Should Jim Starlin continue to write Thanos?

[Alan2099]

Thanos abandoned his Unviersal Conquest/Genocide plans DECADES ago. He didn't even have an army anymore.
It was all part of intensive character developement by Jim Starlin. And then other writers came along and ignored it.
I would be pissed too.

I think Thanos talked about growing and having learned his lesson under Starlin more than he actually grew and changed.

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

I think Thanos talked about growing and having learned his lesson under Starlin more than he actually grew and changed.

Starlin wanted Thanks to grow up and retire for good but editors won't let that happen and current writers ignore everything that came before Aaron's crappy Thanos Rising story.

I also point to that moment from that Infinity War (1992) tie-in where Thanos eventually refuses Death's request to kill Adam Warlock. In fact, Thanos was anything but a villain in War and Crusade. To say nothing of The End and Samaritan.


I also don't like how Marvel NOW writers made him more reckless and brutish instead of writing him as a magnificent bastard schemer with prep time and scientist like he used to be before 2013. They way Bendis wrote Thanos as a saturday morning cartoon villain with stupid dialogue who gets wrecked by a relatively weak formation of the GOTG was pretty infuriating tbh. That's not the same character that got me hooked.

[Cronus]

Actually, who gets Thanos better than Starlin? Too many other writers dont seem to grasp Thanos is as dangerous intellectually as he is in terms of his power set.

And honestly? Its refreshing to see a writer with that kind of passion for a character. If only writers who really loved the characters they write, were allowed to write them...but y'know, reality and what not. I say Marvel needs to stop trifling the guy when it comes to continuity issues.

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

Actually, who gets Thanos better than Starlin? Too many other writers dont seem to grasp Thanos is as dangerous intellectually as he is in terms of his power set.

And honestly? Its refreshing to see a writer with that kind of passion for a character. If only writers who really loved the characters they write, were allowed to write them...but y'know, reality and what not. I say Marvel needs to stop trifling the guy when it comes to continuity issues.

That's exactly my point

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

The Thanos Annual was by far one of the most enjoyable books I have read, and looked at, from Marvel in a long, long time. I will be looking to pick up the recent Starlin stuff as soon as I get through other stuff on my reading list.

These complaints to me always seem to be about enjoying someone else's work better and feeling, I don't know the best word, but threatened I guess. If Starlin is throwing out other people's recent stories then it is essentially because they through out his. Oh, sure, they relied on the reputation of his stories and what Thanos was built up to but after that they just did their own things with him.

Sometimes there are characters that just work best in the hands of the person who created them. To me this is almost the closest to creator owned work at Marvel or at least a character that is still written today as it was in the stories that built that character.

Yep, i think in someway, Thanos character was hurt by becoming' 'mainstream'' with Infinity Gauntlet (1991) and mostly by the bizarre misunderstanding of that story as a epic Avengers/X-Men crossover full of superheroic pyrotechnics where they take down a cosmic potentate and his skeleton girlfriend. Gauntlet actually was, in typical Starlin fashion, a trippy headpiece filled with psychedelic images and bizarre reality warping dreamscapes. And also typical of Starlin he wrecks superheroes in a hilariously quick fashion, with Thanos showing off his new powers by killing the ineffectual remains of Earth's Mightiest Heroes in creative and brutal ways, kinda like the Lady of Pain from Planescape. A-list characters like Captain America, Spider-Man, Iron Man and Wolverine (memorably dispatched by having his adamantium skeleton turned into spongy rubber) have far less importance to the plot compared to underrated mystical and cosmic characters like Silver Surfer, Nebula and Doctor Strange, to say nothing of Adam Warlock, the real heroes of the story. And really the point of Gauntlet was Thanos realizing that mystical macguffins and acts of cruelty will never convince Death to love him and not even omnipotence will make him happy. Gauntlet really was the culmination of Starlin's work on Thanos. If Thanos stayed a lonely farmer and never made other appearances aside for a few cameos it would have been perfect. But that's the ending or climax of Thanos' character, it's not his entire story. Marvel head honchos by regressing him into a by numbers angry cosmic potentate like Mongul or Frieza and having Cates craft a story where he is after the infinity gems again, because that's the only thing most people remember about the character much like how certain people think Bane doesn't have a character beyond ''angry luchador on steroids'', show how little they understand the classics and how little imagination Modern Marvel has.

End rant.

[Shadowcat]

Starlin treats Thanos like he's the very best at everything at the detriment of other characters.

There are 2 characters in Marvel this should apply to. Thanos and Doom.

[PCN24454]

There are 2 characters in Marvel this should apply to. Thanos and Doom.

It only gets more ridiculous as their legends get bigger.

[basbash99]

No. I enjoyed Starlin's portrayal of Thanos during his 70's Captain Marvel and Warlock comics, but since they brought Thanos back in the 90s i've mostly enjoyed other writers' takes on Thanos more than Starlin, such as Giffen/DnA in Annihilation or Hickman in Infinity. Starlin seems to have a problem with other people writing the character, which kind of rubs me the wrong way as well, since he mostly writes Thanos as a fairly one-dimensional character imo. Also, i am glad that the mcu version didn't make use of Starlin's idea of Thanos being in love with the personification of Death, which was a cool concept in the 70s but just got more tiresome when Starlin repeatedly revisited this notion in the 90s and onward (and yes, i get that its kind of built in, what with Thanatos being the Greek God of death, but its just played out at this point)

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

No. I enjoyed Starlin's portrayal of Thanos during his 70's Captain Marvel and Warlock comics, but since they brought Thanos back in the 90s i've mostly enjoyed other writers' takes on Thanos more than Starlin, such as Giffen/DnA in Annihilation or Hickman in Infinity. Starlin seems to have a problem with other people writing the character, which kind of rubs me the wrong way as well, since he mostly writes Thanos as a fairly one-dimensional character imo. Also, i am glad that the mcu version didn't make use of Starlin's idea of Thanos being in love with the personification of Death, which was a cool concept in the 70s but just got more tiresome when Starlin repeatedly revisited this notion in the 90s and onward (and yes, i get that its kind of built in, what with Thanatos being the Greek God of death, but its just played out at this point)

One dimensional? Have you read the Starlin stories post-gauntlet and Warlock & the Infinity Watch? Thanos gave up on Death's love at the end of Infinity Gauntlet.

[Holt]

Answer is still no. His take on Thanos got self indulgent to the point of masturbatory at some point.

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

Answer is still no. His take on Thanos got self indulgent to the point of masturbatory at some point.

The real problem imo is that so many writers fail to get Thanos intellect and speech pattern.
I firmly believe that Thanos becoming a true neutral anti-hero under Giffen (Samaritan) was the best direction of the character post-starlin

[Laufeyson]

Answer is no, because I believe he already told everything he could do with Thanos. But, it seems that he is really bend on keep writing him everytime he watched Marvel movies especially GoTG.

[Username taken]

Answer is still no. His take on Thanos got self indulgent to the point of masturbatory at some point.

This.

I don't want Starlin to write Thanos again. Ever.

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

This.

I don't want Starlin to write Thanos again. Ever.

Marvel needs to stop using Thanos period if there are no better alternatives.

I don't want the purple Doomsday Hickman gave us. I don't want the daddy issued Space Jeffrey Dahmer Aaron gave us. I don't want the saturday morning cartoon idiot Bendis gave us. I want the philosophical magnificent bastard schemer and contradictory character Thanos was supposed to be.

If someone writes Doctor Doom as a brutish moron with none of his scientific and mystical prowess, people would be up in arms, but dumbing down Thanos is okay i guess.

[Malachi]

Marvel needs to stop using Thanos period if there are no better alternatives.

I don't want the purple Doomsday Hickman gave us. I don't want the daddy issued Space Jeffrey Dahmer Aaron gave us. I don't want the saturday morning cartoon idiot Bendis gave us. I want the philosophical magnificent bastard schemer and contradictory character Thanos was supposed to be.

That's the reason why you could have characters as grandiose and powerful as Thanos. Because in the end these battles where about philosophical arguments.
With abstract entities like death.

The CA scene from gauntlet is awesome because it is defiance against overwhelming odds. Thanos never treats CA as anything but a fly and that is what he is in that story. What he should be in a fight on that scale.

I think that's why Thanos needs opponents that operate in a larger scene. To not reduce him.