Thanos Ditched Infinity Stones For Something Stronger in the Comics

Within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thanos devotes his livelihood to discovering and wielding the cosmic gemstones known as the Infinity Stones in an attempt to save the universe by eradicating half of all life. But in the Marvel comics, the Mad Titan has his eyes set on another prize – one that is way more powerful than all of the Infinity Stones combined.

If there is one thing that MCU and comic book fans can agree on it’s that Thanos is a persistent individual and when he wants something as he’s willing to risk everything to achieve that goal. When it comes to the MCU, an unforgettable and unforgivable moment that occurs in the film Avengers: Infinity War is when Thanos kills Gamora to obtain the Soul Stone. Although Thanos loves his daughter, he’s still willing to sacrifice her in order to fulfill his self-proclaimed destiny and eradicate half of all life in the universe. In the Marvel comics, there’s a moment when Thanos takes his love for Lady Death to the extreme and gives Deadpool his immortality – just so he can have her all to himself. Thanos’ devotion to achieving set goals continues in Jim Starlin, Alan Davis, Mark Farmer, Jim Campbell, and Clayton Cowles’ Thanos: Infinity Conflict Vol 1 #1 as Thanos learns from his future self that there’s a source of unimaginable power that exists in the universe… a power that makes the almighty beings of the universe and multiverse known as the One-Above-All shiver with fright.

After Thanos speaks with his future self and learns the truth of a great source of power, he immediately begins to follow the orders of his future self and begins searching for the ancient artifact. After his future self gives him the location of the artifact, he boards a ship with Corvus Glaive – a member of Thano’s group of generals known as the Black Order as well as a few members of his army of Outriders and searches for it in deep space. Eventually, a comet passes by, which prompts Thanos to leave his ship and jump onto it. As Thanos tears into the comet to grab ahold of the artifact, his flesh begins to be torn off and soon enough there’s barely enough skin on his body to cover his bones. Once he seizes the artifact, he returns to his ship and Glaive immediately notices that he’s seriously injured. Of course, Thanos responds by saying, “merely inconvenienced.” But as he holds the artifact known as an Astral Regulator – an artifact made by the One-Above-All’s to maintain balance in the universe – in his hand, his flesh heals instantly and his journey to becoming the most powerful being in the universe and multiverse begins.

Shortly after wielding the Astral Regulator, he begins to consume and become every abstract thing in the universe. First, he goes to Death’s Domain to confront her and become death itself. Next, he finds Galactus the Devourer of Worlds and consumes his lifeforce. Then, he absorbs the Eternal known as Kronos as well as the power of the Infinity Stones. And by the end of the comic series, Thanos’ hunger for power leads him to succeed in fighting and consuming Eternity as well as Infinity, which causes the Living Tribunal – a cosmic being that protects the Multiverse to step in and try and stop Thanos. But not even he is strong enough to defeat the Mad Titan.

There’s no doubt that Thanos is one of the scariest beings in the universe because of his devotion to succeeding at any goal he sets out to achieve – especially to become the most powerful being in the universe. Considering the Astral Regulator is powerful enough to scare even the One-Above-All, then maybe they should come up with another system of keeping the multiverse in balance.

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