| Thanos | |
|---|---|
Promotional art by Jim Starlin for Thanos #4 (March 2004) |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Iron Man #55 (Feb. 1973) |
| Created by | Jim Starlin |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Eternal Mutant |
| Place of origin | Titan |
| Team affiliations | Infinity Watch Secret Defenders Annihilation Wave |
| Notable aliases | The Mad Titan Avatar of Death |
| Abilities | Superhuman strength, stamina, durability, longevity and intelligence Energy manipulation Telekinesis Teleportation |
Thanos is a fictional character that appears in comic books and other media published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Iron Man #55 (Feb. 1973) and was created by writer-artist Jim Starlin.
Debuting in the Bronze Age of comic books, the character has featured in over three decades of Marvel continuity and a self-titled series. The character's name is a derivation of Thanatos, the personification of death and mortality in Greek mythology. One of his more prominent storylines to date—the Infinity Gauntlet series—portrayed him as a mad cosmic tyrant bent on slaying half of all sentiences existing then in Marvel's multiverse in order to appease the Marvel Universe's actual embodied personification of Death in an attempt to win its love.
Thanos has consistently recurred as a powerful villain, and has been featured across nearly Marvel's entire product line, including animated television series, arcade and video games, toys and trading cards.
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Writer-artist Jim Starlin originally conceived Thanos of Titan during college psychology classes. As Starlin described:
| “ | I went to college between doing U.S. military service and getting work in comics, and there was a psych class and I came up with Thanos ... and Drax the Destroyer, but I'm not sure how he fit into it, just anger management probably. So I came up to Marvel and [editor] Roy [Thomas] asked if I wanted to do an issue of Iron Man. I felt that this may be my only chance ever to do a character, not having the confidence that my career was going to last anything longer than a few weeks. So they got jammed into it. Thanos was a much thinner character and Roy suggested beefing him up, so he's beefed up quite a bit from his original sketches ... and later on I liked beefing him up so much that he continued to grow in size.[1] | ” |
Although there are parallels with Jack Kirby's Darkseid, Starlin has said this was not quite the case:
| “ | Kirby had done the New Gods, which I thought was terrific. He was over at DC at the time. I came up with some things that were inspired by that. You'd think that Thanos was inspired by Darkseid, but that was not the case when I showed up. In my first Thanos drawings, if he looked like anybody, it was Metron. I had all these different gods and things I wanted to do, which became Thanos and the Titans. Roy took one look at the guy in the Metron-like chair and said : "Beef him up! If you're going to steal one of the New Gods, at least rip off Darkseid, the really good one!"[2] | ” |
Thanos' first appearance was in an extended storyline that spanned Iron Man #55 (Feb 1973), Captain Marvel vol 1 #25-33 (bi-monthly: Mar. 1972 - July 1974), Daredevil vol 1 #107 (Jan. 1974), and Avengers vol 1 #125 (July 1974). When he returned in Strange Tales #178-181 (Feb-Aug 1975), it began a second extended storyline that continued in Warlock #9-11 (Oct 1975 – Jan 1976), Marvel Team Up # #55 (March 1977), and the 1977 Annuals for Avengers and Marvel Two-in-One. He was also featured in a short backup story in Logan's Run #6 (June 1977) and had a small role in the Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel (April 1982).
The character next appeared in Silver Surfer vol 3 #34 (Feb 1990) and had a recurring role through issue 50 (June 1991). After starring in Thanos Quest #1-2 (Sept – Oct 1990), he played a villainous role in Infinity Gauntlet #1-6 (July – Dec 1991). During a recurring role in Warlock and the Infinity Watch #1-42 (Feb. 1992 - Aug. 1995), he made crossover appearances in Infinity War #1-6 (June 1992), Infinity Crusade #1-6 (June 1993), Silver Surfer vol 3 #86-88, Warlock Chronicles #6-8, Thor vol 1 #468-471, Secret Defenders#11-14 (Jan –Apr 1994), Cosmic Powers #1-6 (March – July 1994), and Cosmic Powers Unlimited #1 (May 1995).
Following roles in Ka-Zar vol. 2, #4–10 and 1997 annual, the X-Man and Hulk 1998 annual, and the Small X-pectations one-shot, Thanos was featured heavily in Thor vol. 3, #21–25 (Mar - July 2000) and 2000 annual. The character was next used in Captain Marvel vol. 4, #17–19 (Jun - Aug. 2001), Avengers: Celestial Quest 1-8 (2001–2002), and the Infinity Abyss #1-6 (2002).
Thanos received an eponymous title in 2004 that ran for 12 issues. In 2006, he played an important role in Annihilation: Silver Surfer #1-4 and Annihilation #1-6. The character was re-introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2 #24-25 (April –May 2010) and played a major role in The Thanos Imperative: Ignition (June 2010) and The Thanos Imperative #1-6 (July – Dec 2010).
Thanos was born on Titan, a moon of Saturn, to Mentor and Sui-San. Thanos is born with the Deviant gene and as resembles the Deviants—the Eternals' cousin race—more than his own people. Although treated fairly by his race, he is mindful of his appearance and becomes distant, only keeping company with his brother Eros (Starfox). During his childhood, he becomes fascinated with nihilism and death, eventually falling in love with its embodiment, Mistress Death. As an adult, Thanos uses bionics and mysticism to become the most powerful of the Titan, and is often referred to as the Mad Titan.[3]
Wishing to impress Mistress Death, Thanos gathers an army of villainous aliens and begins a nuclear bombardment of Titan that kills millions of his race.[4] He then travels to Earth in search of the Cosmic Cube. Prior to landing, his vessel destroys a nearby car to prevent anyone from becoming aware of his existence.[5] Unknown to Thanos, two of the family members in the vehicle survive—the father's spirit is preserved by the Titanian cosmic entity Chronos and is given a new form as Drax the Destroyer while the daughter is found by Thanos' father Mentor and is raised to become the heroine Moondragon. Thanos eventually locates the Cube and wills it to make him omnipotent. Captain Marvel, with the aid of Mantis and ISAAC, are able to defeat him by destroying the cube, which Thanos had left unguarded.[6]
Thanos later comes to the aid of Adam Warlock in a battle against the Magus.[7] During this alliance Thanos secretly siphons off the energies of the Soul Gem that Warlock possesses.[3] Thanos uses this energy to power a weapon capable of destroying a star. Thanos battles Earth's superheroes and is turned to stone.[8] Thanos's spirit appears to accompany Captain Marvel's soul into the realm of Death.[9]
A resurrected Thanos [10] collects the Infinity Gems once again [11] and creates the Infinity Gauntlet, which makes him omnipotent. He attempts to kill half the living things in the universe,[12] but is defeated by Adam Warlock.[13] Warlock reveals that Thanos has always arranged for himself to be defeated because he knows he is not worthy of ultimate power. Thanos joins Warlock in the Infinity Watch and helps him to defeat his evil[14] and good[15] sides, as well as to cure Thor of “Warrior Madness.” [16]
Thanos later recruits a team of Earth-bound super-villains and puts them under the field leadership of Geatar in a mission to extract a robot containing the knowledge of a universal library.[17] Thanos uses information from the robot to battle Tyrant, a failed creation of Galactus.[18]
Thanos is somehow trapped in an alternate dimension and employs the aid of the brother of Ka-Zar, Parnival Plunder, in an attempted escape, but fails.[19] Thanos attempts to use the Hulk as a physical anchor back to the Earth-616 universe but is again unsuccessful.[20] Thanos is somehow freed and quickly comes into conflict with Thor.[21] During their battle, Thanos decimates the planet Rigel-3.[22]
Thanos then uses the heroes Thor and Genis-Vell (Captain Marvel's son) against the death god Walker, who attempts to woo Mistress Death and then destroy the entity after being rejected.[23] Thanos then devises a plan to become the All-Father of a new race of Gods created by himself. Thanos, however, finds himself opposed by the Avengers, former member Mantis, and her son Quoi, apparently destined to be the Celestial Messiah. Thanos abandons this plan after having to unite with Mistress Death to destroy the Rot, an aberration in deep space that is apparently their offspring.[24] Thanos once conducted extensive research on genetics, and after studying many of the universe's heroes and villains cloned them and gene-spliced his own DNA into the subjects. Although he later abandons the project, five clones survive, being versions of Professor X, Iron Man, Gladiator, Doctor Strange, and Galactus respectively. A sixth and unnamed version of Thanos also appears, and it is revealed the incarnations of Thanos encountered by Thor and Ka-Zar were his clones. The true Thanos—with the aid of Adam Warlock, Gamora, Pip the Troll, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, and Dr. Strange—destroys the remaining clones.[25]
Thanos decides to atone for the destruction of Rigel-3, and agrees to aid a colony of Rigellians in evacuating their planet before Galactus can consume it. During the course of this mission Thanos learns Galactus is collecting the Infinity Gems in an effort to end his universal hunger. Thanos later learns Galactus is being manipulated by a cosmic threat known as Hunger, which feeds on entire universes, into freeing it. Thanos unsuccessfully battles Galactus in an effort to stop him from freeing the entity, but when Hunger emerges the two team up to defeat it.[26]
Thanos journeys to the Kyln, an intergalactic prison. On his way there he meets Death, who for the first time in their long history speaks directly with him. She says she is worth his efforts to woo, but that he must offer her something other than death. At the Kyln he meets Star-Lord and the Shi'ar warrior Gladiator, who are both prisoners. He encounters the Beyonder, who has been rendered amnesiac by his/her choice to assume a mortal female form. Thanos battles the Beyonder and causes her mind to shut down leaving her power trapped within a comatose mortal body, which he instructs the Kyln officers to keep on life support indefinitely in order to prevent the Beyonder from once again being reborn.[27]
Thanos then departs the Kyln in the company of Skreet, a chaos-mite he freed from the prison in a quest to seek the Fallen, a former Herald of Galactus. Thanos resurrects the ex-herald and places him under his complete mental control.[28]
During the Annihilation War Thanos allies himself with the genocidal villain Annihilus. When the Annihilation Wave destroys the Kyln, Thanos sends the Fallen to check on the status of the Beyonder, whose mortal form he finds has perished. Before the Fallen can report back to Thanos it encounters Tenebrous and Aegis—two of Galactus' ancient enemies. Thanos convinces Tenebrous and Aegis to join the Annihilation Wave in order to get revenge on Galactus, and they subsequently defeat the World Devourer and the Silver Surfer. Annihilus desires the secret of the Power Cosmic and asks Thanos to study Galactus. Once Thanos learns Annihilus' true goal is to use the Power Cosmic to destroy all life and remain the sole survivor, he decides to free Galactus. Drax the Destroyer kills Thanos before he can do so.[29] During a climactic battle with Annihilus, Nova is near death and sees Thanos standing with Mistress Death as her apparent consort.[30]
A cocoon protected by the Universal Church of Truth is revealed to be hiding Thanos, who has been chosen by Oblivion to be the new Avatar of Death.[31] Resurrected before his mind could be fully formed, Thanos goes on a mindless rampage before being captured by the Guardians of the Galaxy[32]
Thanos is the Guardians' only hope against the invading Cancerverse, and Star-Lord releases him to let him help.[33] In the Cancerverse, only Thanos can slay the undying creatures that dwell there. Upon learning that he is unable to die, Thanos surrenders to Mar-Vell in return for granting him death.[34] When Mar-Vell attempts to kill Thanos, Death is able to kill Mar-vell first. The Cancerverse begins to collapse, and Thanos is trapped in it with Nova (comics) and Star-Lord.[35]
Thanos is a mutant member of the race of superhumans known as the Titanian Eternals. The character possesses abilities common to the Eternals, but in some cases far beyond any other known member of his race; acquired through a combination of his mutant Eternal heritage, bionic amplification, mysticism, and the entity Death. He has demonstrated enormous superhuman strength, stamina, and particularly durability; is able to absorb and project vast quantities of cosmic energy; is virtually ageless and immortal; does not need food, drink, or oxygen; and is capable of certain telekinesis, as well as telepathy and matter manipulation. The advanced technology within his transportation chairs includes force field projection, time travel, movement through alternate universes, space flight, and teleportation over interstellar distances. Thanos is an accomplished hand-to-hand combatant, having been trained in the art of war on Titan.
Thanos possesses superhuman intellect (he considers his mind his greatest weapon) and has knowledge of Celestial and other alien technology. Thanos is a genius in virtually all known fields of advanced science and has created technology far exceeding contemporary Earth science. He is also a master strategist and sometimes utilizes a space vessel called Sanctuary II as a base of operations.
The Ultimate Marvel imprint title Ultimate Fantastic Four features an alternate universe version of Thanos who is the ruler of Acheron, a vast empire consisting of thousands of worlds that exist in another plane of existence.[36] His son is Ronan the Accuser, and is in possession of a Cosmic Cube.[37]
In the alternate universe limited series Earth X, Thanos dwells in the Realm of the Dead with the entity Death.[38]
When an ancient Egyptian pharaoh stumbles upon a source of cosmic power tied into the dawn and end of time and subsequently returns to Earth centuries later, Thanos recruits the Defenders to seek out the source of the pharaoh's power and eventually wrests control of it from him. Thanos uses the power to fix any damage done by the pharaoh (which had included the deaths of most of Earth's major hero teams such as the X-Men, Avengers and Fantastic Four) and then once again gives up his physical form to take control of the universe. Adam Warlock convinces Thanos to voluntarily relinquish the power, but as a result of its origins with the dawn and end of time, Thanos emerges having experienced the entire history of the universe and claims he will no longer seek universal conquest.[39]
Thanos features in the limited series Marvel Zombies 2, set in the alternate universe of Earth-2149. Having been "zombified", the character is killed by the cosmic-powered Hulk after an altercation over food.[40]
In an alternate version of the Infinity Gauntlet storyline featured in the title What If?, where Thanos was only opposed by the New Fantastic Four consisting of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk and Iron Man (the last replacing Ghost Rider after he was one of Thanos's victims), Thanos was tricked by Wolverine into letting his guard down long enough for Wolverine to cut off Thanos's arm. Spider-Man then used the Gauntlet to undo Thanos's actions.[41]
In Green Lantern VS Silver Surfer, Thanos, discovering a rift into the DC Universe- created by the destruction of Oa-, attempts to trick Green Lantern Kyle Rayner into helping him harness Oa's power so that he can use it to unmake existence and be united with Death. However, his efforts are interrupted by Hal Jordan- currently possessed by Parallax- and the Silver Surfer, he and Parallax briefly clashing- Parallax's own powers further enhanced after a donation of energy from the Surfer- before Kyle is able to siphon off their power and transfer it into the Surfer.
In the sequel, DC vs. Marvel, Thanos clashes with Darkseid, his DC counterpart, in a prolonged battle, before the fight is interrupted by Thor, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman, Storm, Green Lantern, and the Silver Surfer.
When the clashing DC and Marvel universes merged into the Amalgam Comics Universe, Thanos merged with Darkseid to become Thanoseid.
A number of the stories featuring Thanos have been collected into trade paperbacks:
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