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[src]
Thanos was a genocidal warlord from Titan, whose objective was to bring stability to the universe by wiping out half of all life at every level, as he believed its massive population would inevitably use up the universe's entire supply of resources and perish. To complete this goal, Thanos set about hunting down all the Infinity Stones, being confident that the combined force of the Stones would grant him sufficient power. Thanos forged alliances with Loki and Ronan the Accuser in order to track down some of the Stones. However, both alliances cost Thanos much of his resources, including the Mind Stone and the loyalty of his daughters, Gamora and Nebula. Fed up with all his subordinates' ongoing failures, Thanos made the decision to seek and procure the Stones himself, and he began by forcing Eitri to create the Infinity Gauntlet for him so that he would be able to wield the power of the Stones safely.
Thanos then engaged in a ferocious crusade in order to obtain the Infinity Stones. During his mission, both Thanos and his Black Order invaded multiple planets and slaughtered thousands to gain the stones, including Loki and the Asgardians. This quest even forced Thanos to sacrifice his beloved Gamora, in order to take the Soul Stone. Thanos soon found himself challenged by the alliances of the entire universe's greatest heroes, which included the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy. However, despite facing off against the powerfully combined opposition and the wrath of Thor, Thanos still ultimately triumphed as he completed the Infinity Gauntlet, using it to finally complete his goal through the Snap, which resulted in half of all life in the universe being wiped out with a mere snap of his fingers. Following his Snap, Thanos had then ensured this could never be undone by destroying all of the Infinity Stones, resulting in the Avengers tracking him down on Planet 0259-S, where Thor executed him with Stormbreaker.
Whose main objective was to bring stability to the universe, as he believed its massive population would inevitably use up the universe's entire supply of resources and perish. To complete this goal, Thanos set about hunting down all the Infinity Stones, which combined could wipe out half the universe, being aided by the Black Order, composed of his adopted children. However, the arrival of time-traveling Avengers from 2023 alerted him about the events of the Infinity War and how it would end. By capturing Nebula, he used reverse-engineered technology to venture to the future and lay siege on the Avengers, as he decided to wipe out the entire universe and replace it. However, Thanos had been just too late to stop the victims of the Snap from being resurrected as thousands of heroes returned to stop him. Despite all of Thanos' best efforts, he was unable to claim victory as Tony Stark used the Infinity Stones to destroy the Chitauri, Outriders and Thanos himself, finally ending his reign.
== Biography ==
=== Early Life ===
==== Fall of Titan ====
: "Titan was like most planets; too many mouths, not enough to go around. And when we faced extinction, I offered a solution.""Genocide.""But random. Dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike. They called me a madman. And what I predicted came to pass."
: ―Thanos and Doctor Strange[src]
Thanos was born to A'Lars, a member of the Titans, a race of powerful, god-like beings that evolved on the planet of Titan. He belonged to the royal family of Titan and was the adoptive brother of the Eternal Eros, who eventually left Titan. 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, an act of genocide, and was dismissed by his people, who exiled him from Titan for his suggestion. However, Thanos' warnings were proven right, as Titan was subsequently devastated as well as nearly uninhabitable. Another result of this devastation was that the Titan species was on the verge of extinction.
As a result of Titan's fall and the circumstances surrounding it, Thanos came to believe that the universe's vast swell of life was depleting its finite resources, and would eventually destroy the universe itself. Hence, to save other planets from Titan's fate, Thanos used his abilities to amass resources and became a world conqueror, moving throughout the universe and destroying half of all life on the planets he conquered due to his ideology of balancing the universe. This campaign earned Thanos a fearful reputation as an intergalactic warlord, due to his immense power, ruling over a region of space, and gaining control of the deadly armies of the Chitauri, Sakaarans, and Outriders. His infamy was so staggering that Thanos came to be considered among the most powerful, if not the most powerful, being in the universe.
==== Training His Children ====
: "Look. Pretty, isn't it? Perfectly balanced, as all things should be."
: ―Thanos to Gamora[src]
Seeking to build up his strength, Thanos collected orphans from some races that he conquered. His oldest children were Ebony Maw, Corvus Glaive, Cull Obsidian and Proxima Midnight. These four warriors, all devoted to Thanos, comprised the Black Order. When Thanos attacked the Zehoberei people to balance Zen-Whoberi, Thanos' attention was captured by a young Zehoberei named Gamora, who was bravely pushing back against one of his Chitauri soldiers.
Looking down at Gamora, Thanos asked what was wrong, and she demanded to know where her mother was, still looking at Thanos without any fear in her eyes. As he knelt to look at her, Thanos became fascinated by the child's clear strength and asked what her name was before he commented that she was quite the fighter. He then offered Gamora his hand and promised to help her, taking her past the thousands of terrified Zehoberei whom he had at his mercy.
Thanos took the young Gamora aside and offered her a switchblade to admire, showing Gamora how the blade was perfectly balanced, as he believed life should be. While Gamora was distracted, Thanos and Maw proceeded to massacre half of all the Zehoberei people, including Gamora's entire family. Thanos adopted Gamora as his daughter, training her to become a ruthless assassin, though he grew to genuinely care about her as well, unlike his other children.
Even as Gamora changed from being devoted to him to hating him, Thanos' love for her never wavered and he continually held onto his hope that she would inherit his throne. Thanos also massacred a Luphomoid family to raise Nebula as another devoted and deadly assassin. Thanos made it clear early on that he wanted his children to be opponents, not friends. Days later, Thanos watched Gamora teach Nebula to tuck her head while rolling and assure Nebula that would always be sisters and decided that there would be no further other instances of this.
Thanos always pitted Nebula against Gamora. Whenever Nebula lost, Thanos removed another body part from her to make her stronger. In one instance, Nebula was too scared to say her name when Thanos asked, so he had one of his Sakaaran guards cut her ears off and replaced them with mechanical ears. In another, Thanos challenged Nebula and Gamora to fight for three days with no access to food and limited access to water and sleep. After six days of fighting, Thanos offered a piece of Yaro Root to whoever won the fight that day. Nebula bested Gamora, but hesitated to deliver the killing blow, so Thanos ordered it. Nebula went to strike her sister down, but Thanos stopped her and gave the Yaro Root to Gamora, explaining that Nebula showed weakness by hesitating to kill Gamora. Thanos also acquired the services of the Other to act as his servant.
=== Quest for the Infinity Stones ===
==== Seeking Power ====
: "The entire time I knew Thanos, he only ever had one goal. To bring balance to the universe by wiping out half of all life. He used to kill people planet by planet, massacre by massacre.""Including my own.""If he gets all six Infinity Stones... he can do it with the snap of his fingers like this."
: ―Gamora and Drax the Destroyer[src]
Thanos eventually realized that there were far too many lifeforms in the universe for him to balance by himself. 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 permanently, Thanos made it his life's goal to gather them, and forged several alliances to locate them. The first Stone he located was the Mind Stone, placing it within a Scepter that was capable of manipulating minds as a means of better controlling its formidable power.
Through many years of searching, Thanos would tell Nebula that he intended to claim all the Stones and use them to wipe out half of all life before retiring permanently on his Farm to live out a peaceful life, believing that the universe would be grateful for his actions. Eventually, Thanos discovered a lead on the Orb's location, and sent 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.
As a result of Thanos' disregard for her, Nebula was forced to amputate her own arm 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 lied and reported back to him that her search had been unsuccessful. In truth, she had found a map to the location of the Soul Stone and burned it to ashes; and, Thanos, being as perceptive as he is, easily saw through her lie but said nothing.
==== 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[src]
By 2012, Thanos discovered that the Tesseract was on Earth when his intermediary The Other informed him of it. To this end, Thanos allied himself with Loki to retrieve it, providing him with the Scepter, as well as a portion of his Chitauri soldiers, who would help him conquer the planet. Before the mission, Thanos personally trained Loki in mind control, and The Other updated him, telling him Loki was ready and that all the humans could do was burn.
When the time was right, Thanos teleported Loki to the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility on Earth through the manipulation of the Tesseract's energy. Despite his vast armies of Chitauri and powerful weaponry, Loki was defeated during the Battle of New York after Iron Man destroyed the Chitauri Command Center. This resulted in the Scepter and Infinity Stone falling into the hands of HYDRA for their own research, while Thor transported the Tesseract and the now-captive Loki to Asgard. The Other reported to his master that Humans were unruly wretches, and that challenging them would be to court Death. Thanos rose to his feet and smiled at the prospect of what was coming. Thanos then began researching the "unruly wretches," whom he discovered were called the Avengers, gaining a special interest for Tony Stark, whom he viewed as a kindred spirit also "cursed with knowledge."
=== Quest for the Orb ===
==== Making Alliances ====
In 2014, the Kree Empire signed a peace treaty with the Nova Corps, and Thanos brokered a deal with the disgraced Accuser Ronan, promising to lend him a fraction of his forces in a genocide against the Xandarians in exchange for locating the Orb for the Mad Titan. Under the orders of Thanos, Ronan led an attack on the planet Kylos, homeworld of the warrior Drax the Destroyer. The Kylosians were randomly divided into two parts and one of them was slaughtered, including Drax's family, leading Drax to swear vengeance on Ronan.
==== Slaughtering the Korbinites ====
: "Ronan's located the Power Stone. I'm dispatching you to his ship.""He won't like that.""His alternative is death. Ronan's obsession clouds his judgment."
: ―Thanos and Gamora[src]
Sometime later, Thanos ordered his daughters to take part in the slaughter of the Korbinites. Upon gaining victory, Thanos teleported to his daughters' Q-Ship, while wiping the blood from his Double-Edged Sword, informing them that Ronan had located the Power Stone and they would be going to the Dark Aster to oversee the retrieval of the Stone.
Although Gamora noted that Ronan would not be happy about them observing him, Thanos noted that the alternative was death and that Ronan's obsession with the Kree-Nova War clouded his judgment. Nebula bowed before Thanos with her Electroshock Batons, vowing that she would not fail her father. Thanos replied that he knew she would not, while Gamora rolled her eyes at her sister's attempts to appease their father.
==== Gamora's Betrayal ====
: "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 starways in your blood."
: ―Thanos to Ronan the Accuser[src]
Although Ronan and his Kree ally, Korath, had already discovered the Orb on Morag and attempted to deliver it to Thanos, the stone fell into the possession of 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 entrusted Gamora with recovering the stone. Gamora found Quill first, cornering him on Xandar where he was attempting to sell the Orb. She recovered it, but hating Thanos for torturing her and her siblings for years, planned to give the Orb to the Collector, who also sought the Infinity Stones for his own purposes.
As Ronan relayed news of Gamora's clearly planned betrayal, the Kree berated Thanos for not taking the situation seriously and even murdered The Other when he lectured Ronan for 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, hiding his regret and only appearing slightly annoyed. Thanos then instructed Nebula to take up Gamora's place.
==== Ronan'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[src]
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 noting Thanos was the most powerful being in the universe.
Nebula joined with Ronan, despising Thanos for the horror he forced her to endure throughout her youth. Now believing himself superior to Thanos, Ronan promised to come after Thanos when Xandar was destroyed. Unfazed, 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.
=== Infinity War ===
==== Into His Own Hands ====
: "Fine. I'll do it myself."
: ―Thanos[src]
With both Loki and Ronan the Accuser failing to conquer worlds and bring him the Infinity Stones, Thanos decided to take matters into his own hands. In 2015, he forced the Dwarves of Nidavellir to forge the Infinity Gauntlet before massacring them all, leaving only Eitri alive, whose hands he crippled. Thanos began hunting down the Infinity Stones himself, as he believed himself to be the only being capable of completing the task.
By 2018, Nebula returned and attempted to kill Thanos on board the Sanctuary II, but she was subdued and captured. Accessing her memory files, Thanos discovered that Gamora had memorized the map to the Soul Stone before she destroyed it and realized that she could lead him to the lost Infinity Stone. During his preparations, Thanos thoroughly investigated the whereabouts of each Infinity Stone, including their current keepers: the Asgardians, the Masters of the Mystic Arts, the Tivan Group, Vision, and the Nova Corps. Having amassed all the knowledge he could, Thanos launched the Infinity War so he could finally bring balance to the universe, with his first stop being Xandar, where the Power Stone was being protected by the Nova Corps following the defeat of Ronan the Accuser. Thanos infiltrated the Nova Corps Headquarters before acquiring the Orb. After having destroyed it, he placed the Power Stone into the Infinity Gauntlet and proceeded to kill half of the Xandarians. As news of Thanos' attacks spread, the Confederacy warned HYDRA of Thanos' threat he posed to Earth and offered protection. However, knowing they were no match against Thanos, they only exploited the deal in order to take the Earth's resources, primarily Inhumans and Gravitonium.
==== Obtaining the Tesseract ====
: "The Tesseract, or your brother's head. I assume you have a preference."
: ―Thanos to Loki[src]
One week later, with his ship, the Sanctuary II, Thanos managed to track down the starship carrying the only remaining Asgardian survivors of Ragnarök on their way to Earth, including Loki and Thor. As the Black Order massacred half of the Asgardians, Thanos personally confronted and easily beat Thor half to death, gloating about his victory while dragging the humiliated Thor across the ship.
Standing over Loki with Thor down on his knees, Thanos demanded that Loki hand over the Tesseract to him in exchange for his brother's life. When Loki claimed to not care whether his brother lived or died, Thanos proceeded to brutally torture Thor with the Power Stone while Loki looked on. While Thor screamed in agony, Thanos continued watching Loki until his theory was proven correct and Loki finally begged for his brother's life.
Thanos then stopped torturing Thor, who insisted that none of them had the Tesseract, as it had been destroyed by Surtur along with Asgard. Loki then revealed that he had stolen the Tesseract before Asgard's destruction, and used his Magic to reveal it in his hand, while the wounded Thor claimed that he was the worst brother. Thanos watched as Loki stepped towards him to hand over the Tesseract to Thanos. Loki promised Thor that the sun would rise on them both again, and Thanos remarked that Loki's optimism was misplaced.
However, when Thanos referred to Loki as an Asgardian, Loki corrected him by first claiming that he was actually not an Asgardian, before revealing that his side had a Hulk. Before Thanos could react, Hulk burst out of hiding and ambushed the Titan, furiously pummeling him and smashing him against the walls of the Statesman. As Thanos initially was knocked back, Cull Obsidian stepped forward to assist him, only for Ebony Maw to insist that they all allow Thanos to have his "fun" by defeating Hulk himself.
Grabbing hold of Hulk's wrists, Thanos used his superior strength to rip Hulk away from him, before landing a hard punch onto Hulk's jaw which visibly stunned him. When Hulk attempted to strike back, Thanos proved himself to not only be stronger but a vastly superior fighter as he proceeded to block all of Hulk's blows and land counter hits against his head and body, leaving Hulk completely stunned about being so vastly overpowered.
Finally, Thanos managed to strike his knee into Hulk's face, dazing him; before lifting him over his head and smashing Hulk down onto the floor, leaving him barely able to move and covered in blood. While Thanos looked down at the defeated Hulk, Thor attempted a surprise attack by landing a strike against the back of Thanos' head, but the Titan shrugged it off and kicked the Asgardian King away. This allowed Maw to use his powers to entrap Thor in metal bars.
With little hope of survival left, Heimdall then made a last-ditch effort to warn the rest of the Nine Realms of Thanos' attack. Taking Hofund into his hand, Heimdall then used his power to send Hulk through the Bifrost Bridge, and Thanos was unable to stop him in time. With Hulk gone, Thanos calmly stood over Heimdall, noting that he had just made a terrible mistake in doing this. He then took Corvus Glaive's blade and thrust it through Heimdall's heart, while Thor screamed in grief and rage, threatening to kill Thanos until Maw silenced him by wrapping his mouth with metal.
With all the Asgardians defeated, Maw then bowed down before Thanos and offered him the Tesseract, expressing his admiration of Thanos' might while Thanos removed his armor and prepared himself for the Tesseract's power. Taking the Tesseract in his hand, Thanos crushed it to reveal the Space Stone. He placed the Stone into the Infinity Gauntlet, giving himself incredible new powers to transport himself across the galaxy.
Having gained two of the Infinity Stones, Thanos then instructed the Black Order to travel down to the Earth to locate both the Mind and Time Stones and return them to him. However, he was then interrupted by Loki, who suggested that if the Black Order was going to Earth, then he could offer his services as a guide, also noting his experience on the Earth during the Chitauri Invasion, which Thanos called his previous failures, although Loki refuted this.
Loki seemingly pledged allegiance to Thanos once again, naming his titles of rightful king of Jotunheim and son of Odin as he stepped towards Thanos and bowed his head. However, Thanos suspected that something was wrong and witnessed Loki attempting to plunge his dagger into his throat, as Thanos was able to use the Space Stone to freeze Loki in place just inches away, mocking Loki's vow of undying fidelity.
Declaring that he should have chosen his words more wisely, Thanos proceeded to lift the God of Mischief by his throat as Loki desperately attempted to break free, while gasping for air. Thanos looked Loki straight in the eye before turning to Thor, who watched on in horror as his brother was unable to free himself. As Thanos turned back to his victim, Loki told him that he would never be a god, which Thanos responded to by simply crushing Loki's throat.
As Loki's corpse went limp in his hands, Thanos heard Thor cry out in pain and grief upon watching his brother's death. Thanos dropped Loki's corpse in front of a distraught Thor, saying that he will not be resurrected again. Thanos then destroyed the remaining parts of the Statesman with the Power Stone, as he used the Space Stone to transport his children and himself out of the exploding ship, leaving Thor and dead Asgardian bodies to float out in space.
==== Ambush in Knowhere ====
: "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[src]
Thanos then arrived on Knowhere where he proceeded to force the Collector into handing over the Reality Stone which he had been tasked with safekeeping following the Second Dark Elf Conflict. After having succeeded in solidifying the Stone and placing it onto the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos predicted the arrival of the Guardians of the Galaxy as he knew that he needed Gamora to locate the Soul Stone. Thanos tricked the Guardians with an illusion conjured by the Reality Stone, making it look as if he was torturing the Collector and asking where the Reality Stone was.
Thanos then waited for the Guardians to arrive, conjuring the illusion that Knowhere was not engulfed in flames as they had attempted to launch a surprise attack on Thanos. Eventually, the Guardians made their presence known, as Drax the Destroyer was knocked out by Mantis to keep him from attacking first, as Thanos instead allowed Gamora to charge forward to attack his duplicate, which proceeded to break Godslayer before Gamora had used her other sword to stab Thanos' illusion directly in the throat, before finishing the job by using the switchblade he once gave her to stab Thanos in the heart.
Thanos then watched on as Gamora fell to her knees, weeping over the seeming demise of her only father figure, until his voice spoke through the emptiness, questioning if he could sense sadness within her. Thanos then revealed himself and boasted that while the reality is often unpleasant, while also revealing the true burning wreckage of Knowhere, noting that using the Reality Stone, he could make reality to be whatever he wanted. Noting that he had known that she would come, Thanos offered Gamora the chance to go with him willingly.
However, Gamora refused and attempted to pick up Godslayer, but Thanos effortlessly restrained her before she could grab it. He then effortlessly incapacitated both Drax and Mantis as he had used the Reality Stone to turn them into pieces of stone and strings. Thanos was then confronted by Star-Lord, who threatened to kill him if he did not let Gamora go, while he also aimed his Quad Blasters directly at Thanos' head, as Thanos realized this was Gamora's boyfriend.
While Star-Lord continued threatening an unintimidated Thanos, Gamora had begged him to instead kill her to prevent Thanos from discovering the location of the Soul Stone. Realizing what was now happening, Thanos claimed that Gamora was expecting too much from Star-Lord and, to prove his point, Thanos brought her closer to Quill and even dared him to shoot her, believing that Star-Lord's love for Gamora would not allow him to ever actually pull the trigger.
Pushing Gamora into his face, Thanos furiously demanded that Star-Lord fire and watched the pain going across his face as he made his decision. However, when Quill hesitatingly pulled the trigger, Thanos simply used the Reality Stone to turn his ammunition and blaster into bubbles, much to the shock of both of them. Thanos teleported away with Gamora, after taking a liking for Star-Lord, as he proved himself while returning Drax and Mantis back to their normal selves.
==== Torture of Nebula ====
: "That's why I trusted you to find the Soul Stone.""I'm sorry, I disappointed you.""I am disappointed. But not because you didn't find it. But because you did. And you lied."
: ―Thanos and Gamora[src]
Back on the Sanctuary II, Thanos gave Gamora food, believing that she was hungry, but Gamora tossed it at his throne, saying bitterly that she always hated the throne, to which Thanos calmly responded by saying he had always hoped that she would sit on it one day. Gamora, however, insisted that not only had she hated the throne, but she had hated everything about the life which Thanos had given her.
Having already heard Gamora's repeated confessions of hatred for his ship and her life, Thanos remained unfazed by all of Gamora's angry statements, commenting that she had told him as much every day that she had been with him. Sitting on the steps in front of his throne, Thanos insisted that he saved her when Gamora reminisced on how she was a child when Thanos took her from her homeworld, before massacring her entire family in the process of taking her.
Thanos then revealed to Gamora on how thanks to his massacre of half the population, Zen-Whoberi had since prospered and were no longer going to bed hungry every night, as Gamora had done as a child when her planet had been on the brink of extinction. When Gamora noted how he had murdered half of the population of their entire planet, Thanos simply dismissed this as a small price to pay for salvation, while insisting that it was simply calculus.
Thanos had remained calm even as Gamora denied everything that Thanos believed in and reminded Gamora on how she once had the same will as he had and that it was due to his training that she then became the fiercest woman in the Galaxy. Thanos then noted that he had once been so confident in her abilities that he even send her to locate the Soul Stone, which she sarcastically apologized for failing to do for him, which Thanos had already deduced to be a lie.
Commenting to Gamora that he was disappointed not because she did not find the location of the Soul Stone, but that she did and lied about it, Thanos then took Gamora to reveal that Nebula has been captured due to her attempt to assassinate him, noting that she had come close to succeeding. As Thanos looked on, Gamora reacted in horror upon seeing that her sister's cybernetic implants had all been torn out of her body, which had caused Nebula terrible agony.
Using the Power Stone, Thanos began torturing Nebula, causing her to scream out in pain until Gamora begged him to stop, insisting that she never found the Soul Stone. Despite Gamora's claims, however, Thanos revealed that he was aware that Gamora had lied to him by showing a video recording inside Nebula's system. Thanos went as far as to say that while Thanos turned her into the warrior she is now, he never taught her to lie and thus she was never a good liar.
Thanos tortured Nebula even further, long enough for Gamora to feel remorse for all her pain, as Nebula screamed in endless agony as her cybernetic implants were torn further from her, all while Thanos had continued furiously demanding that Gamora finally reveal where the Soul Stone could be found. Giving in, Gamora told Thanos the stone was on Vormir, which then caused him to stop torturing Nebula as he demanded that Gamora also come with him to find the Stone.
==== Sacrifice of Gamora ====
: "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[src]
Thanos and Gamora then traveled to Vormir via a portal created from the Space Stone. As they looked over the landscape, Thanos had told Gamora that the Soul Stone had better be where she claimed it was, making it clear that Nebula would suffer a terrible fate if this was not the case. Thanos and Gamora then walked on top of the cliff where the Stone supposedly was, in search of Thanos' ultimate prize.
Once Thanos and Gamora had reached the top of the cliff, they were greeted by the keeper of the Stone, who acknowledged that he knew Thanos was the son of A'Lars and that Gamora was the daughter of Thanos, much to Thanos' surprise. The Red Skull would then talk with Thanos about finally retrieving the Soul Stone away from him, as the Red Skull simply noted how this would extract a terrible price, but Thanos just responded to his statement, that he was prepared.
As the Red Skull guided them to the top of a nearby cliff, Thanos questioned how he knew so much about the Infinity Stones, to which the Red Skull explained how a lifetime ago he sought the Stones and had even held the Tesseract in his hands. While the Red Skull continued telling his story, he simply explained that the Tesseract had banished him to Vormir to protect the Soul Stone, before he showed Thanos and Gamora to the end of the high up mountain edge.
As the guardian of the Soul Stone explained to Thanos that obtaining the Stone required a sacrifice of a loved one, ensuring that whoever held it would understand the stone's true power, summing this up by explaining that a soul must be given to obtaining the power of the souls. Upon hearing all this, Gamora mocked Thanos as heartless and uncaring, but Thanos, having truly loved Gamora as a daughter, shed tears that he would have to kill her.
Thinking back to the fate of Titan, Thanos told Gamora that he could not ignore his destiny to seemingly save billions of lives this second time. Although Gamora was genuinely touched for a moment, she quickly and desperately attempted suicide, grabbing her Switchblade as she attempted to plunge it straight into her stomach, but Thanos instead used the Reality Stone to turn her knife into bubbles while he tearfully apologized before then grabbing Gamora by the wrist.
While Gamora tried to fight back, Thanos threw his beloved daughter from the cliff, as she fell to her death. Having committed this terrible act, Thanos sternly looked over the cliff and mourned over Gamora's death as a voice told him his will was strong and his sacrifice had proved him worthy. A light burst out and knocked Thanos out, but once he awoke from a river, with the Soul Stone in his hand, he then inserted it into his Infinity Gauntlet, giving Thanos greater power.
==== Battle of Titan ====
: "With all six Stones, I could simply snap my fingers. They would all cease to exist. I call that... mercy.""And then what?""I finally rest and watch the sunrise on a grateful universe."
: ―Thanos and Doctor Strange[src]
Following the Sacrifice of Gamora, Thanos arrived on Titan for a rendezvous with the Black Order to retrieve the Time Stone. However, he was greeted by Doctor Strange, who sat on top of a hill, noting how Thanos fit his name well. Upon seeing Strange there, Thanos swiftly deduced that Ebony Maw was dead, noting that Maw had accomplished his mission nevertheless by bringing the Time Stone to him, as Strange noted he may regret Maw bringing him face-to-face with a Master of the Mystic Arts since he intended to personally defeat Thanos.
Thanos then proceeded to ask Strange where he had thought Maw had brought him to and corrected Strange when he calmly guessed Titan as being his home, saying it was. Thanos then told him about the history of his planet while altering the reality around them using the Reality Stone to show all its former beauty. Thanos told Strange how when Titan was coming close to extinction, he offered his solution with a mass genocide, which the Titans rejected as pure madness, resulting in Thanos' prediction coming true.
Strange mockingly called Thanos a prophet, to which Thanos simply insisted that he was merely a survivor. When Strange then accused Thanos of wanting to murder trillions of lives, he explained how he planned to commit a painless and randomly fair genocide across the entire universe with the power of the Infinity Stones, claiming that he would be able to cause this mass genocide with a simple snap of his fingers, after which he intended to rest and watch the sunrise.
As their conversation ended, Thanos explained his belief that the hardest choices required the strongest wills, to which Strange then insisted that "their" wills are equal to his. Just as Thanos questioned what Strange meant by this, Iron Man soured down and smashed a massive piece of debris onto him. However, this only enraged Thanos as he used the Power Stone to destroy that debris and turned them all into an endless swarm of furious bats with the Reality Stone.
With the bats attacking Iron Man, forcing him to flee, Spider-Man swung into the fight and used his Synthetic Webbing to blind Thanos, before Drax the Destroyer quickly slashed him with his Knives while Strange conjured a sword made of Eldritch Magic to engage Thanos in close combat. However, Thanos had swiftly composed himself and overwhelmed them, managing to land a heavy blow against Drax and blocking Strange's attack and then angrily kicking him away.
Before Thanos could destroy Strange, Star-Lord charged forward and began shooting Thanos with his Quad Blasters. Before Thanos could stop him, Star-Lord managed to maneuver through all Thanos' blasts with aid from Strange, who conjured platforms for him to jump on and shot him before planting an explosive on Thanos' back, which briefly stunned him while Star-Lord simply vanished through an Inter-Dimensional Portal which had just been created by Strange.
When Thanos attempted to retaliate, the Cloak of Levitation wrapped itself around the Infinity Gauntlet, which stopped him from using his powers. In the same moment, Strange opened more portals using his Sling Ring and Spider-Man attacked Thanos through them, but it only served to irritate him. Thanos swiftly pinned Spider-Man down and angrily called him an insect before flinging him at Strange, knocking them down as Thanos tore the Cloak off the Gauntlet.
Returning to the battle, Iron Man caused a massive explosion around Thanos by shooting missiles from his Mark L Armor, although Thanos had once again remained uninjured and just simply used the Infinity Gauntlet to absorb and blast all the flames back at him. Thanos was once again attacked by Spider-Man who tried to steal the Gauntlet, but Thanos easily broke out of his webbing and then used that to pull Spider-Man towards him, before ruthlessly striking him in the face.
Once Thanos ripped all the webbing from his Gauntlet, a Necrocraft suddenly crashed into him, dragging him across the battlefield. As Thanos was getting back on his feet, he was then suddenly struck in the face by Nebula, who had escaped from the Sanctuary II. Coldly greeting his former adopted daughter, Thanos dismissed killing her as being a "waste of parts." While Nebula attacked Thanos with her Electroshock Batons, she furiously demanded to know where Gamora was, but Thanos refused to answer as he soon overpowered her with a backhand.
==== Entrapped by Heroes ====
: "Tell me she's lying. Asshole! Tell me you didn't do it.""I had to...""No, you didn't. No! No, you didn't!"
: ―Star-Lord and Thanos[src]
Thanos was then intercepted by Doctor Strange, who used an Eldritch Whip to entrap the Infinity Gauntlet. While Thanos attempted to break free, Drax the Destroyer charged forward and knocked Thanos back down onto his knees while Star-Lord fired one of his Gravity Mines which pulled his other arm down. To keep Thanos trapped, Spider-Man used his Synthetic Webbing to pull him backward as Thanos tried to fight.
With Thanos unable to move, Iron Man flew back and attempted to pull the Gauntlet away from him, while Strange opened another Inter-Dimensional Portal over his head, which allowed Mantis to land on Thanos, using her powers to put him in a trance-like state. With all the heroes working together, Thanos was trapped while Iron Man and Spider-Man worked together to take the Gauntlet, with Thanos using all his might in his attempts to break himself free from their hold.
Rejoining the others, Star-Lord then mocked Thanos by noting how he had thought that Thanos would be harder to catch before he had then demanded the location of Gamora. Despite being under Mantis' control, Thanos was still able to communicate a few words as he referred to her as his Gamora, which Star-Lord denied. Mantis, however, revealed that Thanos was mourning, as Star-Lord and Drax had both questioned what he could possibly have to mourn.
This comment, however, led Nebula to finally understand in horror and sadness that Thanos had actually sacrificed Gamora to obtain the Soul Stone back on Vormir. Refusing to accept that his girlfriend was gone, Star-Lord ignored Iron Man's advice as he then furiously questioned Thanos to tell her that Nebula was lying, and Thanos emotionally said he had to. Infuriated by this, Star-Lord hit Thanos with his blaster, causing Mantis to lose her control over him as Stark desperately tried to hold Quill back but with little success.
Having become freed from his trance and furious over almost being defeated, Thanos brutally attacked the group, grabbing the gauntlet just before Spider-Man took it off his hand and throwing Mantis to the ground with Spider-Man only narrowly being able to save her. Thanos then knocked back Iron Man and took down the Guardians of the Galaxy by kicking Drax into the other members, before then stopping them from attacking him by knocking them all down with a powerful shockwave from the Gauntlet.
With the Guardians now defeated, Iron Man returned to the fight as he used a sword created from his Mark L Armor to try and finally kill Thanos, but Thanos managed to block the blow and then responded by headbutting Iron Man. Fueled by pure rage, Thanos proceeded to use the Power Stone to pulverize an entire moon above Titan, before Thanos had then used the Space Stone to hurl a hail of meteors at his opponents, taking advantage of Titan's unusually high gravitational pull to make all these projectiles much more rapid.
==== Duel with Doctor Strange ====
: "You're full of tricks, wizard.""No!""Yet you never once used your greatest weapon."
: ―Thanos and Doctor Strange[src]
As the meteors continued raining down upon them, Thanos was confronted again by Doctor Strange, who floated down with the Cloak of Levitation and looked Thanos straight in the eye. Strange then readied his magic for a duel against Thanos, who remained calm and confident over being challenged by a Master of the Mystic Arts, who then began their fight by ferociously launching some fiery beams at Thanos, which destroyed the ground around him.
Thanos immediately leaped into the air to avoid the fiery beams and retaliated with a beam of energy from the Infinity Gauntlet, which completely obliterated a passing meteor. However, before this could kill him, Strange managed to use his own powers to summon up the Mirror Dimension to absorb the blast. Hoping to also trap Thanos within the Dimension so that he could not be any harm to the outside world, Strange then launched the Dimension straight towards him.
However, Thanos responded by crushing the entire Mirror Dimension with a strike from the Power Stone, before he then used the Space Stone to crush whatever was remaining of the Dimension and then launched these remnants back at Strange in the form of a destructive black hole, which Strange managed to successfully transmute into blue butterflies, the sight of which made Thanos briefly pause to look at them in surprise, as he had expected a more deadly reaction from Strange.
Thanos then watched as Strange lifted himself into the air and used a spell to conjure dozens of replicas of himself, all of whom had then used the Eldritch Whips to entrap Thanos, covering him in their whips which held him in place. However, Thanos refused to be held down yet again and eventually won as he dispelled the many replicas of Strange with a blast of the Infinity Stones, the power of which had caused Strange's Astral Form to be briefly pulled out from his body until he then managed to regain control of his true form.
Ending the duel, Thanos pulled Strange to his hand before he could react, tightening his grip around Strange's throat. Thanos admitted he was impressed by Strange's mastery over magic while noting that he should have used the Time Stone to his advantage in the fight, calling it Strange's greatest weapon. However, once Thanos had crushed the Eye of Agamotto, he realized that Strange had removed the Time Stone, causing Thanos to throw him aside.
==== Battle with Iron Man ====
: "You have my respect, Stark. When I'm done, half of humanity will still be alive. I hope they remember you."
: ―Thanos to Tony Stark[src]
Before Thanos could look for where the Time Stone was hidden, he was intercepted by Iron Man, who used his trap to restrain the Infinity Gauntlet. Iron Man expressed his anger at Thanos throwing the moon at him earlier before Thanos then revealed that he knew Stark's name due to the events of the Battle of New York. When Thanos noted that he had been cursed with knowledge, Iron Man simply responded by insisting that his only curse was Thanos himself.
Ending the conversation, Iron Man launched several missiles straight at Thanos, which he was able to survive. Before he could even react, Thanos was then attacked relentlessly by all of Iron Man's advanced technology from his Iron Man Armor, as Iron Man smashed Thanos into some rocks and hit him with jet-powered battering rams. Thanos then responded by ripping off Iron Man's helmet, which was replaced milliseconds later by nanobots, and hitting him, causing Iron Man to fall to the ground.
With Iron Man lying dazed on the ground, Thanos then ripped his trap from his Gauntlet, which had allowed him to gain access to the power of the Infinity Stones again. With all this power back, Thanos unleashed a blast of energy from the Power Stone, although Iron Man was able to deflect the blast by creating his shield from his nanotech suit. Despite being pushed back several feet by that blast, Iron Man was unharmed and was able to charge back into the fight.
Getting back to the fight, Iron Man turned part of his suit into a heavy claim, which had held down Thanos' arm, before using a jet-powered battering ram to strike Thanos right across the face. The force of this blow was enough to cut Thanos, causing him to bleed slightly; however, this only served to amuse him as he noted that all of Iron Man's greatest efforts and weaponry could do nothing more than causing a small cut to his face with a single drop of blood.
Intending to end the fight once and for all, Thanos caught Iron Man off-guard by effortlessly freeing himself and brutally beat him down, badly damaging his Mark L Armor as Thanos had struck Iron Man repeatedly in the head, with each blow ripping his helmet apart and causing the nanotech to work faster to repair itself. Hitting Iron Man with the Power Stone, Thanos still moved towards him, as Iron Man desperately fired his repulsor beams to try to slow him down.
As Thanos continued using the gauntlet to deflect all of Iron Man's repulsor beams, he got close enough to Iron Man to punch off his helmet, leaving little of his armor to protect him from another hit. Iron Man used what little nanotech he had left to create a sword to stab Thanos, who responded by breaking off the sword and then stabbing Iron Man through the stomach with it.
With Stark gasping for air, bleeding heavily from this wound, Thanos walked him backward and gently set Stark down on a nearby rock. Softly placing his hand onto his head, Thanos admitted that he had gained strong respect for Stark, and promised that once his goal was completed, half of humanity would still be alive, hoped those who survived would remember Stark's legacy, before then stepping back and preparing to use the combined power of all four Infinity Stones to finally execute him.
Before Thanos could end Stark's life, however, Doctor Strange spoke out and promised that if Thanos agreed to spare Stark's life, then he would offer up the Time Stone in exchange. Strange promised that this would not be a trick, as Thanos turned the Infinity Gauntlet away from Stark and aimed it at Strange instead. Despite Stark desperately begging him not to do it, Strange then used Magic to reveal the Stone's location.
Having manifested the Time Stone into his hand, Strange regretfully considered his decision to go against his vow as one of the Masters of the Mystic Arts before he finally allowed it float towards Thanos, much to the horror of Stark. Taking the stone, Thanos examined it for a moment and then inserted the stone into the gauntlet, giving him the power to control the very fabric of time itself. With the fifth stone in the Gauntlet, Thanos had only the Mind Stone left to collect before he finally had the power to complete his ultimate goal.
As Thanos basked in his victory, he was suddenly struck by multiple blaster shots, as Star-Lord had appeared out of nowhere and began furiously shooting at him with his Quad Blasters, still furious over the death of Gamora. However, Thanos remained completely uninjured and simply conjured his portal using the Space Stone and departed from Titan, intending to go to Earth and collect the final Infinity Stone, leaving all of the heroes behind, feeling utterly defeated by him.
=== Cost of Victory ===
==== Battle of Wakanda ====
: "I understand, my child. Better than anyone.""You could never.""Today, I lost more than you can know. But now is no time to mourn. Now... is no time at all."
: ―Thanos and Wanda Maximoff[src]
Having obtained the Time Stone, Thanos proceeded to use the Space Stone and arrived onto Wakanda to retrieve the Mind Stone. However, Thanos found himself confronted not only by the forces of Wakanda but also fractured teams of the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy. Thanos stood alone and without fear, staring at his enemies, then began to calmly walk toward them.
Even with all of his army of Outriders now destroyed, Thanos with the nearly complete Infinity Gauntlet proved to be practically invincible and far too powerful for all of his opposers and he made short work of them. As Bruce Banner charged at him in the Hulkbuster, Thanos did not slow his pace and simply made the Hulkbuster intangible and imprisoned it in solid stone. With more of the heroes charging at him, Thanos used the power of the stones to subdue them all.
With both Captain America and Black Panther charging towards him, Thanos used the Power Stone to send Captain America flying back, before grabbing ahold of Black Panther by the throat, punching him down to the ground. Thanos then proceeded to blast Falcon out of the air before War Machine unloaded his entire arsenal upon him. However, Thanos remained unaffected as he simply blocked all the shots and crushed the Mark IV Armor, before tossing it aside.
As Thanos continued to make his way towards the Mind Stone, the Winter Soldier and Okoye did whatever they could to bring him down, as Thanos shrugged off the bullets and stopped the Vibranium Spear and knocked them both backward with a shock wave, before trapping Black Widow under rocks ripped from the ground. With the Stone near, Thanos saw that Wanda Maximoff was attempting to use her powers to destroy it, which meant that Vision would also die.
With little left between Thanos and the Stone, Groot tried to trap him with his vines, but Thanos simply tore these apart. With only Captain America left, he furiously took on Thanos alone, striking him with the Wakandan Shields. Tiring of this fight, Thanos tried to push Captain America down with the Gauntlet, as he was impressed by Captain America's strength and ability to stop the force of the gauntlet, before knocking him down with a brutal punch to the ground.
Finally, Thanos reached the Stone, as Maximoff then unleashed a blast of energy to try and hold him back while she continued trying to destroy the Stone to keep Thanos from completing his goal. Thanos found that Maximoff's power, which also came from the Infinity Stones, harder to get through, as he pushed with all his might to get to her. However, Thanos was too late as Maximoff overloaded the Stone, causing it as well as Vision to be destroyed.
Upon seeing the Mind Stone's destruction, Thanos did not react with any rage or sadness at the girl who had seemingly hindered his ultimate goal. Instead, he sympathized with her tearful sacrifice of Vision to destroy the Mind Stone, seeing the same pain which he had felt as he sacrificed Gamora to obtain the Soul Stone. Maximoff then insisted that Thanos could never understand her pain, to which Thanos had claimed to have lost more than she could ever know.
Thanos then claimed that he did not have any time to mourn, noting that there was no time at all. To the horror of Maximoff, Thanos then activated the Time Stone and aimed the gauntlet at Vision's remains, restoring all the pieces of Vision's shattered vibranium body and returning him into life, along with the Mind Stone. Upon seeing this, Maximoff screamed out in horror and attempted to stop him, only for Thanos to knock her out with a brutally heavy strike.
Now with a greater advantage, Thanos wrapped the Infinity Gauntlet around Vision's throat and proceeded to lift him in the air. Looking Vision straight in the eye, Thanos crushed his vibranium skull with little effort, forcefully ripping the Mind Stone out from Vision's head, killing him again. As Vision's lifeless body turned grey, Thanos threw him aside and admired the Mind Stone in his hand.
==== Snap ====
: "Did you do it?""Yes.""What did it cost?""...Everything."
: ―Gamora and Thanos[src]
With all six of the Infinity Stones, Thanos placed the Mind Stone in the Infinity Gauntlet. As the might of all six stones were combined with the Gauntlet, Thanos harnessed infinite power and control over the universe. As this energy entered his body, Thanos roared out to the sky in pain.
Moments after the Gauntlet's completion, Thor furiously charged out from the sky and struck Thanos with a large lightning bolt that had been fired from Stormbreaker. In response to the attack, Thanos had furiously fired an energy beam with the combined strength of all six stones. However, Thor then launched Stormbreaker with all his might, which directly cut through the beam and straight towards Thanos himself, who could do nothing to stop it from coming at him.
The axe ultimately struck Thanos in the chest, gravely wounding him as Thanos dropped down to his knees in agony while Thor had stepped over to him, basking in his victory over his enemy. Thor then took hold of Thanos' head, and reminded him of his promise that he would kill Thanos for murdering Heimdall and Loki, and thousands of Asgardians on the Statesman, furiously forcing the axe blade deeper into Thanos' chest which caused him to roar in pain.
After a brief moment of discomfort from the terrible wound caused by the axe still embedded deep inside his chest, Thanos, while struggling to get all his words out, taunted Thor that he should have aimed the axe for his head. Before his stunned opponent could react, Thanos simply lifted the Infinity Gauntlet into the air and snapped his fingers. The energy surged from the Gauntlet in a blinding white light that flooded the battlefield as Thanos briefly passed out.
To his surprise, Thanos then awoke within the Soulworld, without the wound in his chest or the Infinity Gauntlet. The void was empty, save for Thanos himself, and one building far in the distance. The building resembled the same archway on Zen-Whoberi where Thanos found the young Gamora waiting for him. Thanos grievously told her that he had finally completed his mission. As Gamora had asked what it cost him, Thanos became solemn and simply replied, "Everything."
Regaining normal consciousness, Thanos returned into his body back in Wakanda. Upon seeing all the damage inflicted on the scorched Infinity Gauntlet as a result of finally being able to activate the Snap, Thor furiously questioned Thanos about the finger-snap, demanding to know what he did, but he offered no answers and instead used the opening to heal his injury, give his enemy a spiteful glare, and teleport away using the Space Stone.
==== Retiring ====
: "Where are the Stones?""Gone. Reduced to atoms."
: ―Black Widow and Thanos[src]
As half of all life across the universe began to disintegrate as a result of his actions, Thanos reappeared on his Garden. Unable to hear all the screams of sadness and pain that were going out across the universe as trillions died in front of their loved ones, Thanos rested in a small hut with a view overlooking the alien countryside. Having at long last accomplished his objective, Thanos peacefully gazed out to the rising sun and smiled in satisfaction.
Three weeks after the incident, knowing that he would be tempted into a lust for power and acknowledging that the Avengers would likely target them, Thanos utilized the Infinity Stones a final time to reduce them to the atomic level with their own energies, essentially destroying them and eliminating any possibility from undoing the Snap, which caused grievous wounds and scars on his body, mainly those parts nearest to the Infinity Gauntlet, which was completely ruined by the stones' destruction and permanently fused with his hand.
Despite being severely wounded, Thanos continued with his life in retirement on the Garden. Knowing he would die sooner or later, Thanos now only wanted to spend his remaining days in peace.
==== Ambushed by the Avengers ====
: "I used the Stones to destroy the Stones. It nearly killed me, but the work is done. It always will be. I am... inevitable."
: ―Thanos to the Avengers[src]
Two days after Thanos destroyed the Infinity Stones, the surviving Avengers saved Tony Stark and were able to locate his coordinates via the Benatar. While they were doing that, Thanos picked out a few fruits from his crops on his farmland to prepare for his stew.
Collecting his harvest in a bag, the injured Thanos returned to his hut, where he began to prepare his stew. As he tended to his food with salt, Thanos walked out with his food to cook it on a campfire. Thanos then looked up at the sky to see a bright light crash through his hut; he then blocked the energy beam with his worn-out Infinity Gauntlet. Captain Marvel flew toward Thanos and knocked him back, stalemating him for a second.
Captain Marvel subdued Thanos by wrapping herself against him, putting him in a headlock, and pushing his left arm with the Infinity Gauntlet away with her leg to prevent him from closing his fist and utilizing the Infinity Stones as she was not yet aware he destroyed them. While Thanos was choked by Captain Marvel's grasp, Bruce Banner in the Mark XLVIII armor burst out from the floor of his campfire and furiously grabbed his arm. War Machine then broke inside the hut, and together restrained both of Thanos' arms.
Thor arrived at the hut by crashing through the back of it, and used Stormbreaker to sever Thanos' left arm, freeing the Infinity Gauntlet, which dropped to the ground as well as causing great pain to Thanos, who yelled out in a mixture of rage and agony. While suffering great pain, Captain America and Black Widow arrived to interrogate Thanos and collect all six Infinity Stones, as Thanos was helplessly retrained by the team.
As Rocket Raccoon turned the charred Infinity Gauntlet over, the team saw that the Infinity Stones were gone. When the Avengers demanded to know where they were, Thanos noted that the universe required correction and after he accomplished his goal on that, the Stones served no purpose beyond temptation. Banner grew enraged from Thanos' reasoning and yelled at Thanos for murdering trillions of lives, shoving him onto the ground.
Recovering from the push by Banner, Thanos looked up and claimed that he should be grateful, but was brutally punched in the face. When Black Widow asked again where the Infinity Stones were, Thanos revealed that they were gone and reduced to atoms. After further questioning Thanos, he noted that by using the Stones to destroy themselves, he ensured that the Snap was irreversible, thereby making his victory everlasting.
Thanos explained that the effort of him destroying the Infinity Stones had nearly killed him, but admitted that his work was done, and would always be. Thanos declared himself to be inevitable. A disbelieving Rhodes inquired the Avengers to tear the hut down to find the Stones, but Nebula confirmed that, while Thanos was many things, he wasn't a liar; implying that his statement of destroying the Stones had to be true. Surprised and touched, Thanos confirmed this by thanking Nebula, finally admitting that perhaps he treated her too harshly.
With this horrible yet genuine revelation revealed, Thor furiously swung his weapon at Thanos, decapitating him with one swift stroke and sending his head rolling across the floor of his hut as his body slumped to the ground, fittingly fulfilling Thanos' taunting 'suggestion' to him three weeks earlier to go for his head. As the Avengers looked on in horror and contempt, Nebula crouched by her father's head and closed his eyes as a final deed for him as she silently cried for his passing. Despite Thanos' death, his actions left the Avengers in utter defeat once again as they sadly resigned to moving on with their lives on over the losses of their loved ones that he caused to them.
==== Seeing into the Future ====
: "They're not trying to stop something I'm going to do in our time. They're trying to undo something I've already done in theirs.""The Stones...""I found them all. I won. Tipped the cosmic scales to balance."
: ―Thanos and Gamora[src]
In an alternate 2014, Nebula and Gamora were informed by Thanos that he had found an Infinity Stone. Once they arrived inside the Sanctuary II, Thanos transported into the ship after going through a killing spree on Korbin with his Double-Edged Sword. Thanos noted to his daughters that Ronan the Accuser had located the Power Stone and will be dispatching them to his ship. Despite knowing Ronan wouldn't like that, Thanos told his daughter that his alternative was death and that his obsession clouds his judgment.
Once Nebula had bowed down to her father and noted that she'll never fail his mission, Thanos was pleased and told her that he knew she wouldn't. Suddenly, Nebula's mind was then rewired with her future self, revealing her intentions of taking the Power Stone before Thanos could. As Thanos grew suspicious, he then confronted Nebula and began to caress her chin with his Double-Edged Sword while threatening her for going behind his back.
Knowing something was wrong with Nebula's head, Thanos prompted Gamora to bring her to his ship. Thanos then called for Ebony Maw on his ship and told him to run diagnostics on Nebula's memory file. Maw noted to Thanos that Nebula's file was entangled with another one and her memories aren't actually from her, but from another Nebula from the future. Thanos told Maw that idea is impossible but was further informed that her future self carries a timestamp, being nine years later.
Thanos then told Maw to access Nebula's memory files, asking they could find any Infinity Stones. After Maw had accessed Nebula's memory files in the future, Thanos watched the Avengers planning where they were heading and told Maw to stop the video. After realizing who they are, Thanos told Maw to amplify a reflection of Nebula, knowing she was part of the team. Thanos ordered Maw to scan more memories from the future, wanting to see more.
Meanwhile, on Morag, War Machine time-traveled back to 2023 with the Power Stone, but 2023 Nebula remained behind as her memories were still overloading. While 2014 Nebula had finally accessed her memory files from the future, Thanos observed his alternate future self, explaining that he destroyed the Infinity Stones by using them and was almost killed by it. Smiling at the prospect of his future once his future self announced that he is inevitable, Thanos then realized that the Avengers weren't trying to stop something he is doing in their timeline but stopping something that his future self has done in their timeline.
After reviewing the Avengers' ambush on his future self, Thanos noted to Gamora that he had already won his quest in collecting the Stones and executing his plan to balance the universe. After Gamora bowed down before her father, Maw noted that this was Thanos' future, while he claimed that it was his destiny. Continuing the review, after Thanos' future self had voiced his last regret of being too harsh on Nebula, the current Thanos soon witnessed his beheading at the hands of Thor, which the warlord calmly commented that his destiny was fulfilled.
While Maw attempted to strangle the past Nebula with his powers for her impending betrayal in the future, Thanos listened to her call for mercy, claiming that it wasn't her. Thanos broke Nebula free from her restraints on her neck and noted that he understands it was not her. Holding up her chin, Thanos explained to Nebula that she will have the chance to prove herself to him. Using this information to accomplish his goal, Thanos captured 2023 Nebula on Morag while he sent 2014 Nebula to interrogate her once she was brought aboard his ship.
Once Nebula had retrieved the Pym Particles that were used to go back in time, Thanos was introduced to it on his throne. Looking at the Pym Particle that he was given, he was then told that Nebula would impersonate her future self and recover the Infinity Stones. While 2014 Nebula time-traveled to the future, Thanos assigned Gamora to watch over her future adoptive sister. To be able to follow Nebula through time as well, Thanos had Ebony Maw use his sorcery to reverse-engineer the Pym Particles so that there would be enough for his fleet to use to time-travel into the future.
==== Attack on the Avengers Facility ====
: "You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me."
: ―Thanos to the Avengers[src]
By the time the past Nebula arrived on Earth in 2023, the Nano Gauntlet had been constructed by the Avengers, with Hulk using it to reverse the effects of the Snap, thus bringing back all those who had died originally at the end of the Infinity War. However, past Nebula used the time machine to transport Thanos and his fleet from 2014 to the present day.
With the Sanctuary II, Thanos obliterated the Avengers Compound, thus trapping Hulk, War Machine and Rocket Raccoon under the rubble to drown before Ant-Man came to rescue them. After destroying the Avengers Compound, Thanos transported himself into the ground to try and relocate his position of the plan. Upon leaving his ship, Thanos was approached by Nebula, who earned Thanos' praise for bringing him and their armies over to the present. Thanos then sent Nebula to find the Infinity Stones while he waited, intending to lure the Avengers to him.
After waiting for a while and sitting on a pile of rubble, Thanos was soon spotted by Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man, who emerged from the destruction of their compound. As he played with a rock, Thanos was confronted by the three Avengers and told them that they could not live with their failure, and thus it brought them back to him. Thanos further noted that he had always wanted to take out half of all life in the universe, so the other half could flourish without the danger of overpopulation.
Due to their relentless efforts to stop him, Thanos had now realized that his plan was wrong all along since the survivors would never be able to stop remembering the victims, which would, in turn, prevent them from thriving and lead to resistance. Now knowing what he needed to do to prevent this, Thanos announced that upon taking the Infinity Stones, he would use them to destroy the entire universe only to then reconstruct it with new life so that the new populace would never know about the previous universe, and be grateful for the life they were given.
==== Battle of Earth ====
: "I'll tell you now, what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet... I'm gonna enjoy it. Very, very much."
: ―Thanos to Captain America[src]
Upon hearing his plans, Captain America told Thanos that his universe would be born out of blood, but Thanos retorted that the new populace of the universe would never know of this because he would make sure that he killed all the Avengers. Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America, in complete disgust and fury over Thanos' new goals, immediately attacked Thanos, but despite fighting all three of the most powerful Avengers, Thanos proved to be too much even for their combined might as he swiftly repelled all of their assaults.
While fighting Captain America in close combat, Iron Man blasted his repulsors from the help of Thor, causing Thanos to use his Double-Edged Sword to deflect it. Thanos pushed forward with his Double-Edged Sword and grew as closer to Iron Man as possible. Once he confronted Iron Man's repulsor blast, Thanos broke himself out of the situation and seeing Thor throwing Mjølnir, Thanos lifted Iron Man and had him receive the blow, effectively knocking out Iron Man.
With Iron Man defeated, Thanos was kicked by Captain America in the face and responded with a powerful punch that threw him through stones and away from the battle while he was protecting himself with his Shield. After knocking away Captain America, Thanos used his Double-Edged Sword to throw it at Thor, only for him to slide on the ground to dodge it. Catching his Double-Edged Sword back, Thanos blocked Thor's attack, only to lose his weapon once Thor took it away by Stormbreaker.
Thanos dodged Thor's swing with his weapon and broke his defense, knocking Stormbreaker from his grasp and punching Thor in the face and pinning him against a wall. Punching Thor in the face again, Thanos threw the Asgardian across the field and proceeded to pummel him. Thor attempted to summon Stormbreaker, but Thanos caught it in midair and tried to stab him with it. Intent on killing Thor, Thanos used his superior strength to steadily push Stormbreaker into Thor's chest as Thor's resistance quickly became ineffective.
Before Thanos could kill Thor, he is knocked away by Captain America, who had proven himself worthy to summon Mjølnir. Thanos promptly kicked Thor unconscious before facing Captain America and took a beating from a hit to the face by Mjølnir. Thanos then got up from the ground only to be hit by Mjølnir once it was deflected by Captain America's Shield. Thanos then exchanged blows only to be hit by Captain America's attacks and even by his Shield with the use of Mjølnir. Thanos was then blasted by lighting and pinned on the ground, causing a second wave of attack.
After dodging a lighting strike from Mjølnir, Thanos quickly recovered, slammed Captain America off the ground, and took off his helmet that was badly damaged from his beating. Thanos continued to use his Double-Edged Sword to attack Captain America, cutting a part of his leg and disarming him by removing his ability to use the hammer. Thanos grabbed his Double-Edged Sword and viciously attacked Captain America. With his immeasurable strength, Thanos quickly broke Captain America's Shield, shearing off parts of it with each blow, before knocking him down and finally defeating him with a harsh swing from his sword.
==== Avengers Reassembled ====
: "You took everything from me.""I don't even know who you are."
: ―Scarlet Witch and Thanos[src]
While Captain America was on the ground, Thanos told him that in all his years of conquest, violence, and slaughter, it was never personal while he destroyed half the population of each planet, but due to the relentless efforts of the Avengers to interfere with his plans, Thanos confessed that he personally plans to enjoy razing the Earth out of spite against the Avengers. Just as Thanos' army of Outriders, Chitauri, Sakaarans, and the Black Order arrived on the planet, he witnessed Captain America getting up and planning to take them on.
However, while Thanos proclaimed his new intentions, he was unaware that Nebula had recovered the Nano Gauntlet from Hawkeye, only to be killed by her future self. On the battlefield, the Avengers discovered all of their resurrected allies, including the deceased Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Wakandans, the Ravagers, the Masters of the Mystic Arts, and the Einherjar had come to aid them on the battle for the fate of the universe against Thanos' entire force. Thanos watched tensely as all of his opposers came to challenge him and when Captain America commanded them to assemble, Thanos responded by raising his Double-Edged Sword to command his army, starting the battle.
As his forces and the Avengers battled fiercely to a stalemate, both viciously struggling for supremacy, Thanos remained unchallenged as he used his Double-Edged Sword both as a boomerang and a melee weapon, swiftly killing a Master of the Mystic Arts after the sword returned to his hand. With his side having sustained several losses, including Cull Obsidian, and fighting alongside Corvus Glaive and Ebony Maw, Thanos inquired Nebula's whereabouts but was told she wasn't responding on her intercom before being alerted by Maw that the Nano Gauntlet was in Hawkeye's possession.
Thanos pursued Hawkeye until he passed the Gauntlet to Black Panther. During the battle, Thanos threw his Double-Edged Sword at Black Panther, in an attempt to take the Gauntlet away from him, managing to knock him down. Before he could get to Black Panther, Thanos was halted by Wanda Maximoff, who told him that he took everything from her. Not knowing what his future self did to Vision, Thanos callously, yet veraciously, said he did not even know her and proceeded to cut down a couple of large rubble thrown against him through Maximoff's telekinetic powers but was soon knocked down by Maximoff's rapidly fired energy blasts and disarmed.
Enduring her attacks, Thanos picked up his Double-Edged Sword and began countering, deflecting her energy blasts and exchanging blows in close combat. Though Thanos gained the upper hand with his superior skill, nearly pushing his sword through her. Maximoff, in her anger towards him, managed to repel the attack and proceeded to overpower the Titan, telekinetically slicing his sword in half. Thanos was then picked by Maximoff's grasp, having his armor be slowly chipped away.
Suffering from great pain from all of Maximoff's energy powers, Thanos ordered Corvus Glaive to rain fire from the Sanctuary II out of pressure from his situation, to which Glaive told Thanos that their troops' lives will be at stake. Despite Glaive's protest, Thanos yelled at him to do it, letting on a barrage of their laser cannons from their war-craft to shoot down. Knocking back Maximoff from her attack, the airstrike was successful in keeping her and the rest of his opposition at bay.
The airstrike was suddenly stopped due to interference in the sky, resulting in the warship aiming and firing its laser cannons up at the sky. In a huge streak of light, Captain Marvel arrived from space and destroyed the Sanctuary II with little effort, as a bewildered Thanos looked upon the destruction in shock. As Captain Marvel began to send the Infinity Stones back into the Quantum Tunnel, Thanos confronted her for an attack.
Thanos was halted due to the efforts of Pepper Potts, Shuri, and Wasp, allowing Captain Marvel to move right past Thanos toward the van. In a last-ditch effort to stop them, Thanos threw his sword at the Quantum Tunnel, causing it to explode in a giant wave of quantum energy. In the ensuing explosion which threw everyone backwards, Thanos raced to get the Nano Gauntlet after it had been isolated due to the explosion. Iron Man intervened, but Thanos easily tossed him aside.
Thanos was once again prevented from getting the Nano Gauntlet, as Thor attacked him with brute force. After fending off his assault, Thanos grabbed Thor when he attempted to grab the Gauntlet and stopped his attempt to decapitate him with Stormbreaker only for Thor to summon Mjølnir and add it along with Stormbreaker, causing Thanos to struggle as they grappled with all their strength. As Thanos held his foe at a standstill despite only using one hand, Captain America joined in to push Stormbreaker into Thanos' throat, but Thanos, using his free hand, knocked Thor's weapon down, headbutted Thor, and punched Captain America, knocking both of them out.
Grabbing on the Nano Gauntlet, Thanos was attacked by Captain Marvel, being punched in the face twice. Thanos then tossed her aside before putting on the Nano Gauntlet. As he was about to perform the snap, however, he was restrained by Captain Marvel, who grabbed the gauntlet. As it soon became clear he wasn't overpowering her, Thanos attempted to headbutt Captain Marvel but the attack did little effect and Thanos was soon forced on his knees as Captain Marvel attempted to take off the Gauntlet. Overpowered, Thanos was forced to pull out the Power Stone, giving him enough strength to punch Captain Marvel out of the battlefield.
==== Erased by the Stones ====
: "I am... inevitable.""And I... am... Iron Man."
: ―Thanos and Iron Man[src]
Placing the Power Stone back in the Nano Gauntlet, Thanos prepared to snap once more. Though Iron Man intervened and grappled with him for a few seconds, trying to prevent him from repeating the Snap, Thanos was able to knock Iron Man aside and once again put on the Nano Gauntlet on his right hand. Declaring himself to be inevitable with an evil smile, Thanos snapped his fingers with the intent on destroying the entire universe and replacing it with a new one.
However, after Thanos snapped his fingers with the Nano Gauntlet, he suddenly realized it did not affect anything because the Infinity Stones had been removed from his hand and had been transferred to Iron Man's Mark LXXXV armor. Confused and horrified, Thanos watched as Iron Man, with all the Stones on his armored hand, snapped his fingers this time.
Rather than destroying the universe, which was what Thanos desired, it instead caused all of Thanos' forces, including the Black Order, Chitauri, Sakaarans, and the Outriders, excluding Gamora and Nebula, to be killed by turning them into dust, albeit at the cost of Iron Man's life. Thanos looked upon his adoptive children and his alien army dying in front of his eyes, leading to him to look at Captain America one last time, much to his horror and sadness.
Realizing that his fate had already been sealed and that this time, there was no chance of escaping it, Thanos stood silently before sitting on the ground and watched the sunset solemnly after his allies vanished before his eyes, accepting his death with dignity before he faded away into nothingness. In his last moments, Thanos, and his armies, suffered the same demise his victims endured in the original Timeline five years earlier, thus bringing his threat to an end once and for all.
=== Legacy ===
==== Remembered by Humanity ====
To be added
==== DNA Transferred to Super-Skrulls ====
During the Battle of Earth, Thanos had been wounded, causing him to spill his blood on the battlefield. His blood was collected after the battle by Nick Fury's secret Skrull unit and placed into a vial known as the Harvest alongside other enhanced DNA samples. The Harvest vial was then administered by Super-Skrulls Gravik and G'iah, granting them access to Thanos' physiology.
== Personality ==
: "I'm thankful. Because, now, I know what I must do. I will shred this universe down to its last atom. And then, with the Stones you've collected for me, create a new one. Teeming with life, that knows not what it has lost, but what it has been given. A grateful universe."
: ―Thanos to Avengers[src]
When Thanos first saw what would become of his alternate future self, he simply saw it as destiny and was mostly unfazed by the recording of his death. However, upon learning that the Avengers had traveled back in time to resurrect the victims of the Snap, Thanos became very dissatisfied that the surviving population was ungrateful to his deeds, ignoring the fact that the true reason behind that is because they were unable to move on without their loved ones that he murdered. Because of this, Thanos decided to change his plan into destroying the universe and rebuilding it from scratch so that the new universe will be grateful for his actions. Thanos himself claimed that when it came to the planets he conquered and slaughtered, it was never "personal," but due to the Avengers and Earth's heroes constantly frustrating his plans, he viewed the Avengers as "unruly wretches" for daring to challenge him and by extension, he came to see Earth as "stubborn and annoying" and that he would enjoy tearing Earth apart.
Having not gone through the same experience of losing his children and learning empathy for his foes, this Thanos was far more arrogant and callous, as seen by his dismissing Scarlet Witch's condemnation of him taking everything from him as he did not know her and was also willing to sacrifice his forces just to shake her off while boasting that he would inevitably accomplish his goal. However, on a positive note, he did give his Nebula a chance to prove herself, despite knowing that the other Nebula had betrayed her Thanos, after witnessing his future self admit his poor treatment towards her in his final moments. He also retained his propensity for delegation, having Nebula bring the Nano Gauntlet to him which was in contrast to retrieving the Stones himself. It was this lack of development that led to his downfall and allowed Iron Man to outsmart and defeat him, as Thanos had consistently dismissed all of Earth's defenders as beneath him. However, he ultimately failed to see how much like how his other self had carefully planned, and it was due to the Avengers rushing to stop him that the sides had now changed; it was the Avengers who were prepared this time, and Thanos was now the one who was rushing to stop them. Although visibly distraught, upon seeing the sunrise, Thanos was at least able to find some solace that he could enjoy it without being hindered and died somberly, all while accepting his defeat and fate with dignity.
== Powers and Abilities ==
=== Powers ===
* Titan Physiology: As a Titan, Thanos naturally possesses stronger attributes than the normal Human. Titans have tougher skin, more strength, durability, speed, agility, stamina, and reflexes. In addition, his physiology comes with increased healing and a longer lifespan.
** Superhuman Strength: Thanos managed to display incalculable levels of superhuman strength, being capable of lifting, moving or exerting millions of tons of force. While fighting against Thor, Iron Man and Captain America, Thanos was able to kick Thor with enough force to break a concrete stone, throw Rogers away and easily lift Iron Man to block an oncoming strike Mjølnir. He effortlessly threw Thor against a group of stones, hit him repeatedly with enough force to make him bleed, and steadily overpowered Thor in a grapple with Stormbreaker, only being stopped from killing him by Captain America wielding and throwing Mjølnir at him. Once Captain America had stopped bombarding him from ranged attacks with the hammer, Thanos was able to easily slam him to the ground with enough force to hurt him and disarm him of the hammer with a single blow and even proved capable of using his Double-Edged Sword to break Captain America's nigh-indestructible shield with mere brute force, a testament of his titanic strength. Thanos was also able to easily break a Master of the Mystic Arts' Tao Mandalas with a single attack from his sword, cut through the immense amounts of debris launched by Scarlet Witch with a single strike, and briefly push her telekinetic defenses back before being eventually repelled and disarmed and launch his sword towards the quantum tunnel of Luis' van with enough velocity and force to destroy it before Captain Marvel could reach it. Thanos also instantly overpowered Iron Man in their struggle, punching him hard enough to temporarily incapacitate him firmly prevented Thor from using Stormbreaker against him with one hand while the Asgardian was using both hands and then held his attempts to decapitate him at bay when he used both Mjølnir and Stormbreaker still with just a single hand and eventually, by using both hands upon Captain America interfering to further drive Stormbreaker closer to his neck, he was able to stop Thor and knock him out with a headbutt before freeing himself from Rogers' grip and knocking out Captain America with a single punch when they tried to prevent him from taking the Nano Gauntlet. Thanos' strength also allowed him to fight with a fully-powered Captain Marvel, one of the most powerful beings in the universe, throwing the Kree-Human hybrid across the battlefield and managing to hold her off when she was using both hands for a while during their grapple for the Nano Gauntlet but was ultimately overpowered by her, with even a headbutt direct to her face having little effect, forcing him to use the Power Stone to defeat her.
** Superhuman Durability: The Titan had tougher skin, which gave him tremendous levels of superhuman resilience and durability. Indeed, he is capable of easily handling the Infinity Stones without being harmed, notably able to hold without any strain the Power Stone in his hand, especially impressively suffering no harm from touching the Power Stone considering that it destroys almost anything organic that touches it and despite causing him some pain. Thanos waved off blows from the Mjølnir wielding Captain America and a full-powered Captain Marvel on two separate confrontations and also managed to survive being viciously attacked by an enraged Scarlet Witch long enough to order his forces to rain fire on the battlefield to stop her and take the combined blasts of Shuri's Vibranium Gauntlets, Wasp's blasters, and Pepper Potts's repulsors and swiftly recover to throw his sword to stop Captain Marvel.
** Superhuman Speed: Thanos could move at superhuman speed, despite what his giant stature would suggest. He was able to punish the coordinated assault of Thor, Captain America and Iron Man with successful attacks that launched them several feet away, easily punch Captain America through stones, after being kicked by him, disarm Thor of Stormbreaker moments after he, too, was disarmed of his sword and pummel him after tossing him aside twice before he could recover and swiftly overwhelm Captain America armed with both Mjølnir and his shield in close combat, breaking through his guard and stabbing him in the leg and disarming him of the hammer before completely forcing Captain America into the defensive and soon tossing him aside after breaking his shield. Thanos was also able to move fast enough to throw his broken sword towards Luis' Van before Captain Marvel could reach it, despite Danvers flying at top speed and being much nearer to the van than him. He was also able to move faster towards the Nano Gauntlet than Iron Man despite Iron Man being closer, forcing Iron Man to tackle him instead, and swiftly stop Thor from reaching the Gauntlet despite having been pushed back by his onslaught just moments before.
** Superhuman Agility: In addition to speed, Thanos also had more agility than a Human. He able to easily overcome the attacks of fast enemies like Thor and Captain America.
** Superhuman Stamina: During the Battle of Earth, 2014 Thanos single-handedly fought against Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America as well as the rest of his opposers without any sign of fatigue and was only stopped by Iron Man's use of the Infinity Stones to wipe both him and his army out of existence.
** Superhuman Reflexes: Similar to his speed and agility, he had tremendous reflexes as he was able to dodge the attack from Thor who tried to aim for Thanos' head while fighting Iron Man, Captain America and Thor at the same time, blocking Iron Man's repulsor blast in close range and avoiding a swift lightning-empowered blow from Captain America wielding Mjølnir despite being knocked to the ground from the previous assaults. He could also catch Captain Marvel's hand before she could grab the Nano Gauntlet.
** Regenerative Healing Factor: As a Titan, Thanos had the ability to heal at a faster rate than normal beings. He was able to recover from each of the wounds inflicted upon him during the Battle of Earth, especially the ones inflicted by Wanda Maximoff and Captain America during their brief duels.
** Longevity: It is known by all who fear him that Thanos has been alive for thousands of years by the time of the Battle of Earth during the 21st century. It would've taken him an incredibly long time to perish naturally.
=== Former Powers ===
* Energy Manipulation: Thanos briefly used the Power Stone in order to overpower Captain Marvel during their brief duel. He was also able to charge his fist with the energy of the Stone and hit her with enough force to knock her away.
=== Abilities ===
* Genius-Level Intellect: Thanos is considered a genius among the universe, being feared by everyone for not only his physical abilities, but his intelligence and will to do what he has to. When reviewing Nebula's memory hard drive, he quickly pointed out that the Avengers were in her memories and he was even able to scout out a reflection of Nebula, which led him to the conclusion that there are two different Nebula's from two different times. He also concluded from this that he completed his Mission. When 2014 Nebula got the Pym Particles from 2023 Nebula, Thanos knew exactly what they were and was able to help Ebony Maw replicate the formula to send his ship and troops into the future.
* Master Tactician: Thanos was master at making strategies and plans. This helped him conquer many worlds like Korbin. Thanos displayed an aptitude for quickly forming strategies amid combat, as he swiftly came up with a plan to have Nebula impersonate her future self from 2023 and infiltrate the Avengers Compound, providing a target for the Sanctuary II. He also instantly devised a plan to subdue the Scarlet Witch after getting overpowered by her by having his armies fire at both himself and her, successfully freeing himself, used his sword to destroy Luis' van to compensate his inability to get to Captain Marvel fast enough to prevent her from escaping, and when briefly overtaken by Captain Marvel, Thanos was able to tactically remove the Power Stone from the Gauntlet to use it against her, finally besting her. Thanos won all but one of the 14,000,605 outcomes of the Infinity War foreseen by Doctor Strange.
* Master Combatant: Thanos was extremely skilled at fighting. He mainly used his Double-Edged Sword in battle to defeat his opponents. Along with that, he also used pure brute force and strategy to beat the enemy. Thanos' supreme combat skills supplemented by his physical prowess enable him to overpower even the strongest opponents. His extraordinary fighting skills alone made him nigh-unstoppable, as without the Infinity Gauntlet, he was able to easily overcome Thor, Captain America and Iron Man at the same time armed only with his sword, easily knocking off their initial attempts before defeating Iron Man and Captain America without any effort and effortlessly overcoming Thor with Stormbreaker quickly even after he had been disarmed of his sword. Although initially outmatched by Captain America using Mjølnir, Thanos was soon able to turn the tides against him by forcing him back and disarming him of the hammer, which resulted in Thanos to eventually overpower the Mjølnir-wielding Captain America. He later managed to simply fend off Thor, who was using both Mjølnir and Stormbreaker, as well as swiftly and effortlessly break free of Captain America's attempts to restrain him while also forcing back Thor.
* Sword Mastery: Thanos was extremely skilled in using his Double-Edged Sword in combat, capable of easily fighting off coordinated assaults from Thor, Captain America and Iron Man, with him having been able to block Iron Man's repulsors when it was powered by Thor's lightning while simultaneously overcoming it and block an attack from Thor using Stormbreaker after just having thrown it and failed to hit him, although he got disarmed, as well as quickly overwhelm Captain America armed with both Mjølnir and his shield and stab his leg before entirely dominating him and destroying his shield. Thanos also was able to face Wanda Maximoff with it, having managed to easily cut through the projectiles she launched at him as well as block her energy shots and nearly managed to defeat her, pushing down on her with his sword, thereby forcing her to use her powers to disarm him. Thanos was also able to throw it with such skill as to achieve a boomerang-like effect. His precision was enough to be able to hit and knock down Black Panther when the latter was moving at super speeds as well as explode Luis' van to prevent Captain Marvel from escaping with the gauntlet.
== Equipment ==
=== Weapons ===
* Double-Edged Sword: Thanos used this sword as his primary weapon when he did not yet have the Infinity Gauntlet. It was extremely durable, being able to cut through vibranium like Captain America's Shield, but was ultimately sheared in half by Scarlet Witch.
* Stormbreaker: When Thor called Stormbreaker to his hand, Thanos was able to catch it before it reached Thor, and then used it to almost kill him.
* Nano Gauntlet: A version of the Infinity Gauntlet created by Bruce Banner, Tony Stark and Rocket initially used to reverse the effects of the Snap. Nearing the end of the Battle of Earth, Thanos wore the damaged Gauntlet and attempted to use it to enact his final plan, although he was intercepted by Captain Marvel. The replica Gauntlet proved to be just as useful as its Dwarven counterpart, being able to hold off Captain Marvel for a while before having to use the Power Stone to attack her. After a brief scuffle with Stark, Thanos boastfully attempted to use the Gauntlet, yet nothing happened as Stark was able to assimilate the Infinity Stones into his own armor. With Stark's will, Thanos turned to dust, with him still wearing the replica Gauntlet.
** Power Stone: Thanos was able to charge his fist with the energy of the Power Stone and hit Captain Marvel with enough force to knock her away.
=== Other Equipment ===
* Battle Armor: Thanos utilized a Golden Armor during his days of conquest. He wore the armor while engaging the Avengers in 2023, where it was destroyed in the ensuing battle and his ultimate defeat.
=== Vehicles ===
* Sanctuary II: Thanos commanded a massive warship called the Sanctuary II which brought him and his armies to 2023, only to be then destroyed by Captain Marvel.
* Q-Ship: Thanos also used these ships for his invasions and conflicts. In 2014, he met with Gamora and Nebula after the Massacre of the Korbinites, to tell them that Ronan the Accuser had just located the Power Stone.
== Relationships ==
=== Family ===
* Black Order - Adoptive Children and Subordinates
** Ebony Maw † - Adoptive Son and Subordinate
** Cull Obsidian † - Adoptive Son and Subordinate
** Proxima Midnight † - Adoptive Daughter and Subordinate
** Corvus Glaive † - Adoptive Son and Subordinate
* Gamora - Adoptive Daughter and Former Subordinate
* Nebula † - Adoptive Daughter and Subordinate
=== Allies ===
* Chitauri - Subordinates
** Leviathans - Subordinates
** Chitauri Gorillas - Subordinates
* Outriders - Subordinates
* Sakaarans - Subordinates
* Ronan the Accuser - Subordinate	
=== Enemies ===
* Avengers
* Korbinites
* Avengers
** Steve Rogers/Captain America - Attempted Victim
** Nebula - Alternate Adoptive Daughter and Former Prisoner
** Tony Stark/Iron Man † - Attempted Victim and Killer
** Thor - Attempted Victim
** Bruce Banner/Hulk
** Clint Barton/Hawkeye
** James Rhodes/War Machine
** Scott Lang/Ant-Man
** Rocket Raccoon
** Sam Wilson/Falcon
** Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch † - Attempted Victim and Attempted Killer
** Peter Parker/Spider-Man
** Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel - Attempted Victim
* Masters of the Mystic Arts
** Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange
** Wong
* Golden Tribe
** T'Challa/Black Panther †
** Shuri
* Dora Milaje
** Okoye
* Jabari Tribe
** M'Baku
* Border Tribe
* Wakandan Royal Guard
* Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier
* Guardians of the Galaxy
** Peter Quill/Star-Lord
** Drax the Destroyer
** Mantis
** Groot
* Brunnhilde/Valkyrie
* Warsong
* Korg
* Miek
* Einherjar
* Ravagers
** Kraglin Obfonteri
* Howard the Duck
* Hope van Dyne/Wasp
* Pepper Potts/Rescue
== Behind the Scenes ==
* Robert Pralgo was a reader for the role of Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.
* Greg Rementer, Keil Zepernick, and Carmelo Oquendo were stunt doubles for Josh Brolin in the role of Thanos.
== References ==
# ↑ Avengers Endgame: 26 Spoilers Explained by the Directors and Writers
# ↑ Avengers: Endgame Director on What Thanos' Blade Is Made Out Of
# ↑ Here’s why ‘Infinity War’s’ Thanos is the most compelling Marvel film villain yet
# ↑ Marvel Studios Canada on X - October 17, 2023
# ↑ Avengers: Infinity War
# ↑ Jump up to:6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Avengers: Endgame
# ↑ Joe Russo's Q&A about the plot of Avengers: Endgame in China
# ↑ Secret Invasion: 1.05: Harvest
# ↑ Secret Invasion: 1.06: Home
== External Links ==
* Thanos on Marvel Database
* Thanos on Wikipedia
* Thanos on Marvel Website