Thanatos (comics)
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Thanatos is the name of two fictional characters from Marvel Comics. The first one is based off the Greek mythology character of the same name. The second one originally appearing in Spider-Man 2099 who has since appeared in other comics, specifically ones relating to Rick Jones, who may be his progenitor.
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[edit] History
[edit] Thanatos (Olympian)
| Thanatos | |
|---|---|
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Incredible Hercules #138 (January 2010) |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Olympian Gods |
| Abilities | Superhuman strength, stamina, and endurance Can see ghosts |
Thanatos is the God of Death and vizier to Pluto. This depiction describes Thanatos has a skull-headed human with black wings. He would be the one to escort the spirits of the dead to the Underworld where they will cross the River Styx on Charon's ferry. When he tried to claim the spirit of Queen Alcestis, Thanatos ended up wrestling Hercules and lost to him. It was also known that King Sisyphus once trapped Thanatos in chains preventing anyone from dying until Thanatos was freed.[1]
During the battle between the Mighty Avengers and the minions of Hera in the New York-based Mount Olympus, Thanatos appeared and predicted that someone will die in battle.[2] Thanatos stood back and observed Hera's allies fight Hercules and the Mighty Avengers as Athena is turned to stone by Artume the Gorgon.[3] Thanatos was impeded by Hephaestus' automaton who brought Athena to Hephaestus.[4] After Zeus and Hera was slain by Typhon, Thanatos appeared and collected their spirits. He commented that they were reunited in love and deserved the dignity to pass over in peace.[5]
[edit] Marvel 2099
| Thanatos | |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Spider-Man 2099 #11 |
| Created by | Peter David |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | alternate version of Rick Jones |
| Abilities | Destiny Force |
Thanatos first appears in Spider-Man 2099 as a Destiny-Force powered villain occupying an “interspace”, the entrance to which was generated by the Virtual Unreality Project funded by the Alchemax corporation. Thanatos called the space “the nexus of all realities” but is unclear on how he came to be there, or the true nature of interspace.
Prior to battling that era’s Spider-Man, Thanatos claims that he was “marooned on Earth, discorporated, powerless since the end of the heroic age … until the first tests upon the virtual unreality portal some weeks back gave [his] nebulous form the energy it needed.”
It has been speculated that Thanatos was once the fictional character Rick Jones. At one time, Rick was yanked back and forth through time and encountered two older versions of himself, one of which was Thanatos. Later publications expounded upon this story, revealing that Thanatos is actually Rick Jones from an alternate timeline, where, during the Kree/Skrull war, he stayed with the Supreme Intelligence instead of reuniting with Captain Marvel. The Eon War resulted in the deaths of most of the Marvel heroes, and resulted in Thanatos becoming stranded in the interspace. Thanatos was finally destroyed by Captain Marvel.
It has never been confirmed that the future 2099 incarnations of the heroes is a canon reality or merely possible future events. If this is the case, then Thanatos’ true origins are purely speculative.
[edit] Powers and abilities
The Olympian Thanatos has superhuman strength, stamina, endurance and resistance to any harm. He can also see ghosts of dead people when it comes to him escorting them to the Underworld.
The 2099 version of Thanatos possesses invulnerability and size-altering abilities, and is armed with several weapons, most notably a spear and an energy pistol.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Thanatos (Olympian) at Marvel Wiki
- Thanatos 2099 at Marvel Wiki
- Thanatos at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
- Thanatos 2099 at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
