The Marvel Universe's cosmos are full of alien heroes, power mad demigods, interdimensional rifts, and arcane relics capable of rewriting reality. There, we can also find grounded and very human elements, like found families and people struggling, sometimes failing, to be better than the those who figures that raised them.

In his trilogy of cosmic stories that includes his run on Guardians of Galaxy and the recently completed Infinity Countdown writer Gerry Duggan took all of these elements and blended them into a comic book epic, spanning from Earth to the farthest reaches of space and beyond. And in the currently unfolding Infinity Wars Duggan and artist Mike Deodato are bringing the writer's Marvel Cosmic saga to a close with a series full of shocking reveals and long term payoffs.

RELATED: Marvel Finally Reveals the Shocking Identity of Infinity Wars’ Requiem

Art from Infinity Wars #2 by Mike Deodato and Frank Martin

In Infinity Wars #1, readers discovered that the mysterious Requiem is, in fact, the Guardians of the Galaxy member known as Gamora, who has actually killed her adoptive father Thanos, the Mad Titan, in her quest to gain control of all six Infinity Stones. CBR spoke with Duggan about those shocking twists, how they link up with writer Donny Cates Marvel work in the Thanos: Legacy one-shot, the role Loki plays in this series, and the character combining Infinity Warps books that will spin out of developments in Infinity Wars.

CBR: One of the biggest reveals in Infinity Wars so far is the fact that Requiem is Gamora. It was a twist that had me going back and reexamining your Guardians of the Galaxy run. And it feels like one of the things you've been doing with your Marvel Cosmic books is telling a long form story about Gamora.

Gerry Duggan: Yes. This was always the story that we wanted to tell and were approved to tell. I remember getting some really good advice from [Brian] Bendis about it. That's how long it's been in the works. So it's been a long time coming and I've been very grateful for the reaction to it. I don't take a heel turn lightly and Gamora being the antagonist here made a lot of sense for the story. Some things have changed over the years, but not that.

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='How%20Gamora%20Became%20the%20Villain%20At%20the%20Heart%20of%20Infinity%20Wars']



What inspired you to tell this story with Gamora?

She's long been called “the deadliest woman in the galaxy,” and it's not often that we get to see her earn that title. It's fun for me as a writer, and obviously for Mike Deodato and [colorist] Frank Martin too, to collaborate on a story that shows what happens when a child, despite their best efforts, becomes their parent.

I'm old enough now where I'm the adult in a lot of situations. I have aging parents and a young son. So I can look through my windshield and back in the rearview mirror and see how I got to where I am. That's the grounded tale that I hope I can bring to the Marvel Cosmic universe. This has my biggest, weirdest stories ever, but I also think that if you dipped the story in acid and burned all the weirdness away, you'd be left with a story about a family. The Guardians are that family, and Gamora is center stage now because her family story has blossomed and is sort of overpowering the family story we were telling before.

RELATED: Infinity Wars’ Second Death May Be More Shocking Than Its First

Art from Infinity Wars #2 by Mike Deodato and Frank Martin

I think that's how families work. Sometimes different family issues flare up and engulf the whole family tree. It's sort of like lightning strikes one particular limb and this is very much one of those times for the Cosmic Marvel Universe.

One of Gamora's boldest moves was the assassination of Thanos. That led me to wonder what that means for the time displaced infant version of Thanos that's in the custody of the titular character of Donny Cate's Cosmic Ghost Rider miniseries?

I think it's fair to say that Thanos as you know him is dead. That's how it was written and how it was conceived. At the point he died in life you can argue that's exactly what Thanos wanted.

Coming out of Donny's “Thanos Wins” story, it would make a lot of sense that Thanos would not necessarily fight the good fight against his daughter decapitating him. As crazy as that sounds, it's one of the least crazy things in our story.

RELATED: A Marvel Villain’s Ugly ‘Murican Attitude Goes Galactic in Infinity Wars

EXCLUSIVE: Art from Gerry Duggan, Cory Smith and Ruth Redmond's Thanos: Legacy story

I know you and Donny talk regularly, and I know both of you are heading toward the same destination with Thanos -- the one-shot Infinity Wars tie-in Thanos Legacy which you each have stories in.

I know we've talked about this before, but I never thought I'd get a shot for Marvel, and once I had that shot I never thought, “I'm going to go to the room.” Then I went to the room and I got to play with some of the biggest toys. When you reach for some of the big toys, it requires a level of coordination.

This Thanos stuff has been a coordination between myself, Jason Aaron, Bendis when he was around, and certainly Donny. Because Donny and I are still telling Thanos stories. Thanos is very much still dead in Infinity Wars #2, but you may see the murder that happened in a slightly new way once you experience that issue.

Page 3: [valnet-url-page page=3 paginated=0 text='The%20Thanos%3A%20Legacy%20One-Shot%20Is%20Crucial%20to%20Duggan%20and%20Donny%20Cates%27%20Stories']



What can you tell us about your story in Thanos: Legacy?

My story is a flashback to a special time in Gamora and Thanos' relationship. I remember learning to drive a stick shift with my father. That was an experience with him I'll never forget. This is something that would certainly qualify as that. I would say this is the education of Gamora done House Thanos style.

Donny has a really great story in the book that tees up something special. It's easy to look at events with some jaded eyes. That's not how we're approaching this particular event. I've been really happy to tell my last cosmic story in this way. I know what comes out of it, and whether you like it or you don't, you have to respect the idea that the status quo shifts coming out of it are all earned.

Nobody should sleep on this Thanos one-shot because Donny and his collaborators have cooked up a really special story in that. I don't want to say anything more other than it's a really wonderful book mark to Donny's cosmic legacy that he earned on the Thanosbook following Jeff Lemire.

RELATED: Doctor Strange’s Infinity Watch Already Faces A Major Threat – From A Teammate

EXCLUSIVE: Art from Gerry Duggan, Cory Smith and Ruth Redmond's Thanos: Legacy story

Who's drawing your story in Thanos: Legacy?

Cory Smith. He's doing really wonderful work. I attempted to do something I've never done in all my years of writing comics and that was to do a story that worked silently. Thanks to Cory's wonderful work that will come to pass.

Earlier, you touched upon the other Guardians of the Galaxy. We know coming out of Infinity Wars that the Guardians will be no more and the new Asgardians of the Galaxy series by writer Cullen Bunn will begin. So do the events of this story set the stage for that tale?

RELATED: Infinity Wars Introduced The Most Heroic, Most Powerful [SPOILER], Ever

I don't want to say too much except for the fact that the Guardians are going through a rough time right now, and all of these stories work on their own as stand alone tales. But if you want the big epic that I've set out to tell Guardians is act one. Act Two is Infinity Countdown. And Act Three is Infinity Wars.

You don't have to take the full ride, but my goal every time out is to write a sort of big, long game. I'm proud of everything I've had a chance to collaborate on, but I really do think if I could only give someone one story that I've done for Marvel it would be the end of the cosmic story that we're telling now. I'm really getting away with murder. [Laughs]

I've been thrilled at the response, but you really haven't seen anything yet. All of this has been great but act one of Infinity Wars is coming to a close. And then things will get really weird in a great way. The Infinity Warps are coming!

Page 4: [valnet-url-page page=4 paginated=0 text='What%27s%20Going%20to%20Happen%20to%20Loki%20in%20Infinity%20Wars']



Before we touch on the Infinity Warps, I want to talk about Loki. In Infinity Wars, he's on a quest for answers about himself. So far that journey has lead him to a cosmic locale first seen in Jeff Lemire's Thanos run, the God Quarry A.K.A. the Quarry of Creation. What inspired you to use that location in this story?

I had an idea that there would be a place that might be a nexus or point of entry into another universe. Once I started messing around with the Quarry of Creation it made sense that over aeons the sediment would build up, we'd make gods, and the God Quarry would be on top of that. So we're going to dig down past the God Quarry. That's Loki's goal; to knock down that floor and get down into what lies beneath. I don't know whether he'll be successful, though.

RELATED: Infinity Wars: To Save the Marvel Timeline, A Young Avenger May Have Just Changed It

Another element I've enjoyed in the Loki scenes is how you're returning to an aspect that Kieron Gillen and Al Ewing played with during their runs with the character -- his attempts to free himself from the destiny of being a villain. We see a lot of that during his scenes early on in the series at the Library of Omnipotence City, which begs the question how much knowledge does he have about his past? Is that quest for self knowledge sort of his driving force in this story?

Yeah, there's a really big portion of the story that we've been hinting at really going back to Guardians. It's starting to come to the forefront, but it has been on the back burner for awhile. That's been Loki's story. How he fits into this story and the universe will be a really fun thing to see unfold. It will have ramifications beyond Infinity Wars.

EXCLUSIVE: Adam Kubert art from Soldier Supreme #1

In Infinity Wars #1 Loki got a glimpse of an alternate reality version of himself, Loki Odinson. And in September, you and some fellow creators will have some more alternate reality fun with the Infinity Warps books you mentioned earlier. What can you tell us about the origins and inspirations of this project?

RELATED: Infinity Wars Trailer Reveals [SPOILER]’s Death, Infinity Warps Connection

I've got to be careful about spoilers when talking about this. At one point in time though Thanos used the Infinity Stones to cut the number of souls in the universe by half. He did that by killing people. History may be repeating itself here, but in a totally new and unexpected way. Because we just might be halving the number of souls in the universe by mashing them together.

That's a pretty meaty statement, but you'll have to tune into Infinity Wars #2-#3 to really get a sense of where of that's heading. Infinity Wars #3 really sets the table for that universe in a great way.

Adam Kubert and I are doing a two-shot Soldier Supreme story, and Jordan D. White and C.B. Cebulski lined up some incredibly talented people for the other titles as well. None of us are really jaded, but we're all having so much fun playing with new toys and old toys in a new way. That fun and joy is really shining through in the art and scripts. So it's been really neat to work on.

Page 5: [valnet-url-page page=5 paginated=0 text='Will%20the%20Infinity%20Warps%20Survive%20Infinity%20Wars%3F%20Well...']



It seems like the biggest challenge of a book like Soldier Supreme where you combine elements of Captain America and Doctor Strange would be limiting your story down to two issues. I imagine that combo generates a ton of fun story ideas.

Yeah, I don't want to spoil anything, but we didn't go all this way and have all this fun to not be able to pull that string again. If you fall in love with some of the Infinity Warps, just know that we did too.

It sounds like the Warps books can be enjoyed as part of Infinity Wars, but are they also accessible for readers who are just interested in the intriguing character combinations?

RELATED: Cates Reveals the One Infinity Warps Mash-Up Marvel Rejected

EXCLUSIVE: Adam Kubert art from Soldier Supreme #1

100 percent! Deo and Frank Martin Jr do a terrific job in the third issue of Infinity Wars establishing the way the world is and why the world is that way. It was inevitable this would happen in this story that we're telling, and I think people are going to be really excited to see what happens to some of their favorite characters when their souls are literally merged with other Marvel heroes.

Speaking of the work being done by Mike Deodato and Frank Martin, it's clear they've been having a ton of fun on this book. We've talked about how it's a payoff to what you've done, but it also feels like a culmination of a lot of the stuff Mike has done when you look back at his work on other cosmic books like Thanos or even Original Sin.

Yeah, I think so. I do know these guys are having fun, and they're working so hard. They're working at an insane pace. I think all of their fans are going to be thrilled because I think this is their strongest work, but I also think this is a chance for them to make some new fans too.

RELATED: A Thanos-Style Finger Snap May Lead to Marvel’s Infinity Warps Mash-Ups

Finally, we've talked about a number of different stories that have informed or inspired elements of Infinity Wars.That leave me to feel like this is a series that can be enjoyed on its own, but it's also very rewarding of your knowledge of other Marvel books. It pays off threads from your Marvel Cosmic run, but I get the feeling there are elements from 2015's Secret Wars and stuff before that in play here as well. Was that your intention with this book?

Yeah, I wanted to make a story as accessible as possible to as many people as possible. I've been reading Marvel Comics now, though, since before many of our readers were born. So I have a sense of history.

I'm trying to be aware at all times of who these characters are and how they came to be. We remembered when we did Guardians that Drax is a saxophonist. We remembered that Adam Warlock is a child of science. In our Adam Warlock special, we revealed that he didn't have a soul until the Soul Stone gave him one. That was very important to that character.

I've been thrilled at the response to Infinity Wars. When a story is blown up to event level, you sometimes worry what the general summer movie box office crowd visiting it might think. We've been floored by the response, though. The book is worth it for the art alone, and truly, if you've been enjoying this story, just wait until you get to the second act. It's really going to be a treat.