After ten years of buildup, minor
cameos, and implied as well as explicit acts of cruelty, we’re about to meet
Thanos. Now, a villain of this caliber really does deserve this level of buildup.
The Mad Titan is one of the single greatest threats that the Marvel Universe
has to deal with. He’s immensely powerful, cruel beyond just about all reason,
and obsessed with impressing his great love, Death. Let’s get to it, shall we?
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| Yep, those are crazy eyes. |
A quick ancient History lesson. I’ll
try to keep things as general as possible and go into more detail at a later
time. Otherwise I’ll be writing six pages of ancient history before even
getting to Thanos’ parents. In the Marvel Universe, the earth was created by
the Celestials, a race of beings of near Godlike power. The Earth and the Human
race weren’t their only projects, though. Actually, their main project was a
group called the Eternals. They’re an alternative evolutionary cousin to us,
kind of like Neanderthals, but with nearly immortal bodies and immense power.
So, kind of nothing like Neanderthals. Things didn’t go as the Celestials
planned and they ended ditching the experiments on the third rock from the Sun.
After a few wars, between themselves, another human offshoot called the
Deviants, and other alien parties interest in Earth, a group of Eternal’s
settled on Jupiter’s moon of Titan. The leader of this colony, A’Lars aka
Mentor, and his wife Sui-San had two sons. The elder, Eros, was born with no
complications. No, the problem came with their second son. The baby suffered
from an Eternal disease called Deviant Syndrome. It’s a condition that causes
an Eternal to suffer from physical deformities, as well as unstable minds, and
a potential for even greater power then your average Eternal. The baby had
this, making him unusually large, and covered in purple hide-like skin. His
mother, seeming to sense what she’d bore, grabbed a scalpel and tried to kill
him. A’Lars stopped her, sending his wife to get psychiatric help and kind of
ensured the death of his people at the hands of the boy she named Thanos.
Whoops.
But, for the first few years, Thanos
was down right pleasant. He was a kind, introverted boy with a gift for
science. He dreamed of becoming a scientist like his father, whom, like many a
comic book daddy, was kind of a neglectful parent. Joy. But, things about Thanos’
nature began to change. He had an aptitude for Art, but his preferred model
were dead animals. This, from a kid that also would vomit at the thought
of preforming a dissection. This dichotomy in his nature reached a tipping
point a short time later. He and several friends were convinced to explore a dangerous
cave. The idea was to try and get Thanos to get over his distaste for killing by
taking him on an alien hunting trip. I guess. While in the cave, a cave-in separated
Thanos from his friends. He was down there for three days, not even eating as
he refused to kill the animals for food. He eventually found his friends, but they’d
been eaten by the local fauna. Thanos escaped shortly thereafter, but returned
when the mysterious girl came again, whom convinced him to get revenge.
And, thus marked the end of Thanos’
innocence. Over the next few years, Thanos excelled academically, learning
faster than any previous Titan. Which was good. He was also obsessed with
discovering what made him different. Which is also good. But, to this end he
started performing vivisections on local animals. For those who don’t recognize
the term, vivisection is a dissection performed on a living organism. Which is
pretty messed up. The Girl was his constant confidante, always following him,
always encouraging him, always pushing him onward. She was the one to convince
him to experimenting on fellow Titans. He was the first murderer of Titan’s history.
He tried to stop at one… and then two… but on his third he realized that he
actually liked it. He fell in love with the Girl, but she continued to spurn
his advances.
 |
| Don't make him get out of that chair. |
Thanos went on a killing spree,
murdering seventeen of his fellows. He was finally confronted by his mother.
She’d connected the aberrant Titanic behavior of killing to her aberrant Titanic
son. The two fought, Thanos gaining the upper hand and restraining his mother on
a dissection table. While he had her restrained, he says one of the saddest
lines in a work of fiction I’ve ever read. “it sounds ludicrous, I know, but…
Sometimes, I believe I can remember the day I was born. I remember you holding
me for the first time and the look of… horror that came over your face. And
then you picked up a scalpel and tired to murder me. I’m sorry, Mother. I’m
sorry they wouldn’t let you.” He then picked up scalpel and started cutting. He
believed he would find the key to what he was, both physically and spiritually,
in her. He obviously didn’t, as one cannot find the answer to life, the
universe and everything in the guts of one’s mother.
Considering the… mental strain matricide
could put on even the most disturbed mind, it’s no surprised that Thanos tried
once again to get better. He left Titan, swore off killing and his twisted research,
and took a job working on a space-pirate crew. Yes, those are a thing. He spent
years in a cold, emotionless haze. He’d occasionally have… dalliances with
different women on different worlds. They never worked out though, as the ‘romances’
didn’t make him feel like he used to. He left a string of illegitimate
kids to rival Genghis Khan. Things might have continued like this indefinitely,
if his captain had left well enough alone. The captain, angered by his crewman’s
disinterest in killing, attacked him. The two fought. This broke the dam within
Thanos, and he ended up killing his captain and taking over the crew.
Thanos embraced his killer instinct
and returned to Titan to seek her out. The Girl returned, and Thanos tried to
win her again. She demanded Thanos prove he belonged only to her, if he wanted
her heart. And how could he do that? To kill every being he sired and razed any
planet they came across, to prove his dedication to Death. While that was going
on, he continued to experiment on himself, making himself even more powerful
and deadly. This still wasn’t enough for the Girl, whom stated he had to become
a Supreme Destroyer, a God of Death, if he wanted her love. A short time later,
Thanos learned he was insane. Turns out, none of his crew had ever seen the
Girl, and were probably starting to get creeped out by their boss talking to
himself. Yeah, turns out, the Girl is a physical manifestation of Death itself,
hence why she wants him to keep killing things. Either that or he has several screws
loose and is hallucinating all of this, it seems to depend on the story. She’s
known as Mistress Death from then on.
 |
| Do not take him up on this hug offer. |
Determined to prove himself to his
love, real or imaginary though she may be, he used his now sizable fleet to ravage
Titan. Once his armada finished blowing the buildings to rubble, he descended to
the planet to personally wipe out his people. He was eventually confronted by
his father. A’Lars tried to reason with his son but didn’t have much luck. He was
able to get his son to start to question whether Mistress Death was real or his
imagination. Apparently, while Eternals are immortal (in the sense that they
don’t die from aging) they’re susceptible mental illness, as their brains are
as human as our own. Psychosis and Dementia are rare, but not unheard of among
their people. Either shaken by his father’s words or unwilling to add
Fratricide to his extensive rap sheet, Thanos spared his father. He claimed it
was so his father could see him make the universe burn and prove his sanity. After
leaving his father in the ruins of their world, Death finally kissed Thanos.
She was cold… kind of… like…a…corpse. Well, that’s disturbing.
Shortly thereafter, he traveled to
Earth. Why? To steal the Cosmic Cube that the Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM) had
recently made. He got the cube and used it to turn himself into a dark god of
destruction. He was only defeated by the Avengers, and that was only after he
rather stupidly threw the cube away because he thought he’d absorbed all of it’s
power. The Kree hero Captain Mar-Vell nabbed the cube, used it to reset
everything, and steal Thanos’ power. Thanos reverted back to normal at the
center of the universe. He was saved from floating through eternity by his flagship,
which had been preprogramed to save him. Much to his horror, Death had abandoned
him for his failure.
She left him
for This Mama Jama.
No, Deadpool, she didn’t do that
until years later.
Still,
eventually, stole Thanos’ girl. Cause that’s the way I roll.
Deadpool, you’re an idiot. Moving
on. Now obsessed with regaining his Love’s affection. In order to do this, he sought
out something even greater than the Cosmic Cube, the Infinity Stones. The six
stones, Space (Purple), Mind (Blue), Soul (Green), Reality (Yellow), Time (Orange),
and Power (Red). To cover the sheer number of times that Thanos has tried to unite
all of the gems, and use them all to wipe out all life in the universe, or half
of it, depending on the mood he’s in.
Thanos is a Deviant Eternal. To put
this in human terms, he is to the Eternals as Apocalypse is to humans. Same
basic components, but massive gulf between him and his people. He’s also spent centuries
tinkering with himself, using genetic treatments and cybernetics to make
himself more powerful. He’s immortal, in the sense that he’s immune to disease
and age. His body is nearly indestructible, and he’s strong enough to wrestle
the Hulk. He can move and think at absurd speed. He has immense telepathic powers.
He can heal from most any injury, manipulate energies, control matter, teleport
and fly. Because why not. He’s considered public enemy number one by the
intergalactic peace keeping force the Nova Corps, the Shi’ar Empire, The Kree
Empire, and pretty much every spacefaring race that comes across him.
Despite being one of the most
massive threats that the Marvel Universe has ever seen, Thanos has been used
somewhat sparingly. In fact, he only had one real appearance outside the comics
before his appearance in The Avengers.
I imagine this is due to his somewhat… graphic obsession with death and the
sheer number of Marvel heroes needed to stop him.
 |
| Okay, him having two Stones is bad enough. He's not going to stop until he gets the whole set. |
Thanos first appearance was at the
end of The Avengers. He was portrayed by stuntman Damion Poitier and had no lines.
His minion, a creature known a The Other, told his master of the failure of
Loki’s invasion of Earth. He smiles confidently as the Other claims that to
attack Earth would be to “Court Death.”
He has a longer appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. I. He’s portrayed
here, and in all other live action appearances, by Josh Brolin. In it, he was using
the Kree warrior Ronan the Accuser to get an Infinity Stone. The deal was, in
exchange for the stone, Thanos would destroy the Kree’s enemies the Xandarian’s
homeworld. To facilitate this deal, he loaned out his adoptive daughters Gamora
and Nebula to Ronan’s service. Thankfully, Thanos’ doesn’t get the Stone.
Thanos had another small cameo at
the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron. In
it, he’s seen taking the golden Infinity Gauntlet from it’s case and saying, “Fine,
I’ll do it myself.”
He’s finally set to take center stage
as the antagonist of Avengers: Infinity
War Part I. He’s leading a full out assault on anyone and everyone holding
an Infinity Stone. From the promos, he’s going to cleave a bloody swath across
the Marvel Cinematic Universe to get what he wants. It’ll take just about every
hero the Avengers can find just to slow him down.
Thanos was the overarching antagonist
of the second season of Avengers Assemble.
He was the backer of Red Skull during season one and spends season two
gathering the Infinity Stones. He’s eventually defeated by the Avengers. Since,
he’s been a recurring antagonist on Avengers
Assemble and its sister series Guardians
of the Galaxy.
Thanos is exactly what he was made
to be, an agent of Death. I know him almost entirely from his portrayal in the
Marvel movies, which seems rather consistent with his comic incarnation. He’s
sadistic, powerful, destructive, and dangerously insane. He’s almost tragic, seeing
a once kind child lose himself to darkness. The real sad part is that he’ll
clearly never get what he wants. He’s had Death’s love, felt her kiss, and it
was cold. No matter how many lives he takes, worlds or stars he destroys, she’ll
always be cold. Really, his only saving grace is that he admits the universe
would have been better off had his mother succeeded and killed him. When I see Infinity War Part I later this month, I
hope he lives up to the hype that Marvel spent over six years building. Ten if
we’re counting Iron Man.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanos
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