7 Reasons Thanos Is Marvel’s Greatest Villain

Thanos is a villainous legend. Thanos has become one of the most popular villains in the world because of his appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, comic fans have known about how great a villain he is for decades. Thanos first appeared in Invincible Iron Man #55, and creator Jim Starlin made him into one of the premiere cosmic villains in the Marvel Universe. However, that was only the beginning, as he soon became a villain that pit himself against the rest of the universe. Thanos’s nihilism and desire for ultimate power made him into an enemy for every champion of life out there, and every hero in the Marvel Universe fears and respects him.

Marvel has created some of the greatest villain ever, but there are some out there who would say that Thanos is the greatest Marvel villain. Thanos is one of the richest characters in the history of the Marvel Universe, and has pulled off some of the most villainous acts in the history Marvel. Here are seven reasons that Thanos is Marvel’s greatest villain, a compelling monster unlike any other.

7) Eternal Physiology

Thanos was born on Saturn’s moon of Titan, a member of the Eternals who left the Earth. While the circumstances of his birth have retconned several times over the years, one thing that hasn’t changed about Thanos is that he’s considered an Eternal. Eternals are some of the most durable beings in the Marvel Universe. They’re basically indestructible, and can take damage at levels that would destroy entire planets. One of the few ways to actually hurt an Eternal is to mess with their molecular structure, meaning that when someone says that Thanos is “invulnerable”, they mean it. Villains have to be able to take anything thrown at them, and Thanos is able to shrug off all but the most devastating attacks.

6) His Monstrous Goals

A villain’s goals define who they are, and few villains have the kind of monstrous goals that Thanos has. Thanos wants to kill as many people as he can, with his oft-stated goal being to destroy half of all life in the universe, all to make Mistress Death love him. Thanos’s goal has seen him try to find ultimate power, snatching everything from the Infinity Stones (I’m old enough to prefer calling them Infinity Gems) to Cosmic Cubes. Thanos wants to destroy as much as he possibly can, driven by a nihilism that comes from hatred of both himself and the people who sired him. When Thanos shows up, it usually means that death is following him.

5) His Relationship with Mistress Death

A lot of people, mostly MCU fans, make fun of Thanos’s love for Mistress Death, but it’s actually much deeper than anyone who doesn’t read the comics knows. Thanos’s monstrous appearance made his mother and the people of Titan hate him. He was abused by everyone and this led to him embracing nihilism. He hated everyone, including himself, and he loved death as a concept. Then, he found out that Death was actually real, and he gave all of his love to her, a living personification of his nihilism. Since then, Thanos has been obsessed with Mistress Death, and many of his worst actions have come from his devotion to Death herself. Thanos has made himself into an avatar of death, all to make the personification of Mistress Death love him.

4) It Takes Groups of Heroes to Defeat Him

Usually, villains fight one hero or team of heroes. The Avengers have their own villains, the Fantastic Four have their villains, the X-Men have their villains, and so on. There are some villains who are so dangerous that they fight multiple groups of heroes, and Thanos finds himself in this number. When Thanos attacks, it’s an all hands on deck moment. While there are some heroes out there who Thanos fights more than others, like Adam Warlock or the Silver Surfer, he’s one of the few villains that can be considered a villain for the entire Marvel Universe. Even the most powerful heroes can’t defeat Thanos on their own, with it mostly taking huge groups of heroes to even scratch Thanos.

3) His Fiendish Intelligence

Marvel has some dangerous super geniuses, and Thanos deserves his place among them. Thanos was raised among the super-intelligent Eternals of Titan; he may have been ugly compared to his fellows, but he was smarter than most of them. He is a master of multiple technologies, and that’s before we get to everything he learned from the Infinity Well in Death’s realm, where he learned the secrets of the universe. Thanos is also an expert tactician, able to figure out ways to defeat the defense forces of entire galactic empires and beat teams of the best heroes all on his own. Thanos knows the secrets of the universe, and is an expert in combat, making him a near-unstoppable force. Thanos is smarter than even the most intelligent heroes and villains of the Earth, and he’s used that intelligence to make himself into one of the most feared beings ever.

2) Thanos’s Insane Power Level

Villains have to be powerful enough to challenge the heroes, and Thanos excels there. Thanos is easily one of the most powerful beings in the entire Marvel Universe. He’s strong enough to fight heroes like Thor and the Hulk and has cosmic powers on the levels of Silver Surfer. Thanos only covets items of ultimate power like the Infinity Gauntlet because it makes his goals easier, but he doesn’t need it to defeat the heroes of the Marvel Universe. When Thanos shows up, every hero jumps into the fray and we’ve watched him kill every hero on Earth in numerous alternate futures. Thanos may not be the most powerful being in existence, but everyone from gods to cosmic beings have fallen before him.

1) Infinity Gauntlet

No comic has showed what Thanos is capable of like Infinity Gauntlet. Infinity Gauntlet is one of Marvel’s greatest event comics, and it made Thanos into the most feared villain in the Marvel Universe. Thanos succeeded in his goal of getting godlike power and used it to kill half the universe, making himself into the dark God of everything until he lost it. The story not only showed the threat of Thanos, but dug into who he was as a character, showing us who he was at every level. Every reader who read Infinity Gauntlet came out of it with Thanos as one of their villains, and realized just how dangerous he could truly be. It began an arc of stories that would make Thanos into one of the most complicated villains ever, and is a story that Marvel fans have loved for almost 40 years. Infinity Gauntlet made the argument that Thanos is Marvel’s greatest villain, and very few other stories have proved it wrong.

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