Marvel Teases Major Thanos Event This Summer

Marvel Comics called it "the most consequential fight in the history of the Marvel Universe" — and it just may bring about the end of everything. Christopher Cantwell and Luca Pizzari's four-issue Thanos limited series saw the return of the Mad Titan, who once used the Infinity Gauntlet to erase half of all sentient life in the universe to court the cosmic being who resurrected him: Mistress Death. After his latest death (in Infinity Wars Prime) and resurrection (in Guardians of the Galaxy), Thanos wasn't Death's consort when he went missing in a black hole and was presumed dead.

After Thanos escaped eternal darkness, his wish for Death — not his own — reignited his endless love and devotion to Mistress Death. Thanos decimated the city of Fresno, California, and battled the Illuminati: Tony Stark, the armored Avenger Iron Man; the telepathic mutant Emma Frost of the X-Men; Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four; Dr. Adam Brashear, the Blue Marvel; the sorcerer Stephen Strange; and their secret weapon, the Hulk.

Thanos sought "Roberta Marshall," an amnesiac cashier and the mortal form of the cosmic personification of Death itself. It was revealed that the Illuminati created this identity for Death, who had become disillusioned with her role in the larger balance of the universe. 

"The extinction of your world will occur sooner than you think. In your lifetimes," Death told the Illuminati. "I hold the foreknowledge of who and what will perpetrate this ultimate destruction. What will end all you that you know and love." If the Illuminati helped Death become mortal, she would share the knowledge locked within the Realm of Death.

But Thanos unlocked "Roberta's" memories and invoked the wrath of Death, who told him she would never forgive Thanos for disturbing and disgracing her quest to understand mortality. Death then swore that Thanos would die at her hand. "My Mistress Death, you remain blind. I revere you... I always will," Thanos told Death. "I have devoted so much of my life to you... but now I see that you are utterly lost. You have become unworthy of what you are. A perversion of your essence. And so, my mistress... it is YOU who must perish."

As Thanos fought Death, the Illuminati weighed whether to intervene: Brashear suggested they couldn't let Thanos kill the very concept of Death, but Frost argued they would benefit from Death's victory over Thanos. However, Dr. Strange interjected to instruct the Illuminati they must protect Thanos: his death would create an "all-encompassing void-like entity that will destroy all of existence itself."

The Illuminati were powerless to stop Death and were handily defeated. And so was Thanos, utterly rejected by his "love." In his defeat, Thanos again called to "that void like no other black hole... a place where all power... even your power... is compressed. Crushed. Into one... tiny... infinitesimal... speck... a black pebble... a single... stone."

Thanos trapped Death in a black void, a dwelling forged from his prison in space: the wellspring of nothingness itself. Death warned Thanos that trapping her in his prison defied the order of the cosmos, telling him: "It is a transgression for which you will be endlessly punished." This, Thanos told her, is her sentence for breaking his heart. "It is you who has transgressed. You have violated your station. And it is you who will now be punished," Thanos told Death. "I knew I would reclaim you, my love. One way or another. Upon my return, you would either offer me your hand... or I would keep you in the palm of mine."

Thanos imprisoned Death in a black Infinity Gem, a stone that he does not — and cannot — control. Not yet. Thanos will be the warden, and Death his charge in her new purgatory. The Illuminati warned Thanos against locking away Death, but he assured the heroes that many souls would continue to die. Thanos then told the Illuminati he may seek out a way to destroy the black stone and free Death from the "weakness infects her. Or perhaps..."

"Or perhaps what?" Bashear asked. Thanos grinned... and disappeared with the imprisoned Death. "In exchange for a giving her a human life, Death promised to tell us how our world would end. How it would happen in our lifetimes," Richards pondered. "Now that he's returned... I wonder if Thanos might play an instrumental role in our impending annihilation."

The end of everything might have been foretold by the universe-consuming Black Winter in Thor (Vol. 6) #6. The Black Winter told the Asgardian that his one true end was inevitable, and then showed Thor how he would die. It was a horrific vision of a future where Thanos, reigning over zombified versions of Earth's mightiest heroes, wielded the six Infinity Gems and Thor's enchanted hammer Mjolnir in one hand. In the other hand: a black gauntlet with a single black stone.

Has Thanos become Death, destroyer of worlds? Thanos #4 ended with a title card: THANOS WILL RETURN SUMMER 2024.

Thanos #4 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.