>>The vilest villain in all of the Marvel Universe is getting ready to take center stage this fall. Writer Jeff Lemire and artist Mike Deodato will chronicle the ongoing exploits of the Mad Titan in Thanos, a new series launching as part of Marvel NOW!
>>Thanos was solidified as one of the most dangerous villains of the Marvel universe in the 1991 event The Infinity Gauntlet. Since then, Thanos has menaced the galaxy again in the Infinity event, creator Jim Starlin has explored the character in a trilogy of miniseries – The Infinity Revelation, The Infinity Relativity, and The Infinity Finale – and Thanos’ origins have been revealed in the Thanos Rising miniseries. Meanwhile, Thanos has become part of the mainstream pop culture lexicon as the force scheming behind-the-scenes of the Marvel cinematic universe.
>>But the new Marvel NOW! series is sticking with Thanos for the long haul, following his new mission as he returns to the Marvel universe post-Secret Wars with plans to reclaim his position as an entity to be feared. ComicBook.com asked Lemire and Deodato what that means for Thanos, both as a character and a series.
>>Since coming on board at Marvel, you’ve been writing heroes like the X-Men, Wolverine, Moon Knight, and Hawkeye. How different is it writing one of Marvel’s biggest bads instead of their mightiest heroes?
>Jeff Lemire: It's completely different and completely refreshing. The main attraction to doing this book was being able to dive into the dark side and tell a totally different type of book set in the Marvel U that is from a villain’s point of view. It's forcing me to go to some new places with my writing and try new things.
>>What is it about Thanos that makes him so compelling a villain that he can carry his own series?
>JL: First off, I loved that this is an ongoing series, not a limited series. That opens up a lot of potential to establish long-term plans for Thanos in the Marvel U.
>As to what makes Thanos so compelling, the easy answer is that he is so powerful and so evil. This combination opens things up for a lot of story potential. But the truth is that it's Thanos' past that makes him so interesting. What motivates a god-like being like this? What makes him tick and what does he have left to fight for? These are compelling questions to me, and I think to the reader. But above all this series just has so much potential. Thanos can essentially become Marvel's Darth Vader...its alpha villain.
>Michael Deodato: I think he is one of the most enigmatic and scariest characters of the Marvel Universe. He is our Darth Vader.
>>What is Thanos’ mission statement in this new series? His attempt to capture the cosmic cube on Earth was foiled. Is he planning a second attempt?
>JL: I'm not spoiling that because Thanos' mission comes as a big reveal in issue 1. I will say that the cosmic cube is NOT involved. And there will be a very solid supporting cast in this series. A regular set of underused characters that will become very important to the series and to Thanos himself. Starfox, Nebula, and Thane will play key roles. And there are a few surprises as well.
>I’ve dived pretty deep into Thanos’ publishing history to draw inspiration for the series. Of course, it all starts with Jim Starlin, but I’ve also drawn from Keith Giffen’s run on Thanos as well as Jason Aaron’s Thanos Rising and the work Jonathan Hickman did in Infinity and elsewhere. I also took a good long look at Kieron Gillen’s Darth Vader series as a template for what could be done with an ongoing villain series.
>>We saw Thanos’ return to the Marvel universe in the pages of The Ultimates, but he seems to have come back changed. Somehow he seems even more nihilistic than before. How does this manifest in his mission and his methods?
>JL: All I can say is that this time around, Thanos has nothing to lose.
>>Without giving away too much, what can you say about Mistress Death's response to Thanos's return?
>JL: Death will play a key role in the series, but in a way that we have not seen before. Her relationship and connection to Thanos has changed since we saw her last and this will affect Thanos and many others.
>>What role will Thanos’ extended family play in the series? Not just Thane, but other Eternals? Will the Black Order have a role to play?
>JL: We will see some of The Black Order. But their allegiance to Thanos may not be what it once was.
>Thanos’ extended family will be central in the supporting cast. Starfox and Thane have major roles, as does Nebula. Starfox, in particular, has become really interesting to me. He’s such an underrated and underused character. He is Thanos’ brother and in many ways Thanos’ opposite. To me, this makes him a really central character in what I want to do. I’d like to shed new light on Starfox, add new depths to him and peel back that fun-loving surface layer and see what else is going on there. I think he is a pretty complex character.
>>What makes Mike Deodato the right artist for a Thanos series? What is the visual tone you're looking to achieve with the series?
>JL: Mike brings big, bold cinematic storytelling with an edge of darkness to it. As we saw with his work on Vader Down and Infinity, He is perfect for this series and the tone I want to strike. Very excited to be working with Mike! I had more fun writing issue 1 than I have writing anything in a long time. It is very fun to be very bad.
>MD: I love drawing villains. Dark Avengers and Thunderbolts are two of my biggest hits. I intend to bring the same level of darkness and evil in this new series.
>>As to what makes Thanos so compelling, the easy answer is that he is so powerful and so evil. This combination opens things up for a lot of story potential. But the truth is that it's Thanos' past that makes him so interesting. What motivates a god-like being like this? What makes him tick and what does he have left to fight for? These are compelling questions to me, and I think to the reader. But above all this series just has so much potential. Thanos can essentially become Marvel's Darth Vader...its alpha villain.
They literally missed the entire point of Thanos in one paragraph. It's like someone who Wikipedia'd Thanos wrote this.
Owen Allen
Oh boy, can't wait for the "not muh Thanos" tools and the anti-continuity faggots to begin their cycle of infinite baiting and shitposting again
Camden Carter
>current Thanos I'm not looking forward to this at all.
Andrew Anderson
>lemire >not starlin >not based ewing why?
Julian Moore
I'm so sick of Thanos.
Josiah Allen
>Lemire Dropped
Aiden Carter
Lemire's 4th Marvel book
X-men Moon Knight Old Man Logan Thanos
Tyler Evans
6 or 12 issues?
Elijah Myers
Gotta milk him until he gets sick of them and go indie for good.
Brody Gomez
>But the truth is that it's Thanos' past that makes him so interesting.
NO IT ISN'T
>he was picked on as a child trope
Robert Powell
Starlin is shit now and Ewing is too "fun" for their big movie dick sucking book.
David Perry
We need him back at DC
Oliver Ramirez
Fuck off, DCfag.
Ayden Ward
Thanos sucks, Marvel Lemire doesn't have a good quality average, Deodato is just generally awful
Dropped
Carson Taylor
who else are they going to milk. They lost Hickman and Remender, the two best writers they had. Now...Ewing is their best and while he is good he isn't up to their level yet. He could be though with a little more work
Caleb Barnes
While Remender told them to stick it, Hickman is still going to their retreat. Why he has no book is beyond me.
Matthew Barnes
>Lemire Well at least it's not another fucking team book
Charles Johnson
>Deodato
Literally stopped reading there. Marvel need to stop hiring this cunt cos I'm never ever gonna fucking read anything he gets to slap his dick off
Jack Kelly
No we don't, we have better writers than him currently. I'd rather see Mark Russell get an actual book.
Isaiah Cruz
He's taking a break
Nathan Mitchell
hickman tweeted he was interested in writing for DC. If they can get him he will not look back at marvel
Isaac Jones
>Always wanted a Thanos Book >Lamire is already overworked >fucking tracer artists okay
Daniel Hall
However, the last two issues of S.H.I.E.L.D. with Dustin Weaver are yet to be published. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Annual when?
Luis Parker
what the fuck happened to Remender ? did they really fucked his plans that hard ?
Cameron Baker
Unless he's trolling. Yes. Remember Axis? That was supposed to be only in Uncanny Avengers. Marvel took it and created line-wide event. I guess that was final straw.
Chase Lopez
I guess having the rest of the universe completely ignore his uncanny avengers run but then making an event out of something that was meant to be self contained made him mad.
Gavin Young
Hickman went to last retreat, he had a book planned, Brevoort even said so in their post Secret Wars CBR interview but he bailed out for whatever reason. Last time he tweeted about it, he said he won't do work for hire for a while.
Jack Collins
I though he was working on fucking IDW of all places
Jeremiah Rogers
Pretty sure he was joking, m80.
Matthew Phillips
SENTRY MINI BY REMENDER FUCKING NEVER
John Hill
Please let Thanos be an anti-hero again
Carter Gray
That was a joke user He's taking a break from the big two in general
Austin Collins
Green costume to the right is Gamora, right? The hell happened to her in past.
Ryan Richardson
That's still a possibility with Johns' announcing a legion book for the second wave. He has officially left Marvel, and sometime around next January will be enough of a break for Hickman.
Ayden Bell
What are you talking about? She only stopped wearing stopped wearing deep v-necks like that when Bendis started writing her.
Chase Watson
Hickman officially left Marvel. He announced so in the interview regarding his new Image book.
Jacob James
Because he's taking a break after his shit show secret wars
Matthew Hughes
Am I the only one who sees the Phoenix Effect in his eyes? Cue next Cosmic Power McGuffin...Here's hoping White Phoenix Jean Grey returns and jobs him.
Sebastian King
I just hope it's bait
Lucas Garcia
>we need him No. He can fuck off for good.
Kevin Ramirez
Personally, I think the final straw was canning his plans to move the X-Men to space. I mean, it was a dick move after they let Bendis do jackshit with the two flagship X-books for 3 years >Instead of your idea, we're going to keep the X-Men on a planet that's slowly killing them and has chemically castrated them
Zachary Lee
It's not his fault SW sucked, though. >Jonathan, you have to use Whor and Quill! >both irrelevant >Whor shows up in Thors to rally hammerers >Quill has some mini with Kitty Pryde, completely irrelevant to everything Not gonna lie, adventures of starship Utopia sounds rad as fuck.
Lincoln Lewis
Starling basically just does his miniseries at this point. Which is fine, he's old and can be allowed to do what he wants somewhat.
Evan Ross
What I want is for Thanos to evolve into what he's supposed to be... Death's champion, the necessary corollary to life. What happens when Death is removed we saw in the Cancerverse.
In the grand scheme of things, Thanos' madness seems a hitch, something unforseen that was not supposed to be.
Cameron Walker
Fuck you, Marvel. If you want to get Devio-Eternal money with that book, at least put an Devio-Eternal writer on it.
Juan Jackson
Why does Thanos look like a tranny with bad lipstick?
Ryan Bell
>First off, I loved that this is an ongoing series, not a limited series. does he not know what company he's working for, everything might as well be a limited series
Owen Scott
>Deodato
Samuel Richardson
>Michael Deodato: I think he is one of the most enigmatic and scariest characters of the Marvel Universe. He is our Darth Vader. >Thanos >Marvel's Darth Vader >not Doctor Doom >not the character that fuckin inspired Vader One fucking job. Does Deodato even reads comics? I known he doesn't draw.
Easton Parker
>current year
Christopher Edwards
I'm looking forward to this. I've been enjoying Moon Knight, the "Bordertown" arc of Old Man Logan was hype as fuck and extraordinary X-men is readable (also I'm a big glob fan)
Benjamin Watson
Remender was going to be taking the X-Line in some direction and that got completely scrapped. He left pretty abruptly.
Brayden James
OP you're either a faggot or nigger Rich himself, either way go fuck yourself. Here's what it says, don't click the link.
>Al Ewing has been reshaping the Marvel Universe with his series The Ultimates.
>Well, as part of Marvel NOW’s Divided We Start relaunch, starting in October, we understand from a bearded industry insider (like that narrows it down) that he will be doing the same, as Ultimates2 with Travel Foreman and covers by Christian Ward.
>Travel has mostly been working for DC and Valiant of late, but he did have an impressive run on the Immortal Iron Fist.
>Look for Captain Marvel and Black Panther to create an even closer bond in Ultimates2 …
Matthew Flores
>OP you're either a faggot or nigger Rich himself, either way go fuck yourself. (You)
Ian Evans
Secret Wars being bad had nothing to do with Thor or Quill though
Matthew Miller
After reading countless Thanos stories I was pretty sure that what makes him interesting is the duality of his genius and madness. Hence his nickname of the Mad Titan. Not his evilness. Certainly not his past.
This already sounds pretty weak to me. And if that weren't enough Deodato is a definite deal-breaker.
Christian Gomez
So he can take a massive shit on another team book? Fucking no thank you