet and manages to reach the Goddess, cocooned in her Cosmic Egg. With the Soul Gem and the help of Professor X he attempts to penetrate her defenses. He fails and she completes her goal, destroying the entire universe. But this was merely an illusion created by Adam Warlock. He reveals that the Cosmic Egg is not omnipotent and he, Thanos and Professor X attack the Goddess on the spiritual plane. Adam Warlock infuses himself with the Cosmic Egg and makes her vulnerable. Thanos traps her inside of the Soul Gem. After her defeat, Thanos makes the molecular structure of the egg break down, destroying itself and the planet. He gives Mephisto his cosmic cube, but it does not have any power. He tells Mephisto that he should have specified a powered cube and that even devils should beware bargains with Thanos of Titan.

Struggle with Namor

Very little is known about this encounter with Namor that is addressed in Namor the Sub-Mariner #44. But evidently, at some point in the past, Thanos forcefully tore out the fins from his legs and cast him out into the ocean.

Blood and Thunder

Thor has seemingly gone mad because of Odin’s manipulating giving rise to a pseudo-warrior madness. After finding that Thor has obtained power gem and heroes seemingly helpless against him Thor is teleported into Thanos ship, Santuary II, by Pip The Troll. Thanos and Thor fight for a while, but after Thanos finds the fight un-interesting he grabs a prototype energy gun and encases Thor into an energy case which he will eventually break out of in 3 hours. Thor broken psychic has actually been given a physical manifest in form of a Valkarie, one that Thor seemingly loves. Dr. Strange, Moondragon and Thanos try to merge the Valkarie into Thor mind but are swept by Thor madness which they eventually overcome.

Not knowing how to cure Thor, he is taken to Asgard, who perceive them as a threat and they are opposed by the Asgardians first then Odin. Thanos and Odin manage to battle for quite a while, a battle that nearly destroyed Asgard. Odin is finally calmed down by Beta Ray Bill who eventually cures Thor. Thor states while he is in debt of Thanos, Asgard isnt for the likes of him and asks him to depart, Thanos happily departs saying he wouldn’t have it any-other way.

Secret Defenders

In a 3-issue arc in “Secret Defenders“, Thanos enlists a group of super-villains (Rhino, Titanium Man, Nitro, Super-Skrull and Geatar) to steal the Oracle of Ancient Knowledge, a storehouse of vast information.

Cosmic Powers

He begins to seek challenges worthy of his effort, only to find hollow victories. He manages to break the defenses of the Oracle of Ancient Knowledge and learns of Tyrant and his recent return. Intrigued by this opponent, he seeks more knowledge so he may face him. He first seeks out Terrax for information and is able to form a partnership with him. This begins the Cosmic Powers event. Together they kidnap Ganymede, for she has vast information on Tyrant, being one of his oldest foes. When she learns of Thanos’ plan to destroy Tyrant she agrees to help. They arrive at Tyrant’s Fortress and engage with Morg, who is controlled by Tyrant. After his defeat, Thanos slips away for his true goal and leaved the others to face Tyrant alone.

Thanos returns with Tyrant’s containment device which he uses to store energies, in this case Morg’s Power Cosmic. He battles with Tyrant one on one and proves that even someone at Galactus’ level is not above the power of Thanos. After battling and being able to exchange blows with someone as powerful as Tyrant, Thanos is now satisfied that he has withstood such a battle and escapes with his prize, claiming himself the victor.

Cosmic Powers Unlimited

Death soon set her sights on a new consort, one who was responsible for the deaths of billions – the Silver Surfer. He resisted her attempts to capture him and went to the only person he could think of that might be able to explain this: Thanos. Thanos agreed to help the Surfer but as soon as his back was turned, Thanos attacked and swiftly defeated the Surfer, beating him to near death.

He brought the Surfer to Death’s realm and offered him as a gift to do with as she pleased. The catch: Thanos and his undying love was to be her consort. This angered Death and she refused him, which in turn angered Thanos. He set the Surfer free and they worked together to fight off Death’s minions. Infuriated, Death tells Thanos that he is barred from her realm and shall never die and be by her side.

Furious, Thanos returns to his ‘farm’ hideaway and uses the reality gem that Warlock had entrusted him with for the first and only time. He planned to create a universe in which Lady Death was in love with him as much as he loved her. He brought Captain Marvel back to life to discuss his plan. In the end, Mar-Vell told him that it would be a dangerous move and that Thanos had not truly planned to create this universe anyway, or he would not have brought Mar-Vell there for advice. Thanos agrees and returns Mar-Vell back to the dead. Their spat was short lived as Thanos had to come to his love’s side in order to protect her from another death god known as the Walker. She had ‘cheated’ on Thanos with him but then spurned him as she had Thanos so many times. Walker planned to kill her, so Thanos formed an alliance with Thor and Captain Marvel in order to defeat Walker. Meanwhile, Death hid in plain site inside of Marlo Jones.

Captain Marvel, Volume 3 and 4

There are many details revealed in this series that are hard to find detail on, seemingly because there were few issues that were meant to be printed but never saw the light of day.

At some point (described but never played out), Thanos teamed up with Baron Karza to destroy all subatomic realities, including the Microverse. The defenders of Homeworld, including the Micronauts, teamed up with the X-Men and stopped the sinister plan, but a massive release of energy caused all subatomic universes to fuse into a single universe. This even was meant to be printed in detail, in marvel one shot: Small X-Pectation which never saw the light of day. We also see that at some point in time, Genis met Thanos and Grandmaster in a place called “Glib’s Grog and Grub” where they played a high stake poker game where the winner gets to enter the realm of Lady Death and bring someone back. Genis won, who wanted to bring back Zoog’s mother but found his own mother there and hence made a deal with Thanos to bring them both back.

Thanos led the Walker to Purgatory so Death would be safe from, well death. But Walker proved to be extremely powerful in this realm and used Rick Jones to torture Death, who had stronger human emotions in her host. What he didn’t plan on was that she would attack him with those powerful human emotions. Death freed the souls inside of him to leave him in eternal agony.

Infinity Abyss

When a meteor struck Thanos’ compound, it released five Thanosi – experiments Thanos had made to test his enemies’ abilities that were deemed failed experiments. They were made using genetic, cybernetic and mystic properties but were all deemed inefficient and dangerous. Thanos knew that this event was set into motion by someone, but couldn’t conclude who since no one but himself knew of the experiments. While searching out answers, he fell into a trap and was nearly destroyed in a bomb resulting in a black hole.

Thanos returned home to regroup and recover and was soon met by his old ward Gamora. Following her was one of the Thanosi known as Armour, created to test Iron Man’s abilities. Before it destroyed Gamora, Thanos intervened and destroyed him. In order to combat the remaining Thanosi, including one called the Omega with the DNA of Galactus and twice as powerful as the original, Thanos became allied with Adam Warlock, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange, who were all already in battle with Thanos’ creations.

Thanos had Moondragon link their minds so that they all knew the others experiences. With the information, Thanos learned that the being known as Altez was dying, and if he were to die then so would all of reality, which is exactly who the Thanosi were attempting to kill. Unable to defeat the incredibly powerful Omega, Thanos formed an elaborate plan to throw the Omega off balance with his allies followed by a hasty retreat. It was revealed that Thanos had selected the location of the battle on a particularly volatile and explosive type of planet. Thanos used an armada of remote controlled ships to detonate the planet Omega was on and the resulting explosion destroyed his most horrific creation.

Epiphany and Redemption

After some soul searching, Thanos realizes he has been a pawn of circumstance. Admitting that he had no reason to be so monstrous, he tried his hand at using his powers for good. His first act was to go to New Rigel-3, to try to reconcile with the Rigellians for destroying the original Rigel-3. After helping them with their technology, he was soon asked to help with a problem on one of their other colonized world. But they had a very big problem – Galactus. After some investigation, Thanos learned that Galactus was being fooled and used by an outside source. Galactus had collected the Infinity Gems and made a device he believed would feed him forever. Despite Thanos’ efforts, he was unable to stop Galactus from turning on the device. Doing so allowed a being known as The Hunger to enter their universe, and it planned to consume all of their reality. But even with the unknown, Thanos was prepared. With the help of Pip, Thanos orchestrated the defeat of the Hunger. Thanos was able to save all life itself from the entity.

After this, he would journey out as a pilgrim to the Kyln / Crunch, the mysterious and ancient prison colony at the far edge of the universe that would later factor into Annihilation, on a pilgrimage. It was here that Death appeared before him and finally spoke to him. Thanos claimed to no longer serve her and that he had given her so much with nothing in return. Death told Thanos that she requires more than just death and she had always loved him. Although he did not say anything back to her, this greatly pleased him. At the Kyln, Thanos would encounter Skreet and take her on as his companion, and he would go on to battle the imprisoned Kosmos, and to find and brainwash Galactus’ first herald, The Fallen One, into doing his bidding.

Annihilation

Annihilus, ruler of the Negative Zone, has gathered his forces and has invaded the Positive Zone. His army have proven to be unstoppable, and resistance has been squelched at every turn. Terrifyingly and inexplicably, Thanos has offered his services to Annihilus to be one of his Generals. Thanos assisted Annihilus by helping to organize the capture of Galactus. With Galactus and the Silver Surfer in stasis, Thanos was able to develop technology to use Galactus to harvest cosmic energy to be stored and inevitably turning Galactus into a living weapon capable of destroying entire planets.

Moondragon (who was captured by Thanos) revealed to Thanos that Annihilus planned to use the Galactus weapon to destroy all life in both the positive and negative zones (and Annihilus’ true feelings about Thanos), he decided to show Annihilus who he was dealing with by setting Galactus and his herald free (and quickly teleporting away as to avoid the wrath of Galactus). Thanos then revealed to Moondragon that his only reason for joining Annihilus’ cause was to see how it would tip the scales, and that he had no real interest in Annihilus’ goals. Thanos also revealed that he had built in a fail-safe configured to his own power level so that he and only he could rescue Galactus and the Surfer from their stasis. Before he was able to finish keying in the release sequence, he was killed by Drax the Destroyer with his heart being ripped out from behind. To this Thanos appeared to have more curiosity or annoyance for than fear or anger, and with his dying breath saw Death in the ship with him. Thanos appeared with Death in space to witness the final battle and death of Annihilus.

Adam Warlock came across Thanos’ body. Warlock had long understood that Thanos was an important part in Warlock’s existence, helping to contain and combat Adam’s evil side – the Magus. He encased Thanos in a cocoon This cocoon was found by the Universal Church of Truth and they believed it to be Warlock, their messiah.

The Thanos Imperative

The Universal Church of Truth had long possessed a cocoon in which they believed Adam Warlock was inside. The cocoon recently hatched with the assistance of Phyla, the current Avatar of Death. Being tricked by Maelstrom into believing she was releasing Adam, Thanos is released to take his old position……and that meant taking it from Phyla.

Seemingly even more invincible than ever, Thanos destroys all life on Sacrosanct while the Magus and the Church officials flee. The Guardians of the Galaxy reunite to try to stop him, but he is far too powerful and has mental blocks too strong for even the combined efforts of Mantis, Moondragon and Cosmo. Starlord uses the Cosmic Cube to release the blocks, and Thanos claims that for bringing him back to life – everything will die. The telepaths are able to put him in a comatose state briefly and contain him on Knowhere.

When the Magus detonates several planets and opens the Fault further, releasing the horrible life of the Cancerverse into the universe, the Guardians soon realize that they need Thanos to help them. Since the Cancerverse has no death, they assume that Thanos, the Avatar of Death, may be able to change things in the Cancerverse. But upon their arrival, Thanos falls ill and weak, the lack of death seemingly harming him deeply.

Thanos finally began to focus and grew stronger by the moment. The evil Defenders of the Realm were frightened by his presence even though they had just proven to be unkillable after a fight with the Guardians. Their fear was for good reason – Thanos was able to bring death to them in their own universe, a place where they should be unable to die.

Vision later arrives and brings them to the planet Titan where the other sentient robots base their alliance against the consumption of their universe. While there, Thanos discovers that the Lord Mar-Vell of this universe survived the cancer that killed the Captain Marvel of his by performing a ritual that sacrificed the Avatar of Death and turned all the heroes into energy and absorbed it. This is the event that enabled Death’s destruction, which became known as the Necropsy. Thanos believes that he is once again trying to accomplish this in his own Universe, which is why they need him, the Avatar of Death, to sacrifice. Unable to contain his hatred any longer, Drax then attacks Thanos and sticks a bomb onto him in an attempt to fulfill his life’s purpose yet again.

Although nearly vaporized and reduced to a skeleton, Thanos began regenerating in an excruciatingly painful manner. He had been barred from Death’s realm once again, forced to go through the punishment of life to protect his love from the inhabitants of the Cancerverse. Drax immediately attacked Thanos again, but after his agony and the realization that he was once again separated from Death, he destroyed Drax with a devastating attack.

The attack on Drax leads Lord Mar-Vell and his Revengers straight to Thanos and the Guardians of the Galaxy. They manage to defeat them for the time being with the help of the Scarlet Witch of the Cancerverse. Apparently Wanda had been part of the resistance the whole time, which is explained by Vision as he is lying near death on the ground. Thanos informs Wanda that he must reach the site of which the first Necropsy was performed. Wanda then teleports Thanos along with the Guardians to the site of the Necropsy Ritual. While Thanos begins to formulate a plan, Lord Mar-vell and the Revengers appear. Thanos goes head on with Mar-Vell instantly, proving to be far more than a match for him. But instead of killing him, Thanos releases him from his grasp. Thanos states that he wants Mar-vell to give him what he craves, which is death and the release of Oblivion. Thanos bows before him and says “I will give you everything you want in return…My undying Lord”.

When Lord Mar-Vell begins the ceremonial sacrifice of Thanos, Death appears, but does not take Thanos. She would not be cheated again. Mar-Vell realizes that Thanos tricked him into letting Death into the Cancerverse. Her presence begins to kill the universe itself. Death kills Mar-Vell in one shot. Thanos wishes to return with his love to her realm, but she spurns him once again and leaves him to live. Angrier than ever and now a massive threat to the universe, Nova and Starlord remain to hold off Thanos long enough for the Cancerverse to collapse on him, apparently sacrificing themselves and taking Thanos with them.

Avengers Assemble

Thanos appears as the main villain in the arc Avengers Assemble. Returning from the Cancerverse via means unknown, he seeks to conquer earth. Obtaining the cosmic cube and merging with it, he seemingly kills several members of the Elders of the Universe and the In-Betweener, before the defeating the Avengers. However, they find out that the Elders where not killed, but instead transported the Cancerverse. The Avengers and the Elders deactivate the cube, and together they defeat the Mad Titan. Thanos is then taken into custody by the Elders of the Universe.

Thanos Rising

In Thanos Rising, Thanos goes back to his home world “Titan” to remember his past… The story starts with A’Lars and Sui-San giving birth to a baby boy named Thanos. The doctors were shocked on how Thanos looked different and was deformed, so they told A’Lars that they would run every test possible for baby Thanos, but surprisingly, A’Lars saw nothing wrong with his son and was proud he had such a strong son! A’Lars then went to show Sui-San the baby she gave birth to but when Sui-San saw Thanos she was not so proud, and in fact, she tried killing him, thankfully, A’Lars had her sedated before she could harm their son! Years went by and Thanos grew up a normal kid, even due to his mutation he was accepted by his fellow classmates, even to his own shock…. Soon he met this mysteriously girl he went to school with after he got sick from having to dissect some lizards, she told him that if he wants to be a great scientist one day that he will have to dissect them, and then she told him about a special cave that she goes to when she needs time to think…. So Thanos took some of his friends along with him to this “special cave”, but it turned out not to be so special after all; he and his friends got stuck inside the cave after it collapsed on them. After 3 days of digging he finally seen his friends were dead and being eaten by the same lizard creature’s he was suppose to dissect… That was when some thing inside Thanos snapped, and the mysterious girl told him that he should get revenge on the lizards who ate his friends, and so, he did! Soon Thanos became the most smartest student in his school and he started experimenting on other animals, and from there he started experimenting on the people of his home world, Titan! He was trying to find out why he looked the way he did and what went wrong when he was born. The mysterious girl was always there to cheer Thanos on when he killed his own people and experimented on them, soon Thanos began to develop a crush on the girl but she would refuse him… When Thanos became a teen he killed more and more people and it was not enough and he even tried to stop when his love interest kept telling him to keep killing and that she knew he loved it deep down….. Soon Thanos killed his own mother and told her that he knew she was the one who tried killing him when he was a baby…. Thanos decided to leave Titan and travel from planet to planet marrying and having children until he met some pirates and became a member of the space pirates, but the leader would call Thanos weak because Thanos would not kill anyone, so then the leader made Thanos fight him and then Thanos killed him and took over the pirates! Soon, Thanos went back to Titan and when he barley got back the mysterious (now woman) went to Thanos right away to Thanos surprise! He wanted her to be his wife and told her he married and had children thinking it would fill the void of not having her! She told Thanos that he had to kill all his wives and children if he wanted to be hers, so Thanos did, he went from planet to planet wiping out the planets…. On one of the planets a survivor tried killing Thanos, saying, “You took everything away from me” and Thanos had told him that it was not personal and Thanos told him that he did what he had to for love! The man questioned how killing was out of love, so Thanos told the man to ask his lover if he killed enough and that only she could put an end to the raiding of planets. The man went inside Thano’s ship only to see a dead body on Thanos’s bed, and he ran out and told Thanos there was no one to talk because the woman was dead, but before he could explain everything he saw Thanos killed the man! Later on Thanos begged his lover to be with him, but she kept refusing him until finally Thanos told his men to lock her up until she would be his, but Thanos’s men looked confused and told him there was no one there… That was when the mysterious woman revealed she was death (Mistress Death)! She showed her true form to Thanos, and Thanos shot some of her face off but only to be mocked by her, and her calling him stupid and telling him that he was a fool so Thanos tried killing himself but he did not have it in him to do so. Death told Thanos he had one more place to raid and she would be his and that place was Titan! Finally Thanos gave in and gave the order to kill everyone on Titan… Thanos came face to face with his father who was begging him to stop this madness, and Mistress Death played with Thanos’s mind, making it seem like his father did not love him and that all along this was Thanos’s destiny. She told Thanos to kill his father but Thanos told her that he wanted his father to witness him and her being married, after hearing Thanos’s words his father showed that there was nobody in the room but them two! Soon Thanos left and without killing his father! Mistress Death finally kissed Thanos and told him they have worlds to destroy, and all Thanos could think about was how cold her kiss was….. Then the story goes back to the present day where Thanos was over his mom’s grave remembering all of what happened, and Mistress Death came to him again but Thanos ignored her and kept walking… The story ends with her calling out his name “Thanos, Thanos, talk to me”

Infinity

Thanos once again returns as a massive threat during the Infinity event, forming a group of lieutenants known as the Cull Obsidian to do his evil bidding. He began requiring races across the universe to pledge allegiance to him. As tribute, they must give the heads of all their children ages 16 to 22. Thanos is seeking the death of his son, as he was long ago requested to kill all of his mistresses and children by Death.

Thanos himself went to receive the tribute he had demanded from the Inhumans. When Black Bolt refused, he destroyed Attilan and detonated the Terrigen Bomb, exposing all Inhumans on Earth to the Terrigen Mists. Thanos defeated Black Bolt and set his plans to destroying the Earth with the help of the Illuminati’s world destroying bombs they had designed to stop Universal Incursions.

His son Thane was delivered to Thanos by Ebony Maw, but Thanos had not killed him by the time the Avengers arrived. What Thanos did not know was that Thane was indeed his fathers son, having received the powers of death from the Terrigen Bomb. While Thanos and the Cull Obsidian fought the Avengers, Ebony Maw released Thane who encased Thanos in a state of ‘living death.’ Thanos and the others were subsequently interred in the Illuminati‘s headquarters in Wakanda, held alongside Black Swan and Terrax.

Time Runs Out

He is later freed by Maximus the Mad and joins Namor‘s Cabal. The group destroys multiple worlds in order to prevent further incursions, but Namor quickly grows disturbed by the lust for murder that Thanos displays.

Along with the rest of the Cabal, Thanos later ends up on Battleworld after the destruction of the Multiverse. While there, Thanos attempts to lead an insurrection against God Doom, but is easily overpowered and killed by him.

His disembodied soul is later trapped outside the universe when it is reformed, causing him great anguish. He is eventually able to return to the known universe after following a hole made by Galactus.

Civil War II

Now free to return to the living world, Thanos hijacks an alien space ship and heads to Earth. He intends to steal the Cosmic Cube from Project Pegasus, but the new Inhuman boy Ulysses is able to predict his actions. Captain Marvel hastily marshals a squadron of Avengers to meet Thanos and detain him, but the fight goes bad. Thanos lashes out and attempts to escape, killing War Machine and severely injuring She-Hulk in the process. He is overpowered and taken into custody.

While imprisoned in the Triskelion, he manipulates Conner Sims in order to facilitate his escape. He battles the Ultimates, but is eventually overpowered and defeated once again.

Thanos later recovers and heads to his former stronghold on the Black Quadrant, which has been taken over by Corvus Glaive, one of his former lieutenants. He defeats Corvus and forces him to commit suicide, reasserting his control over the facility.

Hammer of the Gods

Around this time, Thanos is approached by a mysterious hooded woman, who proposes an alliance. Thanos demands tribute in the form of the Mjolnir from the Ultimate universe, which has now landed in the mainstream Marvel universe after the destruction of Battleworld. The mysterious woman attempts to retrieve it from the Collector, but is thwarted by Thor and Beta Ray Bill.

When the woman returns to the Black Quadrant without the hammer, Thanos is infuriated. The woman then demonstrates her power by killing both Proxima Midnight and Black Swan, before removing her disguise to reveal herself as Hela, the Asgardian goddess of death. Hela tells Thanos that she needs his help to reclaim her former throne in Hel, which she lost after being bested by Angela. Thanos scoffs at this suggestion, asking why he should give her anything when she failed him. In response, Hela tells him that she can finally give him the death he has been searching for his entire life, and kisses him in a passionate embrace.

Powers & Abilities

Being an Eternal, Thanos has superhuman strength, endurance, reflexes and agility. He is nearly invulnerable, able to endure extreme heat, cold, energies, radiation, and poisons. Due to his genetic heritage, Thanos is immune to aging and disease. Being one of Mentor‘s oldest children, Thanos’ birth is estimated to the around 4000 B.C. Thanos could survive indefinitely without food or water even before Death “cursed” him with immortality. After Death resurrected Thanos, she increased all of his abilities, giving him even greater resilience and energy manipulating abilities. He is exceedingly powerful, tiered with individuals like Odin. Thanos’ powers have increased to unknown levels, but it’s a massive upgrade from his previous form.

Superhuman Strength

Thanos amplified his own abilities during his early life, prior to his published appearances. His physical attributes are considered exponentially superior to those of other Eternals. He is one of the strongest beings in the universe, being able to lift far in excess of 100 tons without any effort, and has destroyed entire planets with the simple force of his blows. His strength has enabled him to challenge and defeat several of the absolute strongest beings in the universe. He physically subdued the likes of Beta Ray Bill, Namor, the Thing and Lord Mar-Vell, and beat the Silver Surfer within an inch of his life, and has proven capable of fighting Thor even when he had the Power Gem. An attacking Hulk was sent away with a single blow from Thanos, and Thanos has easily defeated Ronan the Accuser as well as ripping the Accuser’s Universal Weapon apart with his bare hands.

Invulnerability

Thanos possesses remarkable resilience and durability and has brushed off physical attacks from traditional powerhouses such as Thor, the Thing, Drax and Ronan. He was even able to trade blows with a maddened Thor in possession of the Power Gem with only a bloody nose, and was enjoying the fight, until he froze the Thunder God in a block of pure energy, using an experimental weapon. Perhaps what is even more impressive is Thanos’ durability to Energy based attacks. Thor hit him with 2 massive lightning strikes and seemed unaffected during Infinity. He has taken a full power blast from the Silver Surfer without so much as flinching, and seemed unaffected by Odin’s blasts until the latter called on his enchanted spear to amplify his power. Even after that, Thanos was not defeated, although Odin had the upper-hand in the battle. He has survived attacks from top tier abstracts, including Kosmos, Omega, and even Galactus, although with the latter two, this was done with the aid of his personal shields. He is even highly resistant to reality and matter manipulation as shown in his travels during the Thanos Quest in Nexus of reality. He also has withstood screams from Black Bolt at point blank range with only little damage.

Energy and Matter Manipulation

Through meditation and certain mystical techniques, Thanos augmented his power in still other ways, enabling him to tap, transform, and direct vast quantities of cosmic energy for destructive force. He can emit blasts of plasma and cosmic energy of devastating power from his eyes and hands. A example of this was blasting a well fed Galactus with such force, he sent him flying out of his own ship and flying halfway across a planet- though Galactus didn’t sustain injury. Thanos has also destroyed his son Rot, in a blast so powerful it made the universe scream. His energy blasts have also been able to effortlessly KO the Thing and considerably hurt Thor. He was able to damage fully an enraged Hulk with his energy attacks that he almost knocked him out and Hulk needed time to recover even with his powerful healing factor. Thanos is also able to manipulate matter and other energies to his own purposes, such as in shields which are not tied to his technology. More interestingly, he was able to rearrange the Fallen One’s brain on the atomic level to lobotomize and mind control him, as well as heal Moondragon of a supposedly fatal disease just by touching her.

Force Field Creation

Thanos is capable of creating force fields around himself or other objects or beings. Although he usually does this with the use of tech he proved to be capable of doing that on his own. Those force fields are so durable that they were capable of easily taking a blow from enraged Hulk and hold of Champion for a time (who at the time was wielding power gem). Thanos can use his superhuman reflexes to trap beings or objects travelling at high speeds. He was capable of stopping Mjolnir in a force field thrown at him by Thor and was also able to stop Beta Ray Bill’s hammer Stormbreaker.

Telepathy

Thanso has powerful Psionic Abilities. He has proven to be even more powerful than Moondragon and has even entered into the mind of Galactus and battled him astrally. He can project psionic blasts and travel to the astral plane, as well as read the minds of various individuals including, but not included to Gamora. His telepathic abilities has allowed him to defeat Drax using a Sync-Time-Warp attack. According to Thanos, the attack had been 100 percent fatal until Drax resisted it, but was incapacitated by it. He has also been able to lobotomize powerful individuals, such as the Fallen One with ease, and recently mind controlled the Hulk. This feat is made more impressive due to the fact that the Hulk has high resistance to telepathic attacks because of his anger. Thanos’s mind is also invulnerable to most forms of psychic attacks.

Teleportation

Like other Eternals, Thanos has the natural ability to teleport himself and others, and can also do so through the use of technology. For example, he banished Champion after the latter confronted Thanos about taking his power gem. His use of Tech may be due to the fact that Eternals find the process uncomfortable and it drains their power temporarily. However, given Thanos’ power and durability, he may use Tech to teleport out of habit, rather than necessity.

Immortality

When Death resurrect Thanos, he was banished from her dimension. Thus, he became immortal, meaning that he cannot die by any means and has even been shown to regenerate from a skeleton.

However, Thanos seemed to be written below levels shown in The Thanos Imperative. During the Avengers Assemble arc, he opted to have the Hulk fight the Avengers instead of doing it himself. He also was warped against his own wishes by a man made cosmic cube, and afterwards quickly defeated by a large group of Avengers, among which Groot and Captain America were able to hurt him. However, considering his showings against The Annihilators, Ego and The Avengers recently, this could be panned to simply inconsistent writing.

Superhuman Intellect

Thanos was born with superhuman intelligence and has spent much of his life acquiring knowledge. While in the service of Death, he spent a great deal of time gazing into the Infinity Well and learning “secrets” of the galaxy. Aside from the Watchers, he is, perhaps, the most knowledgeable being in the known universe. Thanos’ brilliance has allowed him to develop some of most advanced technology in the universe. Silver Surfer himself stated that Thanos’ technology would strain Galactus’ intellect, who himself had Reed Richards baffled by his Technology. He’s erected force fields that Galactus has drained himself in piercing them. They were even able to protect him from Omega, a being stated to be twice as powerful as Galactus. He has also created bombs powerful enough to kill Hunger, a powerful cosmic that threatened the Universe and greatly weaken Galactus.

Thanos has also trained Gamora, helping her to become one of the universe’s most feared assassins. While Gamora’s training predates meeting Thanos, she has been given numerous upgrades by him, including Class 70 strength and a near indestrutible skeleton. He trained by her to assassinate Adam Warlock, though she didn’t complete the task.

Personal Data

Note: His name Thanos probably comes from θάνατος (thanatos), the Ancient Greek word for death.

Characteristics

• Height: 6’7″
• Weight: 985 lbs.
• Eye Color: Red
• Hair Color: None
• Skin: Grey-purple
• Unusual Features: Furrowed chin

Status

• Place of Birth: Eternal colony, Titan (moon of Saturn)
• Citizenship: Titan; Dynamo City
• Education: Combination of formal Titanian education and self-teaching
• Occupation: Conqueror, worshiper of Death; former pirate, knowledge seeker, destroyer, nihilist, god, King of Titan
• Known Relatives: A’lars (Mentor, father), Eros (Starfox, brother), Sui-San (mother, deceased), Uranos (great-uncle), Kronos (paternal grandfather), Daina (paternal grandmother), Zuras (uncle), Cybele (aunt), Thena (cousin), Sersi (cousin), Gamora (foster daughter), Thane (Son), Nebula (alleged grand-daughter), Zorr (alleged son or son-in-law), Rot (offspring, deceased)

Character Appearances

Ongoing Series

• 1973-1974: Captain Marvel Vol. 1 #26-33
• 1989, 1991-1994: Quasar #2, 19, 24, 26, 30, 31, 38-40, 42, 59
• 1990, 1991, 1993-1995: Silver Surfer Vol. 3 #34-38, 40, 41, 44-50, 52, 55-57, 59, 83, 84, 88, 92, 98, 111
• 1991-1993, 1998: What If…? Vol. 2 #22, 34, 42, 49, 104, 112
• 1992-1995: Warlock and the Infinity Watch #1, 4, 7-12, 19, 20, 25, 40-42
• 2000-2001: Captain Marvel Vol. 3 #6, 11, 14, 17-19
• 2000: Thor Vol. 2 #20-25
• 2003-2004: Thanos Vol. 1 #1-12
• 2006-2008: Ultimate Fantastic Four #35-38, 50-53
• 2013-2015: New Avengers Vol. 3 #3, 9-12, 15, 19, 23, 24, 26
• 2016: Ultimates Vol. 1 #5, 7-12
• 2017-2018: Thanos Vol. 2 #1-18
• 2021-2022: Eternals Vol. 5 #1, 2, 4-12

Miniseries

• 1994: Cosmic Powers Vol. 1 #1-6
• 2003: Marvel Universe: The End #1-6

Maxiseries

Event Series

• 1991: The Infinity Gauntlet #1-6
• 1992: The Infinity War #1-6
• 2006-2007: Annihilation #1-6

One-Shots

Alternate Universes

Earth X

In the Earth X universe he was dead and in love with Death just as he was in the main universe. He wanted nothing to do with helping the people in the Realm of the Dead realize they were actually dead.

He was at Death’s side all the way. When the revelation that Death was nothing Thanos took the Ultimate Nullifier that Marvel gave him and used it on Death killing her.

Universe X

In the Universe X series, Marvel revealed death was not Thano’s mother, his mother was a skrull. When Thanos now knows the truth, he killed death, himself.

Ultimate

In the Ultimate Universe, Thanos convinces Mr. Fantastic to create the Cosmic Cube.

Marvel Zombies

In the Earth-2149 universe, Thanos is one of the super beings that becomes infected by the virus. He succumbs to the need for food after he is bitten by one of the cosmic zombies, who were on a quest to search for food. As they search for food, they meet Thanos the Mad Titan and attempt to eat him. Thanos, with his divine power, tries to defend himself. But because of the cosmic power that the zombies and gained, they were successful in biting him and not consuming him. Thanos then joins the zombies on their quest for food and aids the zombies. However, as they feast on newly acquired food, he has a dispute with the cosmic zombie Hulk for food, and they fight each other. Due to Hulk’s immense strength, durability, and Power Cosmic, Thanos is easily defeated by Hulk and killed in the process.

Heart of the Infinite (Marvel Universe: The End)

When Thanos learns of an immensely powerful artifact called the Heart of the Universe (or Heart of the Infinite). He immediately sets off to find the object. This powerful device was able to bestow powers surpassing the Living Tribunal. Thanos discovers that the device is on board Akhenaten’s ship and attempts to take it from him. Akhenaten uses his cosmic powers and easily defeats all of the gods. Thanos and a group of superhumans successfully earned the Cosmic Order’s trust and gave them access to the device’s energies. Thanos eventually steals the device and uses it to conquer the entire universe and tried to earn Death’s heart. The cosmic gods eventually battled Thanos but were easily defeated because of the device’s power. Thanos soon discovers that the universe was about to die and that there was nothing he could do about it. Adam Warlock appears and tells Thanos the only way to stop the universe from dying is to sacrifice Thanos’s own life. Thanos accepts his sacrifice and prevented the universe from dying.

Amalgam Comics

In Amalgam Comics, where characters from both Marvel and DC are fused together, Thanos is fused with Darkseid to become Thanoseid.

Quasar #30

While travelling myriad of realities in order to capture Living Laser upon Watcher’s request Quasar comes across one reality were he sees Thanos and Malestorm, both of whom have turned themselves into god fighting each other. Quasar ponders if in this reality Quasar never stopped Malestorm from creating a giant black hole that destroyed the universe empowering Malestorm with power to drawf abstracts, but cant fathom how Thanos became so powerful.

One possible explanation is shown earlier in Quasar #24 where Malestrom appears before Thanos who has now gained the Infinity Gauntlet and they have few exchange of words. Perhaps this was Thanos who had gained infinity gauntlet of that reality, although we dont actually see any infinity gem on Thanos glove on panel.

What If…?, Vol. 2 #34

In this reality, Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet was opposed by Galactus. But instead of imprisoning Galactus alongside an assemblage of abstracts as we see Thanos do during the Infinity Gauntlet (Earth-616) story arc, he turns Galactus into a human.

Cyberspace 3000

In this reality, Thanos turned a group of people praying to Thanos into stone.

Silver Surfer/Green Lantern: Unholy Alliance

Seeing a rift between two universes, Thanos sends Terrax to see what he can find. He is then opposed by Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern. Thanos shows up and easily defeats Terrax, but explains to Kyle that their respective universes face a dire threat in Hal Jordan (Parallax). Kyle agrees and allows Thanos to use Kyle’s lantern ring to allow him to absorb the entirety of energy from OA turning himself into God.

Meanwhile, Hal Jordan (Parallax) has done something similar. He has used the Silver Surfer as a conduit to absorb the cosmic powers of their universe and now has become a god himself.

Parallax wants to re-create the universe with his godly powers, while Thanos wants to destroy everything. Thanos and Parallax fight in what seems to be an even battle, before the Silver Surfer asks Kyle to absorb both their energies; and by doing so, reseal the portal which allows the universe to right itself. This sends Thanos and the Silver Surfer back to their Marvel Universe, and Kyle and Hal into their proper universe.

Marvel VS. DC

In this reality, two massively powerful entities called the Brothers have merged both Marvel and DC actualities. Darkseid and Thanos want to fight each other, but that never happens. Thanos is attacked by Wolverine and Lobo, who don’t fair any better against him; although Wolverine manages to wound Thanos. Other DC heroes such as Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman oppose him, but aren’t doing any better either. The fight is interrupted when everyone stops to watch the two beings of immense powers, the Brothers, merging realities while Spectre and the Living Tribunal are helpless to stop them. Thanos is seen on panel smiling and saying – “It is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen”.

Captain Marvel, Vol. 3 #11

Captain Marvel comes face-to-face with an alternate-reality Thanos, who in this reality happens to be Adam Magus rather than the giant purple Thanos we all know.

Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers

In this reality Thanos is looking for the infinity gem which happens to be in the possession of Lockjaw and the pet Avengers. Thanos shows up looking for the gem and starts fighting the pet avengers who find themselves outmatched. Lockjaw eventually pulls a hero move when he gets all the infinity gem, and uses them to banish Thanos to a different dimension.

Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet

In this reality Thanos has gained the infinity gauntlet and uses that to kill half the population of the universe. He is opposed by Avengers and Dr. Doom, who are easily defeated but a flying truck helps them escape. In the confusion Thanos drops the Infinity Gauntlet which is claimed by Dr. Doom but he cant gain any of the powers because its a Doombot as opposed to actual Dr. Doom. The Doombot is destroyed by Thanos but before he could wear the Infinity Gauntlet it is pulled out by Spiderman who uses the power of Infinity Gauntlet to undo everything Thanos has done till date and banish Thanos.

We see Thanos angry, and plotting a way to defeat Spider-Man.

Multiversal Masters of Evil

Kid Thanos was a time traveler, who traveled to 1,000,000 BC, to take over Earth in its infancy before it developed technology and heroism. However, the Avengers 1,000,000 BC were there to stand in his way.

Instead, he was chosen by an alternate version of Doctor Doom for his Multiversal Masters of Evil. Doom brought them together to fight Earth’s legacy heroes for Mephisto.

Other Media

Television

The Silver Surfer (1998)

A watered-down version of Thanos appeared in the short-lived Silver Surfer cartoon. He is in love with “Mistress Chaos” rather than Death, since the d-word was taboo on Saturday morning cartoons then. Bent on chaos and the defeat of Galactus, Thanos set his sights on the Silver Surfer.Thanos was voiced by Gary Krawford

In an attempt to learn Galactus’ secrets from the Surfer, he had the living planet Ego try to capture the Surfer. When Thanos finally got to the Surfer, he entered his mind only to find a void. It was Thanos who destroyed the mental blocks set in the Surfer’s head by Galactus and restored his memories of Zenn-La and Shalla Bal, thus causing the Surfer to rebel against his master.

Super Hero Squad (2009)

Thanos has made an appearance on the Super Hero Squad episode “If This Be My Thanos”, but turned out to be a Skrull in disguise.

He is the main antagonist of Season 2 for The Super Hero Squad and tries to take over the universe by gathering all of the Infinity Gems. He was voiced by Jim Cummings.

Avengers Assemble (2013)

Thanos appears in the finale of the first season of Avengers Assemble, where he is revealed to be the Red Skull‘s master. He returns in Season 2 (voiced by Isaac C. Singleton, Jr.) as a major recurring antagonist, seeking to claim the Infinity Stones. He manages to complete the Gauntlet, but is defeated by the Avengers and remanded to the custody of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2015)

Thanos appears as a recurring antagonist in Guardians of the Galaxy, with Isaac C. Singleton, Jr. reprising his role. It is revealed that he promised J’son that he would destroy Asgard in exchange for the Cosmic Seed. He is defeated when Star-Lord traps him inside of a black hole.

What If…? (2021)

Thanos appears in the What If…? animated series for Disney+, with Josh Brolin reprising his role from the movies.

• Thanos is first seen in the episode “What If… T’Challa Became a Star-Lord?” where, in a shocking turn of events, he abandons his plans for universal genocide after being convinced by T’Challa that there are better ways to address the population crisis. Though reformed and a much more benevolent character, he still insists from time to time that killing half the universe was not a bad plan.

Film

The Avengers (2012)

Thanos makes his first live-action appearance in The Avengers. Loki makes a deal with the Other, a servant of Thanos, who bargains the assurance of the Tesseract in exchange for Thanos’ army, the Chitauri, to help Loki invade Earth. Later on, the Other is seen informing Thanos of Loki’s failure as well as “to challenge them (Earth), is to court Death” to which Thanos smiles sadistically. He was portrayed by actor Damion Poitier.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Thanos finally makes a full appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy, portrayed by Josh Brolin. In the film, he is shown working behind the scenes in an alliance with the Kree terrorist Ronan the Accuser. He offers the assistance of his adopted daughters, Gamora and Nebula, who seek to help Ronan recover a mysterious orb for Thanos in exchange for the Mad Titan destroying the planet Xanadar. When Thanos learns that Gamora has betrayed their cause and sided with the Guardians of the Galaxy, he blames Ronan for alienating his “favorite daughter.” After Ronan discovers that the orb contains one of the legendary Infinity Stones, he threatens to kill Thanos and destroy Xandar himself. But is killed by Peter Quill and the other Guardians before he can carry out his threat.

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Thanos’ pressence is alluded to in Avengers: Age of Ultron, with Thor realizing that the events involving the Infinity Stones across the Marvel Universe must have been orchestrated by some nefarious being with grand designs for the Stones. He returns to Asgard to find more information on who this person is.

Thanos makes a full appearance in the mid-credits sequence, where he is seen retrieving his Gauntlet from a vault. Implicitly acknowledging the failures of both Loki and Ronan to get him the Infinity Stones, he dons the Gauntlet and ominously states “Fine, I’ll do it myself.”

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Warning: Contains Spoilers

Thanos appeared as the main antagonist in Avengers: Infinity War, the two-part finale to Marvel’s Phase 3. Josh Brolin reprised his role from Guardians of the Galaxy.

Part one of the Infinity War diptych portrays Thanos on his quest for all six infinity stones to complete his Infinity Gauntlet. The Mad Titan ruthlessly and sequentially collects all stones; the Power Stone is already in his possession, which he took from Ronan the Accuser. The Space Stone is taken from Loki who possessed the Tesseract or Cosmic Cube, who dies after a battle involving him, Thor and the Hulk. The Reality Stone is taken from the Collectorwho also dies from the encounter with Thanos. The Soul Stone is the only gem whose location is known by neither the audience nor anyone in the film except for Gamora and Nebula. Thanos ruthlessly tortures the latter until Gamora submits to Thanos’ will. Gamora reveals that the Stone is located in Vomir under the protection of the Red Skull, the Stone Keeper. Gamora is sacrificed for this stone, which causes the Titan to shed a tear, as she was the only person whom Thanos loved. The Space Stone is surrendered by Doctor Strange who foretold this as the only way of defeating Thanos. Finally, the mind stone is taken from Vision, who dies after it is ripped from his forehead.

After obtaining all Infinity Stones, there is one final showdown between Thor and Thanos, whereby Thor throws the Stormbreaker into the chest of Thanos, avenging his brother’s death. Thanos looks up at the God of Thunder and declares, “You should have gone for the head!” before snapping his fingers, killing half of the life in the universe.

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Josh Brolin again reprises his role in Avengers: Endgame. A short time after the events of Infinity War, the surviving Avengers team up with Captain Marvel to track down Thanos, hoping that they can defeat him and use the Infinity Stones to resurrect his victims. They find Thanos in his garden on an alien world, and it is shown that his body has been gravely injured and weakened by his use of the Infinity Gauntlet. Due to his diminished strength, Thanos is quickly overpowered and captured by the Avengers, who demand to know where the Infinity Stones are. Thanos reveals that he destroyed them in order to make sure nobody could undo his work, and is then decapitated by an enraged Thor.

Five years later, the Avengers and Scott Lang embark on a time-traveling mission to take past versions of the Infinity Stones to the present. However, when Nebula and War Machine arrive in 2014 in order to steal the Power Stone, the 2014 version of Thanos becomes alerted to their plan. This alternate Thanos soon learns of his impending death and the heroes’ plan to undo the slaughter he committed, and travels to the present day in order to stop them. Thanos utterly decimates Avengers Compound and unleashes his army upon the planet, hoping to take back the Infinity Stones from the heroes. He battles Iron Man, Captain America and Thor, and reveals that this time, he plans to use the Infinity Gauntlet to completely remake the universe, thus erasing the potential for the survivors to try and bring back those who died. However, Hulk uses the Infinity Gauntlet to resurrect the half of the universe Thanos killed, and the revived heroes soon unite in order to take on Thanos’ army. At the end of the film, Thanos is ultimately killed once and for all after Iron Man uses the Infinity Gauntlet to destroy the invading aliens, which costs him his life.

Video Games

Marvel Super Heroes (1995)

Thanos was the end boss in this Japanese fighting game by Capcom, which was loosely based on the “Infinity Gauntlet” mini-series. His stage is his shrine to Death from the comics, which is adorned with the petrified bodies of the heroes who opposed him. On the home consoles he was unlockable as a playable character. He was voiced by Andrew Jackson.

Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems (1996)

Thanos was also the main villain and final boss in this Super Nintendo game which, like Marvel Super Heroes, was based on the “Infinity Gauntlet” saga. After Thanos is destroyed, Adam Warlock takes the Infinity Gems for safekeeping.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000)

Thanos returned as a playable character in the final 2D Marvel vs. Capcom game. Since Thanos was now a standard playable character instead of a final boss, he was significantly toned down, with many of his moves being removed or nerfed for the sake of gameplay balance.

Lego Marvel Super Heroes (2013)

Thanos appears as a downloadable character.

Marvel Contest of Champions (2014)

Thanos is a playable character in this mobile app fighting game. He initially appears as the final boss of Act 3, “Thanos’ Challenge,” but becomes unlockable after being defeated. His design from the game was alter carried over into the comics, first appearing in Jeff Lemire and Mike Deodato‘s Thanos series.

He returns for the “Infinity: Chaos” event, where the Infinity Stones have been lost to him after a battle with Black Panther. After having a nightmare where he is saved by a mysterious woman, Thanos sends the Black Order to regain the Infinity Stones for him. Though his servants fail to retrieve the Infinity Stones, it is revealed that this was an elaborate ruse to trick the heroes into entering the Death Stone, a powerful artifact given to Thanos by Hela, the woman from his dream.

Lego Marvel Avengers (2016)

Thanos appears as a playable character in the post-credit scene.

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series (2017)

Thanos appears as the main villain of the first chapter, voiced by Jake Hart. He attacks a Kree planet in search of an ancient artifact known as the Eternity Forge, and ends up battling the Guardians of the Galaxy and members of the Nova Corps. He is ultimately killed by Star-Lord, and the heroes are then given the choice of selling his body to the Nova Corps or the Collector. Which path the player takes effects the subsequent story.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite (2017)

Thanos returns to the series as a playable character, with Isaac C. Singleton Jr. reprising his role from the animated series. In the game’s Story Mode, the heroes are forced to ally themselves with a captured Thanos in order to defeat Ultron–Sigma. Thanos’ fighting style is heavily altered for the new game, as he no longer possesses the Infinity Gauntlet like he did in Marvel Super Heroes or Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

Fornite (2019)

As a limited time promotional event for Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos was added to the Fortnite: Battle Royale video game as a playable character in the limited time “Infinity Gauntlet Mode.” Thanos’ appearance in the game gave rise to the viral “Dancing Thanos” meme, which quickly became a popular joke on the internet.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order (2019)

Thanos appears as the main antagonist of the third Ultimate Alliance game. As usual, the plot involves Thanos and his underlings scouring the universe for the Infinity Stones. In the finale, he ends up teaming up with the heroes to defeat Thane, who has stolen the Infinity Stones. He is also unlockable as a character. Isaac C. Singleton Jr. reprises his role as the voice of Thanos.

Merchandise

• Toy Biz, Diamond Select, Eaglemoss, and Bowen Design have released various Thanos figures and busts.
• Thanos is included as a collectible figure from the board game Heroscape featured in the Marvel crossover set.
• Diamond released a Thanos figure for Marvel Select line of figures.
• Five Thanos figures exist for the Heroclix miniatures game (Infinity Challenge, Supernova, Galactic Guardians (x 2) and Infinity Gauntlet Limited Edition set).
• Hasbro has produced Thanos products in several of their lines: an exclusive in Mighty Muggs; the Super Hero Squad in Fall 2010 and the Marvel Universe as a single figure in Fall 2010. It was repainted for a Greates Battles two-pack with Adam Warlock in Fall 2011 and was repainted again for SDCC Infinity Gauntlet Exclusive Set from 2014.
• Thanos figure was released by Hasbro as a Build-A-figure for Marvel Legends Age of Ultron wave from 2015. The BAF was later repainted and rereleased as a Walmart exclusive, complete with a new Infinity Gauntlet accessory.
• Hot Toys released a Thanos figure for its Guardians of the Galaxy line.
• An oversized Thanos is currently scheduled for the Funko POP! line.
• Thanos was featured in various products released for Avengers: Infinity War, including the S.H. Figuarts line from Bandai Tamashii, a figure from Hot Toys, various products from Funko, and even a Marvel Legends Build-a-Figure from Hasbro.
• Classic Thanos was later released in Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line as a deluxe figure.