Do you think you know all there is to know about the Mad Titan? Brush up on all the things you need to know about Thanos prior to his Universe altering appearance in Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War.

Thanos has long been looked at, within the confines of multiple Marvel universes, as the the meanest, most dastardly villain to come up against our favorite heroes. Here’s a walk through on the Overmaster for those unfamiliar with his history and origins.

Thanos: Origins

Thanos was created by writer Mike Friedrich and writer/artist Jim Starlin in the early 70’s. Thanos made his Marvel Comics debut in Iron Man #55, which was released in February of 1973. Starlin would go on to admit that he was influenced by the work of the legendary Jack Kirby and his work for DC Comics, specifically his creation of the New Gods, and its most famous member, Darkseid. When presented with the sketches, that at the time looked more like the New God Metron, then Marvel editor Roy Thomas suggested “beefing up” the skinny character, exclaiming that if Starlin was “going to steal one of the New Gods, at least rip-off Darkseid, the really good one!” (1)

Thanos battled a who’s who of Marvel’s elite, even being portrayed as a bit of an “anti-hero” for many years, before cementing his stance as the proverbial “Big Bad” of the Marvel Universe(s) with his role in the Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity Watch, & Infinity Crusade sagas in the early 1990’s. His prime antagonists were often Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Adam Warlock and Captain Marvel.

Some Assembly Required Part 1: Iron Man

Lover of Death…Quite Literally

It’s no surprise that the Mad Titan is obsessed with death, as his conquering of worlds and the murders of millions of lifeforms clearly proves. But beyond this, Thanos is very much in love with the physical embodiment of being deceased, Mistress Death. In the comics, the 2 have a long and tumultuous romance, causing Thanos to, at one point, murder his entire family as a token of his affection for Death. WTF is right. It is actually Death, or Thanos’ need to impress her, that kicks off the famed the Infinity Gauntlet storyline. Oh, did I mention who is often Thanos’ main opposition for the affection of Mistress Death? It’s Deadpool. No really, it’s Deadpool. Yep, makes sense, doesn’t it?

Recently Revealed Past

For the majority of his 45 year history, Thanos’ past has been a bit of a mystery. That all changed this year, when his given name at birth was revealed within the pages of the Thanos ongoing series, issue #14, specifically. During a conversation with a much, MUCH older self (1,000,000 years, to be exact), his elder incarnation reveals to him something he had always known, yet buried down deep within his dormant memories. Before he took on the name of Thanos (taken from the term Thanatology, or the study of death…go figure), his mother named him Dione.

Past forays into Thanos’ history have revealed that he was born with “Deviant” gene, which gives him a shared appearance with the cousin race of Marvel’s Eternals. After witnessing his hideous visage, his mother tried to kill him, suspecting the monster he might truly become. Ironically, Thanos spent most of his early years as a pacifist before becoming obsessed with the idea of…well yeah, you guessed it.

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History with the Infinity Gauntlet

So there’s an awful lot to this, but I’ll try and be succinct, like a Marvel version of Cliff Notes (do those still exist? I’m pretty sure they got me through 11th grade English). Mistress Death is P.O’d that the number of living things in the universe outnumbers those that have died, therefore she hires Thanos to correct this fact. He had used infinity gems (…not yet called “stones”, they were still very much in the “jewel” category) in the past, but never fully understood the power they were capable of…until that point. He acquires the gems, yet still lacking the affection of Death, he decides to destroy some ACTUAL stars and kill off half of the universes life to impress her. The Silver Surfer then approaches Doctor Strange lamenting the fact that millions of lifeforms have been instantly murdered, and urges Earth’s Mightiest Heroes team up with superheroes from all over the galaxy to oppose the Mad Titan. This sets off the events known as The Infinity Gauntlet, a war that engulfed the Marvel Universe in a way no other event had previously. While I don’t want to spoil the events of the comicbook crossover event (but come on, it’s almost 20 years old…go read it), there are enough double-crosses to be a Guy Ritchie film, with Thanos eventually working with the heroes to oppose a Gauntlet wielding Nebula. What? What is right, go read it. Eventually, Thanos ends up as a farmer (in the future) of a distant planet, vowing to live a life of peace. GO READ IT!

Appearances Within the MCU

Thanos has been an omniscient presence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for some time now, yet his actual appearances have been limited. Viewers were first made aware of the Mad Titan’s presence in the mid-credit scene from Avengers. One of the chitauri minions claims that “to challenge (the Avengers) would be to court death.” At this point we see the smiling face of Thanos turn towards the camera. From that point, it wasn’t until Guardians of the Galaxy that we were privy to another peek of the upcoming Big Bad. Both Gamora & Nebula are adopted daughters of Thanos within the MCU, and we are shown a meeting between him & Ronan the Accuser. With Nebula present, Thanos, sitting on a floating throne, orders Ronan to retrieve the Orb (which we soon find out houses an infinity stone) from Gamora, and if he fails, Thanos promises to “bathe the starways in (Ronan’s) blood.” This is Josh Brolin’s first turn as Thanos, as he then reprises the role in the post-credit scene of Avengers: Age of Ultron, where he is shown retrieving the Gauntlet which will hold the Infinity Stones while muttering, “Fine, I’ll do it myself.” Three appearances, scattered throughout the MCU, all leading up to his role as primary antagonist through Avengers: Infinity War & the still untitled Avengers 4.

There you have it, Thanos 101. If you have any questions on the character, or comments on the article, please leave a comment below.

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1-Cronin, Brian (2010-06-24). “Comic Book Legends Revealed #266”. Comic Book Resources .

Lou Mattiuzzo is a full time teacher, full time husband, full time father, & full time superhero enthusiast. He cannot adequately put into words how excited he is for Avengers: Infinity War. Follow him and his inane and asinine thoughts on Twitter @Sweetest_Lou.

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