47 Powerful Thanos Facts: Are You Truly A Marvel Fan?

Sridevi Tolety
Feb 14, 2023 By Sridevi Tolety
Originally Published on Mar 08, 2022
Edited by Naomi Carr
One of many fascinating Thanos facts is that his first appearance was in 'The Invincible Iron Man.'

Thanos is one of the most famous characters in the Marvel universe.

Thanos was a warlord from Titan who aimed at bringing stability to the universe. The character was quite fascinatingly inspired by a character in the DC comics.

Conceived by writer-artist Jim Starlin and played by Josh Brolin, Thanos's looks were admitted as being influenced by Jack Kirby's Darkseid. Thanos was first sketched to be a thinner character but was beefed up later until he became what he looks like today.

Thanos is the son of two Eternals, and additionally, he carries Deviant genes, which offers an explanation for his physique. Moreover, he is the son of Sui San, a descendant of Uranos, who was the only survivor of the war that happened on the surface of Titan, and the person who founded the new Eternals of Titan.

Thanos, the Mad Titan, was played by Josh Brolin in all the Marvel movies like 'Avengers: Infinity War' and 'Avengers: Endgame'. Additionally, there was a trip to Ultraverse in which a merge with DC's Darkseid in 'Green Lantern' or 'Silver Surfer' where Thanos became Thanoseid.

Thanos In Mythology

Thanos stands out as a villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as among villains in the fictional world. Jim Starlin, the writer-artist, conceived the Titan Thanos during his psychology classes in college.

The character of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Thanos was inspired by the Freudian concept Thanatos, which was the term often used to refer to the death instinct that Freud believed people have.

Other than the concept given by Freud, Thanos's name was also inspired by the Greek god Thanatos, who is considered the god of death.

Thanos was given his name, drawing inspiration from Thanatos, due to the deep and obsessive connection he has to the death personification of Marvel.

The brother of Thanos, Eros, was inspired by the Freudian concept of Eros, which is the opposite of Thanatos. Eros is the life instinct, according to Freud.

Thanos was a supervillain who fell in love with Mistress Death. She is the embodiment of death in Marvel.

An assassination attempt was made by Thanos's mother, Sui San, as she believed him to be a danger to the universe.

Sui San had initially chosen a different name for Thanos. This name was Dione which means 'goddess.'

Thanos Vs Other Marvel Villains

Being a villain whose parents were Eternals is proof of Thanos's powers. Thanos's powers are evident even before he acquires the infinity stones, which can be seen in all the comics and movies, including 'Infinity Wars.'

Thanos wanted power and sought the infinity stones to achieve something beyond himself and not accumulate power for power's sake; this can be seen in 'Infinity War.'

Thanos is a villain who is willing to take a personal loss and sacrifice things important to him for the sake of the universe and its life.

Thanos, the Mad Titan, has multiple biological and adopted children. One of the adopted children is Gamora, and the biological child of the supervillain is Thane. He has killed many of his children.

Thanos is a villain who has dipped their hands in research on genetics. Thanos created clones by gene-splicing his DNA into subjects.

Thanos experienced the bitterness of defeat. Squirrel Girl once defeated him in the Marvel comics despite his superpowers.

One of Thanos's major fights was with the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

'Avengers: Endgame' saw a fight between Captain Marvel and Thanos, in which Captain Marvel was able to keep the villain's fist open, pulling the gauntlet off.

Thanos was defeated in Titan, where he fought against his brother Eros and the Avengers.

One of the more amusing Thanos facts is that, in the comics, Drax the Destroyer was Arthur Douglas, whose astral form was seized by Kronos and Mentor. They then created the being now called Drax the Destroyer to stop Thanos.

Thanos was once arrested by the police when he tried to steal the cosmic cube. The police were called by Spiderman and Hellcat, who stopped Thanos.

In his fight with Iron Man, Thanos is said to recognize the similarity between the two in their burden of intelligence.

Thor Odinson almost killed Thanos with the Stormbreaker, after which Thanos stated that Thor should have aimed for his head, advice that Thor remembered later on.

Thanos was a formidable opponent as, despite his powers and prowess in combat, he prevented his arrogance and rage from clouding his judgment and estimation of his abilities.

Thanos does not mind getting his hands dirty and doing all the work himself, as he can be seen smiling after deciding to hunt for the stones by himself.

Thanos was a villain to be wary of as he was able to command the highly powerful and savage Chitauri and Outrider armies.

Thanos' Powers And Fears

Thanos was shown to have a high level of desire for peace and order in the comics. Unfortunately, this desire was fulfilled by killing many people. To achieve this, Thanos collected the infinity gems.

One of the main weaknesses of Thanos was his love toward Mistress Death. This made him weak because she had the power to dictate over him.

Thanos has the powers of his superhuman race, the power of the Eternals. It has also been increased with scientific enhancements and the extra superhuman powers given to him by Death.

Thanos has superhuman strength, agility, and high stamina levels. He is highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat and is a genius-level strategist and tactician.

Additional to the superhuman powers, Thanos also had access to almost all-powerful mystical artifacts as well as weapons.

Thanos has the ability to absorb and then project high amounts of cosmic energy, he can perform telekinesis, and he is skilled in telepathy.

Thanos can manipulate any matter and can virtually live indefinitely with no access to food, water, or even air.

Thanos is immune to all sorts of terrestrial diseases and has a high level of resistance to psychic assaults. He also cannot die of old age.

Thanos's intellect was superior enough for him to easily outsmart the Guardians of the Galaxy and capture Gamora.

Thanos is extremely skilled in wielding his double-edged sword. It was this weapon he used in the massacre of the Korbinites.

Thanos was able to become one with the universe by using a cosmic cube and defeated the entity known as Kronos. Thanos used a cosmic cube to transform himself into a god-like form.

Despite being powerful and a Titan, Thanos was subjected to an assassination attempt by his own mother and had Deviant syndrome, which caused the Titan to look similar to the enemies of the Eternals, the Deviants.

Being an intellectual, Thanos used bionic implantation along with meditation to augment his natural Eternal powers, which he possessed and surpassed all the other Eternals residing on Titan.

Thanos has made mistakes like any other being. He carelessly discarded the Cosmic Cube, believing that he had drained all its power. This mistake caused Thanos to go back to his mortal form and be abandoned by Death.

Thanos himself announced that the only permanent way of killing him would be to decapitate his head.

The infinity stone weakened Thanos and almost killed him, showing that Thanos was vulnerable to the power of the stones.

A former weakness of Thanos was his arrogance which he took control over and got past later on.

A strength that many villains possessed and Thanos was talented in, was intimidation. Other Marvel villains, including Ronan and Loki, were intimidated by Thanos.

Thanos was a master manipulator, a serious challenger to the god of mischief, Loki himself.

Thanos has accelerated healing, as even the injuries inflicted by the Stormbreaker healed without leaving any trace.

Despite his size and muscular physique, Thanos has superhuman reflexes, which amps up his defenses and makes him better at dodging attacks by his enemies.

Movies That Thanos Appeared In

Constantly bettering himself, Thanos showed the epitome of determination that any action fan or audience would live to see in a villain. Thanos appears in many Marvel comics as well as 'Avengers' movies.

Thanos has appeared in the 'Avengers' movie showing evidence that he was a major threat in the future.

Thanos appears in the 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' in which he sits on a chair and watches the universe, threatening Ronan with the promise of consequences if he fails in acquiring the power stone.

Thanos appears in the post-credits scene in the movie 'Avengers: Age Of Ultron', indicating that he is taking things into his own hands.

'Avengers: Infinity War' saw Thanos as its main villain, appearing throughout the course of the movie.

'Avengers: Endgame' also had Thanos as the main villain, but the avengers succeeded in defeating him.

In the comics and also in the movies, Thanos has proven himself to be a formidable opponent who never fails to awe the audience with his ruthlessness and intellectual abilities.

Though fuelled by the desire to protect his universe, Thanos chose the worst possible way to ensure the safety of beings. He considered himself a savior and took the initiative to protect the universe, albeit opting for a cruel way.

It can be said with clear conviction that Thanos is a villain that people will remember for a long time and would be considered a standard for future villain characters.

FAQs

What is Thanos's real name?

Thanos is his real name, but he was almost named by his mother as Dione.

What god is Thanos based on?

Thanos, the character is based on the Greek god Thanatos. Thanatos is the Greek personification of death. This Greek god, Thanatos, was often referred to in Greek mythology but rarely appeared in person.

Who killed Thanos and how?

Thor was advised by Thanos in a previous fight that the only way to kill him was to decapitate him. Taking his advice, Thor decided to take revenge for those Thanos killed due to his snap.

During an ambush on Thanos, with the aim of retrieving the stones, the avengers cut off Thanos's hand with the gauntlet, after which they realize Thanos had already destroyed the infinity stones. Enraged, Thor was the one who killed Thanos by decapitating him.

Is Thanos really a bad guy?

Thanos was a Titan whose aim was to ensure the peace and safety of people in the universe. The growing population and crowding were concerning him, leading to him making a decision to kill half the living beings.

Thus, though Thanos was motivated for a morally right aim, the action he took to enact his desire for peace and safety was ultimately a bad one, killing many innocent people.

This shows that Thanos is, in fact, a bad person, despite the fact that Thanos believes himself to be a savior. The intention he had was good, but the path he took in achieving what he desired cannot be considered acceptable.

What does Thanos fear?

Thanos is said to be afraid of aliens, Asgardians, and wizards, 'The Avengers: Endgame' theory posits that Ego, Odin, and The Ancient One are Thanos' three greatest fears.

What made Thanos bad?

Thanos cannot be considered bad due to his intentions, but rather his actions are what makes him bad. He witnessed the destruction that crowding and overpopulation caused, which caused him to assume responsibility for stopping further chaos.

The solution that Thanos found was to reduce the population of the universe by 50%. Thanos took the initiative to aid the universe by killing half the population and destroying whoever stood against him and prevented him from carrying out his agenda.

How did Thanos know Stark?

The director Joe Russo revealed in an interview that Thanos recognized Tony Stark as the person who ruined his plans to capture power over Earth using Loki in the movie 'The Avengers' of 2012.

It is also speculated by fans that Thanos may have made use of the Soul Stone to look into Tony's soul in order to understand him.

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Written by Sridevi Tolety

Bachelor of Science specializing in Botany, Master of Science specializing in Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs

Sridevi Tolety picture

Sridevi ToletyBachelor of Science specializing in Botany, Master of Science specializing in Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs

With a Master's degree in clinical research from Manipal University and a PG Diploma in journalism from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Sridevi has cultivated her passion for writing across various domains. She has authored a wide range of articles, blogs, travelogues, creative content, and short stories that have been published in leading magazines, newspapers, and websites. Sridevi is fluent in four languages and enjoys spending her spare time with loved ones. Her hobbies include reading, traveling, cooking, painting, and listening to music.

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