Having co-created the character in the pages of 1973's The Invincible Iron Man #55, artist and writer Jim Starlin has been instrumental in defining Thanos, writing a good chunk of the Mad Titan's appearances. However, Starlin has now revealed that an unlikely source helped him shape the Mad Titan's relationship with Lady Death.

In an interview with Inverse, Starlin claimed the hit '80s sitcom Cheers influenced his creation, saying, "I wanted to give him a Sam and Diane relationship that was completely dysfunctional. Somebody like Thanos, that would be the only kind of relationship he would have. And you can't get more unattainable than death."

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Originally, Starlin didn't plan to have Thanos be infatuated with Lady Death. An issue of Silver Surfer leading into The Infinity Gauntlet miniseries -- which served as the basis for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame -- had Thanos ramble about the universe being overpopulated, much like in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But Starlin realized that going down that path would have put him in the proverbial corner.

Lady Death herself has yet to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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Thanos currently appears in Avengers: Endgame. Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, the film stars Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Don Cheadle as War Machine, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Danai Gurira as Okoye and Bradley Cooper as Rocket, with Gwyneth Paltrow Pepper Potts, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Benedict Wong as Wong, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie and Josh Brolin as Thanos. The film is in theaters now.