With the release of Avengers: Infinity War, millions of fans of the World’s Greatest Heroes will get to see firsthand just why Thanos has risen up through the ranks of villains to become one of the most fearsome enemies that Marvel’s biggest super-team has ever faced. His coming has been prophesied for nearly six years now in the movies, and it’s understandable to think that the Mad Titan cannot possibly live up to that hype. We’re here to tell you, however, that he absolutely does.
There’s a reason that the name Thanos instills fear throughout the galaxy, and that’s because over the years he’s defeated almost every being that’s gotten in his way. When a guy as powerful as Thanos -- a dude who literally worships Death -- stands across the battlefield from you, chances are he’s the only one walking away. It’s taken the full strength of almost every superhero on Earth to bring him down in the past, but other cosmic entities have not been so lucky. No matter how big, no matter how powerful, and no matter how much the odds are stacked against him, Thanos always wins. Join us as we take a look at 25 overpowered cosmic beings that Thanos has vanquished!
25 KING THANOS
It’s often said that our greatest enemies are ourselves, but in Thanos’ case, that can be all too literal. In the most recent Thanos comics by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw, we see that the only person Thanos sees as worthy of taking his life is a younger version of himself.
In a typical example of Thanos’ narcissistic arrogance, centuries in the future, old King Thanos pulls his younger self into the future.
He does this so that he can have one last battle before succumbing to the sweet embrace of Mistress Death. There are a few surprises along the way, and nothing ever goes exactly to plan, but the younger Thanos finds that if you want something doing right, it’s always best to just do it yourself.
24 SILVER SURFER
For centuries, the Silver Surfer served as the Herald of Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds. In this role, you’d imagine that Thanos and Surfer had the same end goal: the death of countless civilizations. However, when Surfer saw the error of his ways and decided to break from his destiny and serve the forces of good, he crossed paths with the Mad Titan on multiple occasions.
Imbued with the Power Cosmic, the Silver Surfer is a formidable foe. Despite this incredible power, Thanos has beaten him to near death in the past, and he has been known to brush off the full force of Surfer’s power when blasted directly at him. The most recent time was in the far future, where old King Thanos and his present-day self, teamed up to kill the Silver Surfer of the future, who wielded Thor’s hammer Mjolnir, making him overwhelmingly powerful.
23 THOR
The Asgardian God of Thunder has crossed paths with Thanos many times, and while their battles are always unpredictable, Thor has been known to be victorious on many occasions. But it’s never an easy win. While they’ve gone toe-to-toe multiple times, Thanos has also aligned himself with villains like the Mangog in order to defeat Thor in the past, leading to an epic clash as the Mad Titan attempts to remake all of reality.
The Infinity Watch also elicited the help of Thanos when Thor succumbed to Warrior’s Madness, believing Thanos to be the only one capable of defeating Thor and restraining him so that they could find a cure and restore the God of Thunder to his normal state. Most recently, the two clashed when an unworthy Odinson and Thanos fought over who would wield the Ultimate universe Mjolnir that landed in the 616 universe.
22 GALACTUS
The Devourer of Worlds, Galactus is a force of nature, a universal constant that, despite his destructive powers, is essential for the cosmic balance of the universe. He’s a foe that Thanos couldn’t possibly hope to defeat on his own (not without the Infinity Gauntlet anyway), but the Mad Titan is nothing if not surprising, and he manages to hold his own against the (other) giant purple one.
The fight is short, but not many can say that they knocked Galactus off his feet.
When Galactus attempts to collect the Infinity Gems in order to end his relentless hunger, Thanos discovers that the Devourer is being manipulated into releasing a multiversal monster called the Hunger, and goes to confront him. They clash, and Thanos blasts Galactus out of his own citadel, causing Galactus to consume more of his own power than he’d like to stand back up and penetrate Thanos’ force field.
21 ADAM WARLOCK
If there was one being who perpetually stood in Thanos’ way time and again, it would be Adam Warlock. Essentially the cosmic space Jesus of the Marvel universe, Adam Warlock represents life where Thanos represents death, so it seems fitting that they are so frequently paired together as nemeses.
Writer Jim Starlin is largely responsible for bringing these two characters together so often, being the co-creator of the Mad Titan and partly responsible for the reinvention of the Warlock character. In-universe, Warlock is also tied directly to the Infinity Gauntlet, almost guaranteeing that he’d face off against Thanos. Like Vision in the movies, Warlock’s life essence is tied to an Infinity Stone -- in this case, the Soul Stone -- and he’s been responsible for guarding the stones with his team the Infinity Watch.
20 GRANDMASTER
While it’s not made clear in Thor: Ragnarok, the Grandmaster in the comics is an Elder of the Universe, meaning he’s one of a small group of beings that have existed for as long as this universe has, and they’re the last remaining member of their respective races. The Grandmaster is -- as the name would suggest -- a being who has mastered all forms of gaming and gambling entertainment, often putting on grand, cosmically threatening games that endanger the lives of the Avengers.
It’s unclear exactly how this came about, but the Grandmaster was once in the possession of the Mind Gem, meaning that when Thanos began his initial quest to assemble the Infinity Gauntlet, he had to go through the Grandmaster to do it. His superb planning and tactical skills meant he easily succeeded in defeating this Elder, taking him one step closer to ultimate power.
19 GARDENER
Another Elder of the Universe, the Gardener -- real name Ord Zyonz -- was a near-immortal being that hailed from one of the earliest civilizations following the Big Bang. Like most of the Elders, he too was defined by a singular obsession; in this case, the peace and quiet of a perfect garden.
He came into possession of the Time Gem twice in his existence, both times using it to create a perfect garden. The first time he abandoned it after realizing its corrupting potential, leaving it for Thanos to collect as he assembled the Infinity Gauntlet. The second time, Thanos actually confronted the Elder and, using the power of the gems he had already collected, killed the Gardener and stole the Time gem for his own.
18 IN-BETWEENER
One of the fun, but more confusing aspects of the cosmic side of Marvel comics is the literal embodiments of abstract concepts, like death and eternity. The In-Betweener is one such entity, representing Duality itself, like life and death, and good and evil. He’s aligned himself with the Elders from time to time, but he is actually a far more powerful abstract constant.
Thanos succeeds in beating the cosmic being after freeing him from prison but then double-crossing him.
As such, he’s an immensely powerful being, having fought Galactus and the Elders of the Universe, too. Thanos has confronted him numerous times, the latter occasion to acquire the Soul Gem that In-Betweener has in his possession. Thanos succeeds in beating the cosmic being after freeing him from prison but then double-crossing him, abandoning him to face his fate at the hands of his cosmic jailers, Lord Chaos and Master Order.
17 DRAX
Drax the Destroyer has a very different origin in the comics than he does in the movies. Drax was a creation of Thanos’ father and uncle, who resurrected a human man that had lost his family thanks to Thanos, enhancing him in every way in order to become a being genetically and cosmically engineered. He was created for one reason: to kill Thanos.
He achieves his goal, too, in Annihilation, but never let it be said that death would ever slow down Thanos. In their first encounter, however, back in Iron Man #55, Drax -- in his “classic” garb, which features a bright purple cape -- is thoroughly defeated. They destroy a whole planet in their battle, but Thanos is the one that walks away victorious. Thanos has also defeated the Guardians of the Galaxy too, meaning that even with backup, Drax has lost.
16 DARK THANOS
Much like King Thanos, this doppelganger of the Mad Titan was summoned before the present day Thanos with death and a fight on his mind. Created by the evil Magus (the dark future version of Adam Warlock) just before he possessed the Infinity Gauntlet, this alternate Thanos was brought forward as a final obstacle for the real Thanos to confront before battling Magus himself.
Possessing perhaps even more raw cosmic power than he had, Thanos struggled to defeat this twisted duplicate.
Thanos states that, since possessing the Infinity Gauntlet himself, and more importantly losing that power, he has lost the fire within himself, making this version of him far more powerful. Despite this, after a protracted battle, the real Thanos scrapes a victory.
15 ODIN AND THE ASGARDIANS
The Asgardians are among the most powerful beings in the cosmos. Possessing a warrior’s spirit and the experience of thousands of years of battles across the Ten Realms, King Odin and his people have fought and survived against greater threats than the Mad Titan.
When Thor succumbed to the Warrior’s Madness, however, Thanos -- then aligned with a group of heroes called the Infinity Watch, led by Adam Warlock -- was pitted against Odin in a battle where both sides assumed they were in the right. When Asgard looked to be defeated, Odin himself entered the fray and went one-on-one with Thanos. Despite being the All-Father and King of the Gods, Odin was evenly matched by Thanos, and while it looked like Odin would be victorious, if the fight was not interrupted, we may have seen his defeat.
14 SUPER SKRULL
Combining all of the powers of the Fantastic Four, Kl’rt is a member of the Skrull, an alien race with the ability to shape-shift and integrate seamlessly into other civilizations. When the Skrull’s first attempt at invading Earth is thwarted by the Fantastic Four, they engineer the Super-Skrull as a way to defeat the FF and clear the way for another invasion. He’s pretty successful too, until Mr Fantastic realizes that Kl’rt’s powers are being augmented by a beam from the Skrull homeworld; a beam he disrupts, leading to the Super-Skrull’s defeat.
Kl’rt is even less successful than that against Thanos. The Mad Titan is assembling a group of supervillains to confront an Oracle and gain power and knowledge, and among them is Super-Skrull. He’s initially reluctant to work alongside Thanos, to which he is embarrassingly defeated, forcing him into servitude.
13 THE CHITAURI
The Chitauri have a strange history in the comics. Those coming into the Marvel universe now, after they were established in 2012’s Avengers movies, would find the warlike alien empire to be largely familiar to them. However, before 2012, the only time the Chitauri were used was as a strange Skrull replacement in Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s Ultimates.
In the latest Thanos comics, however, it’s been made pretty clear that while these aliens form a formidable empire in the galaxy, they are no match for the Mad Titan.
When Thanos makes landfall on their homeworld, he quickly dispatches of their leadership and assumes full control of the Chitauri Empire, something he still has command of to this day, giving him ties closer to the movie version than ever before.
12 HIS PARENTS
Seeing as we know so much about Thanos, it seems strange to think that we had to wait until 2013 to read about his full origin story. In the limited series Thanos Rising, we got to see just how a being like Thanos came to be, and it was every bit as gruesome as we’d expect from a dude called the Mad Titan who’s obsessed with death.
Born to Sui-san and Mentor, two Eternals on the Saturn moon Titan, Thanos’ obsession with death began at an early age. He was actually groomed by Mistress Death when he was a teen, killing and dissecting lizards before moving onto his classmates and, eventually, his mother. He would grow up with the nickname the Mad Titan, and it wasn’t until years later that he confronted and killed his father while searching for a cure to the God Cancer that was slowly killing him.
11 PHOENIX
The Phoenix Force has been shown to be among the greatest forces of nature in the universe. Unkillable and all-powerful, this life-giving, civilization-ending force has been most commonly associated with the X-Men, specifically the mutant Jean Grey, to which it has formed a permanent bond of death of resurrection. While it’s very choosy about its hosts, it has been known to gift other beings with its grand cosmic burden.
One such being was Thanos’ Inhuman son Thane, who actively sought out the Phoenix Force in order to gain its power and kill his father.
He succeeded in becoming the new host for the Phoenix, confronting his father for what he thought was the final time. For a while, Thanos lay defeated, but like the Phoenix itself, he returned from the dead and lay waste to his son, punching him so hard he destroyed the planet around them.
10 QUASAR
A superhuman cosmic being with the power of the mysterious Quantum Bands, Quasar is a superhero mantle that has been taken on by many people over the years, most notably the S.H.I.E.L.D agent Wendell Vaughn. Despite being deemed unfit for field work, Wendell successfully bonds with the Quantum Bands when the base he is in is attacked by A.I.M. His calm nature lends itself to being a successful bearer of the Bands, and as such, he becomes Quasar.
Quasar became a prominent cosmic character throughout the late ‘80s and early ‘90s of Marvel, which of course means that at some point he’s bound to bump into Thanos. The Mad Titan confronts and is about to beat Quasar, but decides against hurting him, as he previously gave his word that he would do no harm. That didn't hold him back in the Infinity Gauntlet series, though, when he ended him with just a look (augmented with an insta-kill eye beam, of course).
9 MORG
After Galactus lost Silver Surfer as his Herald due to the Surfer’s conscience, he also lost Nova (Frankie Raye) to the same thing. Nova was passing up on perfectly good planets for Galactus to eat, just because they were inhabited. After suffering the loss of multiple Heralds to “feelings,” Galactus decided the best being for the job was one without any.
Enter Morg, a relentless executioner that killed members of his own race in order to please those that had defeated them.
Morg showed no remorse in choosing planets for Galactus to feast upon, making him the perfect Herald for the Devourer of Worlds. When the cosmic villain Tyrant captured Morg and brainwashed him to do his bidding, he came into conflict with Thanos, who was looking to defeat Tyrant. Using the mighty axe of Terrax -- another former Herald -- Thanos defeated Morg in a single blow.
8 TYRANT
Eons ago, Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds, created a sentient machine in his image, imbuing it with the Power Cosmic. Naming it Tyrant probably wasn’t the best start in life for his new creation, because very soon it hungered for power and conquest. Galactus fought his metal son, stripping him of power and exiling him.
Cut to the present day, and Tyrant has returned stronger than ever, kidnapping a group of powerful cosmic beings like Silver Surfer, Terrax, and Beta Ray Bill in order to harness their powers. Thanos, always up for a challenge, decided to ally himself with this group of ex-Heralds and cosmic misfits to battle Tyrant. In a one-on-one battle, Tyrant held its own against the Mad Titan, but Thanos was able to steal his power orb and escape, leaving Tyrant vulnerable to Galactus’ fatal onslaught.
7 TERRAX
Yet another former Herald of Galactus (he gets through them pretty frequently), Terrax is a Birjan named Tyros of the planet Birj. He’s able to telekinetically manipulate the landscape around him, a power which is increased by Galactus’ gift of the Power Cosmic. Eventually, he could shift tectonic plates and cause volcanic eruptions with his mind. He’s also got a cosmic scythe, with which he can project energy blasts, because those are so in right now.
He’s no match for Thanos, though.
They’ve clashed a few times, most notably in the out-of-continuity crossover Green Lantern and Silver Surfer: Unholy Alliance, where not only did Thanos transport Terrax to the DC universe, but used him as a pawn in his game to gain the trust of Kyle Raynor, aka Green Lantern, so that he could destroy the universe. He swatted Terrax away like a fly, proving that he’s not even in his league.
6 PARALLAX
Inter-company crossovers between Marvel and DC are rare, but they have been known to happen from time to time. One such occasion was Green Lantern and Silver Surfer: Unholy Alliance, which saw Thanos dance between two worlds, manipulating heroes and villains alike in an effort to destroy all of creation and earn the love of Lady Death.
Parallax was an evil version of the Green Lantern Hal Jordan, who had gone mad after the destruction of his city, his friends, and family. Thanos planned to travel to the DC Universe, steal the last Green Lantern ring and use its power to end everything. He stole the power of Oa and ended up in a face-off against Parallax, who had defeated and stolen the Power Cosmic from the Silver Surfer. It takes the combined powers of Surfer and Kyle Rayner to defeat the two villains and restore everything to normal.