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Deviant Eternal. The Mad Titan. Wielder of the Infinity Gauntlet. Lover of Death. Thanos has been a danger to the universe for a long time, but that wasn’t always the case. What happened to make a quiet kid into Thanos and his hand of fate? Let’s find out!

When humanity began, there was an offshoot, the Eternals, an immortal race of humans meant to defend the Earth and its people. Some Eternals would go on to live on Saturn’s moon, Titan. Two of these Eternals, A’Lars the Mentor, and Sui-San would have a son, Thanos. Born with purple skin, this made his mother nearly kill him on the spot, thinking she’d given birth to a demon-child. She wasn’t that far off but that would come later. Thanos was a gifted and pacifistic child. So afraid to hurt others he wouldn’t kill animals to survive a cave-in he and his friends were trapped in when he was a teen. Separated from his friends, he’d find their half-eaten corpses, food for the very creatures he’d sworn not to kill for his own gain. He technically kept that promise, they weren’t killed for his gain, but for vengeance and rage. This trip had only been taken at the suggestion of a woman Thanos had met who was both his friend and crush, though she did not reciprocate at the time.

Thanos began to question his own inner thoughts as he found himself continuously thinking of death and murder. Egged on by his companion, he’d begin his life as a serial killer, 17 murders under his belt before he began to wonder if his problems had a source. Believing that his mother held the secrets to his murderous ways, he’d dissect her, realizing that he was a mutant of the Eternals, a Deviant. Disillusioned, he’d leave Titan and join a pirate crew, he’d serve for years, trying to find anyway to enjoy life. Attempts of finding romantic partners and having children did not spark any care in Thanos’ heart. He’d eventually kill the captain and take over, beginning a new era of slaughter for Thanos. Returning once more to Titan to see if perhaps his relationships and attempts at family meant nothing since he still cared for his old companion. She said for her to care for him as he did her, he’d have to prove that no other was as loved as much as she, he had to go and kill off all those abandoned families he had started. Complying and once finished, Thanos realized something, his companion had been traveling with his crew but none of them ever seemed to notice or interact with her, she revealed she was Death itself, and that Thanos was one of the few who could see Death for what she was. This broke Thanos but he knew he could love no other like he did Death.

Thus began the wave of death Thanos would give to the universe, he’d return to Titan once more to wipe the planet clean of all life, save for one, his father, he wanted to punish him by making him watch as his own son wiped all life from existence. All for Death, the only love in his life, Thanos would murder countless numbers of civilizations, wiping out whole planets’ populations. He’d find interest in a child and raise her as his daughter, but Thanos doesn’t know how to love anyone but Death so she was trained more like a weapon. Death demanded that Thanos become a god, so he’d spend his time seeking such power, trinkets like the Cosmic Cube would help but were too temporary for his liking, eventually he’d come upon the existence of the Infinity Gems. Six magical stones that once wielded by an individual, could remake reality in their image. Thanos would find all but one, the Soul Gem, which was in the possession of one Adam Warlock. He’d trick Warlock and gain the gem to wield the power and became the god he’d craved to be for Death.

One doesn’t become a god without gaining attention, the Avengers would bring together all sorts of cosmic heroes to help stop Thanos. Ending with the gems taken away and with Thanos locked in stone, never allowed to die to be with his most beloved Death. He’d be resurrected by Death so he could continue to do her bidding, he happily continued his efforts to regain the gems, he’d even make his own glove into a gauntlet for them to be held in. He’d have to go and collect the stones once more, but this time they were each being guarded by powerful cosmic entities, they proved no match for Thanos, even with the aide of the gems on their side, however briefly. In control once more, it would take being distracted in the astral realm by the cosmic forces such as Love and Hate combining forces to fight him while his own Frankensteinian creation, Nebula, would take the Gauntlet from him, undoing his reign once more.

A guard was made to watch over the stones to keep them safe, Thanos had experience anxiety and fear when losing the gems this last time and was entrusted with the Reality Gem for safekeeping. Thanos would actually become the first to warn the heroes of the universe of the dangerous return of the powerful Magus, who sought to replace all heroes with evil duplicates to take over the universe. This was the brief time where Thanos was a hero, he’d help save the universe and team up with heroes on several occasions, soon though, Thanos would find himself bored and begin his more cruel ways once more. He’d gain access to a powerful store of knowledge called the Oracle and use to cause widespread death and destruction.

He’d find that the Silver Surfer was now in the eyes of Death and would kill him to escort him to Death, only to revive the Surfer to take away that which she desired, which was no longer Thanos. She’d further curse him with true immortality to never know her embrace ever again since she knew that Thanos still loved her. This was proven when he would do his best to help her when she was trapped in a human body with a god of death seeking to remove her from existence. He’d languish in his new fate of always living but with nothing to live for, he’d ally with despots in hopes that a new order would excite him. Teaming with heroes to save reality just so he wouldn’t be alone if it all ended but he remained, but he was willing to end it all when he got his hands on a Cosmic Cube which would allow him to die with everything else. He’d be locked away for some time but eventually break free and try once more to find access to items of godlike power, not for Death this time, but for ending everything, including himself. It was when he learned of Death’s new love, Deadpool, and how she’d been kidnapped by Eternity, allowing nothing in the universe to die either, that he’d team up with Death’s new love to find her and return death to the universe.

Renewed after this, Thanos created a team, the Black Order, to help him kill his long lost Inhuman son, Thane. Finding that he was located on Earth, Thanos threatened all of reality, but most especially Earth, once more. He’d fail, being imprisoned in amber by his own son. Eventually breaking free, he’d find that the universe was on a collision course with other universes, a Cabal was formed to wipe out other Earths and their realities before they could destroy Thanos’ home dimension, he enjoyed the sport of destruction. The inevitable occurred and two realities collided becoming a new one ruled by Doctor Doom. The Cabal survived and Thanos was able to cause enough of an upset to disrupt things to allow for reality to begin another reset. He’d confront Doom to gloat of his accomplishment, for a brief moment, Thanos experienced true death. Once reality was remade, Thanos found himself just outside the multiverse where he’d learn a new love, nothingness, which he was surrounded by. Wanting to share this love with everyone and everything, he’d begin finding ways to manipulate reality to allow him entry once more. The Guardians of the Galaxy would be able to stop him and have him imprisoned by the Nova Corps.

Escape was inevitable and Thanos would find that he had an illness that would leave him suffering for the rest of his days in unbelievable agony, he’d seek out his father for help but when his father admitted he had wished this could have happened when his son was born so that the universe didn’t have to suffer his existence, Thanos killed his father. Thanos would discover that Thane and Death were working together and Thanos fought them with a new team, the Coven. In the end, Death revealed his illness was her plan to get him back to her, but Thanos no longer loved Death, just oblivion. Thanos would be pulled into the far future by a version of himself who was now King of what remained of reality. He’d been tasked with helping his future self find Death, who had gone missing, believing that getting rid of the Fallen One to bring her back. They proved successful and then Thanos found that his older self wanted him to kill the elder King, allowing him to finally be with his beloved. Disgusted, Thanos saw weakness in this version of himself, having fallen in love with Death once again. He chose instead to leave him and go back to his own time where he promised to never become that king, undoing his existence entirely while Thanos moved on from Death.

There you have! Thanos has been in many cartoons and had many cameos in movies, he’s finally becoming a major player very soon. He’s back to his old tricks with that jewelry and glove he loves so much. Whatever he plans on doing with it likely wont be good for anyone. See you next time!

Suggested Reading
Iron Man #55
Infinity Gauntlet
Thanos
Thanos Rising
Infinity

Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net