Marvel Reveals Who Taught Thanos How To Kill

The Mad Titan has become notorious for being one of the most gruesome murderers in the universe. There was a time in Thanos’ life where he snapped and he began his murderous rampage among the cosmos. When Cosmic Ghost Rider #5 was released this week, it finally answered one important question — “Who taught Thanos to kill?”

WARNING: Spoilers up ahead for Donny Cates and Dylan Burnett’s Cosmic Ghost Rider #5. Proceed with caution if you have yet to read the latest issue.

Throughout the five-issue mini-series Cosmic Ghost Rider, the future version of Frank Castle has been trying to raise Thanos as a child in hopes of the kid not turning into the Infinity Stone-seeking villain.

To make a long story short — Castle’s plan fails. It fails so horribly, in fact, that readers find out that Castle is the one that sends Thanos on his murderous journey. Buckle in, here’s where it starts to get bumpy — after being taken an alternate future in which a grown Thanos has taken up The Punisher mantle, Castle is horrified to find that Thanos has overrun Earth and turned it into a fascist state, ruling with an iron fist.

With Baby Thanos in tow, Castle fights Punisher Thanos to the death, eventually disintegrating the Mad Titan with a massively-upgraded Penance Stare.

After seeing the future, in which Thanos ends up as a worse person than he was before, Castle decides to take Baby Thanos back to his timeline to let him grow up as he would have before. After he drops Baby Thanos off into his crib, Death steps out of the shadows to inform Castle of the revelation — his actions in the future timeline are what cause Thanos to have homicidal tendencies.

While Cosmic Ghost Rider #5 was the finale for the mini-series featuring the latest version of Ghost Rider, the character can be seen in the latest volume of Guardians of the Galaxy, kicking off this January from Cates and artist Geoff Shaw. According to Cates, the creative team has “insane” plans for this iteration of the cosmic protectors.

“Geoff and I have some INSANE plans for our first Guardians arc,” Cates said. “This arc is called ‘Endgame,’ and as seen in Thanos Legacy, it begins with the reading of Thanos’s last will and testament. An artifact that Thanos’s brother Eros dug out of his late brother’s heart, which very well may spell doom for the entire universe. What horrid secrets are contained inside the will of the titan?!!”

“Find out this January!! And oh yeah… our new lineup. Well, that’s a surprise as well. Use the hashtag #WhoAreTheGuardians online and maybe we’ll give out some teases as we get closer! See you all in space!”