WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Thanos Legacy #1 by Donny Cates, Brian Level, Jordan Boyd and VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
Thanos, who made a name for himself as the primary villain in Marvel Studios' Avengers: Infinity War, has begun to make his presence felt in the Marvel Universe as well. Writer Donny Cates and artist Geoff Shaw took the Mad Titan to the far future in their "Thanos Wins" story arc of his solo series, and he was the first big, surprising casualty of Infinity Wars.
The cosmic powerhouse knows how to get around, and that also rings true for his love life. Thanos has long been linked to Lady Death, and has absolutely no qualms with dealing out death and destruction if it means winning her affection. However, Marvel attempted to sneak in a new love interest for Thanos last year in the Unworthy Thor miniseries.
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As you can see from the image above, Thanos and Hela found themselves in an intimate liplock that came out of nowhere, but their union opened up a host of possibilities for future storylines to be told of the power couple's march across the Marvel Universe. But then a strange thing happened..... the love affair was never referenced again until over a year later.
Thor #4 saw the God of Thunder and Loki journey to Hel for a family reunion with their deceased brothers, Balder the Brave and Tyr, to help repel Sindr and her Muspelheim army. Sindr has joined forces with Malekith to rage war across the Ten Realms, leaving Thor to scramble to figure out a way to stop them. Being the God of Mischief, Loki came up with a plan that appears preposterous on the surface, but had a chance of working -- having Balder, the current ruler of Hel, marry the previous Hel ruler, Hela, to form a united front.
The big wedding is interrupted on two different occasions, but the one that occurred at the beginning of the issue brings Thanos into the mix, as he conveniently remembers his relationship with Hela. Of course, since Jason Aaron was the writer of Unworthy Thor and Thor, this was more than likely a part of his elaborate plans for the God of Thunder, but Thanos' appearance does raise a few questions.
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First, how did Thanos find out about Hela's wedding so quickly? Loki's idea for the wedding and the actual event happened so fast, it's not like wedding invites could be mailed out to spread the word. Secondly, the Mad Titan had his own problems to deal with in the future with King Thanos, so he wouldn't have been around to hear the gossip being spread.
This is where Cates and artist Brian Level stepped in with Thanos Legacy #1. Cates used the one-shot to fill in the gaps between Thanos #18, the finale of Cates and Shaw's run, and the villain's surprise appearance in Thor #4. After arriving back in the present-day determined to prevent his future from becoming a reality, Thanos pays a visit to the person partly responsible for turning the street vigilante The Punisher into the Cosmic Ghost Rider -- Mephisto.
You see, Thanos wasn't too happy with how pathetic King Thanos turned out to be in the future, so his plan is to intimidate Mephisto into never making a deal for Frank Castle's soul. If Frank never becomes the Ghost Rider, he won't go on to eventually add Herald of Galactus and Black Right Hand to King Thanos to his resume.
Mephisto is caught off guard by Thanos' demand (and vicious right hook), and jumped to the conclusion that Thanos is upset about Hela's upcoming nuptials. Of course, Mephisto has no clue who Frank Castle is, but once Thanos' threat is done, he realized Mephisto let the cat out of the bag regarding Hela's wedding, thereby revealing how Thanos made it to Hel just in time to object to the union.
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The scene may not seem important, but it's a prime example of how continuity in superhero comics can be used to complement a story without it coming across as a burden for readers. Thanos and Hela were an item, they spent some time apart and had their own adventures, and right when it appeared Hela had moved on, Marvel brings Thanos back to remind us their recent history wasn't forgotten. You can't ask for much more than that in superhero storytelling.