Heroic Acts of Thanos:
The Mad Titan is one of the strongest supervillains to ever exist in the Marvel Comic Book Universe. With his strength, wit, and intellect, Thanos is an absolute force of nature. More often than not, it takes the combined strength of the entire array of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to fight the Mad Titan to a standstill. As the literal incarnation of evil, Thanos has done some pretty despicable stuff. There are times though when his acts make us question his alignment. Whether he is truly a supervillain at heart or deep down, he just wants to help?? Sometimes Thanos uses his powers to help those he needs, indicating that there is actually a silver lining to that dark thundercloud and Thanos is actually a Superhero.
1. Helped save an innocent woman possessed by Death
Everyone knows that Thanos has a thing for Lady Death – the embodiment of entropy and the end in the Marvel Universe. Ever since he was a teenager, Thanos’ tryst with Lady Death has only grown stronger. In one story arc, Lady Death decided to possess Marlo Jones, the wife of Rick Jones, a very popular character from the Hulk comic books. Thanos did not just save Marlo Jones but ensured Death does not possess any other being. No one was more grateful to Thanos than Marlo Jones’ Husband Rock Jones. But there could have been ulterior motifs of Thanos behind this. Nonetheless, it was a noble act of kindness.
2. He saved Gamora from a life of destitute poverty
Gamora belonged to a planet that was constantly under threat by pirates and invaders who came looking for easy targets for the inter-galactic slave trade. As a matter of fact, in the comics, we see that Gamora’s race has been under constant oppression by another race of violent creatures called the Badoon. The Badoon had all but destroyed Gamora’s planet and the population was living under extreme poverty, the war having leeched out the last of their resources. Thanos, when he attacked her planet, did not just adopt Gamora, but gave her a chance at a new life. Gamora may have grown to hate her father for what he did to her but Thanos had only the best of intentions at heart for his daughter.
3. Defeated Magus
Would you believe us if we said that there is actually a being in the universe that even Thanos is scared of? A person once used the Infinity Gems to separate his body into two beings, one pure and noble now known as the cosmic superhero Adam Warlock while the other, who was composed of pure malice and evil, came to be known as Magus. Magus’ goals were also pretty megalomaniacal. Unlike Thanos, he did not just want to destroy half of the universe. Magus intended to recreate the universe in his image by destroying the current fabric of reality itself. That would mean the death of the current universe and billions and trillions of innocent life-forms as we know it. Thanos helped the heroes stop Magus from achieving this objective.
4. He once became the leader of the Avengers
Thanos is always a villain. He could never ever even think of going to the light side of the Force. Isn’t it?!?! Wrong!!! There is actually an alternate universe where he found out that there is a version of Thanos in that universe who went on to become the leader of the Avengers and was a well-respected member of the superhero community who was idolized by the masses. But Thanos was not angry at this universe’s Avenger Thanos for taking a different route. Instead, he was actually jealous of him. This version of Thanos had achieved what the original Thanos never could – the respect of everyone!
5. Helped stop Nebula
During the Infinity Gauntlet Saga, Nebula managed to succeed in getting his hands on the Gauntlet, stealing it from Thanos. Granted the Mad Titan has done some pretty terrible stuff to Nebula. He has stripped her of all her organs, replaced her with bionic parts and basically used her as a guinea pig to test out his latest technologies. It was bound to happen that one day or another, Nebula decides to pay back Thanos in kind. In the Infinity Gauntlet Story arc, Nebula sees her chance to grab the Gauntlet and she does. But the heroes realize that Nebula could be worse than Thanos with the Gauntlet so Thanos and the Avengers join hands to stop her. They succeed.
6. Saved the Whole Universe
Every Universe requires the concept of entropy and death. Without it, there can be no balance of things and things will only get worse. When Death lost all meaning in one alternate universe in the Marvel Multi-Verse, it became the Cancer-Verse, a desolate place where every person is corrupted and keeps on living. The Mainstream Marvel Universe also faced the possibility of becoming pretty much like the cancer-verse. When Deadpool and Thanos, who both longed for the love of Lady Death, locked heads to decide the victor who gets to hold hands with Lady Death, Eternity arrives and captures Death. Thanos and Deadpool then join hands to save Lady Death from Eternity’s grasp. Death is freed and the Universe is saved.
7. Stopped Thor from destroying his own home
In one issue, Thor nearly lost his cool and went on into a full-on berserker rage mode. Everything and anything in his path was utterly destroyed. Thor did not care for a thing in the world. His rampage was going to destroy Asgard. The Silver Surfer tried to stop him but even the Power Cosmic could not push back the Asgardian God of Thunder in a bad mood. The Surfer decided to summon the help of well-known foe that had defeated Thor in the past in one on one fights. Thanos happily accepted the offer of fighting Thor and defeated him in a gruesome battle to the death. Thor finally calmed down after getting a royal beat down at the hands of Thanos.
8. Helped kill Annihilus
Annihilus was actually an insect-based non-sentient organism that was exposed to the energies of the cosmic rod and witnessed accelerated evolution. Annihilus soon developed a plan to destroy the entire universe by stealing the entirety of the Power Cosmic and using it to reshape the continuum in his image. He listed the help of Thanos in doing so and Thanos happily agreed to give him a hand. It would later be revealed that Thanos only joined Annihilus’ quest so that he could keep an eye on him and the moment he saw a chance, he betrayed him and resurrected Galactus, who went on to Kill Annihilus before his universe destroying master plan could be enacted.
9. Saved the Universe – AGAIN!!!
In Marvel’s The End, an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh who was abducted by a race of beings called the Celestial Order, returns to Earth and declares that he is the new ruler of the Planet. In his possession is the power of the heart of the Universe, the first-ever energy source to ever exist and a reservoir of near-limitless amounts of energy. Akhenaten is now a living God and he can transform reality the way he wants to. Thanos and a host of other superheroes including the Silver Surfer, Namor and Doctor Strange travel to the far ends of the Earth and recover the Heart of the Universe.
Thanos reveals his plan is to wipe out the whole cradle of creation. Adam Warlock, who had just returned from another universe at the time, witnessed the end of his home universe. But before he could do anything, Thanos reveals his master plan – he only destroyed the current universe so that he could recreate it exactly as it was, without the flaws. Thanos dies in the process and no one but Warlock ever knows about the great sacrifice he just made.
10. Saved an entire alternate universe from eternal damnation
Remember how we talked about the Cancer-Verse a few entries ago? It is an alternate universe where Death has lost all meaning. No living being ever dies and as a result, just keeps on living a damned life within an immortal husk of a body. That is basically the story of every sentient being in the cancer-verse. And as a result, the entire plane of reality in the cancer verse is cursed. Thanos tried to mend that. In order to impress Lady Death, he took it upon himself to venture into the Cancer-Verse and bring back death into this universe. He succeeded.
