New Marvel Villain Turns Two Heroes Into Dust Like Thanos Did in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’

Marvel Comics has introduced a new villain to its pantheon, the Olympian Mother of Night, Nyx. Nyx, with here children — Hypnos, God of Sleep; Apate, Goddess of Deceit; Dolos, God of Trickery; Oizys, Goddess of MIsery – murdered the Olympian gods and is on a quest to regain her true power. The quest bears a similarity to Thanos‘ quest to obtain the six Infinity Stones. That comparison became apter when Nyx used her power to transform two Avengers into piles of dust. It is hard not to see how similar the effect is to Thanos’ dusting of the Avengers in Avengers: Infinity War.

SPOILERS for Avengers: No Road Home #6 follow. The issue is written by Al Ewing, Jim Zub, and Mark Wait, with art by Sean Izaakse and Marcio Menyz.

Nyx is the Goddess of Night. She existed alone in the universe before the gods were born and began spreading their light throughout. She lived among the gods for a time but found their sagas and clashes to be trivial and petty.

Then humans came about and discovered fire. Fire was so precious to them that the human storytellers began to cast the light as the source and symbol of goodness and darkness as a shroud of evil to be feared. Their narratives made the Olympian gods and demigods into champions pf the light. That, by contrast, made Nyx and her Children of Night something to be feared and shunned, even among the other gods.

Nyx decided that if she would be treated as an enemy, she would behave like one. She and her children battled the Olympians, but they were defeated. Zeus stole Nyx’s heart from her chest and broke it into three pieces, casting them across the cosmos and the planes of reality. He then imprisoned Nyx and the Children of Night in a prison of darkness. So long as the sun shone in the sky, she could never be freed.

In Avengers: No Surrender, the Grandmaster and the Challenger moved the Earth to a new location in the universe. Doing so removed the sun from the sky, allowing Nyx to escape. She and her children now hunt for those shards of night, So far they have struggled. Hypnos failed to take one of the shards from Nightmare’s castle. Scarlet Witch managed to take another and steal it away to the Hyborian Age of Conan the Barbarian.

Infuriated, Nyx reveals that even without the shards she is more powerful than the Avengers realized. With almost no effort, she turns the Vision and Hercules into dust.

The parallels to Thanos are there. On a mission to collect artifacts of power? Yes. Minions referred to as Children? Sure. Turning enemies into dust? That to, though Nyx may be scarier for being able to do so without the power of the artifacts she’s looking for.

What do you think of Nyx, Mother of Night and the comparison to Thanos? Let us know in the comments. Avengers: No Road Home #5 is on sale now.