Avengers Forever is a twelve-issue comic book limited series published from December 1998 to November 1999 by Marvel Comics . It follows the storyline of Rick Jones and his quest to build a team of Avengers from the past, present, and future. The series was written by Kurt Busiek and Roger Stern and drawn by Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino . In 2021, a new Avengers Forever series was released, following the character Ghost Rider .
100-457: Marvel originally contracted Busiek and Pacheco to produce a series called Avengers: World in Chains , but it was too similar to another project (presumably Mutant X ) and was canceled by the company. Because Busiek and Pacheco were under contract, the pair instead developed the concept for Avengers Forever . Immortus sends his servant Tempus to kill an apparently critically ill Rick Jones ,
200-592: A chance to show that it can be better rather than being condemned for things that have not happened yet. Kang aids the Avengers and, in the final battle, kills the Time Keepers when they attempt to punish Immortus for failing. The Avengers resolve to strike against the Time Keepers even after they learn their enemies' motives, arguing that the Time Keepers only seek to eliminate those that might threaten them, when they do not even attempt to erase themselves, despite
300-455: A character, not having the confidence that my career was going to last anything longer than a few weeks. So they got jammed into it. Thanos was a much thinner character and Roy suggested beefing him up, so he's beefed up quite a bit from his original sketches ... and later on I liked beefing him up so much that he continued to grow in size. Starlin has admitted the character's look was influenced by Jack Kirby 's Darkseid : Kirby had done
400-612: A cocoon protected by the Universal Church of Truth is revealed to be hiding Thanos, who has been chosen by Oblivion to be the new Avatar of Death. Resurrected before his mind could be fully formed, Thanos goes on a mindless rampage before being captured by the Guardians of the Galaxy. Thanos pretends to aid the Guardians against the invading Cancerverse , and after discovering its origin kills an alternate version of Mar-Vell,
500-753: A connected storyline in Ka-Zar vol. 2, #4–11 (Aug. 1997 – March 1998), Ka-Zar Annual (1997), and the X-Man and Hulk Annual (1998), before featuring in Thor vol. 2, #21–25 (March–July 2000) and the 2000 Annual. The character was next used in Captain Marvel vol. 4, #17–19 (June–Aug. 2001), Avengers: Celestial Quest #1–8 (Nov. 2001 – June 2002), Infinity Abyss #1–6 (Aug.–Oct. 2002) and Marvel: The End #1–6 (May–Aug 2003). In 2004 Thanos received an eponymous title that ran for 12 issues. In 2006,
600-512: A darkened Silver Surfer armed with the hordes of Annihilus and the deceased Thor's Mjolnir, using the latter to swiftly kill the Rider. The Surfer is distracted by the feral Hulk that Thanos kept chained in his basement, allowing the two Thanos to kill him using Surtur's Twilight Sword. Upon the Surfer's death, Death arrives, and Thanos realizes the true reason that King Thanos brought him into
700-659: A desperate ditch effort to prevent all of this Eros, alongside Pip, travel to different points of Thanos' past and tell him he is not alone and that he is loved. However, it is all in vain as Thanos simply did not care, but these temporal paradoxes did allow present Thanos to use that little access of his future's power to talk to Eros through his past selves. He directs Eros and Pip to his future's psyche and had Eros free him, but unfortunately this allows future Thanos to finally find Eros and had him absorbed inside his universe. Then Adam Warlock came and refuses to free Thanos because he would end up as Eros and tells Thanos that trust would be
800-524: A hero and a man at peace for the first time in his immortal life. But Thanos laughs maniacally as he coldly rebukes such a path, ruthlessly killing his would-be friends and allies while choosing to remain whom he always was. His cosmic might returned to him, Thanos is freed from the God Quarry, wherein he immediately accosts his brother Eros and threatens the coven to release him from their domain so that he might do away with Thane once and for all. Around
900-442: A major role in the five-issue miniseries The Infinity Gauntlet vol. 2, (July 2015 – Jan 2016), a tie-in of the cross-over Secret Wars (2015). In 2017, as part of Marvel NOW! , Thanos received his own solo title written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Mike Deodato. After 11 issues, Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw took over as the creative team. This storyline crossed over with Donny Cates' Cosmic Ghost Rider storyline. In 2021, Thanos
1000-412: A maximum security cosmic Alcatraz, Thanos sits alone within a cell as his sickness ravages his body. All while being mocked by its prison warden whom he lured into a false sense of security to escape; ripping off his arm for escape access and murdering half his personal staff in a bid for freedom. Having narrowly escaped his imprisonment before its self-destruction, Thanos retreats to a hidden outpost where
1100-498: A moving comet Thanos goes to the comet which contained a treasure more powerful than the Infinity Gems. Despite the speed of comet being enough to immediately vaporize any being Thanos was able to get it since he "existed outside the norm". With this artifact Thanos was able to absorb every cosmic being that exists in his universe, eventually facing Eternity and Infinity. Despite their best effort Thanos defeats them and absorbs
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#17327796172401200-563: A nearby car as a family witnesses his arrival. Unbeknownst to Thanos, two of the family members in the vehicle survive: the father's spirit is preserved by the Titanian cosmic entity Kronos and is given a new form as Drax the Destroyer while the daughter is found by Thanos's father, Mentor, and is raised to become the heroine Moondragon . Thanos eventually locates the Cube, and also attracts
1300-484: A pirate. He finds no fulfillment in either until he is visited again by Mistress Death, for whom he murders his offspring and his pirate captain. Wishing to impress Mistress Death, Thanos gathers an army of villainous aliens and begins a nuclear bombardment of Titan that kills millions of his race. Seeking universal power in the form of the Cosmic Cube , Thanos travels to Earth. Prior to landing, his vessel destroys
1400-461: A popular internet meme, and that the film Endgame provides some evidence in favor of this view, in particular when Captain America says, "I saw a pod of whales when I was coming over the bridge . . . There's fewer ships, cleaner water." The author notes that given the contemporary extinction crisis driven by human actions, "you could indeed argue that Thanos did nothing wrong — and in the long run,
1500-735: A recurring role in Warlock and the Infinity Watch #1–42 (Feb. 1992 – Aug. 1995). This was followed by crossover appearances in Infinity War #1–6 (June – Nov. 1992), Infinity Crusade #1–6 (June – Nov. 1993), Silver Surfer vol. 3, #86–88 (Nov. 1993 – Jan. 1994), Warlock Chronicles #6–8, Thor #468–471 (Nov. 1993 – Feb. 1994), Namor The Sub-Mariner #44 (Nov. 1993), Secret Defenders #11–14 (Jan.–April 1994), Cosmic Powers #1–6 (March–July 1994), and Cosmic Powers Unlimited #1 (May 1995). Thanos appeared in
1600-481: A roving mercenary colony loyal only to him was once stationed. Only to find it decimated at the hand of the new lover of Mistress Death; who reveals that she had stricken her former avatar with his fatal sickness, being his son Thane, now boasting the power of the Phoenix Force . Whom under her coaxing, had banished the mad titan back to the decimated Moon of Titan now entirely stripped of his godlike powers. For
1700-619: A spark to ignite the seething anti-mutant sentiment in the United States, and new president Graydon Creed tasks terrorist leader Nick Fury with rounding up mutants into prison camps; though the public explanation is that this is for their protection, mutants taken into the camps are immediately killed. Havok has Elektra take Scotty into hiding, while the remaining members of the Six, supplemented by new members Gambit and Captain America , set about rescuing mutants from Nick Fury's troops. At
1800-471: A temporal anomaly on Titan during "The Infinity Conflict", Thanos finds Pip the Troll and an older Eros who has come from the future. Eros tells him about an enemy made out darkness that will destroy Thanos in the future. Eros and Thanos craft a plan, but when they go to implement it Thanos is confronted by his future self who tells him to alter the plan to ensure his safety. The future Thanos then takes control of
1900-414: A time machine to return to his timeline and be reunited with his mother who, in all probability, does not exist anymore. Havok attempts to stop him, but the machine explodes, supposedly killing both men. However, at the instant of Havok's death, a Havok from an alternate reality also dies after being shot in the chest by a Sentinel . Havok's spirit finds its way into his counterpart's body and he wakes up in
2000-413: A way of getting back at Madelyne for some unspecified injury. Havok ultimately gives up and decides to take on his counterpart's place in this universe. Only Scotty, who has precognitive powers, realizes that Havok is telling the truth, and addresses him as "Alex" instead of "Dad". The two quickly form a bond. A demon-possessed Madelyne sets plans to take over the world into play. She takes control of all
2100-829: A weapon called the Pyramatrix with the life force of everyone on Earth until he is defeated by Squirrel Girl . After the battle, Uatu the Watcher appears and confirms to Squirrel Girl that she defeated the real Thanos, not a clone or copy. During the Annihilation War , Thanos allies himself with the genocidal villain Annihilus . When the Annihilation Wave destroys the Kyln, Thanos sends the Fallen to check on
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#17327796172402200-631: Is Eros of Titan . Thanos carries the Deviants gene, and as such, shares the physical appearance of the Eternals' cousin race. Shocked by his appearance and the belief that he would destroy all life in the universe, Sui-San went insane and attempted to kill him, but she was stopped by A'lars. During his school years, Thanos was a pacifist and would only play with his brother Eros and pets. By adolescence, Thanos had become fascinated with nihilism and entropy, worshipping and eventually falling in love with
2300-659: Is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . Created by writer-artist Jim Starlin , the character first appeared in The Invincible Iron Man #55 ( cover date February 1973). An Eternal – Deviant warlord from the moon Titan , Thanos is regarded as one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe . He has clashed with many heroes including the Avengers ,
2400-557: Is a mutant member of the race of superhumans known as the Titanian Eternals. The character possesses abilities common to the Eternals, but amplified to a higher degree through a combination of his mutant–Eternal heritage, bionic amplification, mysticism, and power bestowed by the abstract entity, Death. Demonstrating enormous superhuman strength, speed, stamina, immortality and invulnerability among other qualities, Thanos can absorb and project vast quantities of cosmic energy, and
2500-659: Is a reimagination of the Earth-616 universe. In this continuum, Scott Summers was captured along with his parents by the Shi'ar and only Alex (Havok) escaped, allowing him to be the eventual leader of the X-Men. Originally, the highlighted difference between the Mutant X universe and Earth-616 was that mutants have come to be accepted by the overwhelming majority of humanity, and anti-mutant sentiments are regarded as outdated. However, it
2600-405: Is a supergenius in virtually all known fields of advanced science and has created technology far exceeding that which is found on contemporary Earth. He often employs a transportation chair capable of space flight, force field projection, teleportation , time travel , and movement through alternate universes . Thanos is also a master strategist and uses several space vessels, at least three under
2700-471: Is capable of telekinesis and telepathy . He can manipulate matter and live indefinitely without food, air or water, cannot die of old age, is immune to all terrestrial diseases, and has high resistance to psychic assaults. Thanos is also an accomplished hand-to-hand combatant, having been trained in the art of war on Titan. Thanos has proven himself capable of briefly holding his own in battle against Odin , and of blasting Galactus off his feet. Thanos
2800-509: Is dying. Thanos tries to force his father, Mentor, to find a cure for his malady, but kills him when he is unable to. Soon after Thanos would be battered and detained by the Shi'ar Imperial Guard after he invaded the very planet station of his father's facility sitting in their territory. A quick jump into the future shows Thanos's estranged son Thane having bested his mad father with the personification of death at his side. Presently locked within
2900-555: Is imprisoned in the Triskelion, and manipulates Anti-Man into facilitating his escape. Thanos goes on a killing spree, but Black Panther , Blue Marvel and Monica Rambeau are able to stop him by devising a device that blocks the electrical synapses in his brain. Thanos somehow later recovers during the "Thanos Returns" story and escapes captivity, and reclaims his Black Order forces from Corvus Glaive. After retaking command of his Black Quadrant outpost, Thanos discovers that he
3000-630: Is later revealed in Mutant X #15 that hatred against mutants is even stronger than in Earth-616 following the actions of the Goblin Queen. Mutant X was originally intended to be a 12-issue limited series, but due to unexpectedly high sales it was extended to an ongoing series. The series lasted for 32 issues and three annuals before it ended. After Greystone , a member of Havok's X-Factor team, develops temporal insanity, he attempts to build
3100-513: Is to use the Power Cosmic to destroy all life and remain the sole survivor, he decides to free Galactus. Drax the Destroyer kills Thanos before he can do so but discovers that Thanos had placed a failsafe device to allow Silver Surfer to free Galactus in the event that Annihilus betrayed him. During a climactic battle with Annihilus, Nova is near death and sees Thanos standing with Mistress Death. During " The Thanos Imperative " storyline,
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3200-833: The American Old West with the Two-Gun Kid , the Night Rider , the Ringo Kid , the Rawhide Kid , Kid Colt , and the Gunhawks , as well as an alternate version of the Avengers from the 1950s , and a confrontation to thwart an alien invasion in a possible future. During their searches, they discover that Immortus possesses the Forever Crystal, an artifact that can control multiple realities. Kang aids
3300-550: The Beyonder , who has been rendered amnesiac by its choice to assume a humanoid female form. Thanos battles the Beyonder, causing its mind to shut down and leaving its power trapped within a comatose physical form. Thanos then instructs the Kyln officers to keep the Beyonder on life support indefinitely to prevent the entity from being reborn. The destruction frees Thanos and his fellow inmates, and he finds himself accompanied by
3400-563: The Exiles ( Mimic , Magik , Heather Hudson , Nocturne , Morph and Sunfire ) were sent by the Timebroker to fight off the evil Alex until the Earth-616 version came back. The Timebroker then personally eliminated the evil Alex's consciousness. At the beginning of the series, Havok is the leader of The Six , a superhero group which is roughly equivalent to the Earth-616 original X-Men . The roster includes: Thanos Thanos
3500-584: The Guardians of the Galaxy , the Fantastic Four , and the X-Men . In creating Thanos, Starlin drew inspiration from Jack Kirby 's New Gods series for DC Comics , particularly the character of Darkseid . Thanos is usually portrayed as a villain, although many stories depict him as believing his actions to be justified. Perhaps the character's best-known storyline is The Infinity Gauntlet (1991),
3600-501: The Infinity Watch and helps him to defeat first his evil and then good personas, and cure Thor of "warrior Madness". Thanos later recruits a team of Earth-bound super-villains and puts them under the field leadership of Geatar in a mission to capture an ancient robot containing the obscure knowledge of a universal library and extract its data. Thanos uses information from the robot to plot against and battle Tyrant ,
3700-691: The Kyln , an intergalactic prison, Thanos meets Death for the first time since re-building existence with the Heart of the Universe. Death claims to be worth wooing, but says Thanos must offer something other than death. At the Kyln Thanos encounters Peter Quill, who has retired himself from the role of Star-Lord , and the Strontian warrior Gladiator of the Shi'ar Empire, who are both prisoners, as well as
3800-525: The New Gods , which I thought was terrific. He was over at DC at the time. I came up with some things that were inspired by that. You'd think that Thanos was inspired by Darkseid , but that was not the case when I showed up. In my first Thanos drawings, if he looked like anybody, it was Metron . I had all these different gods and things I wanted to do, which became Thanos and the Titans. Roy took one look at
3900-435: The Power Cosmic left in the Surfer's corpse to return to the present day. As the future begins to crumble around him, King Thanos realizes that his younger self has taken the steps necessary to ensure that this timeline will never take place. As he fades into nothingness, King Thanos asks Death what his younger self did, to which she simply responds "he won." During the " Infinity Wars " storyline, Thanos later discovers that
4000-671: The Reddit forum /r/ThanosDidNothingWrong, dedicated to sharing theories and memes about the character, went viral when it was announced that half of the forum's subscribers would be banned, mirroring Thanos’ plan to eradicate half of all life in the universe. The number of subscribers rose from 100,000 users in June, to over 700,000 on July 9, leading to over 350,000 users being banned, the largest such banning in Reddit's history. JV Chamar of Forbes stated that "Thanos did nothing wrong" has become
4100-598: The superhero team Avengers from the past, present, and future. The team consists of a disillusioned Captain America , who is pulled from an adventure in which he discovers a high-ranking government official is the leader of the Secret Empire ; Yellowjacket from a time when he is mentally unbalanced and unaware that he is Hank Pym; Hawkeye from just after the conclusion of the Kree–Skrull War and war against Olympus ; Giant-Man (also Hank Pym) and Wasp from
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4200-942: The 1977 Annuals for Avengers and Marvel Two-in-One (Thanos does not actually appear until the end of Warlock #9). He was also featured in a short backup story in Logan's Run #6 (June 1977) and had a small role in the Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel (April 1982). The character was revived in Silver Surfer vol. 3, #34 (Feb. 1990) and guest-starred until issue #59 (November 1991), while simultaneously appearing in The Thanos Quest #1–2 (Sept.–Oct. 1990) and The Infinity Gauntlet #1–6 (July–Dec. 1991). After an appearance in Spider-Man #17 (Dec. 1991), Thanos had
4300-418: The Avengers as part of his 'rebellion' against his apparent destiny, and reveals that Immortus serves a trio of entities called the Time Keepers, with his previous interactions with the team having been motivated by an effort to keep humanity limited to prevent them from developing into a threat to the universe. These entities eventually reveal that, in various futures, mankind will travel into space and establish
4400-520: The Avengers' former member Mantis and her son Quoi , who apparently is destined to be the Celestial Messiah. Thanos abandons this plan after having to unite with Mistress Death to destroy the "Rot", a cosmic aberration in deep space caused by Thanos's incessant love for Death. Thanos also once conducted extensive research on genetics, studying many of the universe's heroes and villains before cloning them, and gene-spliced his own DNA into
4500-689: The Avengers. However, Kang's strength of will and the unique temporal conditions of the conflict results in a temporal backlash, culminating in Kang and Immortus being recreated as separate beings. When Rick is injured using the Destiny Force to destroy the Time-Keepers' equipment, Captain Marvel merges with Rick to save his life—the link with Marvel's future self resulting in Rick being unintentionally linked to Marvel's present self when he, Giant-Man, and
4600-558: The Infinity Gems once again. He uses the gems to create the Infinity Gauntlet, making himself omnipotent, and erases half the living things in the universe to prove his love to Death. This act and several other acts are soon undone by Nebula and Adam Warlock . Warlock reveals that Thanos has always allowed himself to be defeated because the Titan secretly knows he is not worthy of ultimate power. Thanos joins Warlock as part of
4700-568: The Infinity Stones are being collected once again and begins plotting to reassemble his gauntlet. However, he is assaulted by Requiem, whom he apparently recognizes, and is quickly killed. She then destroys the Infinity Gauntlet and also commands the Chitauri loyal to Thanos to die. In a prelude to the " A.X.E.: Judgment Day " storyline, Thanos is revived by Druig and Phastos as their plan to remove Zuras from his leadership after learning
4800-689: The Machine's purpose for their resurrection. Druig places a device inside his body to prevent his treachery. After receiving a vote from the Uni-Mind, Thanos becomes the Prime Eternal and kills Zuras for revenge and Druig to hide his weakness. He has Druig revived and visits his great uncle Uranos in the Exclusion where Thanos learns the Eternals' three principles. After Druig departs, Uranos gives Thanos an imprint key that enables an armory to access
4900-505: The Multiversal Masters of Evil who have either conquered other Earths. Mutant X (comics) Mutant X is a comic book published by Marvel Comics between 1998 and 2001, featuring Havok , a mutant and former member of the X-Men , who is transported into a parallel dimension. It was written by Howard Mackie and inked by Andrew Pepoy , with a series of different pencilers. The "Mutant X" universe (Earth-1298)
5000-489: The Mutant X Universe. Here, he is the leader of a mutant team of heroes dubbed The Six (who are altered versions of his friends from Earth-616), the husband of Madelyne Pryor , and the father of Scotty Summers. At first he tries to convince the others of the Six to help him return to his universe, but they all still believe him to be the Havok of their universe and insist that he is lying about coming from another dimension as
5100-596: The Songbird who fought with the Avengers in this storyline originated from an alternate future rather than the future. The series has been collected into a single volume : In 2021, a new Avengers: Forever series was released. It details Ghost Rider and one of the Deathloks working for the mysterious Avenger Prime traveling across the Multiverse to put together an army of Multiversal Avengers in order to combat
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#17327796172405200-415: The Troll, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, and Dr. Strange – destroys the remaining clones. When the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten uses a source of cosmic power , the Heart of the Universe, to seize power in present-day Earth (killing most of Earth's heroes in the process), Thanos uses a time-travel stratagem to defeat him. Thanos then uses the Heart of the Universe to reverse Akhenaten's actions and
5300-407: The Wasp return to their present—and all the Avengers are returned to their respective time lines with a lingering memory of the incident. While Genis-Vell is revealed to have actually come from a few months in the future, with the greater age of Rick's future self revealed to be the result of accelerated aging while helping Thanos separate Death from Marlo Chandler , it is generally accepted that
5400-434: The attention of Mistress Death. Willing the Cube to make him omnipotent, Thanos then discards the Cube. He imprisons Kronos and taunts Kree hero Captain Marvel , who, with the aid of superhero team the Avengers and ISAAC (a super-computer based on Titan), is eventually able to defeat Thanos by destroying the Cube. Thanos later comes to the aid of Adam Warlock in a war against the Magus and his religious empire. During
5500-504: The chaos-mite Skreet in his plans to leave the remains of the prison. He discovers, however, that the destruction wrought by the battle with the Beyonder has freed the last prisoner brought in by Peter Quill before he gave up the title of Star-Lord: the Fallen One , revealed to be the true first Herald of Galactus , who had been held in a container deep in the Kyln. Thanos defeats the former Herald and places him under complete mental control. He later appears in Wisconsin attempting to charge
5600-459: The character has appeared in almost five decades of Marvel publications, as well as many media adaptations, including animated television series and video games. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe , the character was first played by Damion Poitier in the film The Avengers (2012) and then by Josh Brolin in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and
5700-506: The character played an important role in Annihilation : Silver Surfer #1–4 (June – Sept. 2006) and Annihilation #1–6 (Oct. 2006 – March 2007). The character was re-introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, #24–25 (April–May 2010) and played a major role in The Thanos Imperative : Ignition (June 2010) and The Thanos Imperative #1–6 (July–Dec. 2010). The character returned in Avengers Assemble #1 (March 2012). A mini-series titled Thanos: Son of Titan by Joe Keatinge
5800-497: The connected mini-series The Infinity Entity were published in 2016. At the same time Starlin was writing these graphic novels and tie-ins, the character also appeared in New Avengers #23–24 (Oct–Nov 2014), Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, #18–20 (Oct–Dec 2014), Legendary Star-Lord #4 (Dec 2014), a six-issue miniseries titled Thanos: A God Up There Listening (Dec 2014), Avengers vol. 5, #40–41 (Mar–Apr 2015), and Deadpool vol. 3, #45 ("#250") (Jun 2015). Thanos also played
5900-426: The course of this mission Thanos learns Galactus is collecting the Infinity Gems in an effort to end his unyielding hunger. Thanos later learns Galactus is being manipulated into releasing a multiversal threat called Hunger, which feeds on entire universes. Despite opposition from Thanos, Galactus unwittingly frees the entity, and when its intentions are revealed, the pair team up and attempt to destroy it. En route to
6000-407: The culmination of several story arcs that see him gather the six Infinity Gems and use them to kill half of the universe's population, including many of its heroes, to woo Mistress Death , the living embodiment of death in the Marvel Universe. Although these events were later undone, the storyline has remained one of the most popular published by Marvel. Debuting in the Bronze Age of comic books ,
6100-404: The custody of the Elders of the Universe . During the " Infinity " storyline, Thanos soon invades Earth again after being informed that most of the Avengers have temporarily left the planet. He launches an assault on Attilan , which he offers to spare in exchange for the deaths of all Inhumans between the ages of 16 and 22. Black Bolt later informs the Illuminati that the true purpose of
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#17327796172406200-414: The end of the series, the Goblin Entity, Dracula and the Beyonder all converge their efforts to destroy Earth. Almost all of the heroes die in the epic battle. Havok, discovering that he is the home for the Nexus of Realities, a force of nature that binds all realities (Omniverse), uses it to wield an omniversal level of power to stop the Goblin Entity, which had merged with the Beyonder. He then fights with
6300-401: The existence of alternate timelines where they themselves became the Time Twisters. During a mass conflict where the Time-Keepers unleash the Avengers of the corrupted timelines against an army of Avengers drawn from the worlds where they remained true to their original purpose, the Time Keepers attempt to force Kang to become Immortus after they kill the future Immortus for his attempt to protect
6400-407: The fail-safe that Uranos put in. Thanos is told by the Eternal scientist Domo that his genes deriving from Eternals and Deviants are the reason why the Machine does not recognize him as an Eternal. As Thanos fights the Eternals, Druig betrays Thanos and activates the fail-safe in Thanos' armor which causes Thanos to die from his mutation. With Thanos gone, Druig becomes the new Prime Eternal. Thanos
6500-411: The fight with the Sentinels. He was instead thrown into unconsciousness while the Earth-616 Havok took over his body. The evil Havok went with the original Havok back to Earth-616 during the final battle with the Goblin Queen. He lay dormant when Charles Xavier freed Alex's consciousness, biding his time, and re-emerged after Xavier Institute Student Nicholas Gleason ( Wolf Cub ) wounded Havok. Luckily,
6600-434: The first creation of Galactus turned destroyer. When trapped in an alternate dimension, Thanos employs the aid of the brother of Ka-Zar , Parnival Plunder and later the Hulk to escape, although both attempts are unsuccessful. Thanos is eventually freed and comes into conflict with Thor, aligning himself with Mangog in a scheme to obtain powerful mystical and cosmic talismans which will allow him to destroy all life in
6700-624: The first season of the animated series What If...? (2021). Writer-artist Jim Starlin conceived of Thanos of Titan during college psychology classes. As Starlin described: I went to college between doing U.S. military service and getting work in comics, and there was a psych class and I came up with Thanos, (inspired by Sigmund Freud 's concept of human Death drive , or Thanatos ), but I'm not sure how he fit into it, just anger management probably. So I came up to Marvel, and editor Roy Thomas asked if I wanted to do an issue of Iron Man . I felt that this may be my only chance ever to do
6800-416: The future: so that King Thanos can finally die, reasoning that if he must die, it can only be at the hands of himself. At first, Thanos is more than happy to oblige his future counterpart's request, but quickly stops, disappointed at how pathetic and submissive his older self has become. Resolving to never become as pathetic and complacent as King Thanos has become, Thanos uses the fragment of the Time Stone and
6900-422: The graveyard of old gods, Thanos is subsumed into the bedrock within which they rest. As his journey of the core being commenced, Thanos's trial began with him as leader of earth and the universes greatest champions, the Avengers. But he is unable to escape the nagging feeling that he has forgotten something, until the quarry itself wearing the guise of Falcon reminds him of who he used to be; tempting him to live as
7000-685: The guy in the Metron-like chair and said: "Beef him up! If you're going to steal one of the New Gods, at least rip off Darkseid, the really good one!" Thanos debuted in The Invincible Iron Man #55 (February 1973), featuring a story by Jim Starlin that was co-scripted by Mike Friedrich . The storyline from that issue continued through Captain Marvel #25–33 (bi-monthly: March 1973 – Jan. 1974), Marvel Feature #12 (Nov. 1973), Daredevil #107 (Jan. 1974), and Avengers #125 (July 1974). He returned in an extended storyline that spanned Strange Tales #178–181 (Feb.–Aug. 1975), Warlock #9-11 (Oct. 1975 – Jan. 1976), Marvel Team Up #55 (March 1977), and
7100-424: The invasion is to find and kill Thane , an Eternal/Inhuman hybrid that Thanos had secretly fathered years earlier. Thanos is trapped in a pocket limbo of stasis by his son. Thanos is freed by Namor and was among the villains that joined his Cabal to destroy other worlds. Thanos later meets his end on Battleworld , where he is easily killed by God Emperor Doom during an attempted insurrection. Investigating
7200-462: The members of the Six except Havok. Scotty is warned of her doings by his precognitive power, and Havok takes him and his nanny, Elektra , into hiding. For months Madelyne wages war against the rest of the world while trying to open a gateway to allow a full demonic invasion. Scotty finally stops her by exorcising the Goblin Entity from her mind. The destruction caused by Madelyne serves as
7300-1095: The name "Sanctuary", as a base of operations. George Marston of Newsarama ranked Thanos 1st in their "Best Marvel supervillains" list, while ranked him 6th in their "Best Marvel characters of all time" list. The A.V. Club ranked Thanos 6th in their "28 Best Marvel Villains" list. IGN ranked Thanos 6th in their "Top 25 Marvel Villains" list, and 47th in their "Top 100 Comic Book Villains" list. Rachel Ulatowski of The Mary Sue ranked Thanos 7th in their "Strongest Marvel Villains" list. Jason Serafino of Complex ranked Thanos 21st in their "25 Greatest Comic Book Villains of All Time" list. Screen Rant included Thanos in their "20 Most Powerful Marvel Villains" list, and ranked him 8th in their "10 Most Powerful Members Of The Eternals" list, and 10th in their "25 Greatest Comic Book Supervillains Of All Time" list. Comic Book Resources ranked Thanos 1st in their "13 Most Important Marvel Villains" list, 2nd in their "10 Strongest Characters From Eternals Comics" list, and 2nd in their "15 Most Powerful Eternals" list. In July 2018,
7400-405: The next few months, Thanos would survive alone and all but powerless in the ruins of his home city. Surviving off the flesh of mutated vermin and being accosted by local scavengers who preyed upon him in his weakened condition, he is soon picked up by the unlikely crew of Thane's betrayed cohorts Tryco Slatterus, his adopted daughter Nebula and his brother Eros of Titan. Having heard of their plight,
7500-543: The one-shot Thanos Annual , which is a prelude to a new trilogy of original graphic novels. The first, Thanos: The Infinity Revelation , was released the following August. Beginning in February 2015, Starlin also penned a four-issue miniseries titled Thanos vs. Hulk , which was set prior to the graphic novels. The second installment in the trilogy, Thanos: The Infinity Relativity , was released in June, 2015. The third graphic novel, Thanos: The Infinity Finale , as well as
7600-488: The only thing that would stop future Thanos. As his future self saw that existence was just a never-endless cycle which trapped all beings decided to commit suicide and "free" everyone from this "torture". Thankfully, Kang prevented Eros from going to talk to Thanos' past selves which allowed him to avoid capture. This caused future Thanos to get distracted which allowed present Thanos to take control and reset everything prior to his future machinations, while erasing his future in
7700-443: The past Thanos' body. Under the control of his future self, Thanos began searching through ancient temples and sites to find something that would allow him to eventually become like his future. Through his journey he was also forced to kill Adam Warlock who might interfere with his future's plan. After being unable to locate Eros, his future self tells Thanos that Eros was extremely important to his cosmic masterwork. Then after locating
7800-453: The path to the cosmic coven set at the edge of the known universe, Thanos and crew stop short of a black hole, knowing full well that it is where the witches make their home. The Mad Titan jumps into the pinhole of nothingness alongside his brother; having survived the crushing force of the singularity they dove into, Thanos and Eros are greeted by the Coven at the godly graveyard. Thanos demands
7900-454: The physical embodiment of Mistress Death . At some point in his youth, a younger Thanos was sent to Earth by Mephisto where he fought the prehistoric Avengers where he was repelled. As an adult, Thanos augmented his physical strength and powers through his superior scientific knowledge using a combination of mysticism and cybernetic enhancements. He also attempted to create a new life for himself by siring many children as well as becoming
8000-543: The plan is foiled when Thanos kills Warlock. The Titan regroups and captures the heroes, who are freed by Spider-Man and the Thing . Thanos is finally stopped by Warlock, whose spirit emerges from the Soul Gem and turns the Titan to stone. Thanos's spirit eventually reappears to accompany a dying Captain Marvel's soul into the realm of Death. During the "Infinity Saga" storyline, Thanos is eventually resurrected and collects
8100-622: The possessed Maydelyne and harnesses the power of the Nexus of All realities and with a thought eliminates the Goblin Entity throughout the Omniverse. He then teleports Maydelyne to her alternate universe with her son, Scotty. Fearing that somebody would attempt to use the power of the Nexus of All Realities to reshape, destroy, or alter the very Omniverse; he then becomes one with the Nexus of All Realities to prevent anyone from getting this power, except himself. The Mutant X Havok did not die during
8200-527: The possessor of the "Destiny Force", a powerful ability used during the Kree–Skrull War storyline. Rick is saved by Kang the Conqueror (who is destined to evolve into Immortus), who destroys Tempus and holds off Immortus' temporal army. The alien Kree Supreme Intelligence urges Rick to use the Destiny Force to summon aid. With the help of former Zodiac member Libra , Rick pulls various members of
8300-455: The present; Songbird from an unspecified time in the near future; and Captain Marvel from further in the future. Although these Avengers appear almost randomly selected, Libra states that they have been chosen due to his subtle awareness of the universal balance, each one fulfilling an eventually clarified role in events: During their efforts to protect Rick, the Avengers battle Immortus across several different eras, including encounters in
8400-434: The process, he ends up adopting Gamora to use her as his assassin and kill Adam Warlock before becoming Magus. During this alliance Thanos cultivates a plan to reunite with Mistress Death, and secretly siphons off the energies of Warlock's Soul Gem, combining these with the power of the other Infinity Gems to create a weapon capable of destroying a star. Warlock summons the Avengers and Captain Marvel to stop Thanos, although
8500-418: The process. Thanos is unintentionally brought back to the universe by Galactus. When Thanos prepares to raid a Project Pegasus facility to steal a Cosmic Cube during the " Civil War II " storyline, he is ambushed and defeated by a team of Avengers who were tipped off by a vision from Ulysses Cain. During their battle, he mortally wounds War Machine and critically injures She-Hulk . After his defeat, he
8600-512: The self-proclaimed Avatar of Life. This causes the collapse of the Cancerverse, and Nova sacrifices himself in an attempt to contain Thanos inside the imploding reality. Thanos escapes and returns to Earth seeking an artificial cosmic cube. He forms an incarnation of the criminal group Zodiac to retrieve it, but he is defeated by the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy and remanded to
8700-662: The status of the Beyonder, whose mortal form he finds has perished. Before the Fallen can report back to Thanos it encounters Tenebrous and Aegis : two of Galactus 's ancient foes. Thanos convinces Tenebrous and Aegis to join the Annihilation Wave to get revenge on Galactus, and they subsequently defeat the World Devourer and the Silver Surfer. Annihilus desires the secret of the Power Cosmic and asks Thanos to study Galactus. Once Thanos learns Annihilus's true goal
8800-403: The subjects. Although he later abandons the project, five clones survive, being versions of Professor X , Iron Man, Gladiator , Doctor Strange , and Galactus respectively. A sixth and unnamed version of Thanos also appears, and it is revealed the incarnations of Thanos encountered in the past by Thor and Ka-Zar were actually clones. The true Thanos – with the aid of Adam Warlock, Gamora, Pip
8900-457: The three that are one to return his godhood to him. Starfox tries his best to charm the enchantresses only to be rebuked by them, much to Thanos's joy when they prematurely aged him. Seeing as it was neither their place to destroy nor turn away those seeking them, The Witches profess the only way for the warlord to be made whole again was to climb down into the God Quarry and await a trial that would test his soul. Immediately after setting foot within
9000-508: The three were dismayed to find Thanos stripped of all he was and had ever been; his second daughter only agreeing to come along so she could kill her father, immediately assaulted him. Starfox was able to preempt her attempt at patricide while inviting his wayward tyrant of a brother aboard their vessel. Thanos mentioned the only way for him to be relieved of his mortality was to seek out the God Quarry heralded by The Witches of Infinity. Starfox initially wrote this off as fable and folklore. Now on
9100-572: The time of the New Thor 's appearance, Thanos is approached by a mysterious hooded woman, who proposes an alliance. He tasks her with bringing him the hammer of the deceased Ultimate Thor . The woman fails, but removes her disguise to reveal herself as Hela , the Norse goddess of death. She tells Thanos that she needs his help to reclaim Hel , and in exchange, offers to give him the one thing he has been searching for his entire life: death. After this,
9200-743: The two beings. He then merges with his future self finally taking the battle to the Living Tribunal and the One Above All . Facing the One Above All and the Living Tribunal, Thanos' future self went on to absorb both of them becoming the entirety of the Multiverse . As the multiverse began dying, while his future self searched for Eros, present Thanos was locked away within his future's psyche not allowed to interfere. In
9300-427: The two kiss. Some time after his battle with Thane during the "Thanos Wins" story, Thanos travels to the Chitauri homeworld. However, upon subjugating the planet, he is attacked by a being identified only as The Rider , who captures Thanos and uses a piece of the fractured Time Stone to bring Thanos millions of years into the future, where he encounters an elderly version of himself who has destroyed nearly all life in
9400-469: The universe, and during their battles Thanos decimates the planet Rigel-3 . Thanos then uses the heroes Thor and Genis-Vell (Captain Marvel's son) against the death god Walker, who attempts to woo Mistress Death and then destroy the entity after being rejected. Thanos then devises a plan to become the All-Father of a new pantheon of gods created by himself. Thanos, however, finds himself opposed by
9500-472: The universe. At first, Thanos believes it to be some sort of trick, but is convinced once the future Thanos utters the name Dione, which Thanos's mother had planned to name him before she went insane. King Thanos reveals he needs his younger self's assistance to defeat the Fallen One, the last being left in the Universe, so that he may finally reunite with Death. The Fallen One soon arrives, revealed to be
9600-507: The villain might have actually saved the world." An alternate version of Thanos appears in the 1996 Amalgam Comics books published jointly by DC Comics and Marvel. Thanos was merged with Darkseid to become "Thanoseid". An alternate version of Thanos appears in the limited series Earth X . Thanos dwells in the Realm of the Dead with the entity Death. Additionally, this version's mother
9700-553: The warlike Terran Empire, an interstellar dictatorship policed by the Galactic Avengers Battalion and ruled by humans with access to the Destiny Force, which will thrive at the cost of many alien cultures. A future version of the Avengers will apparently be at the forefront of the expansion, but the Avengers reject the idea that mankind must be destroyed or contained to prevent these futures' happening, with Captain America and Songbird arguing that humanity deserves
9800-402: Was also compelled to correct a flaw in the universe, for which Mistress Death kisses him, and speaks to him for the first time. Changed by the experience, Thanos advises confidant Adam Warlock he will no longer seek universal conquest. Thanos decides to atone for the destruction of Rigel-3, and agrees to aid a colony of Rigellians in evacuating their planet before Galactus can consume it. During
9900-418: Was later reintroduced as a primary antagonist in the comic series Eternals vol. 5, #1-12, by the writer Kieron Gillen and artist Esad Ribić , and plays a prominent role in exploring Eternals mythos and retcons. Thanos was born on Saturn 's moon Titan as the son of Eternals A'lars and Sui-San , the grandson of Kronos , the nephew of Zuras , and the grandnephew of Oceanus and Uranos . His brother
10000-684: Was planned for publication in August 2012, but was cancelled. The character's origin was expanded in the five-issue Thanos Rising miniseries by Jason Aaron and Simone Bianchi which was published monthly beginning in April 2013. Later that same year, Thanos played a central role in the Infinity miniseries written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by Jim Cheung , Jerome Opeña , and Dustin Weaver. In May 2014, Jim Starlin and Ron Lim worked together on
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