Many people I know do not like Thanos, or at least the version written by Jim Starlin because Starlin writes him as an infallible mary sue whose importance is bloated with nearly every story that shows how great he is by humiliating heroes, villains, and cosmic entities alike often by having the other characters become straight idiots.

So, why do you like Thanos? What would you say in response to the above claim?

I like Thanos because he actually is what other Villains claim to be:

Competent.

And powerful enough to make people like Thor or Hulk seem like children.

As to the Mary-Sue claims:

I think Starlin is the only writer who can actually write Thanos right.

I like Thanos because he is more than a random strong bad guy.

Thanos is a nihilist with a complex personality and had problems in childhood due to his appearance, besides being a great strategist.

He was there for me when nobody else was

Boring

Hickman?

His obsession with Death has always been kinda cool.

I also like how he can be so smart and so simple at the same time.

I like Darkseid better

Well when I first began my developing interest in comics, I didnt know who I liked... I just saw the Avengers movie and wanted to learn more...

I actually kind of felt sorry for him.. in a way.. and I have debated that point with many people. To put it short -

His whole confrontation with the Avengers take place because they get in the way of an objective that he is trying to complete. When he is in the process of retrieving the Infinity stones, he's doing just that. Earth isn't even on his radar. He doesn't care about that. As we all know, he is attempting to win the love and acknowledgement of Death. The Avengers and most Superheroes just became annoying to me.. They would just get out and save the day because they knew no one presented a real threat. They had no reason to want to fight Thanos. Just leave him be and let him do whatever the hell he wanted to do. Out of all the places or planets in the vast space he could travel to, why on hell would he care about Earth? He wouldn't. He only gave second thought when they threatened his goals.

Besides the fact that he is nearly unmatched when it comes to intelligence, and almost everything else ... I just loved seeing the Avengers get smacked around. Treating the situation like it was just another day at the office... complete arrogance. And yes, the pic the person posted above made me smile. Loved Hulk getting backhanded out of his diaper. That story was pretty awesome

Nah.

He got back to the whole 'Universal Conquering' nonsense that Thanos has abandoned for Decades now.

the death thing is a cute dynamic. and he seems like a character with his own motivations and desires, not just a generic evil guy. he gets the best amps. he's consistently written. he rarely jobs. his stories work on the intelligence spectrum, and on the powerhouse spectrum. he's a bit OP, but i'll take that any day over galactus jobbing away like it's his goddamn job

I always found Thanos to be as strong a he needed to be for the story.

I like Thanos because not only is he powerful enough to fight against teams of heroes that often include the Big Guns of the Marvel Universe, nor that the fact he's extremely intelligent and cunning, but he's also a very complex and intriguing character. He's been a villain, while also being heroic/anti-heroic. He's endangered the universe/omniverse almost much as he's saved it.

And I like the fact that he isn't one to send underlings to do his bidding all the time like a certain villain whom some claim him to be a rip-off of. If Thanos wants something accomplished, he'll do it himself. He isn't afraid to get his hands dirty and get right into the conflict. It's one of his most appealing traits other than his complex character, immense power and intellect.

But I will admit that Starlin's recent works leave somewhat to be desired. I despised Jason Aaron's garbage take on the Mad Titan in the mini-series. And Jonathan Hickman's Thanos was hit or miss in most cases. Loved Keith Giffen's Thanos series prior and during Annihilation. So far I'm enjoying Ewing's take on the Mad Titan in Ultimates.

And I'm looking forward to what Jeff Lemire will accomplish with the Mad Titan in the upcoming Thanos ongoing.

because he is green in colour

Like him? I hate him. I think Thanos along with the Sentry has got to be the most shittiest characters in Marvel comics. Thanos is a copy of Darkseid as the Sentry is a copy of Superman so there's nothing original about them. Thanos was created my Jim Starlin and pretty much all the stories he ever writes are about Thanos for the sole purpose of wanking the character as much as possible and making him seem unstoppable/unbeatable. I often wonder why Starlin didn't just give Thanos Omnipotence as his primary power and call him God when he created him? Not only is Thanos already the strongest character in Marvel, he is also the most intelligent, super durable, super powerful, cannot die and is immortal(banned from Death's realm) and totally indestructible with absolutely no weaknesses who is able to even go toe to toe with Galactus (who is a character that is on the level of Eternity and Death btw), Starlin had to give him more power and make him into a God multiple times. The Infinity Gauntlet was created for the sole purpose to show off Thanos as THE most powerful character in Marvel as the idea of just a couple of gems giving someone absolute power and making him even stronger than Eternity is absolutely stupid. Where did all that power come from? Oh from some dead female Goddess name Nemesis who committed suicide before the dawn of time due to loneliness. Ridiculous if you ask me. Then there was the Heart of the Universe which was even more ridiculous made especially for Thanos to jump into and become even more powerful than the last time he was God. What's next? The brain of the Multiverse? The cock of the Omniverse? It's almost as pissy as when the Sentry defeated Molecule Man! Yet it works because there are so many Thanos fanboys out there that are like "Wow. Thanos is the greatest and best character ever! He's such a badass because no one can beat him and he's evil as hell!" What's funny is that some idiots even dare to compare him with the great Dr Doom. Personally, Thanos has never impressed me as a villain or a character. Just name one time where he did something impressive that's in a story written by someone else other than Jim Starlin his creator! You can't can you? Not only that, Thanos is gay! You heard right! Thanos is a fag! Apparently his love for Mistress Death has gone sour and has now found a new love in nothingness. Check the Marvel website yourself! His bio says Thanos has found a new love in nothingness and if you check Oblivion's bio, it says that Oblivion is the embodiment of nothingness that existed before the universe and will exist after the universe has ended and Oblivion is a male character so Thanos is now a faggot! Hahaha! Don't even start me on the Sentry! Some random druggie drinks a stupid serum while searching for drugs and magically becomes God! Yeah right! Not only can he now fly and shoot lasers from his eyes and is strong as Superman, he can can also control all matter and energy and warp reality too. Apparently he can do it even better than someone who has been doing it for years and has been known to warp reality on a multiversal scale! A lot of PIS characters in Marvel comics but the absolute worst has got to be Thanos and the Sentry.

@billy219: lol you dropped this...

He's an ok character and also dont like him

@db14:

100% agree, none of the current Marvel writers understands Thanos. I don't want Hickman and Lemire's bloodthirty thug. I don't want Jason Aaron's Space Jeffrey Dahmer with daddy issues. I don't want Bendis' saturday morning cartoon villain with guns. I want Thanos as Starlin intended him to bè.

@billy219:

Bè careful with that bullshit, i think theres some of it left on your shirt.

@billy219: For the record starlins thanos is the only real intended representation of the character

@cull_obsidian: with Keith Giffen's Thanos being a close second.

And Ron Marx, his run was great

He smart, strong, witty, and a problem for most of Marvel. He take on people he knows is stronger than him to help us gauge feats lol

@cull_obsidian: Yes, Cosmic Powers was a Pretty enjoyable read, even if It had next to zero impact on the characters.

@titanthanos: The sad part is Thanos is smart and complex only in Starlin and Giffen stories.

Ignoring his recent personalities.

1. Very classy and humble. He just has swag to him.
2. Very witty and intellectual.
3. As a villain he has so much damn character to him that he can have his OWN stories and solos.
4. A god literally but thats not what defines him.
5. UNLIKE Darkseid and these other typical tyrant villains. Thanos ambitious is NOT universal domination/oppression instead he is desperate for LOVE with freaking death. His genocide of people is just to please DEATH. Thats what I like about the character the most. That is what separates him from the other typical tyrant villains and edges him over Darkseid.
6. If we are being real he has accomplished a good amount of his goals.
7. He is not a villain to one particular character.

@king_stranglehold_da_first: Couldn't have said it better myself.

He's purple.

Indeed.

QFT

Starlin wrote Thanos as Mary Sue character? What? There are a lot of instances where Starlin wrote Thanos as a humble character who was also humiliated both physically and mentally. And same goes for a lot of other writers. I mean, what the hell? The guy who had him wreck the Avengers (Hickman) also wrote him as a guy who proved to be inferior to his son Thane. That's Mary Sue?

His obsession with death was always intriguing.

@krleavenger: they Just don't like seeing their favorite Heroes getting wrecked by Thanos. So they play the Mary Sue card.

However, Thanos knocking down Galactus with a simple hand blast? I do have issues with that.

When? Because from what I've seen/heard I don't disagree with the OP. Starlin does write thanos as a Gary Stue.

@jashro44:

Too many to name my friend. When he absorbed the Heart of the Universe and became Omnipotent, he couldn't save the Universe despite the fact that he was, well, Omnipotent. While he overpowered every single being in the Marvel Universe, it's pretty clear that Thanos was desperate in this instance, which is pretty ironic when you think about it considering the fact that he became the God.

Gallery

At the end of the story, Thanos actually died by recreating the Marvel Universe and curing it from so called "cancer".

Gallery

Similar thing happened few years prior, when Thanos assembled the Infinity Gauntlet, yet Death still wasn't interested in him. At the end of the issue we actually see that, despite the fact that he became one of the most powerful beings in Marvel Universe, Death still did not accept Thanos. He actually said that he could make her do whatever he wants, but he wants her love, and if he takes it by force, it's not the real thing. And at the end of the issue we actually see Thanos shedding a tear, which is once again, pretty ironic considering the fact that he surpassed pretty much every being in the Marvel Universe. And this is the same issue where Thanos admitted that the Runner got the best of him based on both his dialogue and facial expression and agreed to provide the information he wanted (although Thanos defeated the Runner in this same issue, using the Time Stone Gem at the end, so take that as you wish).

Gallery

In one of his earlier appearances, Thanos was killed by Adam Warlock, who turned him into stone.

Gallery

During his own series, he was ragdolled by Galactus.

Gallery

Scan Source(s):

Marvel Universe: The End #5

Marvel Universe: The End #6

Thanos' Quest #2

Marvel Two-in-One Annual Vol. 1 #2

Thanos Vol. 1 #5

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Those are not the only instances where Thanos was either defeated and/or humiliated in some way. He was overpowered by the likes of Odin, Tyrant and Omega in Warlock and the Infinity Watch Vol. 1 #25, Cosmic Powers #6 and Infinity Abyss #6 respectively (although the former two had a hard time putting him down which is impressive durability showing for Thanos). All those issues plus the ones already mentioned above were written by Jim Starlin. See, there are a handful of instances when Starlin wrote Thanos as anything but "Mary Sue character". I mean, Starlin is the one who created Thanos, and he was created to be powerful. In his first appearance, he wrecked Drax the Destroyer which destroyed the planet as a side effect (Iron-man Vol. 1 #55), and throughout most of his appearances he was introduced as a Teambuster, capable of wrecking Heralds like Surfer and teams like the Avengers composed of powerhouses like Hulk and Thor. And yet despite all that, Starlin had Thanos humiliated, defeated, overpowered and helpless more than once, even in an extremely ironic instances when he literally became God.

Just because he wrecks extremely popular and powerful characters, holds his own against Gods and has plan for pretty much everything does not make him a Mary Sue character. He is just an intelligent Teambuster. I mean, if he is Mary Sue, we might as well say that Ultron, Amazo, Hunter Zolomon and other seemingly unbeatable characters who were stopped only thanks to plot devices are Mary Sue as well, especially because Thanos has more bad showings and these characters (not in terms of feats but in terms of introduction), as I've shown above, all written by Starlin. And that's not even mentioning the other instances where he was introduced as nothing but almost worthless servant compared to Death (based on his motivation to be by her side while she doesn't care), showing signs of weakness almost every time he is close to her and overall just looking weak. Or when his ultimate power was taken away from him more than once, like Cosmic Cube and the Infinity Gauntlet (although it was later confirmed that he lost those powers, or at least the Infinity Gems only because he wanted to, but still, he knew humility and defeat).

I'm pretty sure there are more instances where Thanos was defeated or overpowered that are also written by Starlin, but it's been a while since I've been reading Thanos so I'll move on at this point. I just want to say that, if any writer made Thanos interesting, it's Starlin. Under Starlin Thanos showed he actually has an interesting character, who is more than being powerful and evil, and actually has some human characteristics. Starlin's Thanos was actually respectful, reasonable and sometimes even humble and heroic. His intelligence may be called a plot device but same can be said for Doctor Doom and Batman.

Aside from Starlin, 95% of Marvel writers (with a few exceptions) think Thanos is this evil, unstoppable force who wrecks and kills everybody without a second thought, like he is a cosmic tyrant. In other words, Marvel thinks he is just Marvel's version of Darkseid, while Starlin's Thanos is a completely different character with no similarities to Darkseid aside from appearance (Thanos wasn't even based off of Darkseid but another New God called Metron). While Thanos' most impressive feats can be found in Starlin's books, same can be said for instances where he has been overpowered.

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Anyway, I'm just repeating myself at this point. Sorry for an extremely long post Jash. I just wanted to say everything related to this topic right away because I don't have a lot of time for Comic Vine right now and I don't know when will I be able to reply back. If this discussion turns into debate, I don't think I'll be able to continue with it any time soon. Feel free to reply if you want. If you disagree with my view on this, that's fine. Also, to go off topic a bit, (I'm very late at this point but...) I hope you had a Merry Christmas (if you celebrate Christmas that is, if not then have a nice day).

@krleavenger: @king_stranglehold_da_first: these guys said it best

@krleavenger: I can't argue against most of what you said. I don't think thanos is a terrible character. What's always turned me off from Starlin's Thanos is the way he has portrayed thanos in more recent times. For example in those HOTU scans you posted Thanos couldn't find a way to cure what was wrong with the universe but than he finds a way at the end of the story, after killing the universe. He than sacrifices himself because thanos is just that selfless.

In the galactus scans while thanos was overpowered, it also ends with galactus endangering the universe and thanos saving the universe. Galactus ended up humbled and thanos gives him a lecture. Or during infinity finale when Thanos ends up negotiating with the one above all (I know it was stated thanos could only talk the one above all into what is secretly wished for, but why would an omnipotent being wish for anything? Its omnipotent it can do what it wants).

I think this is the issue the OP has about how Starlin inflates thanos importance. I don't mind if thanos can wreck the silver surfer, he clearly is just meant to be that powerful. But it just feels like Starlin likes to wank his character. I mean he literally had thanos destroy and recreate the marvel universe, and had him negotiate with God.

@jashro44: If the OP had problem with Starlin writing Thanos as an extremely important and capable character, that's fine, although still kinda weird to me since he's been that way all the time under the pencil of his own creator. But that does not fall into the category of "Mary Sue" type of character. Mary Sue is more like what's happening to Carol Danvers in Post-Secret Wars/All New All Different Marvel Universe. Or Kale and Caulifla from Dragon Ball Super. Thanos is just overhyped by Starlin.

Hell, Superman and Batman are extremely overhyped as well, by writers and comic characters themselves. And they are overhyped way more than Thanos is since Thanos is at least consistent because of the things he has accomplished and the fact that one writer, who also happenes to be his creator, has those high views on him. Doom is overhyped too, more than Thanos since he is just a human and lack's Thanos's experience.

I'm still not completely sure why Starlin overhyping Thanos is so bad, when not only he created Thanos and is consistent when it comes to his showings and interpretations, but there are way more overhyped and wanked characters out there who can't be justified the same way Thanos can. But oh well.

He's an interesting character.

@krleavenger:

If the OP had problem with Starlin writing Thanos as an extremely important and capable character, that's fine, although still kinda weird to me since he's been that way all the time under the pencil of his own creator. But that does not fall into the category of "Mary Sue" type of character. Mary Sue is more like what's happening to Carol Danvers in Post-Secret Wars/All New All Different Marvel Universe. Or Kale and Caulifla from Dragon Ball Super. Thanos is just overhyped by Starlin.

I don't see a difference between what Starlin does and what has been done with Kale and Caulifla on DBS.

Hell, Superman and Batman are extremely overhyped as well, by writers and comic characters themselves. And they are overhyped way more than Thanos is since Thanos is at least consistent because of the things he has accomplished and the fact that one writer, who also happenes to be his creator, has those high views on him.

Batman and superman are DC's most iconic characters so they are important. And I don't agree they are hyped more than Thanos under Starlin. At least not consistently.

Doom is overhyped too, more than Thanos since he is just a human and lack's Thanos's experience.

Not to the same degree as Starlins thanos IMO. And Doom is flawed with his ideology and superiority complex. Its usually why he loses.

I'm still not completely sure why Starlin overhyping Thanos is so bad, when not only he created Thanos and is consistent when it comes to his showings and interpretations, but there are way more overhyped and wanked characters out there who can't be justified the same way Thanos can. But oh well.

The consistency is the issue in this case.

Also I forgot to wish you a merry Christmas in my last post. Apologies for forgetting but Merry Christmas.

@jashro44: I suppose we should just agree to disagree then. A topic like this is a matter of subjective opinion and personal view of it so I don't think either of us are right or wrong. Also, it's fine. Thanks Jash.

@krleavenger: Fair enough and no problem.

@krleavenger: Great post. Its pretty sad how many people ignore Thanos ''byronic'' traits.

@phillip33: Indeed.

Many people seem to forget that thanos has a major underlying character flaw when written by starlin in his obsession with needing the affection of a woman, that alone makes him a non Mary Sue type character, let alone the fact that he doesn’t “always win”.

@krleavenger: Yujiro Hanma is also a Mary Sue.

Sorry, I forgot to reply. Thanks.

Who?

@krleavenger: He's the big bad of Grappler Baki.