To the uninitiated and uninformed
Thanos may look like a purple
Hellboy in armor, but to the initiated and informed
Thanos is a nihilist that is obsessed with the concept of
Death and is willing to commit genocide on his own people.
He was born with grey skin and a massive body due to
deviant syndrome.
Thanos was an ill-tempered child that became obsessed with the concept of
Death in his early years. He was able to augment his
Eternal strengths through meditation, as he grew in power, his thirst for conquest and domination increased. He stole a starship, traveled to other star systems and recruited an entire army, and nuked is home world
Titan killing thousands including his mother,
Sui-San.
Thanos eventually met the embodiment of
Death itself and fell in love. To make himself worthy of
Death’s love,
Thanos seized control of extremely powerful items like the
Cosmic Cube, the
Infinity Stones, and ultimately the
Infinity Gauntlet attempting to destroy and conquer to gain the affection of
Death.
Once again, one of the most interesting aspects to
Thanos and why he is such a good villain is because he believes that he is
right.
Thanos’ mother,
Sui-San tried to kill
Thanos at first sight. The doctor’s actually had to sedate his mother as ordered by the
Eternal Mentor.
Thanos went on to be the smartest child in his school and a pacifist that was isolated because of his looks due to
deviant syndrome.
In the story
Thanos Rising,
Thanos is falsely accused and believed by the people of
Titan to have murdered his friends. With his friends now dead,
Thanos was isolated and alone once again. In retrospect,
Thanos believes that he could have saved his friends if he dropped his overly passive nature. This led
Thanos on the path to becoming the
Mad Titan.
Thanos is a very relatable character. In a way, he has gotten the short end of the stick since birth but instead of wallowing in self-pitty, he decides to make something of himself. Every time
Thanos fails or his plans are destroyed, he either returns to that ill-tempered child or he is taught a lesson by
Adam Warlock returning him to his overly passive nature.
One thing is for sure, Thanos believes that he is right and he has the power and intelligence to attract others to his cause and destroy those that interfere.
Nihilism is an important belief for both the Joker and Thanos and it plays an important part in their stories and motivations. How do you truly defeat someone that believes life has no objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value?
A recent comic book movie example of how the villain is simply evil for the sake of being, evil, is Malekith The Accursed from Thor: The Dark World. The movie in itself was not a bad movie but Malekith suffered from being an underdeveloped villain with poorly explained ideals and motivations that was portrayed to perfection by actor, Christopher Eccleston. The movie also chose to leave out the history behind Malekith, why his face was scarred in the comics, and why he believes that War is inevitable and that there will always be war.
A good fictional villain is more than just a news story, he’s more than just a monster, and he’s more than just a bad individual. A good fictional villain has as much soul and as much spirit as the hero, and one of the most entertaining things to watch on screen is to see either the villain take the heroes spirit away or to see the hero slowly crush the villains hopes and dreams.
Either way, somebody is going to get their heart broken.