Death (Marvel Comics)

This article is about the personification of death in the Marvel Universe. For the Apocalypse Horseman of Death, see Horsemen of Apocalypse.

Death
File:DeathMarvel1.JPG Interior art from Annihilation: Nova Corps Files (2006).
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Captain Marvel #27 (Jul 1973)
Created by	Mike Friedrich Jim Starlin
In-story information
Partnerships	Thanos
Notable aliases	Mistress Death
Abilities	Unlimited cosmic power, omnipresence

Death is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain Marvel #27 (Jul. 1973) and was created by Mike Friedrich and Jim Starlin.

Fictional character biography

Death is part of the cosmic pantheon that represents the three essential forces in the Marvel Universe: equity, necessity, and vengeance. These forces are represented by Galactus, Eternity and Death in turn. Death views Eternity and Galactus - together with Infinity and Oblivion - as siblings and will actually address them, as opposed to using an agent as a mouthpiece as she typically does.

Death forced soldier John Kowalski to undergo a myriad of lives and deaths as punishment for doing nothing during the invasion of Poland. Eventually, he (for he was appearing as male) made Kowalski an an aspect of Death.

Death first appears on Earth posing as "Death Ryder" to test Johnny Blaze when possessed by the Ghost Rider. Death is then drawn to the Titan Thanos, who has embarked on a scheme to conquer the universe. Fascinated by Thanos' obsession and his now-considerable power, Death manifests itself before him, and he in turn becomes determined to prove his "love" for her by destroying all life in the universe with the artifact the Cosmic Cube. Death abandons Thanos when he is finally defeated by the combined might of Captain Marvel and the Avengers. Thanos later tries to "woo" Death back, but is finally killed during a battle with the Avengers, Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock.

Death is later coerced into a game of strategy by the Grandmaster, one of the Elders of the Universe. The Grandmaster wins the game and forces Death to resurrect The Collector, a fellow elder. The Grandmaster then takes his place in the Realm of the Dead. When the entity the Beyonder takes human form and visits Earth, it decides to "save" mankind, and in doing so destroys Death. The Beyonder, however, is then shown that there is a need for Death and recreates the entity.

Soon after this the Grandmaster reveals his sacrifice was a ruse as he is able to steal Death's powers and then, through still another trick, forces her into banishing all Elders from her realm, effectively rendering them immortal. An angered Death later encounters several of the Elders and the entity the In-Betweener when they scheme to destroy Galactus. In retaliation, Death permanently wipes the Elders the Astronomer, Possessor and Trader from existence.

Years later, when Death perceives an imbalance in the universe and a gradual shift towards life rather than death, she resurrects Thanos. Death then watches as Thanos collects the Infinity Gems and, as an omnipotent being, attempts to converse with her. The irony is that Thanos is now superior to Death; as his inferior, Death cannot speak with him (a fact related to him by one of her minions). Thanos then wipes half the beings in the universe from existence as proof of his love for her, and Death stays with Thanos and watches as he battles the cosmic pantheon and Earth's metahumans. Death leaves when Thanos is finally defeated but later reunites with him to confront the Death God Walker, who tries unsuccessfully to court Death. At one stage Death hides within the body of Marlo Chandler, the girlfriend of Rick Jones, in an attempt to escape Walker. Death eventually destroys Walker and then leaves the body of Marlo, although Marlo retains a small fraction of Death's power.

Death later reveals to Thanos that their energies merged when he was resurrected, creating an offspring called the "Rot". Death and Thanos work together to destroy their offspring, and it is at this time that Death finally addresses Thanos and confesses her love for him. The pair later share a kiss moments before Thanos, possessing the artifact the Heart of the Universe, recreates the universe minus a critical flaw that would have destroyed it.

Thanos then joins the fight to stop the Annihilation Wave, and is killed by Drax the Destroyer. When the hero Nova is near death from injuries sustained in battle, he glimpses Death and Thanos standing together watching him.

Powers and abilities

As a cosmic concept and member of the essential Trinity, Death possesses the power to achieve virtually any effect. Being an abstract entity, Death has no physical body, but usually appears in a female humanoid form so it can be perceived by lesser beings. The relationship between Death and Earth's Death gods (such as Hela in the Earth-616 universe) has yet to be revealed. Death resides inside a pocket dimension known as the Realm of Death, which also houses the Infinity Well, which contains the knowledge of the universe.

Other versions

Earth X

In this universe, Death is killed by Thanos when he uses the artifact the Ultimate Nullifier to destroy her.

External links

• Death at Marvel.com
• Death at Marvel Directory