Why i don't like Thanos Rising

[Alan2099]

This comic in particular was controversial because of how it flew in the face of Thanos's established lore for the sake of making him a more simplified and by the numbers villain, to say nothing of Aaron's inability to write cosmic characters different than characters from a street level thriller. Marvel Cosmic has always been fairly self-contained and internally consistent because after Kirby, only a handful of writers actually tackle it in the first place, and it ended up dividing a lot of people in the process. Was Starlin's take on Thanos a sacred cow that shouldn't be contradicted because he was the character's creator and his stories are classics, or is it okay to throw implications about Thanos's origin by the wayside in favor of an unreliable narrator approach that contradicts earlier authorial intent? That was what most of the discussion about this comic boiled down to. I'm firmly in the pro-Starlin camp of course.

The thing your forgetting is that Thanos had to grow into being the deeper more philosophical character. In the beginning he was very much a world destroying mad titan with no real depth to this character. Even Starlin has used this fact in his stories when he has Thanos refer to his past.

We know Thanos was a kill crazy little SOB "back in the day". Why are you upset with a past that actually shows it?

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

The thing your forgetting is that Thanos had to grow into being the deeper more philosophical character. In the beginning he was very much a world destroying mad titan with no real depth to this character. Even Starlin has used this fact in his stories when he has Thanos refer to his past.

We know Thanos was a kill crazy little SOB "back in the day". Why are you upset with a past that actually shows it?

Even in the seventies he showed hints of future development, when he helped Adam erase Magus from the timeline and helping the dying Mar-Vell in his journey to the afterlife. And besides there are more epic and interesting ways of showing he was a little sob than writing him as a whiny little jerk with no mysticism.

[your_name_here]

Even in the seventies he showed hints of future development, when he helped Adam erase Magus from the timeline and helping the dying Mar-Vell in his journey to the afterlife. And besides there are more epic and interesting ways of showing he was a little sob than writing him as a whiny little jerk with no mysticism.

Out of interest...how would you have written Thanos Rising? Or what would you have like the story to have been?

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

Out of interest...how would you have written Thanos Rising? Or what would you have like the story to have been?

I'm not sure i would be able to capture Thanos's voice and trippy sense of wonder or do the Eternals justice.

[your_name_here]

I'm not sure i would be able to capture Thanos's voice and trippy sense of wonder or do the Eternals justice.

Would he discover Death/fall in love from a young age or is this something he comes across a little later on?

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

Would he discover Death/fall in love from a young age or is this something he comes across a little later on?

Starlin wrote in The End that he saw Death in an abandoned tenple on Titan when he was young.

[your_name_here]

Starlin wrote in The End that he saw Death in an abandoned tenple on Titan when he was young.

So I imagine one way to possibly rewrite it would be less blood-lust/mixed up Thanos we saw in Thanos Rising.
Instead go for a Thanos who begins being intrigued by the concept after discovering it, and upon researching he discovers a love for mistress death? Perhaps “our” version of Thanos Rising could all be about Thanos just simply wishing to see if she actually exists. Once he does, he’s infatuated and the rest, as they say, is history.

[Cronus]

So I imagine one way to possibly rewrite it would be less blood-lust/mixed up Thanos we saw in Thanos Rising.
Instead go for a Thanos who begins being intrigued by the concept after discovering it, and upon researching he discovers a love for mistress death? Perhaps “our” version of Thanos Rising could all be about Thanos just simply wishing to see if she actually exists. Once he does, he’s infatuated and the rest, as they say, is history.

^^^^

Perhaps this? Maybe Aaron's Thanos Rising completely undercut the metaphysical aspect of Thanos? As I understood his story, Death appeared at critical junctures during Thanos' youth to twist and manipulate the guy into the cosmic sociopath he is today. Almost like midichlorians in Star Wars took away the spiritual aspect of the force. Or, how Rob Zombies reboot of Halloween sought to give more substance to Michael Meyers. With these kinds of characters/concepts, I suppose it's difficult to find a proper balance in origin stories, that doesn't take away those aspects that are shrouded in mystery or otherwise give spirituality to the thing in question.

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

I will say, for Thanos to grow, Starlin needs to start exploring what it is that drives Thanos, otherwise like you say...Mongul. Or cosmic level Doom without a real purpose. On the other hand, maybe Thanos should sail off into the Gray Havens as it were, if there is nothing else for him to achieve.

Thanos character peaked with Marvel The End (2003) and beyond Giffen, no one at Marvel made compelling and fresh stories with Thanos. They either write the character as a tanking angry Mongul or regurgitate Infinity Gems (or other mystical macguffins) shenanigans where he gets defeated in embarassing ways (looking at you Bendis and Telltale games). I feel the same about Galactus.