Warning: Contains spoilers for Avengers Annual 2024 #1! Thanos has been a major Marvel Comics villain for decades, meaning fans might think they know him pretty well, especially after his breakout story from 33 years ago, Infinity Gauntlet. The main thing fans think they know about him is his motivation, the reason he does all the cruel things in the cosmos. However, in his latest story, Marvel corrects this misconception about Thanos.
In a preview for Avengers Annual 2024 #1 by Derek Landy and Salvador Larroca Thanos is planning his next move, as he hunts down every current keeper of the Infinity Stones. This comic is the latest in Marvel Comics’ latest crossover event: Infinity Watch. In it, the Infinity Stones chose mortal hosts to ally with, imbuing them with their respective cosmic powers. The Stone Bearers get stronger when they’re in close proximity, making the Infinity Watch perhaps the strongest superhero team in the Marvel Universe – and Thanos wants to use that for his own gain.
Before the event kicked off, Thanos stole Mistress Death’s essence and used it to create a new Infinity Stone: the Death Stone. However, the Stone rejects him when he tries to bond with it, though he hopes that he will succeed in bonding with the Stone after first collecting the other six Infinity Stones just as he did in Infinity Gauntlet. And Thanos makes it clear that the reason he is on this crusade is not because of his love of death, nor is it due to hatred or anger. Thanos does what he does because of one thing: duty.
Thanos is motivated by duty, not a love of death
Thanos has never liked death, and now he’s finally being honest about it
Thanos has famously been trying to court death for roughly his entire Marvel Comics career. The peak of his display of affection had come Infinity Gauntletwhen Thanos used the Infinity Stones to eliminate half of all life in the universe With the snap of the fingers. He wanted to offer Mistress Death a gift in order to win her love, although she was not satisfied, as Thanos’ entire cosmic goal is the pursuit of becoming a god, and by extension, gaining immortality.
Thanos doesn’t really like death, he’s obsessed with death, but never for himself. That’s why Mistress Death has no love for him, because he only wants to use death to shape his own agenda. And why does he want to continue the agenda? Thanos is duty bound to do so. That’s why Thanos turned Mistress Death into an Infinity Stone for her as a weapon, because it’s the first time he’s really been honest about his intentions with Death, as well as the reason behind them: duty.
Thanos’ intelligence and arrogance shaped his self-imposed duty
Nothing drives Thanos’ actions but Thanos, making him a truly despicable villain
When it was believed that everything Thanos did was for Mistress Death, he was a much less despicable villain in a twisted romantic sort of way. If one really wants to court death, cosmic slaughter seems to be a given, because he and death are simply playing a game of romance on a level that mortals cannot comprehend. However, this issue makes it clear that Thanos kills and conquers for no other reason than because he believes that he is smarter and more worthy of power than everyone else, and he is duty bound to prove it to the universe.
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Duty, not love, is what drives Thanos in the Marvel Universe. While this is definitely a change from what fans were led to believe in stories like Infinity Gauntlet, it’s not all that shocking, and has been hinted at in his Marvel Comics history. Now, fans simply have confirmation, as Marvel finally corrects fans’ biggest misconception about Thanos.
Avengers Annual 2024 #1 by Marvel Comics is available September 25, 2024.