Best Character Ever 24: Thanos

Art by Ron Lim. All characters featured in images for this column are owned by Marvel.

As Avengers: Infinity War is now available to everyone to own, it seems Marvel's Dark Titan is a rather unsurprising choice for the first new Best Character Ever in nearly two years. But my connection with the character dates back way farther than that.

More specifically it dates back to the late 1980s when I first stumbled upon a copy of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition 20: Book of the Dead (Stick to Zuras). I distinctly remember having to convince my mother the cover shot of characters' spirits rising from their graves was merely symbolic. But when I got it for the glorious cover price of $1.50, I knew I held gold in my hand.

Thanos stayed that statue for over a decade of Marvel comics. Didn't even get to be a ghost with the others!
Art by Keith Pollard.

OHOTMU regularly served as my introduction to many Marvel heroes. I would buy issues wherever I could find them and Update '89 was one of the first few Marvel series I collected faithfully. But that issue twenty introduced me to three huge concepts in the Marvel Universe that would fuel much of my fandom for years to come. I will save the third for a later column, but the unabashed enemies Thanos and Warlock were true stars killed too soon.

Now I won't pretend I didn't love both the characters after reading their entries. But Thanos spoke to me as perhaps the ultimate villain in comics. Not only was he immensely powerful without any of the goofiness I knew from the Super Powers incarnation of Darkseid, he literally loved the embodiment of all death in the Marvel Universe. The concept was both gloriously simple yet nefariously deep all at once.

Thanos reappeared two issues before this, but I
only bought so many comics when I was 12.
Art by Ron Lim. 

It would be a few years before I really learned of Jim Starlin's part in making the characters what they are. His obsession with their never-ending enmity (or friendship?) drove pretty much all of Starlin's work. So when I first saw a gorgeous Ron Lim cover for Silver Surfer with the late Adam Warlock and Captain Marvel on the cover I was intrigued. When I opened it to find I had just missed the rebirth of arguably the greatest villain in the Marvel Universe, I knew I needed to be reading the adventures of the Surfer.

Yet this was the early 90s. I was still just a kid. I couldn't buy every comic out. Like so many of my generation, my focus was on X-titles, with the rest of my precious pennies split between a couple other comics and the new world of superhero trading card. I only stuck around so long. It would be a few years before I realized the level of my mistake.

Infinity Gauntlet came next and the ultimate story of a wicked villain humbled by his own quest for power and the enigmatic reaction from his dark love proved a compelling story. But it also had amazing character moments for many Marvel heroes, like the one I mentioned back when I covered Captain America.

I assume the next movie will focus on where he left his hat.

The Dark Titan's majesty has translated quite well to other media. He appeared on the Silver Surfer cartoon back in the late 90s in a form quite similar to his comic self, albeit as a worshiper of Lady Chaos due to children's TV standards at the time. And while his love for death is changed into an obsession with balance in the universe, much of his key character traits shine through in Josh Brolin's moving performance in Infinity War. Like Starlin's original, Thanos may be a powerful dark god of the Marvel Universe, but that doesnt' make him a one dimensional foe without feelings. That depth drives the entire narrative of a film that might otherwise be bogged down with its dozens of stars.

Thanos' future looks bright as he once again takes his place as a prime player in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its comic forebearer. The same may not be said for the universe in which he makes his presence felt!

Ultimately, Thanos and the cosmic universe around him heavily inspired huge chunks of my own galactic expansion of the Quadrant Universe. While I have no plans to start any love affairs with embodiments of universal concepts, the size and scope of his villainy are innovations I hope to someday replicate.