Thanos

Real Name
Thanos

Occupation
Knowledge seeker; former god, destroyer conqueror, nihilist, worshiper of Death

Citizenship
Titan

Place of Birth
Eternal colony, Titan (moon of Saturn)

Known Relative
Kronos (paternal Grandfather, deceased), Daina (paternal grandmother, deceased), Alars (Mentor, father), Sui-San (mother, deceased), Eros (Starfox, brother), Zuras (uncle, deceased), Cybele (aunt), Thena (cousin), Gamora (foster daughter), Nebula (alleged granddaughter), the Rot (offspring, apparently destroyed)

Group Affiliation
Eternals

Education
Formal Titanian education

Height
6'7"

Weight
985 lbs.

Eyes
Red

Hair
None

Powers
Thanos possesses the superhuman physiology of all Eternals, granting him superhuman strength, endurance, reflexes, and agility. His skin in nearly invulnerable, particulary against heat, cold, electricity, radiation, toxins, aging, and disease, and he can survive indefinitely without food or water even before his "curse" from Death left him immortal, unable to die. His mind is also invulnerable to most forms of psychic attack, and can project a psionic blast of energy as well as blasts of plasma/cosmic energy from his eyes and hands.

Abilities
Master strategist, adept in sciences far beyond Earth technology, some mystical knowledge

Other Info
On Saturn's moon of Titan lived a colony of Eternals. Thanos was born as one of the last sons of the original colonists, A'Lar and Sui-San. However, he was born misshapen and monstrous--with grey, hide-like skin and a massive body--in comparison to the other Eternals, especially his handsome brother, Eros (aka Starfox). Due to this, Thanos grew into a melancholy, brooding individual, consumed with the concept of death. Through bionic implementation and long hours of meditation, Thanos augmented his Eternal strength and powers so that his powers surpassed those of all other Titanian Eternals. As he grew in power, Thanos also grew in ambition and desire for conquest. Thus, Thanos stole one of his people's starships and traveled to other star systems to recruit soldiers and mercenaries for a private army. With a small fleet, he dropped nuclear bombs on his home world Titan, killing thousands of his people, including his mother Sui-San. Declaring himself ruler of Titan, Thanos then set his sights on Earth. (To learn about the race and/or characters above, just click on their highlighted name. Note: Beware of form-fitting outfit worn by She-Hulk on Starfox's bio page.)

Growing in power and infamy as he traveled the universe, at one point Thanos met Death itself, as it appeared to him embodied in a female form. Thanos was infatuated with the being, and endeavored to make himself worthy in order to earn her love in return. To do so, Thanos decided to acquire more power. Having learned of a powerful object on Earth called the Cosmic Cube, Thanos invaded the planet and seized control of the reality-altering device. A number of Earth's heroes assembled to confront him; however, with the Cube's power, Thanos made himself unto a god, and he easily fought back Captain Marvel and the Avengers. Luckily for Earth, Captain Marvel was able to convince Thanos that he had drained the Cube of its power, and the mad Titan discarded it. This allowed Captain Marvel to strike the Cube and restore the universe to its rightful order and drain Thanos of his power. Due to the per-programming on his starship, Sanctuary II, Thanos was picked up and able to escape from the heroes. (Click on the highlighted names above to learn about the characters, item, and/or team. Note: Beware of the form-fitting/revealing outfits worn by some on Captain Marvel's bio page.)

After his failure to obtain his goals, Thanos believed that Death had rejected him. Therefore, he soon formulated a plan to regain Death's affection by given Death a present: the annihilation of everything that lives. For this plan to work, Thanos began searching the universe for the powerful Soul Gems. Over time, he was able to obtain all of the them except one, the jade jewel worn on the head of Adam Warlock. (To learn about Warlock and/or the Infinity Gems, click on the highlighted names above.)

Soon after, Thanos learned of the threat of the Magus (a future version of Adam Warlock) who would threaten Thanos' own plans. Thanos was determined to make sure that the future of the Magus would never occur. Therefore, using time travel, he took a Zen-Whoberian infant called Gamora back to his time and trained her to be his personal assassin. In addition, Thanos joined forces with Adam Warlock to oppose the Magus, who was using his world-conquering Universal Church of Truth to create a fanatical empire. With this alliance, Thanos helped ensure that Adam Warlock would never become the Magus. In addition, he managed to siphoned energies of the Soul Gem without Warlock knowing. (Click on the highlighted item, characters, and/or group above to learn more about them. Note: Beware of the revealing outfit worn by Gamora on Zen-Whoberian's and her own bio pages.)

Now, with all the Soul Gems collected, Thanos combined them into a single, huge, synthetic "Soul Gem." With his Soul Gem, Thanos began to extinguish the very stars themselves, hoping thereby to extinguish all living things in tribute to Death. When Gamora learned of his true goals, she tried to oppose him but was killed. By this time, Warlock had learned of Thanos' activity and recruited Captain Marvel and the Avengers to again oppose the mad Titan. Eventually, Captain Marvel managed to destroy the synthetic Soul Gem, but Thanos captured the Avengers and even killed Adam Warlock after an intense one-on-one battle. Luckily for the Avengers, Spider-Man and the Thing were able to help rescue the heroes, and with the help of Lord Chaos and Master Order, restore Warlock to life. Warlock's resurrection flushed him with cosmic power and he again engaged in battle with Thanos; however, this time Thanos was defeated--Warlock turned him into immobile stone. (Click on the highlighted names above to learn more about the different characters.)

Later on, Death came and visited Thanos, revived him, and endowed him with even more power. Believing the universe was unbalanced in terms of life and death and that he needed to restore that balance, Thanos proceeded to reassemble the Soul Gems (now called the Infinity Gems) and created the powerful Infinity Gauntlet. After Thanos wiped out half of the universe's population of living beings with the gauntlet, Thanos was defeated by heroes and entities from around the galaxy. After restoring the universe to its natural state before Thanos' interfered, Adam Warlock decided to divide the Infinity Gems among various guardians who became known as the Infinity Watch. (Warlock retained the Soul Gem; Gamora--now resurrected--kept the Time Gem; the Space Gem went to Pip the Troll; the Power Gem to Drax the Destroyer; the Mind Gem to Moondragon; and the Reality Gem to Thanos--this was done in secret due to Warlock's belief that Thanos could change.) (To learn more about the items, characters, and/or group above, just click on their highlighted names. Note: Beware of the revealing outfits worn by some on the Infinity Watch's bio page. Also, the Infinity Gauntlet is shown in the third picture posted above.)

It seemed that Thanos did change. He began to live the life of a hermit as a simple farmer on an uninhabited planet. However, later on, Thanos began to sense that Eternity (the embodiment of time) itself had become catatonic. Thanos sought out the Infinity Watch, traveling to the realm of Death to discover that Magus had returned and, by using the power of five Cosmic Cubes, was attempting to recreate reality into a twisted, evil version of itself. Deciding to take the fight to the Magus, Adam Warlock reassembled the Infinity Gauntlet in order to match Magus's power. Unfortunately, during the battle, Magus ended up gaining the Infinity Gauntlet for himself. Thanos then confronted Magus, revealing that the Gauntlet was never at its full power, as it used a fake Reality Gem. This allowed Magus to be defeated by Eternity and Infinity, and the Infinity Gems were once more divided to their original guardians--with Thanos's Reality Gem still a secret to all except Warlock. (Click on the highlighted names above to learn more about the characters above. Note: Beware of the form-fitting outfit worn on Infinity's bio page.)

Later on, when Thor apparently went insane, Thanos was contacted by the Silver Surfer to stop the mad god's rampage. Thanos succeeded where the Surfer, the Infinity Watch, Doctor Strange, and the other Asgardian gods could not. This led the assembled group to Asgard, where they came into conflict with Odin. Thanos and Odin battled until the All-Father learned the truth. Odin then revived Thor and allowed Thanos and the heroes to leave Asgard with his and Thor's gratitude. (Click on the highlighted names above to learn more about the characters, race, and/or place.)

After a long time, Thanos began to be become power-hungry again. He decided to search for the vast storehouse of knowledge called the Oracle. To assist him, Thanos recruited several unwilling allies, which included the second Super-Skrull, Nitro, Rhino, and the Titanium Man. After they accomplished his goals for him, Thanos stranded them. After that, Thanos used the Oracle to find a worthy opponent which he found in Tyrant--the first spawn of Galactus. After a long battle with the help of a few lackeys, and laying waste to a sizable portion of Tyrant's planet, Thanos emerged declaring that, since he had withstood the powerful Tyrant for a time and gained what he sought from him, further struggle was pointless (and he admitted it would likely have resulted in his own destruction). (To learn about the different characters above, just click on their highlighted names.)

Later on, the Silver Surfer came to Thanos because he believed that Death was seeking him out to be a new consort. Enraged by Death's motives, Thanos beat the Silver Surfer to death and delivered the body to Death's realm himself. Believing Death to be unappreciative of what he had done, Thanos revived the Surfer to insult Death. Death retaliated by cursing Thanos with immortality, forever barring him from her embrace. By this time, Thanos had rejected Death outright, regarding himself as a death god and hoping to perform acts in his own name and not that of another's. Soon, a star appeared to announce the maturation of the "Celestial Messiah"--Quoi. Thanos left to destroy Mantis, Quoi's mother, regarding her and her son to be antithetical to his own self-styled godhood. Instead, Mantis managed to restore herself to god-like status, thwarting Thanos and eliciting help from an assemblage of Avengers and their ally, Haywire, to find Quoi before Thanos. In the process, the cosmic Rot (a state of un-being that threatened the existence of Eternity) was found. Thanos and the others were forced to work together to defeat the Rot. Ultimately, Death itself appeared, telling them of the Rot's true origin as an offspring of Death and Thanos, created when Thanos first died and entered Death's metaphysical embrace. At this point, Thanos and Death worked together to destroy the Rot. Thanos ultimately fled, distraught over his role in creating the Rot in the first place and refusing to accept Death's rekindled interest in him. (To learn about the highlighted characters above, just click on their names. Note: Beware of the revealing outfit worn by one in the background of Mantis' and Haywire's bio page.)

Later on, during a battle on a ship, Thanos become distracted and was killed from behind by Drax the Destroyer. To this, Thanos appeared to have more curiosity or annoyance rather than fear or anger. With his dying breath, Thanos saw Death in the ship with him. Soon after, Adam Warlock came across Thanos' body. Warlock had long understood that Thanos was an important part in his existence; thus, Warlock encased Thanos in a cocoon. This cocoon was found by the Universal Church of Truth and they believed it to be Warlock, their messiah.

After some time, Quasar was tricked by Maelstrom into believing that if she hatched the cocoon that she would release Adam Warlock. To Quasar's surprise, Thanos emerged from the cocoon, seemingly even more invincible than ever. Thanos kills Quasar and all life on Sacrosanct while the Magus and the Church officials fled. The Guardians of the Galaxy reunite to try to stop Thanos, but he is far too powerful and has mental blocks too strong for even the combined efforts of Mantis, Moondragon and Cosmo. However, the telepaths were able to eventually put Thanos in a comatose state briefly and contain him on Knowhere. (To learn about the above highlighted characters, place, and/or team, just click on their names. Note: Beware of the form-fitting outfit on Quasar's bio page.)

Due to the events of the Cancerverse, the Guardians of the Galaxy soon realized that they needed Thanos to help them. Therefore, they released Thanos and, with a few other heroes, traveled into the Cancerverse in order to fight the Lord Mar-Vell. Thanos immediately goes head-to-head with Mar-Vell, proving to be far superior. However, instead of killing Mar-Vell, Thanos releases him from his grasp. Thanos then states that he wants Mar-vell to give him what he craves--death. Therefore, Lord Mar-Vell runs Thanos through with his sword, believing it would kill him. However, when this happens, Death appears and destroys Mar-Vell in one shot. Her presence in the Cancerverse begins to kill the universe itself. Thanos begged his love to take him with her, but Death left him; thus, triggering an intense rage in Thanos--he vows to kill the entire universe. Now recognizing Thanos to be a massive threat to the universe, Nova and Starlord remain in the Cancerverse to hold off Thanos long enough to buy enough time for the other heroes to go back to their universe. Nova and Starlord were trapped in the collapsing Cancerverse; therefore, sacrificing themselves to trap Thanos there as well. (To learn about the alternate universe and/or the characters above, just click on their highlighted names.)

More recently, a group of super humans called "Zodiac" started stealing many powerful items under the orders of a mysterious boss who gave them special suits. When the Avengers prevented the Zodiac from stealing an Ultimate Nullifier. When Iron Man used a sonic disruptor to shut down their special costumes and leave them powerless, Thanos appeared with the objetive to kill the Avengers for interfering in his plan. (To learn about the highlighted item and character above, just click on their names above.)

To learn more about Thanos, click on the following link, http://marvel.com/universe/Thanos.

Now that you know the history behind Thanos and his obsession with Death, the quote at the end of the Marvel's The Avengers now makes sense: "To challenge them, is to court...death." Which is followed up by Thanos' grin. Make sense now?