The evil Mad Titan Thanos is one of the rare villains to headline his own ongoing Marvel series, and he's one of the only villains to star in a series that consistently drew high praise. Writer Jeff Lemire, Mike Deodato and German Peralta launched Thanos in 2016 to considerable acclaim. Following that run, the new creative team of writer Donny Cates and artist Geoff Shaw took the baton for "Thanos Wins," an instant-classic that brought several all-new ideas to the Marvel Universe.
One of the biggest surprises of the story arc is the debut of King Thanos, a version of the Mad Titan from the far future. King Thanos ruled over a desolate wasteland where he successfully vanquished all of his enemies, including the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy. Any threat that rose up against him was ultimately defeated, except for a figure only known as the Fallen One. Despite all of King Thanos' victories, he still needed the present-day Thanos to help him defeat the Fallen One and accomplish his last, final goal of pleasing Lady Death.
In the present-day, Thanos had just finished taking over Chitauri Prime, the homeworld of the alien Chitauri from 2012's The Avengers. Less than five minutes after naming himself their new ruler, Thanos was interrupted by Cosmic Ghost Rider, a crazed motorcycle-riding former Spirit of Vengeance. This new character was a mix between a Ghost Rider and Herald of Galactus, who claimed to be following orders to bring Thanos to the future by using a shard of the Time Stone to travel through time. Cosmic Ghost Rider, aka the Black Right Hand of King Thanos, was an instant hit with readers, as fans quickly speculated about his secret identity. Despite many early suggestions that it was Deadpool, the man behind the Cosmic Ghost Rider turned out to be the Punisher.
Once Thanos was taken to the future to meet King Thanos, the Mad Titans did what all superhero comic book characters do when they first meet each other: they fought. However, some important pieces of information come to the fore during their scuffle. For example, it was revealed that Thanos' intended birth name was going to be Dione, and the reason King Thanos needed his younger counterpart's help was to kill the Silver Surfer, who had transitioned into the role of the Fallen One.
Not only was the Silver Surfer going by a new title, but he also had the Annihilation Wave as his army, along with a former Avenger's cherished weapon. Knowing he needed all the help he could get to stop King Thanos, Silver Surfer spent millennia preparing himself to be worthy enough to lift the Asgardian hammer, Mjolnir, which made him the new God of Thunder. The ensuing battle was epic, with Cosmic Ghost Rider falling as the first major casualty. Unfortunately, the second and third casualties were Silver Surfer and King Thanos' pet, the Incredible Hulk.
In this future's timeline, Thanos wiped out Earth's Mightiest Heroes at some point in the relatively near future. As it turned out, Bruce Banner/the Hulk was spared and turned into the Mad Titan's pet that he kept chained below his compound formed out of the bones of a fallen Celestial. One of Cosmic Ghost Rider's tasks was to feed Hulk King Thanos' leftovers, which gave us a glimpse at Banner's broken psyche. He begged to be killed to put out of his misery and finally got his wish when King Thanos drove Surtur's Sword of Doom through Silver Surfer and Hulk's chests.
With Silver Surfer dead, Lady Death finally arrived to watch the Clash of the Mad Titans. Throughout the millennia King Thanos had given Lady Death everything she could ever ask for, but the final thing he had to deliver to her was his own death. Thus, if anyone was going to have the privilege of killing King Thanos, it would have to be Thanos himself, which is why the present-day version was pulled into this scheme. The two Thanos' fought to the death, with the younger Thanos choosing to spare his rival and change the future so that King Thanos would cease to exist.
"Thanos Wins' ended with what we presumed to be the death of King Thanos, but Cates' final issue of Guardians of the Galaxy revealed King Thanos isn't dead after all, as the writer reunited with Shaw for a splash page showing King Thanos as the new embodiment of Death. While that merely stands as a glimpse of the future for the moment, it may not be long before King Thanos returns to terrorize Marvel's greatest heroes once again.