How powerful is Thanos and in what way is he powerful? *No spoilers, please*

[exile001]

Although I've read a lot of Marvel I have kind of missed Thanos.

I'm currently about halfway through Infinity (so please, no spoilers), and he's being built as this massive power, but so far he hasn't actually done anything personally.

It was largely the same with the 'Year One' mini the other year, and Infinity Gauntlet (the Gauntlet doing the work).

Obviously he has a massive army willing to die at his command, I'm just wondering about Thanos' power as a singular entity.

I've gathered that he is nigh-invulnerable (as these cosmic types tend to be), he packs a big punch, but what else?

What are Thanos' powers? Where should he be on the power-level spectrum? Would he be a threat to the Hulk, physically?

From what I've read, if I may liken him to a DC character, I'd say he was more Mongul than Darkseid, but his threat gets Marvel fans very excited so he must be more.

[CraigTheCylon]

He's 'cosmic', which in the Marvel Universe means he's potent yet also vague and flexible enough to basically do whatever the writer says he can. For some reason, a lot of space-based heroes and villains simply don't have canonical 'limits' to their powers, so they can swing back and forth pretty wildly. Silver Surfer's the same way.

In basic terms, Thanos is (mostly) physically invulnerable, incredibly strong and can project devastating energy blasts of some kind. He's also been capable of teleportation (albeit often with gadget assistance), astral projection and rapid healing on the occasions something does hurt him. I expect he also has, if not outright telepathy, then at least telepathic resistance, as his mind is only accessible by Moondragon in Annihilation when he deliberately lets her in. This is in addition to a whole bunch of context-sensitive 'powers', e.g. altering/deleting the programming of Annihilus' control bugs in that same story.

And yes, he would absolutely be a threat to the Hulk. As Infinity will eventually prove.

[fmvgamer]

Thanos should be way beyond hulk , as should be silver surfer tbh and thanos handily can kick surfer's ass if he wants to.

[pinoypanzer]

Beyond what CraigTheCylon said, Thanos has also shown the ability to transmute matter and he has complete control of his molecules so he has resisted some reality-altering abilities. He's done some pretty crazy things like tanking a singularity that collapsed around him. Though that shouldn't be a surprise since The Silver Surfer is able to chill in Black Holes and Thanos has been proven to be way above the Surfer. Jim Starlin, Thanos' creator has said that he viewed Thanos (and Adam Warlock) as beings on the verge of being abstract entities.

But really what makes Thanos a threat is his intelligence. He's outwitted Mephisto, the Elders of the Universe, and during the Infinity War, Crusade, and Marvel: The End (which has basically been made canon again) he basically played all of Marvel Earth for fools and used them as pawns. Adam Warlock has basically been the only one to match him scheme for scheme.

[CSTowle]

Beyond what CraigTheCylon said, Thanos has also shown the ability to transmute matter and he has complete control of his molecules so he has resisted some reality-altering abilities. He's done some pretty crazy things like tanking a singularity that collapsed around him. Though that shouldn't be a surprise since The Silver Surfer is able to chill in Black Holes and Thanos has been proven to be way above the Surfer. Jim Starlin, Thanos' creator has said that he viewed Thanos (and Adam Warlock) as beings on the verge of being abstract entities.

But really what makes Thanos a threat is his intelligence. He's outwitted Mephisto, the Elders of the Universe, and during the Infinity War, Crusade, and Marvel: The End (which has basically been made canon again) he basically played all of Marvel Earth for fools and used them as pawns. Adam Warlock has basically been the only one to match him scheme for scheme.

This. He's Doctor Doom and Darkseid rolled into one.

[exile001]

Super badass! Thanks for the info, everyone. I'd not seen a lot of those powers/issues.

This gives me a lot more context for Thanos' power range in the awesomeness that is Infinity.

[XPac]

If I could place Thanos in some sort of power range, I'd say he's above a Herald of Galactus (like Silver Surfer) but below a Skyfather (like Odin).

Though perhaps the most dangerous aspect to him isn't his power but intelligence. Under Starlin at least, he's usually able to be one step ahead of almost anyone he's facing, from higher end cosmic beings to even the earth heroes.

Adam Warlock seems to be one of the few beings who has Thanos number on any sort of consistant level.

[fmvgamer]

Unfortunately , when written by inferior writers , Thanos will just looked like another cosmic tool waiting to get his ass kicked by inferior heroes.

Of course , as it should be , Thanos get paired up against Darkseid in Marvel vs DC.

[Cap10nate]

Some great Thanos feats come during Thanos Quest which leads up to Infinity Guantlet. It is about how he is able to acquire all the gems. It is very impressive as it shows his superior intellect as well as physical might.

His mini-series that came out in 2003 has some good feats as well. A few in which he is able to stand up to Galactus for a short period of time.

[exile001]

Okay, just finished Infinity and Thanos was awesome! He made Earth his plaything, trashed the Hulk and gave Thor a beat down. Very impressive.

Can anyone tell me what power his blasts (the blue energy) are channelling? Does it have a name and origin/important tie to the MU (a la Darkseid's Omega Beams?)? Or is it unimportant?

And, obviously, my original likening him to Mongul was utterly incorrect, he is far, far more powerful.

[butterflykyss]

He was beaten by squirrel girl. ..

'Nuff said.

[AnimalSquabbles]

Which 'year one' mini has Thanos in it??

[HaveAtThee]

Physically speaking, Thanos is considerably stronger than Thor and Hulk and more durable, though in years past he's been shown to be weary of fighting powerful opponents with his fists. His greatest asset is his genius, cosmic-level intellect and manipulation of cosmic energies.

[Beacon]

He's also smarter than any non-cosmic being (including Reed Richards)

[Chainsaw Vigilante]

He's powerful because Jim Starlin will go out of his way to make him the most important character (along with Adam Warlock) in Marvel, and will retcon any stories he doesn't like and will always find some new power or knowledge source to make Thanos able to be some sort of God analog. Why?; because Starlin flat out said he sees himself in Thanos, so it's a bit of an ego trip.

Aside from that rant, there's never been any real in-comic justification for Thanos' high end portrayals. He's basically a Titanian Eternal (they don't have the cosmic powers of Earth Eternals) who's mutant ability gave him stronger bones and tissue and greater strength than his fellow Titanians, and the ability to process cosmic energy for concussive blasts (which is more so a bit of hereditary genetics from Mentor who was an Earth Eternal during Chronos' experiment). That's not really an "out there" power set, but because a single writer has basically controlled most of the history of the character (whether through writing new stories or retcons) there is a consistency to his threat level. There was one basically throwaway line that could have explained an upgrade since the Infinity Gauntlet/Thanos' Quest, which mentioned that Death made the resurrected Thanos more powerful, but nothing else has been brought up.