Thanos

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Thanos is also a historic name for the Arizona Tewa.

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Thanos is a fictional character created by Jim Starlin and published by Marvel Comics. He is a Titanian Eternal and is often referred to as The Mad Titan.

The name "Thanos" is from the root of the Greek word for "death", thanatos. In the modern Greek language, Thanos is a nickname of those with the proper name Athanasius. He was originally conceived as a Marvel Comics version of Jack Kirby's Darkseid.

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Character History

Thanos was born on Saturn's moon, Titan. He is a mutant of the race of Eternals that live in a colony of that moon. He is a son of the colony's ruler, Mentor, and brother to Eros (Starfox).

For unknown reasons, he was born with purple-grey, hide-like skin and a massive body. Although treated fairly by his people, Thanos grew distant and obsessive. By means of bionic implants and long hours of strength and ability-augmenting meditation, Thanos became the most powerful of the Eternals. As his powers grew, so too did his ambition. (Note that the demonic Dragon of the Moon has claimed to be the influence of Thanos's evil tendencies.) He was eventually exiled from Titan for hideous crimes, including matricide.

Eros and Thanos have a custom whereby each year they bury the hatchet and convene at a neutral place, usually bearing gifts. An initiative of their father, who demanded that the two meet every year to remind them of their shared blood. The meeting is called The Truce and the two meet alone, with the exception of one appearance by Quasar, and do not fight.

Thanos, since childhood, has been obsessed with the occult and, more specifically, Death. His obsession develops into a twisted love and devotion. Thanos takes hundreds-of-millions of lives in mass-killings throughout the cosmos to appease his love. He eventually becomes her male companion. It is thought that Death is attracted to his philosophical dedication to nihilism and his willingness to do anything, even commit the genocide of his own people, to appease her. One attack by Thanos on the Titan Eternals results in millions of deaths.

Thanos arrives on Earth, killing a family that accidentally sees him land. This event leads to the creation of Drax the Destroyer and the origin of Moondragon. Thanos steals the power of Earth's Cosmic Cube, but is defeated by Captain Marvel, the Avengers, and the Titanian Eternals. When he carelessly leaves the Cube behind, Marvel destroys it.

Thanos later comes to the conclusion that the Magus is a Menace to his plans. He raises the female assassin, Gamora, to destroy him. He joins forces with Adam Warlock to defeat Magus, but secretly drains some energy from Warlock's Soul Gem in the process.

Thanos gathers energies all of the other Infinity Gems to power a machine to destroy all the stars in the universe as a gift to Death. Warlock attempts to prevent this but Thanos kills Gamora, Pip the Troll, and mortally wounds Warlock. All three have their souls absorbed by the Soul Gem. The Avengers, Captain Marvel, the Thing, Spider-Man and Warlock's spirit (rising up from the Soul Gem) kill Thanos by turning him into stone.

Image:Thanos2a.jpgYears later, Thanos is revived by Death, who wants him to reduce the overpopulation of the universe. Thanos creates the Infinity Gauntlet by stealing the gems from the Elders of the Universe, making him omnipotent. Once again he carelessly loses it, this time to the space pirate Nebula. Warlock (having raised himself, Pip, and Gamora from the dead) recognizes that Thanos was thwarted not only by intervention of superheroes, but by Thanos's own self-doubt.

After Thanos is told, he helps Warlock take the Gauntlet from Nebula. Under its influence, the belief that Thanos is capable of changing, and the need to keep an eye on him, Warlock makes Thanos a member of the Infinity Watch. He gives him the Reality Gem to guard.

The Watch is ultimately disbanded. Thanos returns to villainy, albeit half-heartedly. Later, he claims that these subsequent appearances were all half-formed clones. Thanos would eventually lose his interest in trying to become the consort of mistress death and his motives became more mysterious.

Soon after these events, an ancient Egyptian pharaoh named Ankhenaten returned to Earth possessing nearly infinite power and rampaging the planets population; Thanos and several other cosmic beings take notice of these occurrances. Following the successful deposing of the tyrannical pharaoh by the combined efforts of many of Marvel's greatest heroes and villians, it was revealed that Ankhenaten's source of power was a mystical artifact known as the Heart of the Universe. This artifact granted its possessor with vast and unfathomable powers.

Thanos, being the cunning being that he is, managed to steal the artifact and use its power to once again gain omnipotence. In doing so, he managed to destroy the universe and achieve his goal of becoming supreme being. However, having finally accomplished his goals of ultimate power, Thanos was left empty and alone. Realizing that it was not his place to assume this type of unnatural and terrifying role, he decided that such a powerful artifact must be destroyed forever. His final act with the artifact was to undo everything he had done and prevent the Heart from ever existing. These events are therefore considered out of continuity. From this point on out, Thanos decided he would be a changed being.

Rather than devote the rest of his existence to death and destruction, Thanos became a completely different character. No longer bound by his past desires, Thanos became a grey character, who wandered the galaxy searching for his purpose; his motives as mysterious as ever.

Currently, Thanos is slated to have some role (possibly of a pivotal nature) in the upcoming Annihilation event.

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Powers and abilities

Thanos possesses nearly incalculable superhuman power. The most powerful of the Titanian Eternals, Thanos is an alien whose massive thick-hided body gives him the ability to synthesize cosmic energy for his personal use. (This is a trait that Thanos shares with his father, Alars, and the Earth-born Eternals, but not with Titan-born Eternals.) Through bionic amplification, Thanos increased his physical strength and resilience to levels possibly rivalling or surpassing even the strongest of the Earth Eternals (i.e. Gilgamesh, now deceased). This indicates that Thanos' strength is at least into the Class 100 range, being able to lift well in excess of 100 tons. Through meditation, certain mystical techniques, and through the aid of the incarnation of Death itself Thanos augmented his power in still other ways, enabling him to tap, transform, and direct vast quantities of cosmic energy for destructive force. Deadliest of all of Thanos's attributes, perhaps, is his mind; his superhuman intellect is totally dedicated to the annihilation of life. Thanos has also demonstrated psionic abilities (e.g. telepathy), the limits of which remain unknown.

Image:Tyrantthanos.jpg

Aside from his great power, Thanos is a superb tactician and is well-versed in many areas of arcane lore. Thanos is also a highly formidable hand-to-hand combatant, having fought the likes of the Galactus-Spawned Tyrant to a stand-still, with the help of a power bauble containing Morg's stolen energy. As powerful as he is, Thanos seeks to avoid physical confrontations and prefers outwitting his opponents and working through agents and thralls.

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Quotations

  • "I am now omnipotent. What should I do with such almighty power? The answer to that is really quite simple: Anything I want. Anything. I am incapable of error. Any result that displeases me I can simply reverse. There is nothing I need to worry on, for I am Thanos. And Thanos is supreme. Supreme."
  • "Am I not Thanos?! Did I not butcher the woman who gave me birth, who force-fed me into this hell called life?! Is not the wake of my passing crimson with the blood of my enemies and allies alike?! Death is with me every second of the day! My every moment is spent in either dealing out death or worshipping it! So tell me, who under the stars is better suited than I to be Death's consort?"
  • "You address omnipotence. Tread carefully."
  • "Death, thunderer, is like love-making. It gets better each time."
  • "Destiny awaits." (from Marvel Super Heroes arcade game)
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References

In 2003, Thanos received his own ongoing series; it was originally written and illustrated by Jim Starlin, but as of #7 Keith Giffen took over until its ending with #12.

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Other media

Thanos appeared in three episodes of the Silver Surfer animated series on the FOX Network: "The End of Eternity," "Battlecry," and "Soul Hunter." In this version, Thanos worships the female personafication of Chaos, due to Fox's refusal to allow any use of the word 'death' in their children's programming.

Template:Wikibooks Thanos also appeared as the final boss in the Capcom game Marvel Super Heroes in a story adapted from the Infinity Gauntlet mini-series. He re-appeared in Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes without the Infinity Gems (although he inexplicably uses four of the same Gem-related super moves from his last incarnation - Power, Reality, Space, and Soul; losing Time and Mind - albeit greatly reduced in effectiveness and power). Image:Thanos02gif.gif

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See also

  • Creator Jim Starlin on Thanos [1]
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References

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