9 Times Thanos Was Defeated And 8 Times He Brutally Killed His Enemies!

John F. Trent |

Dec 10, 2021

Thanos, The Mad Titan, has had numerous adventures in the Marvel Universe. He’s wreaked havoc on the Marvel Universe killing many of its most famous heroes. However, Thanos has also faced defeat a number of times.

We are going to countdown nine times Thanos fell to the might of some of the Marvel Universe’s greatest warriors and heroes and then we will show you eight times Thanos absolutely destroyed some of the Marvel Universe’s bravest heroes.

We start off with the nine times Thanos was defeated by the Marvel Universe’s heroes.

1. Drax Kills Thanos

In the pages of Annihilation by writer Keith Giffen and artist Andrea Divito, Drax is on a mission to hunt down and kill Thanos, who has allied himself with Annihilus. In fact, Thanos and Annihilus have even captured Galactus and are using him to siphon off cosmic power.

However, Annihilus has other plans for Galactus. Thanos discovers his plans when he uses Moondragon, the daughter of Drax, to telepathically connect to Annihilus. Thanos discovers Annihilus is using Galactus as a giant bomb to destroy the universe as well as the Negative Zone.

When Thanos decides to intervene and prevent Annihilus from using Galactus, that’s when Drax finally reaches him.

Drax is briefly slowed by his daughter, but he quickly disarms her. He then punches his fist through Thanos’ back and holds his heart in his hand. Drax then lets Thanos’ body fall to the ground as the Mad Titan is defeated.

2. Gladiator One Hit KOs Thanos

In one of the more recent tales of Thanos by Jeff Lemire and Mike Deodato, the Mad Titan is sickly and dying. He’s searching for a cure to his illness, but can not find one. He even seeks out his father. But he is of no help and Thanos brutally kills him.

Soon after he kills Mentor, Thanos is confronted by the Imperial Guard of the Shi’ar Empire and their leader the Grand Praetor of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard and the Majestor of the Shi’ar Empire Gladiator. The Imperial Guard launch a vicious, but extremely tactical battle strategy against Thanos.

They hurl wave after wave against him. They use a number of tactics to blind and weaken Thanos. But Thanos has killed gods and razed planets. Even in a weakened state he is able to overwhelm the Imperial Guard.

But that’s when Gladiator enters the battlefield. Gladiator shows up and easily defeats the weakened Thanos with one crazy powerful left punch. He then arrests Thanos and takes him to a Shi’ar prison.

3. Thane Obliterates Thanos

Lemire and Deodato would continue their story of a weakened Thanos when he comes face to face with his own son, Thane.Thanos would break free of the Shi’ar prison only to to be met by his Thane, who is now empowered by the Phoenix Force.

Thane had previously recruited Thanos’ brother Starfox, Nebula, and Tryco Slatterus to steal the Phoenix Egg from Terrax. Unbeknownst to his partners, Thane was working with Lady Death to gain the power of the Phoenix Force to use against Thanos. Lady Death is also the entity behind Thanos’ weakness.

Once Thane confronts Thanos, he uses the full might of his newly acquired Phoenix Force powers to completely blast Thanos and turn him into just a mere mortal without any of his powers.

4. Adam Warlock Turns Thanos to Granite

Jim Starlin penned one of his best Thanos stories in the pages of Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2. The story follows the events of Avengers Annual #7 and sees Thanos on the verge of victory.

He has defeated the Avengers and even killed Adam Warlock. However, there is still hope. Spider-Man teams up with the Thing to launch a direct assault on Thanos’ spaceship. Their attack is successful as they are able to release the Avengers who are being kept in stasis by Thanos.

The Avengers quickly move into action and distract Thanos as Spider-Man seeks out the Soul Stone and frees Adam Warlock who is trapped within. Upon awakening from the Soul Stone, Adam Warlock burst into flames and becomes the Ultimate Avenger. He then launches a massive attack which turns Thanos into solid granite.

5. Lord Mar-Vell Sacrifices Thanos

In the pages of The Thanos Imperative by writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning alongside artist Miguel Sepulveda, Thanos willingly turns himself over to an alternative version of Mar-Vell.

This Cancerverse version goes by Lord Mar-Vell and once Thanos surrenders he quickly moves to perform the ritual of Necropsy. He aims to sacrifice Thanos, the Avatar of Death, in order to bring undeath to the Marvel Universe.

He summons a ceremonial sword and plunges it into the chest of Thanos. However, Thanos’ sacrifice is all part of a plan to bring death to the Cancerverse and it works all too well.

Death comes for Lord Mar-Vell and turns his skin to ash with just the touch of her hand. With Mar-Vell dead, Thanos seeks the love of Death, but she spurns him and refuses to say a word. She simply walks away.

6. Star-Lord and Nova Trap Thanos

Following Death’s rejection of him, after he sacrificed himself to bring death to the Cancerverse, Thanos would become enraged and be motivated even more to win the affections of his love.

He even opined he would destroy multiple universes in order to win her back. He threatened to start with the main Marvel Universe beginning with Peter Quill. S

tar-Lord and Nova knew Thanos would rage following his sacrifice and they planned to sacrifice themselves in order to trap Thanos in the Cancerverse. Star-Lord and Nova would use a Cosmic Cube in order to keep Thanos in the Cancerverse and trap him there.

7. The Avengers Predict the Future

In the pages of Civil War II #1 writer Brian Michael Bendis teams up with artist David Marquez to see the Avengers defeat Thanos. Thanos arrives on Earth in search of a Cosmic Cube.

However, Captain Marvel and a team of Avengers use intelligence from the Inhuman Ulysses to determine where Thanos would be before he even arrives.

The Avengers are able to defeat Thanos and drive him off, but not without paying a major price. Thanos killed War Machine and knocked She-Hulk into a coma before he fled.

8. Deadpool Blasts Thanos Into a Thousand Pieces

In the miniseries Deadpool vs Thanos writer Tim Seeley and artist Elmo Bondoc have Deadpool, the Merc with a Mouth, turn Thanos into a billion tiny pieces.

Eternity has captured Lady Death and Thanos and Deadpool have teamed up to find her. Once they find her, Death once again spurns Thanos. It drives him into a rage and he attacks Deadpool.

But that’s the least of his worries as Eternity shows up and launches an attack against both Deadpool and Thanos. Lady Death empowers both of her lovers as they attack Eternity.

Thanos and Deadpool gain the upper hand, but Deadpool realizes that Death and Thanos are trying to kill Eternity. He makes a deal with the Uni-Power and gains incredible powers in order to save Eternity. In his final attack against Thanos he blows him into a tiny million pieces.

9. Nebula Takes the Infinity Gauntlet

In the pages of the Infinity Gauntlet by Jim Starlin, Ron Lim, and Josef Rubinstein Thanos has acquired the Infinity Gauntlet and defeated the foot soldiers of Eternity. Their defeat brings out their master.

Thanos and Eternity fight for control of reality. Thanos comes out the victor and makes Eternity his prisoner. In fact, he ascends to take Eternity’s place as the center of all reality.

In doing so he leaves his body behind. That’s when Nebula sees an opportunity. She quickly strikes and takes the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos and uses it herself.

With the power of the Infinity Gauntlet, Nebula banishes Thanos and Terraxia to the never reaches of space. The exile would end up killing Terraxia, but Thanos would survive and be summoned to Earth by Adam Warlock.

1. Thanos Kills War Machine

In the Summer of 2016, Marvel launched Civil War II which introduced a brand new Inhuman, Ulysses, who could see and predict the future. In the first issue, Captain Marvel decided to exploit that ability in order to help protect the Earth.

However, one of her first decisions had deadly consequences. Ulysses predicted the arrival of Thanos on Earth as he searched for the Cosmic Cube. Captain Marvel decided to recruit a number of Avengers including War Machine to ambush Thanos and send him packing.

Unfortunately, the plan didn’t go as well as she hoped and Thanos ended up putting She-Hulk into a coma and killing War Machine as he shoved his first straight through his armor.

2. Corvus Glaive Forced to Commit Suicide

In the first issue of the recent Thanos run, Corvus Glaive had taken control of the Black Quadrant and he rules the sector as its king.

Unfortunately, Thanos returns. Glaive refuses to give up his seat of power to the Mad Titan and the two engage in deadly combat.

Thanos easily defeats his once subordinate and destroys the glaive that grants Corvus Glaive his life. He obliterates the weapon in his hand. He then declares he will show mercy to Corvus Glaive by allowing him to end his own life with a shard of the now shattered glaive.

3. Thanos Smashes Mentor

After retaking the Black Quadrant and reasserting his power, Thanos discovers he is sick and dying. In order to find a solution to the problem he seeks out his father, Mentor.

While Mentor initially refuses to help his son, Thanos convinces him by threatening to kill every single scientist and their families on the tiny moon of Gilgrath, where Mentor now calls home.

Unfortunately, Mentor can not help Thanos and informs his son that he only has a couple of weeks to live and it would take years in order to find a cure.

Thanos flies into a rage and then ultimately kills Mentor after he tells his son he wished he had smothered him in his crib.

4. Thanos Experiments on Sogarth and Loktus

In Thanos Rising #2, Thanos’s origin story would be told. Thanos would capture two of his fellow classmates, tie them down, and brutally dissect them alive.

The story reveals the Eternals of Titan did not even know the concept of murder existed. In fact, since the Eternals had arrived on Titan there was not a single recorded instance of murder.

However, young Thanos can not find the answers he seeks when he asks, “Who am I and why am I? Why am I different? What is my destiny? Where in creation are the answers hidden?”

He is unable to find answers to these questions from his family, school, and even science.

In order, to find the answer he kidnaps Sogarth and Loktus, two lovers who were enjoying each other’s company. He then ties them to his dissecting tables and brutally kills them.

5. Thanos Dissects Sui-San

Thanos would not stop his sadistic experiments with Sogarth and Loktus. After murdering the two love birds and dissecting their bodies for answers, he would move on to his mother Sui-San.

When Sui-San gave birth to Thanos, she attempted to murder her son. Thanos surprisingly recalls the look of horror that came over her face as she picked up a scalpel and tried to kill him.

That moment continued haunt him as a youth. And in fact, he would turn the tables on Sui-San. He would be the one holding the scalpel as he killed his own mother on the dissecting table.

6. Thanos Pounds Deadpool into Mush

Thanos and Deadpool would cross paths in the miniseries Deadpool vs Thanos. There is something amiss in the Marvel Universe and people have suddenly stopped dying.

Deadpool seeks the aid of Black Talon who informs he needs to find Thanos, the one who cursed Deadpool with eternal life. Deadpool believes in order to ensure people continue to die he must kill Thanos.

He concocts a far-fetched plan and sets his sights on Thanos. Unfortunately, for Deadpool this is Thanos and the Merc with a Mouth is almost instantly killed. Thanos turns Deadpool into a bloodstain on his ship.

7. Thanos Blasts Drax

Thanos is no stranger to killing Drax the Destroyer but in The Thanos Imperative the two are actually working on the same side. Lord Mar-Vell controls the Cancerverse a twisted world where Death itself has been exterminated.

Mar-Vell plans to invade the Marvel Universe and conquer it for his own ends. This leads the Guardians of the Galaxy to ally themselves with the newly resurrected Thanos.

Star-Lord wants to use Thanos to restore death to the Cancerverse. However, the plan is sabotaged when Drax the Destroyer launches a viscous assault against Thanos. He actually appears to slay the Mad Titan by vaporizing him with an anti-matter bomb.

But Death has rejected Thanos and he returns with a vengeance. Drax attempts to attack Thanos again, but this time he is completely outmatched. Thanos picks him up and blasts him into oblivion.

8. Thanos Crushes Sam Wilson’s Skull

In the pages of Thanos, the Mad Titan was dying. He was seeking aid to find a cure or a way to restore his abilities.

He learns of the God Quarry, a legendary burial place of the gods, where he must prove himself worthy to reclaim his power or die. The God Quarry and the Witches of Infinity who control it show Thanos a new vision of himself, one where he is now a member of the Avengers and is fighting the good fight.

They also present him with a chance at true peace. However, Thanos rejects this vision and brutally smashes Sam Wilson’s head between both of his massive fists as he declares, “I am Thanos…And I have Power.”

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