Thanos

"I know what it's like to lose. To feel so desperately that you're right, yet to fail nonetheless. It's frightening, turns the legs to jelly. I ask you to what end? Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now it's here. Or should I say, I am."

- Thanos

Thanos, referred to as the Dark Lord by his most loyal underlings and the Mad Titan by the galactic community, is a powerful Titan warlord who rules over a distant region of space and commands two massive armies, known as the Chitauri and the Outriders, and a small group of followers known as the Black Order. His own main objective was to bring stability from the universe, as he believed its massive population would inevitably use up the universe's entire resources and condemn it. However, his methodology to succeed was warped; through using the Infinity Stones, Thanos intended to harness their power to exterminate half of life in the universe.

He spent many years hunting down these stones and his desire to achieve his ultimate goal is what led Thanos to forge new alliances with Loki and Ronan the Accuser in their respective campaigns against Earth and Xandar, as seen in his promising to aid them in exchange for an Infinity Stone. Both of the new alliances had cost Thanos much of his resources, including one of the stones and the loyalty of his daughters, Gamora and Nebula, and inadvertently resulted in the formation of the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy. Fed up with all the failures of his subordinates, Thanos had opted to seek out the location of the Infinity Stones himself.

Thanos engaged in a ferocious warpath in order to obtain all of the Infinity Stones. In his journey, both he and his Black Order invaded Xandar, Earth, and Knowhere and even murdered Loki, along with half of the surviving Asgardians, and even his beloved Gamora. The primary aggressors against Thanos became an alliance comprising the Avengers, Masters of the Mystic Arts, Guardians of the Galaxy, and the nation of Wakanda. Despite facing off against a powerfully combined opposition and the wrath of Thor, Thanos had ultimately triumphed over his enemies once he finally completed the Infinity Gauntlet, using this to finally complete his goal and destroy half of the life within the universe at the snap of his fingers.

Fall of Titan
"When Thanos took my homeworld, he killed my parents in front of me. He tortured me, turned me into a weapon."

- Gamora to Star-Lord

Thanos was born to Alars, a member of the Titans, a race of powerful, god-like beings that evolved on a planet with which they shared their name. Thanos was born misshapen, bearing a physical mutation that left him marked as an anomaly amongst his people and therefore left him an outcast. Despite his status, Thanos sought to save Titan when the planet became threatened by the imminent catastrophic event of overpopulation. When Thanos suggested killing half the population of the planet to solve the problem, his idea was considered too drastic and was dismissed by his people, which resulted in Titan becoming subsequently devastated as well as nearly uninhabitable. Another result of this devastation was that the Titan species was on the verge of extinction.

Sometime after Titan's fall, Thanos became a world-conqueror, moving throughout the universe and destroying half of the planets he conquered due to his ideology of balancing the universe by destroying half of all life. He became one of the most powerful and feared warlords, even ruling over a distinct region of space, and gaining control over the deadly armies of Chitauri and Outriders.

Training his Children
"Flesh is weak. Weakness must be cast aside for the sake of power."

- Thanos

Thanos collected orphans from each race that he conquered. When killing half of the Zehoberei people to balance Zen-Whoberi, Thanos's attention was caught by a young Zehoberei named Gamora. Commenting that she had "spunk", Thanos took her aside as his Chitauri army began the massacre, keeping her distracted with a knife. Thanos adopted Gamora as his daughter afterwards, training her to become the deadliest in the galaxy, and growing to genuinely care about her as a result. He also massacred a Luphomoid family to raise Nebula to be another devoted and deadly assassin. Usually, when Nebula lost in a duel against Gamora, Thanos removed a body part from her, which according to him was to make her stronger than Gamora. Aside from Gamora and Nebula, Thanos took in and trained other children as well, namely Corvus Glaive, Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian and Proxima Midnight. The latter four warriors, more faithful and devoted to Thanos' command than Gamora and Nebula, comprised the Black Order. Thanos also acquired the services of the Other to act as his servant.

Quest for the Infinity Stones
With the destruction of Titan weighing heavily on his conscience, Thanos came to believe that the universe's large swell of life was depleting its finite resources, and would eventually cause the destruction of the universe itself. Deducing that the Infinity Stones, objects of immense power that held considerable dominance over the various forces that occupied the universe, could solve this issue, Thanos made it his life's goal to gather them,. and forged several alliances in order to locate them. He successfully located at least one of the stones; the Mind Stone, which he then hid inside a Scepter that was capable of manipulating minds.

Through many years of searching, Thanos discovered a lead on the Orb's location, sending Nebula and Gamora to the Cloud Tombs of Praxius under Korath's command. Nebula fell victim to a trap during the mission, and Thanos, not one to tolerate failure, forbade Gamora from rescuing her. Nebula was forced to amputate her own arm in order to escape. The Orb was never recovered, but Thanos let the failure pass and resumed his search. He also sent Gamora to find the Soul Stone, but she reported back to him that her search had been unsuccessful.

Chitauri Invasion


"The Tesseract has awakened. It is on a little world, a human world. They would wield its power, but our ally knows its workings as they never will. He is ready to lead, and our force, our Chitauri, will follow. The world will be his, the universe will be yours. And the humans, what can they do, but burn?"

- The Other to Thanos

Thanos discovered that the Tesseract was on Earth and allied himself with Loki in order to retrieve it, providing him the Scepter and his Chitauri army, who would help him conquer the entire planet in exchange for handing over the Tesseract to him. Through his intermediary, The Other, Thanos threatened the god of mischief, saying that if he failed in delivering the Tesseract to him, Thanos would force him to endure a new kind of horrific suffering. Despite his vast army of the Chitauri and powerful weapons, Loki was defeated during the Battle of New York, and the Scepter-laden Infinity Stone came into HYDRA's hands, while the Tesseract was transported to Asgard by Thor, along with the now captured Loki. The Other reported to his master how the Earth's inhabitants were not as weak as they were thought to be. He also declared that challenging the Earth's heroes would be to court Death. Thanos rose to his feet and smiled at the prospect of what was coming.

Quest for the Orb


"Your politics bore me. Your demeanor is that of a pouty child. And apparently, you alienated my favorite daughter, Gamora. I shall honor our agreement, Kree if you bring me the Orb. But return to me again empty handed and I will bathe the stairways in your blood."

- Thanos to Ronan the Accuser

Sometime later, Thanos brokered a deal with his old ally, Ronan the Accuser of the Kree Empire, promising to lend a fraction of his forces in a genocide against the Xandarians in exchange for locating the Orb for the Mad Titan. Ronan and Korath the Pursuer quickly discovered the Orb on Morag and attempted to deliver it to Thanos, but the stone fell into the possession of a Ravager called Star-Lord who was trying to sell it to Broker before Ronan could claim it. Unwilling to be denied the stone, Thanos ordered Ronan to pursue Quill and recover the stone, sending Gamora to aid the Kree in his pursuit. Gamora found Quill first, cornering him on Xandar where he was attempting to sell the Orb. She recovered it, but what Thanos did not realize is that Gamora had chosen to cut all ties with him, due to the torture she and her many siblings have suffered through from the Mad Titan and planned to hand the Orb over to the Collector, who also sought the Infinity Stones for his own purposes. When Ronan relayed news of Gamora's betrayal to Thanos which he had learned had been planned for some time, the Kree berated the Mad Titan for not taking the situation seriously and even murdered The Other when he lectured Ronan on not showing Thanos respect. Undaunted by The Other's death and Ronan's complaints, Thanos turned Ronan away, instructing him to return to his task and correct Gamora's betrayal, which he was only slightly irked by. Thanos then instructed Nebula to take Gamora's place as Ronan's aide.

Ronan the Accuser's Betrayal


"BOY! I would reconsider your current course!" "YOU CALL ME "BOY"?! I will unfurl one thousand years of Kree justice on Xandar AND BURN IT TO ITS CORE!! Then, Thanos, I'm coming for you!"

- Thanos and Ronan the Accuser

Ronan the Accuser and Nebula both eventually stole the Orb from the Guardians of the Galaxy, but when Thanos was contacted by Ronan to be updated on their progress, he was furious to discover that the Kree, having experienced the true power of the Orb, intended on keeping the Infinity Stone for himself, despite Korath the Pursuer noting Thanos was the most powerful being in the universe. Nebula joined with Ronan, contemptuous towards Thanos after the horror he forced her to endure throughout her youth. Now believing himself superior to Thanos, Ronan promised to come after the Dark Lord when Xandar was destroyed. Unphased, Thanos cut contact with them without a word. Ronan would eventually lose his life at the hands of the Guardians of the Galaxy, who gave the Orb to the Nova Corps, making yet another Infinity Stone lost to Thanos.

Doing it Himself
"Fine. I'll do it myself."

- Thanos

With both Loki and Ronan the Accuser having failed Thanos in their tasks of conquering worlds and bringing him the Infinity Stones, and both of his daughters lost to him, Thanos, fed up with the failures, had finally grown tired of the lack of progress in his crusade and decided to take matters into his own hands. He forced the dwarves of Nidavellir to forge the Infinity Gauntlet in order to control the power of all the six Infinity Stones at once before massacaring them all, leaving only the Dwarf King Eitri alive, whose hands he cut off. Thanos then began to hunt for the Stones himself, believing himself to be capable of completing the task while smiling confidently to himself at the prospect of victory.

Acquiring the Power Stone
Sometime before encountering Thor and the Asgardians, Thanos went to Xandar, destroyed the Nova Corps and Empire and retrieved the Orb and destroyed it to unveil the Power Stone and then inserted it into his Gauntlet before massacaring half of the Xandarians as part of his quest to balance the universe.

Obtaining the Tesseract
"Let him have his fun."

- Ebony Maw

With his ship, the Sanctuary II, Thanos tracked down the ship carrying the Asgardian survivors of the cataclysmic Ragnarök on their way to Earth, Loki and his brother Thor among them. Thanos then massacred half of the Asgardians and badly beat Thor, then tortured him with the Power Stone in order to force Loki to give up the Tesseract. Even though Loki was able to offer a distraction for Hulk to attack, Thanos easily defeated Hulk. After Heimdall gave the Hulk a chance to escape by teleporting him to Earth, Thanos angrily executed him with Corvus Glaive's spear, much to Thor's dismay. The mad Titan then ordered The Black Order to retrieve the other stones after crushing the Tesseract and retrieving the Space Stone from it. Loki offered to help, but Thanos, easily seeing through his trickery, foils Loki's attempt to stab him. Thanos then crushed Loki's neck, his punishment for him failing during the Chitauri Invasion and then mocked a distraught Thor by bringing Loki's corpse to the restrained Thor's knees and saying that he will not be resurrected again as he is truly dead. Thanos then destroyed the Statesman with the Power Stone and warped his children and himself out of the exploding ship, leaving Thor and dead Asgardian bodies to float in space.

Interrogating the Collector
"The Reality Stone. Not even you would surrender anything so precious." "I didn't know what it was!" "Then you are more of a fool than I took you for."

- Thanos and Collector

Thanos then arrived on Knowhere long before the Guardians of the Galaxy could and after killing the Collector and retrieving the Reality Stone, having predicted the arrival of the Guardians, tricked them successfully with a realistic illusion conjured by the Reality Stone that made it look as if he was still torturing the Collector, also pretending to be killed by Gamora. He then reveals himself after revealing that he knows that Gamora still deep down cared for him, and boasts that while reality is often unpleasant, with the Reality Stone, he can make reality to be whatever he wants. Indeed, he effortlessly imcatipates both Drax the Destroyer and Mantis by using the Reality Stone to turn them to pieces and restrains Gamora before she could pick up her Godslayer, breaking the blade at the same time. Thanos is then confronted by Star-Lord, who threatens to kill him if he doesn't let her go, but calmly realizes that Peter is Gamora's boyfriend and when Gamora begged him to kill her to prevent Thanos from discovering the location of the Soul Stone, Thanos then brought her closer to Quill and dared him to do it. However, when Star-Lord hesitatingly shot, Thanos simply used the Reality Stone to turn his ammunition into bubbles and teleports away after praising him for being willing to sacrifice his girlfriend to save the universe.

Soul for a Soul
"Where is the Soul Stone?" "You should know, it extracts a terrible price." "I am prepared." "We all think that at first. We are all wrong."

- Thanos and Red Skull

Back on his ship, Thanos gave Gamora food, saying that he believes that she is hungry, but Gamora tosses it to his throne, saying bitterly that she always hated the throne, which Thanos simply retorted to by saying yet he always hoped she would sit on it. Thanos and Gamora then argues on Thanos's destruction of her home, with Thanos remaining calm even as Gamora denies everything that Thanos believes and reminding Gamora that it was due to his training that she became the fiercest woman in the Galaxy and he was so confident in her abillities that he even send her to locate the Soul Stone, which she sarcastically apologized for failing to do.

However, Thanos is unfazed and says that he is disappointed not because she did not find the location but she did and lied. He takes Gamora to reveal that Nebula has been captured and tortures her in front of Gamora. Even though Gamora desperately sought to conceal it, Thanos reveals that he is aware that Gamora had lied to him, going as far as to say that while Thanos turned her into the warrior and assassin she is now, he never taught her to lie and thus she is never a good liar. Giving in, Gamora tells Thanos the stone is on Vormir. Gamora and Thanos travel to Vormir via a portal from the Space Stone where they meet Red Skull, who guided them to the top of a nearby cliff.

The guardian of the Soul Stone explained to Thanos that obtaining the Stone requires the sacrifice of a loved one. Upon hearing this, Gamora mocked Thanos as heartless and uncaring, but Thanos, having truly loved Gamora as his daughter, sheds tears that he would have to kill her. Although Gamora desperately attempts suicide, Thanos used the Reality Stone to turn her knive into bubbles and then threw her off the cliff still in tears. A light bursts out that briefly knocked Thanos out but once he awoke, he found the Soul Stone in his right hand and inserts it into his Infinity Gauntlet.

Battle of Titan
"I hope they remember you."

- Thanos to Iron Man.

After sacrificing Gamora, Thanos arrives on Titan to retrieve the Time Stone from Doctor Strange. Thanos then gave a brief, but impassionate, speech on his goals and revealed that Titan was once his home until overpopulation destroyed it and left only he himself as the survivor of his kind and that he desires to wipe out half of life in the universe to save them from the same fate Titan suffered. After that, a ferocious fight began between Thanos and his opponents. Thanos was at first briefly neutralized by Mantis's empathic powers but is able to turn the tides when his sacrifice of Gamora is revealed, enraging Star-Lord and causing him to unsuccessfully attack him. Thanos summons a shower of meteors and badly injures Iron Man but spares his defeated opposers when Strange gives him the Time Stone.

Battle of Wakanda
"You should have gone for the head..." "What did you do? THANOS!"

- Thanos and Thor

Having obtained the powers of the Time, Space, Reality, Soul and Power Stones, Thanos arrives on Wakanda to retrieve the final Infinity Stone, the Mind Stone. He confronts Captain America, Black Widow, Falcon, War Machine, Bruce wearing Hulkbuster, Black Panther, Okoye and Groot single-handedly without fear and after briefly staring at his enemies, calmly walks towards them as they began their attempt to repel him.

Even with all of his army destroyed, Thanos with the nearly complete Infinity Gauntlet proves to be practically invincible and far too powerful for all of his opposers and he makes short work of them, effortlessly stopping Hulkbuster and imprisoning it in solid stone by making it intangible for a while, effortlessly sending Captain America to the ground, easily catching Black Panther in the neck when he charged at him and negated Black Panther's attempt to use his energy pulse upon choking him before slamming him down to the ground to redirect it, downing two individuals within seconds.

He then calmly sending Falcon to the ground after easily withstanding his bullets, casually crushing and twisting the guns of War Machine's armor and pinning him with large debris to interfere with his flight before simply flinging him away, knocking down Winter Soldier soon after with a single shockwave of energy, stopping Okoye's spear and easily downing her to the ground, trapping Black Widow with large concrete walls and then easily breaking out of Groot's vines and incatipating him as well. As he approaches Vision and Scarlet Witch, Captain America desperately buys time as much as he can and to Thanos's shock, is able to land a few hits on him and block his Infinity Gauntlet hand, but it is only temporary as Thanos swiftly dispatches the Super Soldier with a single punch. Now free of distractors, Thanos is about to retrieve Vision's Mind Stone when he saw Scarlet Witch try to destroy it. Thanos tries to stop it but Wanda is able to push him back, although he slowly charges through the beam but it is too late as Wanda destroys the Mind Stone before he could get to them.

Rather than angrily killing the girl for her hinderance of his goals, Thanos sympathised with her tearful sacrifice of Vision to destroy the Mind Stone, as he too had sacrificed Gamora for the Soul Stone. Activating the Time Stone, Thanos turned back time and reversed Wanda's actions, restoring both Vision and the Mind Stone. Before Wanda could intervene, Thanos forcefully ripped the Stone from Vision's head, killing him in the process. The Mad Titan placed the Stone within the Gauntlet, and with all six Stones assembled, assumed infinite power and control over the universe.

The Snap
"Did you do it?" "Yes." "What did it cost?" "...Everything."

- Gamora and Thanos

Moments after the Infinity Gauntlet's completion, Thor arrived on the scene and struck Thanos with a lightning bolt. Thanos fired an energy beam in response; the Asgardian blocked the beam by catapulting Stormbreaker directly through it. The axe ultimately struck Thanos in the chest, gravely wounding him. However, the Mad Titan appeared unfazed by his injury, even as Thor forced the blade of the axe deeper. Thanos taunted Thor that he should have aimed for his head, and before his opponent could react, he snapped his fingers. Energy surged from the Gauntlet, with a blinding light flooding the battlefield; the universe was about to be altered on an unprecedented scale.

Thanos briefly passed out, and to his great surprise, reawakened in a vast orange void within the Soul Stone. The void was empty, save for Thanos himself and one building in the distance. The building resembled the same archway on Zen-Whoberi where Thanos and Gamora met many years ago. Sure enough, as Thanos approached the arch, he encountered the child Gamora once again. Thanos excitedly told her that he had finally completed his mission. When Gamora asked "what did it cost?", he became solemn in his demeanor. Thanos simply replied, "Everything".

Regaining normal consciousness, Thanos returned to his body in Wakanda. Thor furiously questioned Thanos about the finger-snap, but he offered no answers. Though the Gauntlet appeared scorched and worn out, Thanos was able to teleport away with the Space Stone. As half of all life across the universe began to disintegrate as a result of the snap, a fully healed Thanos reappeared on another planet. He rested in a small hut with a view overlooking the alien countryside. Having at long last accomplished his objective, Thanos smiled, his expression satisfied yet somber as he viewed the local sunrise.

Personality
"Little one, it's a simple calculus. This universe has finite its resources, finite...if life is left unchecked, life will cease to exist. It needs correcting." "You don't know that!" "I'm the only one who knows that. At least, I'm the only with the will to act on it."

- Thanos and Gamora

Thanos is usually seen by everyone else as the ultimate personification of sadism, cruelty, megalomania, infinite destruction, death, power, and madness, with his search for the Infinity Stones seen by others as his plot to gain dominion over all the civilizations in the universe. He desired to use the Tesseract to look beyond the known worlds to find greater ones that it would unveil. He is also relentless as seen by finding children to take as his own so he can raise them as assassins while forcing them to watch as he murders their families and tirelessly searching for the Infinity Stones.

He is extremely intimidating and unforgiving of failures. The Other once warned Loki that he would know a new kind of pain if he did not give them the Tesseract, this was proven true when he ruthlessly murdered Loki for his failure in retrieving the Tesseract for him and when the Asgardian tried to kill him, although for unknown reasons, he did not torture Loki before killing him, likely due to finding the beaten God of Lies not worth his time and being far more interested in his winning war for the Infinity Stones. Even though Ebony Maw had never failed Thanos, he still feared his master and father enough that he did not dare to go to Titan without the Time Stone. Thanos threatened to bathe the starways in Ronan's blood if he failed to deliver the Orb, visibly terrifying Ronan. He even forbade Gamora from rescuing Nebula when the latter fell into a trap whilst on a mission in the Cloud Tombs of Praxius. He has little to no regard for his followers, showing absolutely no empathy when Ronan killed The Other and referring to Gamora as his "favorite daughter," even with Nebula present, as well as remaining calm even after learning Maw is dead and showing no care for the rest of the Black Order's deaths upon arriving on Wakanda. He was even able to command the Chitauri and Outrider armies, both being highly savage and powerful creatures, unchallenged.

He is extremely confident, to the point of borderline arrogance and being almost impossible to intimidate. He was shown to be smiling when The Other told him challenging the Avengers would be like courting Death. He was even unfazed at the idea of Ronan powered by the Power Stone coming after him despite knowing well that Ronan was already very powerful even without the Stone and the fact that he was backed up by Nebula who had betrayed him, displaying only anger at the betrayal. He also smiled confidently after deciding to hunt for the Infinity Stones himself.

He is also manipulative and mistrustful, sending Ronan to retrieve the Orb for him and not telling him that it contained an Infinity Stone. He is surprisingly patient, as he keeps a low profile, lurking in the shadows and making others do his work for him, even after centuries of failure. However, his patience has limits and when it is pushed to the edge, he is fully willing to take action when necessary, as after Loki and Ronan betrayed him and caused him to lose the only Infinity Stone he managed to find and two of his daughters, Thanos finally was fed up with the failures and decided to take matters into his own hand and hunt for the Infinity Stones himself.

While Thanos was able to inspire absolute loyalty into his Black Order children, he is not completely flawless in his ability to fake parental affection, as he is despised by his own "daughters," Gamora and Nebula. Raising them in a brutal way, Thanos would pit them against each other in the hope that Nebula would beat Gamora; however, when Nebula lost, he would remove parts of her in order to make her stronger, taking her apart piece by piece and replacing her with artificial limbs and organs so she would be able to defeat her sister. He proves that he has absolutely no care for Nebula, as he had no qualms torturing her to get the location of the Soul Stone out of Gamora, and held her in a low regard, going as far as to coldly said he did not want to waste his time to kill Nebula. However, Thanos is not completely unable to love, as is it seen that he deeply loves Gamora as his own child. When he first met her, he quickly took an intrest in her and cared for her enough to shield her from seeing the massacre of her people as well as sparing her from the half of the Zehobereis that he killed and adopt her as his own child. He was seen in shock and tears when he realizes that to get the Soul Stone he must throw "a loved one" off the cliff, knowing the only one he loves is Gamora and then again when Peter asks where she is, Mantis stated that Thanos is traumatized and in severe emotional pain from sacrificing Gamora.

Even though he was shunned by his own people for a hideous mutation he bore, he loved them unconditionally and desperately sought to save them, going as far as to propose wiping out half of his kind so the other half may survive. His plan for saving his homeworld was rejected and thus lead to the fall of his race. This incident would have presumably turned him into the being he is now today with his desire to exterminate half of the population of every planet so as to save these civilizations from the same overpopulation tragedy which destroyed his home planet. This is why Thanos truly believed his cause for killing off half of everyone in all planets to be a righteous cause, seeing himself a righteous soul who is doing what is necessary to save all the civilizations of the universe, so they do not face the same tragedy as his home planet. He was not lying at all, as he states that the people on Gamora's home planet do not suffer from environmental hazards, global hunger or any other form of violence anymore, due to him killing off half of their population.

Thanos has shown a dark sense of sarcastic humor and is able to remain calm and unfazed in situations that would frighten and shock most others, as he remained fully composed even after thwarting Loki's assassination and mocked him for chosing the word undying and even was not at all angered by Loki defying him before dying by saying he will never be a god. He even remained unfazed after being badly injured by Thor and even mocked him for not going for the head.

Thanos has also shown himself to be surprisingly honorable. He does not go back on the end of the deal he made with others and would honor them even when angered, as he was still willing to destroy Xandar for Ronan should he retrieve the Orb even though he was angry by Ronan coming to him empty-handed and aliniating his favored daughter Gamora. He extends this even to his enemies, as he did not kill Iron Man after acquiring the Time Stone as he promised to Doctor Strange and instead simply left Titan. He also is capable of praising others should they prove worthy, as he said that he wished people would remember the heroism and will that Iron Man fought with if he was removed from existence once he used the Infinity Gauntlet and praised Doctor Strange for his mastery in the Mystic Arts to be able to single-handedly go up against him with the Infinity Gauntlet. He was also complimentary of Star-Lord as he was going to kill Gamora, saying that he "liked him" for doing what would have needed to be done in order to stop Thanos on his quest to obtain the Infinity Stones. He also showed some empathy towards Scarlet Witch's killing Vision despite the fact that she destroyed the Mind Stone, which is necessary for his goal, as he too had killed Gamora for the Soul Stone.

Powers and Abilities
"Master, you cannot! Thanos is the most powerful being in the universe!"

- Korath to Ronan

Powers
Thanos is terrifyingly powerful, certainly among the most powerful beings in the universe. He is able to easily intimidate and overpower other formidable beings such as Loki, Thor, Ronan the Accuser and Hulk. He also rules the powerful armies of Chitauri and Outriders unchallenged. Korath fearfully claimed that Thanos is the most powerful being in the universe. When Nebula told Gamora that she planned to kill Thanos, Gamora plainly told Nebula that she didn't know if this was possible. Thanos's power is so great that he can easily handle the power of the Infinity Stones, which speaks for his immense power as very few could do such a feat and most of them showed great difficulty in wielding the Stones, even being able to survive wielding the power of all the six Infinity Stones. He holds this much power and reputation even without possessing the Infinity Stones; according to Gamora, he would be capable of "[wiping] out half the universe" with a simple snap of his fingers if he were to obtain all six of them, this was later proven true as after he did it nearly all beings of the universe turned into ash.
 * Immortality: Thanos is immortal, having been a galatic warlord for centuries. Gamora told Nebula that killing Thanos may not be possible, strongly implying that in addition to having an eternal lifespan, Thanos's immortality also makes him unkillable to most means. Indeed, Thanos was only able to be severely injured by a mature Thor wielding the Stormbreaker, the strongest and most powerful weapon ever made from Uru and for the Asgardians.
 * Superhuman Strength: Thanos's has displayed incalculably vast levels of superhuman strength, as he is able to wield all six Infinity Stones and the Infinity Gauntlet simultaneously without suffering any strain, which makes Thanos among the strongest beings in the universe. With his strength, Thanos casually crushed the Tesseract in a single hand (this retrieving the Space Stone), instantly broke out of Groot's vines, sent Drax flying with a kick through stones, destroyed Doctor Strange's Eldritch Magic shield with a kick while silmutaneously forcing the latter back, effortlessly broke out of Spider-Man's web and used it to pull Spider Man to him as well, as casually pinned down Spider-Man himself with a single hand, easily strangled Loki without the latter being able to break free and snapped his neck with one hand, casually restrained Gamora and threw her off a cliff in Vomir with a single hand, broke Godslayer with a single hand, effortlessly stopped Black Panther's full-charge with a single hand and choke-hold and incatipated him soon after with a single punch, and quickly overpowered and badly injured Iron Man (tearing apart the latter's Mark L nanotech armor and breaking his sword with one hand). Captain America was only just barely able to hold back Thanos’ gauntlet hand and the Mad Titan proceeded to effortlessly knock the Super Soldier out with a single punch. Even the combined efforts of Doctor Strange's use of Eldritch Whips to bind Thanos' hand, Spider-Man webbing up his body, Star-Lord using the bottom barell of his blasters to emit streams of electricity, and Drax holding his leg were barely capable of holding Thanos in place long enough for Iron Man to get a grip on his gauntlet and Mantis to put him to sleep, with even then Iron Man and Spider-Man being unable to pull the gauntlet off his arm, due to Star-Lord pausing a few moments too long. Upon awaking from the forced slumber, Thanos was quickly able to throw Mantis away with a single hand, to kick away Drax, to free himself of Dr. Strange's Eldritch Whips (redirecting it's force to send him flying), and swiftly regain control of the Infinity Gauntlet from Spider-Man, tossing him away. While restrained by countless of Eldritch Whips, courtesy of Doctor Strange conjuring thousands of replicas, Thanos was able to still clench the Infinity Gauntlet to break free. Most impressively of all, Thanos was able to quickly rip the Mind Stone out of Vision's extremely durable vibranium forehead, to easily break out from the grip of the immensely strong Hulk and then effortlessly overpower and beat Hulk to a bloody pulp within seconds, as well as to easily severely beating a fully-empowered Thor, even threatening Loki when asking him to give up the Tesseract that he can crush Thor's head and kill him anytime he wants. The fully-empowered Thor wielding Stormbreaker, a weapon considered to be the strongest in Asgard's history, was notably the only one able to get close enough to finally injure Thanos and even that was due to Thanos being caught off-guard, with Thanos quickly regaining control over the Infinity Gauntlet afterwards and still having the strength to survive using the power of all six Infinity Stones to wipe out half of life within the universe, although it did cause him to enter a catatonic state.
 * Superhuman Durability: Thanos has incalculably vast levels of supernatural resilience and durability, rendering him capable of easily handling the Infinity Stones with the Infinity Gauntlet without any strain or harm done to himself, even surviving the power of all six without harm, something that few who have attempted have ever survived. Thanos's durability also allowed him to barely flinch when simultaneously hit in the back by Star-Lord's blasters and slashed in the leg by Drax's knives, later even withstanding Star-Lord's shots without being fazed, to remain completely unfazed by shots from the Winter Soldier, to effortlessly shrug off punches from Spider-Man, to sustain only a slight cut on his face after repeated full-power blows from Iron Man's Mark L armor, to withstand the full force of getting hit by the Milano ship, to withstand full-power energy blasts from Scarlet Witch, and even to be barely fazed by blows from Hulk or fully-empowered Thor. Indeed, Thanos' durability is great enough that it took an attack from fully-empowered Thor wielding Stormbreaker, a weapon so powerful that it was considered the most powerful in Asgard's history, to finally wound and harm him when the blade got lodged directly in his chest and even though Thor caused Thanos visible pain by twisting the axe deeper, Thanos retained enough strength to activate and use the Infinity Gauntlet at the scale needed to wipe out half of the universe, surviving such vast display of power despite the severe injury, although it did cause him to briefly entered a catatonic state but he quickly recovered, even going as far as to mock Thor for not aiming at his head.
 * Superhuman Reflexes: Thanos, despite his size, possess extremely enhanced reflexes, as he was able to easily dodge a few blows from Hulk, and then instantly struck him multiple times before Hulk had a chance to respond. Thanos also easily reacted to Loki's swift attempt to kill him, effortlessly choking Loki to death before the latter could react. With just a single hand, Thanos was able to easily grab Gamora before she could strike him with Godslayer (which Thanos broke in the process), and to even react to the extremely agile Spider-Man's attacks, eventually getting a grip on him and pinning Spider-Man down. He also was able to easily catch Iron Man Mark L Armor's sword and then break it and stab him with the piece before he could react.
 * Superhuman Speed: Thanos, despite his large and muscular body, is exceptionally fast, capable of easily outmaneuvering and beating the Hulk in hand-to-hand combat within seconds as well as swiftly pummeling Iron Man in his Mark L Armor in close quarters combat.

Infinity Gauntlet
"The entire time I knew him, he only ever had one goal: to wipe out half the universe. If he gets all the Infinity Stones, he can do it with the snap of his fingers... just like that."

- Gamora

After equipping the Infinity Gauntlet into his left arm, combined with his already extraordinary physical constitution and raw power, Thanos is granted the potential to safely harness the supernatural powers of all the six Infinity Stones should he add them to the Gauntlet. However, there is a weakness: he must be able to close the gauntlet into a fist in order to use its powers. The more stones Thanos inserts into the Gauntlet, the more power he gains and he acquires the stones dominion over the necessary fabrics of existence. Eventually, upon acquiring all six stones, Thanos becomes nearly infinitely powerful, the most powerful being in the universe, gaining absolute control over all the fabrics of existence and able to do almost anything he desires, to the point that even with a severe injury, he killed off half of life within the universe by just snapping his fingers. His power with the Infinity Gauntlet was so great that Doctor Strange's use of the Time Stone to peer through over 14 million futures saw only one in which Thanos is defeated. Presumably due to having done thorough research on the Stones, Thanos displays incredible understanding and knowledge of their powers and quickly fully mastered all of them, allowing him to use their dominion over the fabrics of reality for combative purposes with extreme finesse, making him nearly impossible to defeat in direct battle. He can activate and switch between the powers of the stones at whim by just clenching the Gauntlet and can even combine them to make his oncoming act of power more potent. So far he has shown the following supernatural powers.
 * Nigh-Omnipotence: With all six Infinity Stones in the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos gains nearly omnipotent levels of supernatural power, with control over all six aspects of existence, making him the most powerful being in all of the universe and wielding near-limitless godly levels of power that allows him to do almost anything he desires. His power is so great that even while considerably injured, he still was capable of wiping out half of the universe with a simple snap of his fingers. With this level of power, Thanos is almost invincible, to the point that the only way to subdue him is for the gauntlet to be removed, which will take away his power or if a sufficiently powerful being wielding a sufficiently powerful weapon were to surprise Thanos, as Thor wielding the Stormbreaker managed to injure Thanos and Thanos said that Thor may have killed him had he aimed for Thanos' head.
 * Death Inducement: Perhaps the Gauntlet's most powerful and notable feat, with the power of all six Infinity Stones, Thanos gains the ability to induce death at such a vast degree that he was capable of killing half of all life in the universe with just a snap of his fingers, causing his victims' bodies to disintegrate into ashes, even after having already been considerably injured by Thor wielding Stormbreaker. This catastrophic event even claimed the lives of most of the Avengers and all of the Guardians of the Galaxy, with the exception of Rocket Raccoon and Nebula. However, this sheer energy and power required to alter life on a universal scale coupled with the severe injury he sustained from being badly injured by Thor took a great physical toll on Thanos himself, burning and scarring the Gauntlet and Thanos's left arm, and briefly sending him into a Soul Stone-induced dream state.
 * Regenerative Healing Factor: Upon completing the Infinity Gauntlet, its power was able to quickly heal and regenerate any of Thanos' wounds, regardless of severity or blood loss, allowing Thanos to instantly heal and recover from all injuries that he sustained from fighting the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, with even the severe wound on his chest dealt by Thor wielding the devastatingly powerful Stormbreaker completely disappearing without any trace of it being ever there.
 * Terrain Manipulation: Combining the powers of the Space Stone and Reality Stone, Thanos is able to drastically alter the local geography and environment, strong enough to literally pull the surface of Titan to force Doctor Strange closer to him.
 * Energy Absorption and Warping: Combining the powers of the Space Stone and Power Stone, Thanos is able to absorb and warp energy that he was exposed to to other forms, as he could absorb the explosive energy of Iron Man's missiles and redirect it at the Avenger as a single concentrated beam of fiery energy.
 * Soul Energy Burst: Thanos can combine the Power and Soul Stones to create a burst of energy capable of dispersing mystical replicas of others while attacking the real one spiritually, as he activated the Power Stone together with the Soul Stone, to simultaneously destroy the false Images and attack the real Strange in one fell swoop, briefly separating the Sorcerer's astral form from his body.
 * Energy Manipulation: After inserting the Power Stone into his Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos acquires the stone's complete control over the destructive force of the universe, granting him vast energy manipulating powers and due to his strong understanding and knowledge on the stone's powers, quickly fully mastered the Power Stone's capabilities after only shortly acquiring it, capable of using it to gain a wide variety of diverse and dangerous capabilities.
 * Pain Inducement: Thanos is able to expose an individual to the energy of the Power Stone to cause them to tremendous pain. This was potent enough to cause a fully-empowered Thor excruciating amounts of pain, forcing Loki to cooperate with him. He can also do this from a distance and combine it with the powers of the other stones to make it more potent, as he used the Power Stone to brutally torture Nebula by exposing her to the stone's energy while also using the Space Stone to telekinetically pull apart his cybernetic implants, causing her immense pain.
 * Object Detonation: With a single gesture from the Gauntlet, Thanos is capable of manipulating and specifically unleashing the Stone's power to charge objects with unstable energy, causing them to overload and violently detonate. He is able to control the time and size of the detonation, whether instantly or slowly as Thanos used the Stone to slowly overload and detonate the damaged Statesman after retrieving the Space Stone, giving himself time to teleport him and his Children out, whereas he violently and instantly detonated a ruined spaceship fragment that was dropped on him by Iron Man, and was even powerful enough to rip apart the surface of Titan's moon with its sheer power.
 * Strength Augmentation: Thanos can empower his fist with the energy, powerful enough to shatter the dimensional gateway to the Mirror Dimension that Doctor Strange send at him.
 * Energy Projection: Thanos is able to project the extremely powerful purple, fire-like energy of the Power Stone in many forms of potent energy attacks.
 * Barrier Generation: Using the same energy from the Power stone, Thanos can generate small but very strong energy barriers capable of easily blocking repulsor beams from Iron Man in his Mark L armor while casually moving forward.
 * Energy Blasts: Thanos can concentrate the destructive energy of the Power Stone into incredibly powerful direct energy blasts, which are potent enough to effortlessly cleave through rocks, push back and almost overpower the shield of Iron Man Mark L Armor, and heavily damage the Avenger's armor with a single blast.
 * Energy Shockwave: Thanos was able to generate extremely powerful shockwaves made from the stone's explosive energy, applying powerful concussive force or outright destroying objects with its volatile power. A wild shockwave of energy was able to knock out Star-Lord, Drax the Destroyer and Nebula instantaneously, all three individuals having great superhuman resilience, while a few concussive waves were enough to effortlessly repel attacks and blast away the majority of the opposing Avengers during the Battle of Wakanda.
 * Space Manipulation: After inserting the Space Stone into his Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos acquires the stone's complete control over space and due to his full understanding of the Space Stone's powers, quickly fully mastered it's powers, capable of expertly using the stone's dominion over space to achieve a wide plethora of potent and dangerous capabillities.
 * Telekinesis: Thanos's skill with the Space Stone allows him to achieve a powerful form of telekinesis by warping the fabric of space around objects to manipulate them with just a single gesture. He was able to instantly freeze Loki's dagger mid-stab, effortlessly crush the guns on War Machine's armor, knock down Falcon and he can use the Space Stone to induce such powerful telekinesis that he was able to telekinetically pull the shattered fragments of Titan's moon across space to rain down on the attacking Avengers during the Battle of Titan.
 * Force-Field Generation: Thanos is able to use the Space Stone's energy to create highly strong force fields that can easily vaporize War Machine's bullets in an instant and even block Scarlet Witch's full power energy beam while slowly moving towards her.
 * Portal Creation: With the Space Stone inserted into the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos gains the power to warp space to open gateways to any part of the universe, allowing him to effortlessly teleport himself to anywhere he desires at will. As such, Thanos instantly warped himself to Knowhere, Titan and later Wakanda. He can also take others with him, as shown when he warped both himself and the Black Order out of the exploding Statesman and later teleported Gamora alongside him to the Sanctuary II and Vormir. In addition to using the portals that he can open with the Space Stone as an instant means of transportation, Thanos can also use it to send attacks from other places, as he did to transport the pieces of Titan's moon that he crushed to use them against his opponents. Thanos also possessed such skilled and precise control over this ability that he is capable of using the Stone to selectively choose what objects are transported, even removing the impaled Stormbreaker from his chest upon teleporting away.
 * Vortex Creation: With the Space Stone, Thanos can conjure powerful compression forces to create black holes, as he compressed the fragments of the gateway to the Mirror Dimension sent at him by Strange into a small but devastating vortex that gathered up everything its path and sent it flying towards Doctor Strange. However, Strange was swiftly capable of transmuting it into a harmless substance.
 * Intangibility: Thanos is capable of using the Space Stone to phase objects out of space, rendering them intangible. For instance, the Stone briefly turned the Hulkbuster, and Banner that was inside it, intangible when he tried to attack Thanos.
 * Reality Manipulation: After inserting the Reality Stone into his Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos acquires the stone's complete control over reality and due to his strong understanding and knowledge of the Stone's powers, is quick to fully master the Reality Stone's powers after only a short period of acquiring it, able to expertly warp reality to a greater extent than even Malekith to achieve a plethora of potent capabilities.
 * Illusion Conjuration: Thanos can use the Reality Stone to alter reality to create highly realistic and elaborate physical simulations and illusions of false realities over a wide range of influence, which he did to create a false illusion of himself interrogating the Collector in a completely deserted Knowhere, in order to fool the approaching Guardians of the Galaxy and mask the colony's true status as burning down and utterly ruined. Said illusion was so convincing that the illusion of himself was able to physically interact with the environment, as he was able to be engaged by and even killed by Gamora. He was also able to warp reality around Titan to show Doctor Strange how the planet once was beautiful.
 * Invisibility: As part of the Stone's powerful illusion-based abilities, Thanos could also make himself invisible to others, as after revealing to Gamora that the Knowhere she saw was merely a false simulation, he was able to make himself invisible while talking to her for a while before revealing himself.
 * Matter Transmutation: He can use the Reality Stone to transmute and warp matter and objects to whatever he desires, even to the point of being able to non-fatally manipulate the bodies of a living organism to the point of being capable of turning them into pieces, as he effortlessly incapacitated Drax the Destroyer and Mantis by hitting them with a blast from the Reality Stone, splitting Drax into inanimate pieces and turning Mantis into a still-conscious pile of strips. He can also do this silently without needing to send out a blast and can use this to easily transform weapons into harmless substances, as he instantly turned Star-Lord's ammo within his Quad Blaster into bubbles before he had a chance to shoot, before turning the weapon itself into bubbles, and would later do the same to Gamora's dagger when she attempted to kill herself on Vormir. Thanos is also capable of using the Stone's ability to transmute matter very effectively in combat, evidenced when he swiftly transmuted a field of ship wreckage into a swarm of bats to attack Iron Man, as well as manipulate the environment to trap others, as shown when he conjured a cage of stone pillars to trap Black Widow.
 * Soul Manipulation: After inserting the Soul Stone into his Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos acquires the stone's complete control over souls as well as life and death, thus gaining the divine right to decide who dies and who lives and the power to manipulate souls.
 * Soul Detection and Separation: Thanos can use the Soul Stone to detect and attack the souls of others, allowing him to see through illusory duplicates of individuals, correctly identify, and attack the real individual. When Doctor Strange used his mystical powers to cast the Images of Ikonn to surround and restrain Thanos, Thanos was able to identify the real Image among them using the Soul Stone in conjunction with the Power Stone, and directly attacked Strange's astral body, briefly separating it from his physical body.
 * Soul World: After wiping out half of all life in the Universe, the sheer energy required to achieve such a feat nearly overwhelmed Thanos, and briefly sent him into a dream state caused by the Soul Stone itself, transporting his mind to a world consisting of a barren, infinite expanse of feet-high water under an orange sky. Within the dream world, Thanos saw himself as without the Gauntlet or his injuries sustained from Stormbreaker. Before returning to his senses, he was briefly able to communicate with a reflection of his deceased daughter, Gamora, standing under a Zen-Whoberi gateway - in the form of the young child she was when Thanos first met and adopted her - telling her of his final fulfilment of his lifelong goal and admitting to her the great cost and sacrifices made to achieve it.
 * Time Manipulation: After inserting the Time Stone into his Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos acquires the stone's complete control over time. While using it similarly to Doctor Strange's method, he does not need to use Eldritch Magic due to the Time Stone being inserted into the Infinity Gauntlet rather than the Eye of Agamotto and simply needs to clench the Gauntlet to activate its powers, causing the symbol of the Time Manipulation Magic to appear in the palm of the Gauntlet. Due to his strong understanding and knowledge of the stones powers, Thanos quickly fully mastered the Time Stone's powers over time, with his skill being shown to be far more refined than Doctor Strange.
 * Localised Time Reversal: Thanos is capable of rewinding time with a surpassing amount of finesse, to the point of being able to selectively alter the timeline of specific events and objects, notably specifically reversing the destruction of both Vision and the Mind Stone at the hands of Wanda Maximoff, without affecting Maximoff herself.
 * Mind Manipulation: After inserting the Mind Stone into the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos acquires the Stone's complete control over the hearts and minds of people.

Abilities

 * Genius-level Intelligence: Even at his youth, Thanos was deemed a genius among his kind, despite his deformation. His long life allowed Thanos to refine his intellectual aptitude to the highest degree, making him one of the most intelligent beings in the universe. His intellect contributes to his ability to conquer many worlds. By simply using his manipulative and strategic skills, he indirectly causes the Battle of Xandar and Chitauri Invasion, both of which caused the formations of the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers to fight their respective battles. All the while, Thanos remained effectively anonymous, enough that even the extremely intelligent Iron Man was unable to figure out Loki had been aided by Thanos in his invasion, and with Doctor Strange initially not having Thanos on his list of otherworldly threats. It was only after Thor received a vision on the Infinity Stones that he was able to figure out Thanos' involvement, with Thor admitting that Thanos had been using his intellect to play a very intricate game and has effectively used the Avengers as pawns without them even realizing it until Thor saw the vision. Thanos was even clever enough to easily outsmart Loki himself on more than one occasion - he not only successfully used Loki as a pawn without the latter realizing it for a long time, but he was later also able to successfully finish off the God of Mischief by easily predicting that he would attempt an assassination and countering it casually. Thanos also easily deceived the Guardians of the Galaxy into letting their guard down, thus allowing Thanos to incapacitate them and capture Gamora.
 * Master Tactician: Thanos is among the greatest master strategists and tacticians in the universe with centuries of experience in tactical warfare. Thanos's tactical genius and ingenuity allows him to create extremely complex and well-coordinated plans and execute them effectively, with the strategies he created and employed being so effective that he gave the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy immense trouble all the while remaining anonymous. Thanos is even a far more superior tactician than Loki, who was famous for being a crafty genius in orchestrating chunning schemes, as he easily deceived the God of Mischief into becoming his minion and later easily predicted and outsmarted Loki's attempt to assassinate him. Thanos's strategical intuition also allows him to accurately predict incoming events and effectively manipulate said events to his advantage, as he was able to anticipate the Guardians going to Knowhere to retrieve the Reality Stone and arrived there before they could prevent him from taking it. Thanos even went as far as to set up a brilliant trap for the Guardians by casting an illusion to fool them into believing that he is still torturing the Collector for the Reality Stone while in actuality he had acquired the Reality Stone long before they arrived, all the while easily manipulating Gamora using illusions specifically seen in her mind to lure her into emotionally charging at Thanos, which worked to a great effect, catching Gamora and the Guardians completely off-guard and allowing Thanos to successfully capture Gamora and escape from the Guardians uninjured.
 * Master Manipulator: Thanos is an exceptionally skillful and cunning manipulator, far surpassing even Loki, the God of Mischief himself who was famous for his manipulation abilities. Without leaving his throne, he was able to easily and effectively manipulate other powerful beings, such as Ronan the Accuser and even Loki himself, into doing his bidding. His manipulation ultimately caused both the Chitauri Invasion and the Battle of Xandar. As Thor noted, Thanos has effectively manipulated the Avengers for his own goals.
 * Master Leader: Thanos is an exceptional leader, as he was able to lead the Outriders and Chitauri armies, despite their savagery, and inspire absolute loyalty into his Black Order children. Thanos's outstanding leadership was displayed by the fact that he was known for having led his forces with such efficiency as to having easily decimated many species and killing half of said species during his mission to re-balance the universe.
 * Master Torturer: Thanos is shown to be accomplished in many fields of torture, as when he tortured Nebula to make Gamora give up the location of the Soul Stone, Thanos used the Infinity Gauntlet to painfully pull apart Nebula's cybernetics implants, but he was casually able to avoid truly ripping the necessary implants apart in order to cause her severe pain without killing her. The torture was effective enough that Gamora fairly quickly gave in and told Thanos the location of the Soul Stone to spare Nebula from further torture. His skills in torture are highly feared and well-known among his followers, as Loki was visibly terrified of the possibility of being tortured by Thanos when the Other warned him that Thanos can torture him to the point that he would beg for something as sweet as pain and Ebony Maw fearing the idea of Thanos punishing him should he fail to break the spell Strange cast on the Time Stone and retrieve it.
 * Master Combatant: Thanos is among the most powerful warriors in the universe, with millennia worth of fighting experience. Thanos's pheneomonal combat skills supplemented by his colossal physical prowess allow him to easily fight off both Doctor Strange using a sword made of Eldritch Magic, and Drax with his knives and eventually quickly push them back (while his right eye was blinded by a web cotton), to easily fight off and swiftly pummel Spider-Man with only one hand (while his other hand was restricted by the Cloak of Levitation), and to easily defeat and grievously wound Iron Man (despite Iron Man's nanotech Mark L armor and sword), with only Doctor Strange's intervention saving Iron Man from death. Additionally, Thanos easily countered Black Panther's charge by choking him with a single hand and then pummeled him to the ground with a single punch, as well as effortlessly defeating and knocking out Captain America with a single blow. Most impressively, Thanos was even able to defeat and beat Hulk (the former undefeatable champion of the Grandmaster's Contest of Champions) to a bloody pulp with ease, as well as defeating a fully-empowered Thor without much effort. It was only with a sneak attack that Thor armed with Stormbreaker was able to land a severe wound on Thanos, but even then the Mad Titan was able to quickly recover.

Weapons

 * Infinity Gauntlet: A catalysmically powerful item that Thanos stole to allow him to channel the power of all the six Infinity Stones. He would successfully complete the Gauntlet and use it to wipe out half of the universe.

Other Equipment

 * Armor: Thanos utilized a Golden Armor while he was searching for the Infinity Stones. The Armor was resilient enough to resist damage from Hulk's blows. He discarded the Armor upon requiring the Space Stone from Loki.
 * Space Throne: Thanos' stationary home, he was accompanied by The Other until he was mercilessly killed by Ronan the Accuser.
 * Sanctuary II: A gargantuan spaceship commanded by Thanos.
 * Q-Ships: To be added

Family

 * Alars - Father
 * Black Order
 * Corvus Glaive † - Adopted Son
 * Proxima Midnight † - Adopted Daughter
 * Cull Obsidian † - Adopted Son
 * Ebony Maw † - Adopted Son
 * Gamora † - Adopted Daughter turned Enemy, Attempted Killer and Victim
 * Nebula - Adopted Daughter turned Enemy, Attempted Killer and Attempted Victim

Allies

 * The Other † - Former Subordinate
 * Chitauri - Subordinates
 * Sakaarans - Subordinates
 * Leviathans - Subordinates
 * Outriders - Subordinates
 * Stonekeeper

Enemies

 * Asgardians
 * Loki † - Former Ally turned Attempted Killer and Victim
 * Heimdall † - Victim
 * Tivan Group
 * Taneleer Tivan/Collector - Attempted Victim
 * Avengers
 * Tony Stark/Iron Man - Attempted Killer and Attempted Victim
 * Steve Rogers/Captain America - Attempted Victim
 * Thor - Attempted Killer and Attempted Victim
 * Bruce Banner/Hulk - Attempted Killer and Attempted Victim
 * Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow - Attempted Victim
 * Vision † - Victim
 * Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch † - Victim
 * James Rhodes/War Machine - Attempted Victim
 * Sam Wilson/Falcon † - Victim
 * Peter Parker/Spider-Man † - Victim
 * Guardians of the Galaxy
 * Peter Quill/Star-Lord † - Attempted Killer and Victim
 * Drax the Destroyer † - Attempted Killer and Victim
 * Rocket Raccoon - Attempted Victim
 * Groot † - Attempted Killer and Victim
 * Mantis † - Attempted Killer and Victim
 * Doctor Strange † - Attempted Killer and Victim
 * Bucky Barnes/White Wolf † - Victim
 * T'Challa/Black Panther † - Victim
 * Okoye - Attempted Killer and Attempted Victim
 * Ronan the Accuser † - Former Subordinate
 * Korath the Pursuer † - Former Subordinate
 * Nova Corps
 * Nick Fury † - Victim
 * Maria Hill † - Victim

Trivia

 * In the comics, Thanos was a member of the Eternals, a race of superpowered beings that descended from a caste of humans genetically enhanced by the Celestials. Thanos himself was the son of Mentor, the leader of an Eternal colony on Saturn's moon of Titan. Much of Thanos' villainous motivations in the comics revolve around his romantic feelings for the entity Death. In the famous Infinity Gauntlet storyline, he became the master of the Infinity Gauntlet, which he used to murder most of the universe's inhabitants in an attempt to impress Death. He is one of the Avengers' most historical foes, but when he took a break from being a conqueror, Thanos was entrusted with the Reality Gem of the Infinity Gems.
 * Thanos is one of the only 3 main antagonists in the MCU to appear in more than 1 movie. The others are Loki and Red Skull.
 * The name "Thanos" is based on the name of the mythological Greek figure, meaning "death."
 * Thanos is the only main antagonist to physically appear before he became a main antagonist, as he appeared in The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron before he appears in Avengers: Infinity War.
 * Thanos is popularly considered by many and by Kevin Feige to be the main antagonist of the entire MCU saga. Feige has stated that Thanos is "the biggest, baddest villain of all." Additionally, he is the mastermind behind many events such as the Chitauri Invasion which led to the Battle of New York as well as the Quest for the Orb which led to the Battle of Xandar.
 * Thanos, Helmut Zemo, Surtur and Loki are the only main villains whose plans were successful to any extent, as Thanos managed to collect all 6 of the Infinity Stones to wipe out half the universe as he planned.
 * Thanos is the most mentioned antagonist in the MCU films.

Behind the Scenes

 * Thanos' presence in The Avengers was kept top secret until the release of the movie.
 * Damion Poitier was credited as "Man 1" despite actually playing Thanos.
 * Josh Brolin was uncredited for his appearances in Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron.
 * Thanos is one of the few characters who are played by different actors in different films. The others are James Rhodes, Howard Stark, Bruce Banner, Fandral, and Red Skull.
 * It was Joss Whedon's idea to reveal Thanos as the true villain of The Avengers, but ironically he considered the villain too difficult to write.
 * Thanos was the main villain in Nicole Perlman's draft of Guardians of the Galaxy: Whedon asked Thanos's role be downsized and Gunn agreed.
 * Joss Whedon assisted James Gunn with the casting of Thanos.
 * Josh Brolin took inspiration from 's performance as in  in his portrayal of Thanos.
 * Joe and Anthony Russo considered showing Thanos' backstory in Avengers: Infinity War, but ultimately decided that it was not necessary. His backstory is instead explored in the tie-in novel Thanos: Titan Consumed.
 * Greg Rementer and Keil Zepernick were stunt doubles for Josh Brolin in the role of Thanos.
 * Joe Russo states that: “What I think is interesting is he’s sort of a cult figure, Thanos. He’s a world-conqueror like . He’s been moving throughout the universe conquering worlds. He destroys half of a planet because that’s his goal – to bring balance to the universe by destroying half of all life. He then collects orphans from each race that he’s conquered. These are called the Children of Thanos. Some of them, like Gamora and Nebula, have broken free from the Cult of Thanos. His cult of personality. Others, like Ebony Maw, celebrate and are the greatest acolytes of Thanos."