Thanos is a powerful alien warlord and among the deadliest villains in Marvel Comics. Hailing from the world of Titan, he was a Deviant among the race of Eternals that once resided there. Throughout his life, he was shunned by his peers, his only companion being a mysterious woman whom only he could see. Under the urging of this figure, Thanos committed many murders, including that of his own mother.
After killing his mother, Thanos fled Titan and traveled the stars, trying to find meaning in his life beyond the pleasure of murder. For a time, he ran with a crew of space pirates, but had sworn off killing. During this time, his mysterious ghostly companion was absent, but Thanos ultimately fell into depression as he found no joy or sense of purpose in anything. His decision to avoid killing also earned him the ire of the captain he served under, who attempted to kill him. It was then that Thanos' companion reappeared, urging him to kill again, and so he slaughtered the captain and took command of the crew.
Afterwards, Thanos came to discover the identity of the woman that only he could see. She was, in fact, the manifestation of Death itself, the only one that Thanos had ever loved and could ever love him back. From then onward, Thanos dedicated himself to courting Death, appeasing her by committing countless atrocities across the universe. He would begin by amassing a fleet of warships and razing his home planet, wiping out its population.
Over the centuries, Thanos has committed many acts of genocide in order to win Death's love, killing untold billions in order to gain her acknowledgement. One of his most notable acts was acquiring the Infinity Stones, six mystical ingots that each represented a fundamental aspect of the cosmos. Using the Infinity Gauntlet which harnessed the power of all six Stones, Thanos would wipe out half the population of the entire universe in order to gain Death's affections. His actions would be undone by an assemblage of Earth's heroes, but the Mad Titan would go on to commit many more heinous acts in the future.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Eternal Physiology: By far the strongest and most powerful Eternal from Titan, Thanos is a superhuman mutant whose massive, heavy-bodied form was born with the capacity to synthesize cosmic energy for certain personal uses. Thanos has increased his powers through bionic amplification, mystical enhancement, and as a result of being resurrected by Death itself. He was deemed a Category 1 Life Ender by the Nova Corps, to have a "universal" threat level and to have been a one-time reality ender, and was seemingly a Cosmic-level threat, being sent by the Shi'ar Imperial Guard to the core cell of a galactic gulag.
- Godlike Strength: Thanos possesses vast superhuman strength the full limits of which aren't known. Death has increased his strength beyond their original limits to levels rivaling or surpassing those of the physically strongest Eternals.
- Superhuman Agility: Despite his great size, Thanos' agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete. His agility is roughly equal to that of the average Eternal.
- Superhuman Reflexes: Thanos' reaction time is enhanced to a level that is beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete. Like his agility, his reflexes are about average for an Eternal.
- Superhuman Stamina: Thanos' musculature produces almost no fatigue toxins during physical activity. As a result, he has nearly superhuman stamina in all physical activities.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: Before his "death", Thanos possessed an impressive degree of resistance to physical injury, even compared to other Eternals. After his resurrection, Death increased his ability to resist injury to a much greater degree and he is now nigh-invulnerable. He has withstood, at point-blank range, planet-destroying attacks without any harm.
- Immortality: Thanos, like all Eternals, is immortal in the sense that he is immune to all known diseases and infections and is immune to the effects of aging. Thanos is banned by Death itself from entering its realm, rendering him truly immortal. He is able to die but he will always return, no matter the severity of any injury. Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite his extraordinary durability, it is possible to injure Thanos. Like all Eternals, however, Thanos is capable of regenerating damaged tissue with much greater speed and efficiency than a human being. His healing powers aren't as developed as those of some Eternals. Some Eternals are capable of regenerating any destroyed tissue.
- Energy Manipulation & Projection: Thanos has displayed great versatility in the use of his energy projection abilities. He has demonstrated the ability to project pure energy as a concussive force, "magnetic" energy, infrared heat-beams from his eyes, and disruptor beams, unilaterally striking separate targets with his optic blasts, as well as using his mental link to his techno-mystical chair to form vastly powerful energy shields, barriers, and force-fields. The exact extent of Thanos' energy projection abilities are unknown, but his blasts have been capable of knocking down the likes of Thor and the Hulk. He was also able to graze Galactus' armour and blast the Devourer of Worlds off his feet and send him across the moon.
- Telepathy: Thanos possesses psionic abilities. His mind is invulnerable to most forms of psychic attack. Thanos has demonstrated the ability to successfully defend himself against psychic assaults from Moondragon, and Mantis. He also managed to shut down the Maker's mind, turned the Fallen One into his herald made the Hulk attack his fellow Avengers, and forced Conner Sims (the Anti-Man) to destroy his surroundings. Thanos also once attempted to destroy the mind of Drax the Destroyer with a powerful psychic attack called the Time-Mind Sync Warp, that plunges the victim's mind into a psychedelic dimension of insanity, causing death or incapacitation.
- Matter Manipulation & Control: Thanos has demonstrated some ability to manipulate matter on the atomic level, similarly to Earthborn Eternals. On one occasion, he turned the Skrull Skragg, into stone. He also used his matter manipulation ability on Moondragon to purge the muscle controlling parasites implanted by Annihilus from her body.
- Mystic Capabilities: Thanos is skilled in magic, as he has cursed Deadpool with immortality.
- Flight: Thanos has shown that he is capable of flying.
- Teleportation: Thanos can teleport himself across unknown distances through his link with his techno-mystical transport chair. When stranded in space with Terraxia, he could neither fly, nor teleport to his rescue, presumably because his chair got destroyed in the struggle before.
- Super-Genius Intelligence: Possibly Thanos' most dangerous ability is his mind. Thanos' intellect is dedicated to enhancing his own powers and to the annihilation of all life. Thanos is a genius in virtually all known fields of advanced science and has created technology far exceeding contemporary Earth science.
- Skilled Unarmed Combatant: Although he typically avoids physical combat, Thanos is a highly formidable hand to hand combatant, having been trained in the Arts of War on Titan. He is particularly skillful at using a combination of his physical and energy manipulative abilities during combat. He is also a skilled swordsman, being able to overwhelm a Mjolnir-wielding Silver Surfer. Mystical Knowledge: He also has great knowledge of arcane and mystical lore.
External Links[]
- Thanos in the Villains wiki.