Thanos is created by writer-artist Jim Starlin, who was inspired by his psychology classes at university and based on Jack Kirby's Darkseid. The Mad Titan first appears inIron Man#55 (February 1973, Marvel), alongside Drax, Mentor, Kronos, Starfox and the Blood Brothers. Its editorial history then crosses the sagasWarlockof the 1970s, his “death” inMarvel Two-in-One Annual#2 (1977), his triumphant resurrection inThe Infinity Gauntlet(1991) then its rereading by Hickman and Cates in the 2010s. Iron Man #55 remains the key most sought after by collectors, with an indicative grid that climbs sharply beyond grade 9.0.
Few Marvel villains have an editorial trajectory as long and as documented as that of Thanos. Unlike characters born from a simple one-off story need, the Mad Titan was conceived as a cosmic project from the start, with a personal mythology (the Titans, Mentor, the goddess Death) which was enriched over more than fifty years of publications. This continuity makes it a textbook case for understanding how a secondary comic book character can become, decade after decade, one of the commercial pillars of a publisher.
This article traces precisely this editorial history: the academic genesis of the character at Jim Starlin, the founding arcs of the 1970s, the resurrection of the 1990s withThe Infinity Gauntlet, then the modern rereadings which prepared the ground for its adaptation to the cinema. The angle here is chronological and biographical - for a commented selection of runs to read in order, head to ourguide to Thanos' best runs; for those who want to dig into the work of the designers who have shaped his face over the ages, our article on themajor Thanos artistsis more appropriate. Here, the objective is to understand how and why this character was created, how he evolved, and what this editorial history concretely implies for the rating of the comics which feature him.
Before going into detail, a word about the complete character sheet: it is available on the pageThanosof the site, with all of his appearances listed.
Birth of a Titan: how Jim Starlin invented Thanos in 1973
The story of Thanos begins far from the New York newsrooms, on the benches of a university in California where the young Jim Starlin takes psychology courses. It is in this context, according to his own later stories, that he sketches the basis of two characters who will become central in his work: Thanos and Drax the Destroyer. Starlin openly claims direct inspiration from the competitor: Jack Kirby's Darkseid, who just appeared in DC Comics' Fourth World. Like Darkseid, Thanos is conceived as a nihilistic cosmic power figure, obsessed with total domination and death rather than conventional material gain—a clear departure from the “cartoon” supervillains that then populated Marvel comics.
The character makes his very first appearance inIron Man#55, dated February 1973 and published by Marvel Comics, a 36-page issue sold for 20 cents. The screenplay is credited to Mike Friedrich with Jim Starlin, who also provides the drawings, supported by inking by Mike Esposito and letters by John Costanza; the cover is by Starlin and Joe Sinnott, under the editorial supervision of Roy Thomas. This issue is a concentrate of mythology: it introduces in a single delivery Thanos, Drax the Destroyer, the Blood Brothers, the computer I.S.A.A.C., Mentor (Thanos' father) and Kronos, as well as Starfox (Eros), Thanos' brother - the entire genealogy of the Titans in a single story. Originally, Thanos was not even planned as a major recurring villain: Starlin was initially to deliver a one-off story, but the character's potential quickly became apparent to both the publisher and the author.
This choice to debut Thanos in an Iron Man series rather than in a dedicated cosmic title is not insignificant for collectors: it means that the key to his first appearance is attached to a mainstream series with high notoriety, which has long supported demand on the secondary market, well before the character became a name known to the general public. On a strictly narrative level, Iron Man #55 also lays the foundations for an alliance of circumstance between Tony Stark and Drax against the still nascent beginnings of Thanos' plan - the most iconic elements (the Gauntlet, the quest for the Infinity Stones, the fascination with Death personified) are not yet present and will be built number after issue in the years that follow.
Starlin's Cosmic Laboratory: From Captain Marvel to Warlock (1973-1977)
Once the character is launched, Starlin never lets go. It installs it permanently inCaptain Marvel, a series on which he became the official writer-artist from issue #25 (1973), and where Thanos confronts Mar-Vell in an arc which lays the foundations of his quest for cosmic power. This is the real workshop where Starlin shapes the visual and narrative language specific to Thanos: dense panels, mystical symbolism, dialogues inhabited by existential considerations on death and absolute power, very far from the tone of superhero comics of the time.
The character then migrates toWarlock, where Starlin constructs a cosmic soap opera that spans several titles - the storyline extends notably untilWarlock#9 (1975), in which Thanos appears at the very end of the episode after a gradual build-up started inStrange Tales#178-181. This period constitutes the basis of what would later be called the “Mad Titan Saga”: Thanos becomes obsessed with the personification of Death, a theme which will remain the backbone of all his major arcs untilThe Infinity Gauntlet, almost twenty years later. It is also in this period that the triangular dynamic Thanos / Adam Warlock / Gamora takes shape, which will structure a large part of the Marvel cosmic mythology of the following decades.
The first “death” of Thanos and the crossing of the desert (late 1970s-1980s)
This first major Starlin cycle culminates inMarvel Two-in-One Annual#2 (1977), which concludes the cosmic saga begun a few years earlier: Thanos finds himself trapped there, changed into a stone statue by his own corruption, in a confrontation which notably sees Spider-Man intervene alongside the Thing. This issue marks a strong narrative end point — the character's first major life arc literally ends with his immobilization.
There followed a long period where Thanos, between the late 1970s and mid-1980s, ceased to be a regular antagonist in the Marvel shared universe. Starlin himself moved away from the publishing house for a time before returning later on other projects, notably at DC Comics for some notable works. For Thanos, this period of relative withdrawal contrasts sharply with the omnipresence he will experience from 1990 onwards - a useful reminder for collectors: all the appearances of Thanos published during this crossing of the editorial desert are mechanically rarer in total volume than those which will follow the explosion of popularity of the years 1990-2000, even if this does not always translate into a rarity premium on the market, demand playing a role at least as important as the offer.
Cosmic climax: Thanos Quest and The Infinity Gauntlet (1990-1992)
The return of Thanos to the forefront was being prepared in 1990 withThanos Quest, a two-issue miniseries from Starlin that details the Mad Titan's methodical collection of the six Infinity Gems, eliminating their cosmic guardians one by one. This mini-series serves as a direct prologue to the event that will definitively establish Thanos as one of the greatest antagonists in Marvel history:The Infinity Gauntlet.
Published in 1991 as a six-issue limited mini-series,The Infinity Gauntletbrings together again Jim Starlin on the screenplay and George Pérez then Ron Lim on the drawings (Pérez providing most of the initial graphic work, before Ron Lim took over during the series). The plot has become one of the most cited founding stories of the entire Marvel universe: Thanos, having gathered the six Gems on his Gauntlet, erases half of the living beings in the universe with a simple snap of his fingers to prove his love to Death personified, before a collective of surviving heroes - led in particular by Adam Warlock - organizes to counter him. It is this precise plot, published almost thirty years before its transposition to the cinema, which will become the direct basis of the screenplay ofAvengers: Infinity WarandAvengers: Endgame.
Editorially,The Infinity Gauntlet#1 is today one of the most sought-after titles in the Thanos catalog by collectors, particularly the very high grade CGC certified copies, some of which bear the signature of George Pérez or Jim Starlin himself on the resale market. Unlike Iron Man #55, this mini-series benefits from a significantly larger print run, typical of the booming comics market of the early 1990s - a factor which explains why the rarity premium is structurally less marked than on a Bronze era key like Iron Man #55, even if cultural demand remains very strong.
Thanos at the turn of the 2010s: Hickman, then Cates
After several successive resurrections and storyline deaths throughout the 1990s and 2000s – a classic of the character, repeated death having almost become a narrative signature specific to Thanos – the Mad Titan is experiencing a new major reinterpretation with the eventInfinity, written by Jonathan Hickman in 2013, with a collective of artists including Jim Cheung, Jerome Opeña and Dustin Weaver. Hickman orchestrates the return of Thanos at the head of a cosmic army, triggering a war waged simultaneously on Earth and in deep space against the Avengers. It is notable that Starlin and Hickman subsequently saw their respective sagas collected in the same omnibus volume, a sign of the continuity assumed between the original vision of the character and his modern rereading.
A few years later, from issue #13 of the seriesThanos(2016), screenwriter Donny Cates and artist Geoff Shaw resume the character's solo adventures for the now cult arc "Thanos Wins", which runs until issue #18 and an associated Annual published in 2018. This story projects Thanos into a distant future where he discovers a version of himself having already accomplished everything, escorted by a new cosmic character, the Cosmic Ghost Rider - a fusion between the aesthetic of the Ghost Rider and the Punisher costume who sparked heated debate among readers upon its release, before becoming one of the most popular secondary characters of the period. This arc, published the same year as the release ofAvengers: Infinity Warat the cinema, benefited from a particularly favorable calendar alignment in bookstores.
The impact of adaptations on the rating
The transition of Thanos from the status of cult cosmic villain to that of a mainstream character is largely due to his adaptation for the cinema by Josh Brolin, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.Avengers: Infinity War, released in 2018, directly follows the plot of the 1991 mini-series by placing Thanos and his quest for the Infinity Stones at the center of the plot; the film achieved one of the biggest starts in box office history and crossed the two billion dollar mark in worldwide revenue. The following year,Avengers: Endgame(2019) concludes this plot with a worldwide total of $2.799 billion, becoming the biggest box office success of all time upon its release.
This massive cinematic exposure had a measurable and documented effect on the secondary market for Thanos comics. The phenomenon is not limited to the release of the films themselves: each new appearance of the character in the Marvel Studios ecosystem, or even a simple renewal of interest around the Marvel cosmic universe, can be enough to move prices. A concrete example documented by the specialized press: in fall 2021, the release of the filmEternals— whose spectators shared plot elements linked to the mythology of the Titans on social networks — was enough to generate a resurgence of activity on Iron Man #55, with sales seeing a clear increase compared to previous months on several intermediate grades (copies in CGC 4.5, 8.0, 8.5 and 9.2 in particular), without this being an extreme speculative surge.
For collectors, the lesson is twofold. On the one hand, the founding keys published before the cinematographic era (Iron Man #55 in the lead) remain structurally rarer in circulation volume than the productions of the 1990s and 2000s, which explains part of the price gap observed at high grades. On the other hand, the demand linked to adaptations is not a phenomenon frozen in time: it reactivates with each new media exposure of the character, whether it is a film, a series or even a simple trailer mentioning his name. This is why it is useful to regularly check a quote rather than relying on a price memorized several months ago.
Buying guide: what to check before buying a Thanos comic
Buying a comic featuring Thanos, whether it is his first appearance or a more recent issue, requires a rigorous method as the difference in value between two apparently similar copies can be significant. Here are the main points to watch out for:
- Check the exact number and its key status.Iron Man #55 (1973) is the first appearance of Thanos, Drax, Mentor, Kronos, Starfox, and the Blood Brothers all in one go — make sure the seller doesn't mistake this issue for a reissue, facsimile, or just a late reprint of the Iron Man series.
- Distinguish between appearance and coverage.On issues where Thanos appears on the cover without playing a central role in the interior story, the collector's value is generally lower than that of issues where he is really an actor in the plot; Always read a reliable summary of the story before buying based on a cover image alone.
- Look at the price gap between grade brackets.On a Bronze Age key like Iron Man #55, the value grid climbs sharply between grades 8.0-8.5 and the peak 9.6-9.8: a half-point jump in CGC grade can represent a difference of several hundred dollars, so it is worth comparing several grades before deciding between a raw copy and a certified copy.
- Beware of undeclared restorationson old, uncertified copies: glued corners, reinforced spine or retouched color reduce the real value of a copy presented as “close to new”.
- On mini-series like The Infinity Gauntlet, favor number #1for collector value: it is structurally the most sought-after issue of an event mini-series, far ahead of issues #2 to #6 which sell for significantly less for the same grade.
- Contextualize the price with the character's current events.A new appearance of Thanos in the cinema, in a series or in a video game can change demand in the short term; a rating consulted several months earlier is not always reliable at the time of purchase.
- Always compare several recent real salesrather than a single advertisement in progress, the prices displayed for sale may deviate significantly from the prices actually concluded.
To monitor in real time the value of a given number according to its grade, the site's estimator relies on eBay sales actually concluded rather than on current advertisements - a reflex to have before any negotiation. And for collectors who manage a Thanos or larger collection over time, thecollection management applicationallows you to follow the grade, the date of acquisition and the evolution of the rating of each copy in the same place.