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Thanos Reading Order

Marvel Comics supervillain Thanos made his first appearance in The Invincible Iron Man #55 (February 1973) and was created by writer-artist Jim Starlin who was then inspired by Jack Kirby’s work on DC’s New Gods. He was Marvel’s response to Darkseid (following the direction given by Roy Thomas), but he and Drax the Destroyer were inspired by Starlin’s psych classes in college.

Thanos is from Titan, Saturn’s moon, and is the son of Eternals A’lars and Sui-San. After falling in love with the physical embodiment of Mistress Death, Thanos finally became the nihilist murderous monster the universe would fear. He killed millions on Titan, but it was just the beginning. To do more, he started seeking universal power in the form of the Cosmic Cube.

His quest for powers led to the creation of his enemy Drax the Destroyer, to a confrontation with Captain Marvel and more superheroes. But his story ended… for a time. His was indeed resurrected in the 1990s when Jim Starlin launched his Infinity Saga, a classic Marvel tale of epic proportions. Thanos resumed his quest to find the Infinity Gems.

After that, Thanos became a constant menace, concocting evil plans that he always justified in a way that only make sense to him. Even defeated, he always comes back.

Thanos Reading Order:

Thanos during the Silver Age era

During the 1970s, Jim Starlin wrote Thanos in multiple books, building his story–and making him a force to be reckoned with–from one issue to the other. Those a collected in multiple editions (listed below), but first, here is the list of issues featuring Thanos:

  • Iron Man (1968) #55
    • Logan’s Run (1977) #6 (backup story)
  • Captain Marvel (1968) #25-29
  • Marvel Feature #12
  • Captain Marvel (1968) #30-32
    • Daredevil (1964) #105-107
  • Avengers (1963) #125
  • Captain Marvel (1968) #33-34
  • Strange Tales (1951) #178-181
  • Warlock #9-15
  • Marvel Team Up #55
  • Avengers King Sized Annual #7
  • Marvel Two in One Annual #2
  • Marvel Graphic Novel #1: Death of Captain Marvel

The Thanos War: Collected Editions

To find today those issues, you have multiple editions:

  • The Thanos Wars: Infinity Origin Omnibus
    Collects Iron Man (1968) #55, Captain Marvel (1968) #25-34, Marvel Feature (1971) #12, Avengers (1963) #125, Strange Tales (1951) #178-181, Warlock (1972) #9-15, Marvel Team-Up (1972) #55, Avengers Annual (1967) #7, Marvel Two-In-One Annual (1976) #2, Logan’s Run (1977) #6, Marvel Graphic Novel (1982) #1, material from Daredevil (1964) #105.

You can find those issues first in:

  • Avengers vs. Thanos
    Collects Iron Man (1968) #55, Captain Marvel (1968) #25-33, Marvel Feature (1971) #12, Daredevil (1964) #105-107, Avengers (1963) #125, Warlock (1972) #9-11, 15, Avengers Annual (1967) #7, Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2, material from Logan’s Run #6.

…but also in a lot more books:

Thanos in The Infinity Saga

Jim Starlin’s epic Infinity Saga is a trilogy of Marvel Cosmic events published at the beginning of the 1990s: “For the Mad Titan, Thanos, the Infinity Gauntlet was the Holy Grail — the ultimate prize to be coveted above all else. With it came omnipotence: the absolute control of all aspects of time, space, power, reality, mind, and soul. But his gaining of supreme might mean the beginning of a black nightmare for the entire universe.”

We already explored it in our dedicated Infinity Saga Reading Order, but here are the essential books.

Prelude to the Infinity Saga

The Infinity Saga

  • Infinity Gauntlet Omnibus
    Collects Silver Surfer (1987) #34-38, 40, 44-60, Thanos Quest (1990) #1-2, Infinity Gauntlet #1-6, Cloak & Dagger (1988) #18, Spider-Man (1990) #17, Incredible Hulk (1968) #383-385, Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme (1988) #31-36, Quasar (1989) #26-27, Sleepwalker (1991) #7.
  • Infinity War Omnibus
    Collects Infinity War #1-6, Fantastic Four (1961) #366-370, Spider-Man (1990) #24, Deathlok (1991) #16, Daredevil (1964) #310, Warlock And The Infinity Watch 7-10, Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme 42-47, Silver Surfer (1987) #67-69, Wonder Man (1991) #13-15, Alpha Flight (1983) #110-112, Silver Sable & The Wild Pack 4-5, Guardians Of The Galaxy (1990) #27-29, Quasar 37-40, New Warriors (1990) #27, Marc Spector: Moon Knight 41-44, Nomad (1992) #7, Sleepwalker 18, Material From Captain America (1968) #408, Alpha Flight (1983) #109, Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #108-112.
  • Infinity Crusade Omnibus
    Collects Infinity Crusade (1993) #1-6, Warlock Chronicles (1993) #1-5, Warlock And The Infinity Watch (1992) #18-22, Thor (1966) #463-467, Iron Man (1968) #294-295, Avengers West Coast (1989) #96-97, Darkhawk (1991) #30-31, Cage (1992) #17, Alpha Flight (1983) #124-125, 127, Marc Spector: Moon Knight (1989) #57, Silver Surfer (1987) #83-85, Deathlok (1991) #28, Material From Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme (1988) #54-56, Alpha Flight (1983) #122-123, 126, Web Of Spider-Man (1985) #104-106, Silver Sable & The Wild Pack (1992) #16-17, Deathlok (1991) #29.

Thanos - Infinity Reading Order, a Marvel Event

After The Infinity Saga

The conclusion of Infinity Crusade directly leads into another crossover:

Once The Infinity Saga ended, Thanos appeared in multiple storylines and miniseries throughout the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s.

Thanos and the Annihilation Saga

In 2003, Thanos got his first solo ongoing series, then we jump into the famous Annihilation Saga. Once again, like in the Infinity Saga, Thanos played a part in the story. Well, mostly in the first part of the saga, in the Annihilation miniseries.

  • Thanos: Redemption
    Collects Thanos #1-12.
  • Annihilation Omnibus
    Collects Drax The Destroyer #1-4, Annihilation: Prologue, Annihilation: Nova #1-4, Annihilation: Silver Surfer #1-4, Annihilation: Super-Skrull #1-4, Annihilation: Ronan #1-4, Annihilation #1-6, Annihilation: Heralds Of Galactus #1-2 And Annihilation: Nova Corps Files.

Thanos quickly came back in The Thanos Imperative, a miniseries that will have more sense if you are up-to-date with Nova and The Guardians of the Galaxy though.

  • The Thanos Imperative
    Collects The Thanos Imperative 1–6, The Thanos Imperative: Ignition, The Thanos Imperative: Devastation, and the Thanos Sourcebook.

Thanos - Infinity Reading Order, a Marvel Event

Thanos entered the Marvel Now! era with an origin story by Jason Aaron. Then, he reconnects with Deadpool.

Recent Marvel events can be confusing because their titles are variations of classic tales. The 2013 Infinity was written by Jonathan Hickman: “The Mad Titan Thanos makes his world-shattering return, and his armies fire the opening shots of a galactic war that will be fought both on Earth and in deep space – with our heroes caught between both battles!”

You can learn more about it in our Infinity Reading Order.

The New Infinity Saga by Jim Starlin

After Hickman, Jim Starlin came back to write another new Infinity saga: “Thanos has returned, continuing his never-ending quest for universal power and control — but a strange change will soon alter his life, and that of his constant foil Adam Warlock, in unexpected ways! When Annihilus invades our universe, Thanos is the only being who can stand against him. But will he make the ultimate sacrifice?”

The story is composed of miniseries and original graphic novels–all of this and more is available in one big omnibus.

  • Thanos: The Infinity Saga Omnibus
    Collects Thanos Annual (2014) #1, Thanos: The Infinity Revelation (2014), Thanos vs. Hulk (2014) #1-4, Thanos: The Infinity Relativity (2015), Infinity Entity (2016) #1-4, Thanos: The Infinity Finale (2016), Guardians of the Galaxy: Mother Entropy (2017) #1-5, Thanos: The Infinity Siblings (2018), Thanos: The Infinity Conflict (2018), Thanos: The Infinity Ending (2019).

The omnibus collects more than the new Infinity Saga. Here is the reading order for it:

Thanos - Infinity Reading Order, a Marvel Event

The 2015 Secret Wars rebooted the Marvel Universe: “The interdimensional Incursions have eliminated each and every alternate universe one by one. And now – despite the best efforts of scientists, sages, and superhumans – the Marvel Universe and Ultimate Universe have collided…and been destroyed!”

See our Secret Wars Reading Order to learn more about the event and the miniseries tie-ins.

Following the conclusion of Secret Wars, we entered the All-New, All-Different Marvel era. During that time, Thanos appeared in:

Civil War IIWhen a new Inhuman emerges, with the ability to profile the future, Captain Marvel wanted him to work with the Ultimates, in order to preemptively tackle disasters before they happen, but Iron Man opposed the idea, suggesting it was dangerous to take his visions for granted for several reasons.

Take a look at our Civil War II Reading Order for more information.

Those events led to the new Thanos ongoing series written by Jeff Lemire with artist Mike Deodato Jr. 

Around that time, Jim Starlin wrote another–and his finale– Infinity Trilogy, three new original graphic novels barely connected to the Marvel continuity. You can read them a bit earlier if you want. Those books are available in Thanos: The Infinity Saga Omnibus.

Once Jeff Lemire left, Donny Cates took Thanos over. It’s not a relaunch, but it’s a relaunch anyway. Cates introduced the character Cosmic Ghost Rider and his relationship with Thanos is developed in his spin-off series.

All of this led us to the Infinity Wars (see reading order), then the new Guardians of the Galaxy series.

Thanos - Infinity Reading Order, a Marvel Event

A new Thanos miniseries was launched in 2019, but it’s more of a flashback Gamora title. Thanos made a big comeback in the new Eternals series by Kieron Gillen & Esad Ribic

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