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fter a decade of building hype around the collection of six infinity MacGuffins, and a lot of doubt surrounding Thanos‘ ability to meet fandom’s expectation beyond that space chair he firmly planted himself upon, the Mad Titan finally decimated Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in Avengers: Infinity War. Whatever skepticism percolated in your brain as you walked out of the theater, in the moment, when Peter Parker ashed in the arms of Tony Stark, we were all balling at this impossible cliffhanger villain victory. What was all that fervor about the MCU’s antagonist problem? Solved? Malekith is still trash.
Five minutes into his big coming out party and Thanos was already slaying Asgardians and putting the Hulk in his corner. In a franchise built on protagonists persevering despite their failures, the gargantuan purple mo-cap monster delivered a catastrophic climax in which not only the costumed crusaders had to absorb, but the audience as well. The Russo Brothers twisted the knife even further when they closed the nightmare on a contented smile from the righteous maniac. Thanos won.
A year later, and we’re eagerly anticipating the big fix that will return Black Panther, Spider-Man, and the Guardians of the Galaxy to their billion dollar sequels. In a universe populated with Time Gems, Quantum Realms, and Captain Marvels, Phase 3 will not be the end of The Avengers. Duh. The mighty will return, and Thanos will have that smug smile wiped from his face. Of course, yes, we’re all worried about Steve Rogers. He sure does fetishize that sacrifice play.
Avengers: Endgame is the culmination of a promise made by Nick Fury during the end credits of Iron Man. Marvel Studios reached into their vast source material and found a threat worthy of champions that count gods and monsters on their roster. Not only is Thanos mad and powerful, but he’s also a character consumed by purpose and doubt equal to that of the prey he routinely pummels.
Since his creation by Jim Starlin in the pages of The Invincible Iron Man #55 (February 1973), writers obsessed in establishing empathy for the tyrant. Infinity War and Endgame scripters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely continued in that tradition by exploring the heartbreak experienced between the Titan and his adopted daughter Gamora. Also, on planet Earth, where climate change is a happily ignored threat, Thanos’ solution of eradicating half of existence to make the universe barrable to the remaining few seems like a logical equation. He’s a monster with a point.
All of this is just a long way of explaining that Thanos is a character with as much of a rich and emotional history as any of the Avengers. A person may not have been compelled by Thor: The Dark World or The Incredible Hulk to go hunting through the back-issue bins for tales of Malekith and The Abomination, but in preparing for the purple grimace to get squashed, you probably have an urge for a deeper communion with this particular malefactor.
Below you will find my top ten favorite Thanos storylines. They range from the epic to the personal, the comedic to the horrific. Some you will already be deeply familiar with, but hopefully a few will catch you off guard. If you make your way through all of them, I’m betting you’ll enter Avengers: Endgame with a small part of your primal brain rooting for the bad guy.
The Infinity Gauntlet
As the most obvious selection on the list it’s only fair that we kick off the comic book conversation with the most epic crossover event of the nineties. The six issues limited series written by Thanos creator Jim Starlin spins directly out of the pages of Silver Surfer. The Infinity Gauntlet was illustrated by George Pérez and Ron Lim but practically bled into every monthly Marvel title in 1991. For better and worse, this system of tie-ins would forever change Marvel publishing, and today readers cannot escape a summer where one mini-series doesn’t affect their entire line. If you’ve seen Avengers: Infinity War then you know the basic story: Thanos has gathered six infinity gems and captured them within the gauntlet. Wielding this weapon, Thanos gains mastery over Mind, Power, Reality, Soul, Space, and Time. The entire Marvel Universe assembles to combat the unbeatable, but it’s his daughter Nebula as well as his deep-seated self-loathing that ultimately brings the Titan to ruination. All your favorite cinematic players are here plus a bunch we’re still waiting to see realized in the MCU: Adam Warlock, Silver Surfer, Starfox, Mephisto, and Thanos’ beloved Mistress Death.
Infinity War
A year after The Infinity Gauntlet dominated sales, Marvel Comics returned to their greatest cosmic MacGuffin for this even more bizarre follow-up saga. The Gauntlet is now in the possession of Adam Warlock, and his first act is to rid himself of the good and bad elements of his being in favor of a completely logical existence. What he doesn’t realize is that this notion reawakens his evil double, The Magus. Using multiple cosmic cubes (more diabolical MacGuffins), The Magus gives birth to an armada of villainous doppelgangers to take on the Marvel Universe. Thanos finds it impossible to enjoy evil retirement on Titan and retreats to warn Warlock of the impending doom caused by The Magus. An unlikely partnership is formed, and heroes and villains unite to take on this horrendous threat. Much, much sillier than the original Infinity Gauntlet storyline, but I’d love to see Avengers: Endgame take the route of uniting hero and villain to battle a larger threat.
Cosmic Ghost Rider
Oh boy. This one you have to read to believe and that’s saying something in the realm of superhero comic books. Spinning out of Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw’s standalone Thanos series (more on that later), Cosmic Ghost Rider is the one-time henchman of the Mad Titan who bargains with Odin to send him back in time to slaughter the bumpy-chinned infant in his crib. Instead of snuffing out the toddler, the Cosmic Ghost Rider hatches the brilliant plan to raise Thanos as his own son, and all manner of multiverse hell erupts as a result. BTW, the Cosmic Ghost Rider himself is a demented future version of Frank Castle, The Punisher. This book is certainly comedic in tone, but by page-end, you may find a few more reasons to sympathize with evil creatures.
The Thanos Quest
In this quick, one-two punch from Jim Starlin and Ron Lim, seeds are planted that will eventually grow into The Infinity Gauntlet event. Thanos receives his marching orders from the physical embodiment of Death. His life obsession has been to gain her favor, and she tells Thanos that he will have it if he eradicates half of the sentient population from the universe. To do this, he must collect the infinity gems, and much of the book revolves around Thanos hopping from one realm to another as he gathers them up. The reason I rank this story higher than the epic that falls in its wake is that it is one of the most in-depth examinations of Thanos’ dark thought process. If you really want to root around in this barbarian’s head, The Thanos Quest is where to start.
Silver Surfer #45
This single Silver Surfer issue is easily the best tie-in comic to the whole Infinity Gauntlet storyline. Mephisto, Marvel’s spin on the Faustian demon Mephistopheles, attempts to placate Thanos’ ego so that he may trick the Gauntlet from the Titan’s grasp. The comic is a scrumptious feast of villainy with two of the most fiendish Marvel characters looking to out-evil the other through sheer language. Mephisto’s words are so sharp that Markus and McFeely snatch portions of it for Ebony Maw to recite in Avengers: Infinity War.
Thanos: The Infinity Revelation
In 2014, Jim Starlin returned to two of his favorite characters after many years of many other writers mucking about in their personalities. Once again Thanos stares into the eyes of Death only to discover a mystery involving a great big x on a great big cosmic map. Thanos cannot help himself. He has no idea what he is chasing, but he must pursue it because it is there. This original graphic novel is the first of several new Thanos adventures from Starlin and it does not disappoint in recapturing the esoteric and cryptic thought process of the crazed seeker. These new books take Thanos across the universe and back as well as dip into various dimensions and timelines. The Infinity Revelation is not the comic one gives to a new reader, but for those already prepared for the floweriest of purple cosmic prose, Starlin’s latest venture rewards greatly.
Marvel Universe: The End
For a while there, one of the best Marvel gimmicks around was their The End series. The premise was that a writer and an artist would explore a popular character during their last days of life. Like most things, the results are fair to middling, but the chance to skip into an alternate future where a dying Tony Stark grooms an inferior replacement or a post-apocalyptic Hulk finally rids himself of the cancerous Banner within is too enticing for a fanatic to pass. Jim Starlin would never relish on the deaths of one character, so when he got his time at bat on the series, he killed the whole shebang. Naturally, Thanos is at the heart of our destruction, consuming the entire cosmos into his being and transcending beyond natural order. Starlin concludes on one hell of a twist revealing that endings are just beginnings for others.
Thanos Rising
We jump from the end of Thanos to the beginning. Writer Jason Aaron and illustrator Simone Bianchi journey to those early days on Titan when Thanos was but a newborn baby. When his mother Sui-San saw her purple child immediately after birth, she tried to snuff the wretched thing out. Condemned as a madwoman, the mother of Thanos lives out her days in an asylum while her son grows up an outsider within the Titan school system. He’s a brilliant boy with an artistic flourish, but he has a morbid preoccupation with death. That obsession only grows when he meets a young girl who is most definitely more than she simply appears. Thanos Rising is a grim, ugly story and a fitting origin for the philosophical grotesque that eventually grows into The Avengers’ greatest threat.
Infinity
When Thanos learns that The Avengers have abandoned Earth to deal with another cosmic threat known as The Builders (we don’t have the time or the space to get into them here), he launches an attack on our weak planet. His Black Order agents (Ebony Maw, Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Black Dwarf, and Supergiant) each stake a claim on a nation and proceed to obliterate kingdoms once thought unbeatable. Spearheaded by Jonathan Hickman, this massive series spilled over into both the Avengers and New Avengers monthly titles, and it is one of the few cases in which I would recommend reading everything. Or at least, everything labeled with Hickman as the writer. Infinity is an enormous brawl of a book, and Thanos spends much of it residing like a puppet master in the background, but when he comes out, he comes out swinging. You will also need to set aside some reading time because Infinity is a brick and a half.
Thanos Wins
If you read no other Thanos comic on this list before Avengers: Endgame, please read this one. Thanos Wins by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw is a rip-roaring blitzkrieg through the personality of the Mad Titan that’s as wildly entertaining as it is absurd. A despondent dictator travels to the Chitauri homeworld where he quickly bends the civilization to his will. The challenge leaves him feeling empty. Suddenly, the Cosmic Ghost Rider appears and steals Thanos through time using a fractured piece to the Time Gem. Arriving in the future, Thanos meets an older version of himself. King Thanos has taken claim over every being in the galaxy, but one. The Fallen One is another omnipotent entity that will be familiar to anyone reading this list, but I dare not spoil the reveal for you good reader. Suffice it to say, the threat proves formidable, but just like the best Jim Starlin comics, Donny Cates knows when to flip the script on the reader
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