Thanos is a character that appears within Marvel Comics. He made his series debut in The Reapers' Game.
Canon[]
Thanos is a major antagonist from Marvel Comics, acting as one of the most powerful villains in the universe.
He is from Saturn's moon, Titan, and over the course of many centuries, has grown to become one of the ultimate powers in the universe, frequently clashing with major heroic figures such as the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and more.
This incarnation of Thanos takes after his appearance in the comics, specifically Earth-616.
Pre-Convergence[]
It is initially unknown what his exact whereabouts were and how he came to die before the events of The Reapers' Game, but it can be assumed that he was plotting out a villainous scheme indeed.
Stripped of his powers like everyone else in the Murder Game, Thanos had chosen three pins and went ahead to participate in hopes of returning to the world of the living.
Plot Involvement[]
The Reapers' Game[]
Though he had little active involvement within the plot, Thanos participated in the Traitor voting process like the rest of the participants. He allied himself primarily with Claptrap and Emma Frost, and essentially stayed neutral during the climax of the event.
Finished with his business in the world of the Reapers, Thanos returned to his universe, specifically in his spaceship. Before long, however, he would be suddenly attacked and killed by a figure with the exact same appearance as him. It is revealed here that the Thanos who participated in The Reapers' Game was actually a clone, and that the real Thanos, the attacker, never died at all.
Going through the memories of the clone, the real Thanos would observe the happenings of the Murder Game, grinning to himself with interest.
The Infinity Parable[]
After the events of The Reapers' Game, Thanos had begun doing extensive research on the multiverse, managing to find a way to freely travel between worlds. From there, he had begun recruiting a number of allies to work with, including Darth Maul, Claude Frollo and Maleficent, under the guise of hoping to work with them to find "the Hearts of Light" and find Kingdom Hearts.
After an extended period of time, Thanos had finally acquired the power he needed to complete his agenda, mastermining his own multiversal incident by summoning an ensemble of unaware individuals from different worlds, believing a number of them to be some of the Hearts of Light, and that the group in question would lead them to the remaining others, puppeteering their movements across different worlds, all the while they were chased by Maul and others.
In the climax of the event, Thanos, Maul, and Maleficent face off against the group, Maleficent being defeated in battle and Maul making an escape. As for Thanos, it is promptly revealed with his defeat that he had orchestrated every minute detail, right down to his defeat, deliberately. At death's door, Hela, the Goddess of Death, suddenly appeared to take the Titan away. It is there that Thanos reveals that he had been dying for some time now, and his true underlying plan was to create a notable amount of discord within the multiverse and in other peoples' lives that when he died, his soul would be sent to the afterlife of Hela, who also happened to be his lover. His wish fulfilled, he is dragged into the afterlife for eternity.
Zero Hour[]
He is seen in the final chapter of the event, in a looped version of his home dimension, fighting against the Young Avengers, consisting of Elijah Bradley, Kate Bishop, Tommy Shepherd, and Teddy Altman, before Billy Kaplan and the Survivors arrive to send aid.
Just then, Revan arrives to offer his assistance to Thanos. Though Thanos does not know who Revan is, he brusquely accepts the offer of help and fights against the heroes, before being ultimately defeated and sent back to the grave as the multiverse is restored.
Character Relationships[]
- Claptrap - A character from the video game Borderlands who made his Murder debut in The Reapers' Game. The two of them were unlikely allies to say the least, like a comedy duo, with Thanos being the straight man and Claptrap being the jokester.
- Emma Frost - Another character from Marvel Comics, specifically a recurring X-Men character, who also made her debut in The Reapers' Game. Like with Claptrap, Thanos was comparatively the serious one to Emma's more joking and sarcastic demeanor.
- Maleficent - The antagonist of Sleeping Beauty who appears in The Infinity Parable. She works alongside Thanos, under the guise of collecting the Hearts of Light in order to obtain the power of Kingdom Hearts.
- Hela - A character from Marvel Comics who made a brief appearance in The Infinity Parable. The Goddess of Death, she is usually bound to her own realm, but had become Thanos's lover during her life. When Thanos had finally come knocking on death's door, Hela appeared before him to claim his soul, due to the discord he had caused within the multiverse as a whole.
Trivia[]
- He is the fifth character to debut as a Survivor and subsequently become a Mastermind, after Kirei Kotomine, the first incarnation of Junko Enoshima, Bill Cipher, and Bernkastel.