Villains Unveiled
A Titan Gone Mad
(Spoilers ahead: His hunt for the Infinity Stones is known across the universe, but there are still some who have yet to start the endgame, so don’t spill the cosmic beans.)
For decades, the Mad Titan known as Thanos mainly existed on the pages of Marvel comic books. The cinematic juggernaut of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has elevated this purple-skinned conqueror to become a household name. Nearly the entire population of Earth watched the Avengers films, but not everyone knows the intricacies of the backstory of this ultra-powerful despot. What got this titan so mad to begin with?
Writer/artist Jim Starlin dreamed up this behemoth supervillain as a foe for Tony Stark—decades before either character appeared as the Hollywood icons we know them as now. First appearing in The Invincible Iron Man #55 (cover date listed as February 1973), Thanos hails from the moon Titan, and has been out to overpower the galaxy ever since he debuted. Many cosmic entities occupy the Marvel Universe, such as the Celestials, a mysterious alien race largely focused on playing gods with DNA testing. The Deviants were a result of the Celestials’ bio-engineering, and often faced their counterparts, the Eternals, in intergalactic combat. Thanos is considered an Eternal-Deviant: in Thanos’ specific case, he has a rare disease called Deviant Syndrome causing him to appear drastically different from his more human-looking Eternal family members. Thanos’ mother, Sui-San, father, A’lars, and brother Eros (also known as Starfox), are also Titanians—the offshoot of Eternals who gathered on Saturn’s moon Titan to start their new colony. Thanos was seemingly born with an inherent evil, and he would wage a bloody battle with his own kin.
Surprisingly, when Thanos was very young, he considered himself a pacifist, often gladly playing with the much fairer Eros (portrayed by Harry Styles in the 2021 Eternals film). As time went on, Thanos grew to hate being different from his relatives and peers, and it was apparent that no cure existed for his grotesque condition. His purple countenance, along with the divets on his chin, made him resemble something more like a shapeshifting Skrull. Despite this festering resentment, Thanos was involved, in his part, with the leadership of his people. With a looming overpopulation problem, Thanos suggested genocide as a permanent solution. This disregard for life he deemed unworthy would develop into the staggering erasure of countless lives he would become infamous for in the modern Marvel films. Thanos’ mere presence felt as though he was cursed, and his familial woes only worsened as the years went on.
Sui-San’s relationship with her disfigured son, in most versions of the continuity, is a distant one. Thanos’ father was more receptive to him, but in nearly if not all iterations of the canon, Thanos eventually murders his parents. After fully accepting his emergence as a true warlord, Thanos oversees a devastating assault on Titan, obliterating millions of its inhabitants—greatly in part to impress the entity known as Lady Death.
Lady Death exists as the antithesis of her cosmic counterpart, the being known as Eternity. As the embodiment of the universe itself, Eternity is depicted as having a humanoid form and literally filled with stars and planets. Constratingly, instead of limitless potential for life, Lady Death is shrouded in a dark hood and typically shown having a skeletal body. Despite being as old as Creation itself, Lady Death appeared to a young Thanos in the disguise of one of his classmates. Her interest in the unusual Eternal-adjacent boy led Death to foster a bond with Thanos. Thanos quickly developed romantic feelings for the girl and his infatuation clouded his already questionable judgment. Lady Death would spend years refusing to reciprocate Thanos’ advances, making Thanos that much more devoted to winning her affection. This desperate search for approval would prove to be catastrophic for an inordinate amount of lives across the galaxy.
Thanos is a being of immense power, but he is not limited to his size and incredible strength. He uses his genius intellect to devise ways of terminating life across the universe. His nihilistic approach to existence makes him a dangerous opponent for those unfortunate enough to cross his path. Thanos is a cold and calculating killer, and his pursuits have led him to searching for different methods to bring about Armageddon. One such apocalyptic weapon is the Cosmic Cube, otherwise known as the Tesseract. This ancient object is known to be able to manipulate matter, controlling time and space itself. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it is depicted as the Space Stone, one of the six Infinity Gems.
Each stone possesses a unique quality which, if combined, would grant the stones’ bearer limitless control over mind, reality, time, space, power, and soul. A key figure standing in Thanos’ way was the alien known as Warlock, a cosmic hero who has fought alongside both the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy. Originally referred to as simply “Him,” Adam Warlock began his existence as a genetically engineered man—his creators developed Adam with the intent of him being the perfect creation. Warlock would eventually gain independence from his masters and even acquire the Space Stone. With the jewel embedded in his forehead, it made Warlock a challenging obstacle for Thanos to complete his quest of collecting all of the gems.
Thanos traveled the cosmos hunting for the scattered stones, obtaining them by any means necessary from whoever claimed them. In his quest for galactic genocide, Thanos would obliterate a planet. After the destruction, an orphaned girl named Gamora confronted him, impressing Thanos with her courage. Gamora was one of the many children forcibly adopted by Thanos. Together, the two “sisters,” Gamora and Nebula, would be raised to serve as assassins for Thanos. The Mad Titan would direct his armies to target the many superheroes that opposed his maniacal crusade to annihilate as much organic life as possible.
In the 2018 film, Avengers: Infinity War, and its sequel, 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, Thanos’ master plan played out with devastating consequences. Originally portrayed by Damion Poitier in a post-credits sequence at the end of the first Avengers movie in 2012, Josh Brolin took over the role in 2014, appearing in the first Guardians of the Galaxy film. In the cinematic franchise, Thanos is the mastermind orchestrating numerous attacks which ultimately led to him collecting all of the Infinity Stones. Like in the comic book source material, Thanos makes an Infinity Gauntlet, a special glove containing each of the cosmic gems. With one snap, Thanos erased half of the entire universe, bringing to him what he considered a peaceful balance. The films see the combined forces of all of the Marvel heroes confronting and defeating Thanos, restoring much of their universe.
Character creator Jim Starlin’s trippy fascination with how the human brain functions contributed to Thanos’ conception. In a psychology class, young student Starlin was intrigued by the study of Eros and Thanatos: humans’ innate drive to live and die, respectively. The early designs for the character were heavily influenced by Jack Kirby’s New Gods, namely Darkseid.
In our reality, warlords have wreaked havoc for ages, all without needing to leave the planet. The dictator Pol Pot perpetrated the Cambodian genocide, all in the pursuit of total independence. Instead of liberty, Pol Pot was responsible for inflicting misery and death on his people. Born in 1766, Thomas Malthus was not a warmonger, but he is known for his views on global overpopulation. He wrote about strict limitations on human reproduction. Thanos shared similar ideals and tactics, desiring to end as much life as he deemed fitting if it brought balance to the universe.
Villain ranking: MADMAN
As a galactic overlord and a bling enthusiast, Thanos has left a lasting mask on gbd public consciousness. Immortalized on film as a CGI villain that is almost unstoppable, Thanos is a mad Titan with an evil legacy that isn’t snapped out of existence so easily.
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