Is Adam Warlock Thanos’ Brother? How Are They Connected?

Adam Warlock is one of the most iconic Marvel Superheroes, and Thanos is among the most iconic supervillains. Due to that, they often found themselves on opposing sides, with Warlock even defeating Thanos, a feat unachievable for most Marvel Characters. Due to the fact that their destinies seemed to be tied and many fans are wondering whether the connection between the two is only surface deep or if there is more to it. Let’s see if Adam Warlock and Thanos are brothers and what is the extent of their connection.

Adam Warlock and Thanos are not brothers; they are not even related. Thanos is an Eternal-Deviant hybrid, while Adam Warlock is an artificial human being, which completely destroys the theory of them being blood-related; however, they are connected in a significant way since Adam Warlock was destined to become the Avatar of Life to serve as a counter-balance to Thanos’ Avatar of Death.

Now that we’ve covered that there is no familial relationship between the two, it’s time to cover the extent of their relationship in a bit more detail. If you’re interested in more, stay with us and keep reading!

Thanos and Adam Warlock are not related by blood

Both Thanos and Adam Warlock have completely different origin stories.

Thanos was born to a pair of Eternals, Sui-San, and A’Lars. Eternals are not supposed to procreate among themselves. Still, Sui-San and A’Lars were always against this premise, believing they should create more Eternals via biological or artificial means. However, Sui-San and A’Lars managed to have biological children by using extremely powerful Quantum Bands.

Immediately after Thanos’ birth, his mother Sui-San, noticed that Thanos was different from other Eternals. Because Eternals are genetically related to Deviants, traces of their DNA found themselves in Thanos, which resulted in him acquiring purple skin and a bulky twisted appearance. Thanos was an Eternal-Deviant Hybrid and looked more like a Deviant than an Eternal.

After staring into Thanos’ pitch-black eyes, his mother tried to kill him. A’Lars got her hospitalized and raised Thanos the best he could. Thanos didn’t inherit only Deviant physiology. He inherited their tendencies as well. From an early age, Thanos was obsessed with death and cruelty, and ultimately, he acquired the status of Champion of Death due to his phantasies and obsessions related to Lady Death.

On the other hand, Adam Warlock was created by the Enclave, a group of scientists who wanted to establish a benevolent world dictatorship through a race of perfect artificial human beings. Their flagship project involved bombarding human DNA with various forms of energy and radiation to accelerate the growth of cells and superpowering them.

The project was successful, and “Him” was born. Still, there were downsides. Due to “Him’s” rapid growth Enclave didn’t have time to place the necessary mechanism into his mind to make him prone to mind control. Him developed rapidly, and from an early age, he could project powerful energy blasts. Due to this, the Enclave had no idea what Adam Warlock looked like.

As his conscience developed, Him realized that Enclave wanted to use him to achieve their evil goals, and he escaped from the Beehive, destroying it in the process. The lead of the project, Hamilton, died, but the rest of the Enclave somehow managed to survive, albeit with great losses.

Soon after his birth, Him was inexperienced and didn’t really understand how the world worked. He got into a deadly conflict with Thor over Lady Sif and was beaten within an inch of his life. He saved himself by wrapping a cocoon around himself. The cocoon was found by High Evolutionary, who named him Adam Warlock and gave him Soul Gem. For a time, Adam Warlock served as the protector of High Evolutionary’s Counter-Earth.

With everything said, it’s obvious that Thanos and Adam Warlock cannot be related in a biological sense. They are of different race, and their powers are vastly different. But there is a special connection between the two of them.

Thanos is the Champion of Death, while Adam Warlock is Champion of Life

We mentioned how Thanos serves an Avatar of Death; Warlock has a similar story. In-Betweener wanted to capture Adam Warlock, and due to his connection to the Soul Gem, he wanted to transform him into an Avatar of Life. And he would have succeeded in it if he didn’t leave Warlock in his quasi-realm for who knows how many years. Warlock, driven by loneliness and insanity, turned into an evil form of himself called Adam Magus.

Adam Magus was In-Betweener’s Avatar of Life, but he had extremely malignant intentions. After learning that Magus’ destiny is to destroy him, Thanos joined forces with Warlock and managed to destroy the reality from which Adam Magus came to save the current reality.

Adam Warlock eventually assumed his role as Avatar of Life. As you can see, Adam Warlock and Thanos share a special connection because they are both, respectfully, champions of Life and Death and serve as a cosmic counterbalance to each other.

Are Thanos and Adam Warlock friends?

I wouldn’t say Thanos and Adam Warlock are friends, but they are allies when the situation calls for it. Thanos and Adam Warlock respect each other and fear each other. Both Thanos and Adam Warlock know that they serve as a countermeasure and are necessary for the balance of the Universe. Even though the two fought many times in the comics, they were often on the same side.

Thanos and Warlock have a unique understanding between them, and they are often at the center of Marvel’s cosmic stories understanding reality better than just about any other character.

Does Thanos have a biological brother?

Thanos does have a biological brother. Sui-San and A’Lars had one more son as well and named him Eros. Eros is a full Eternal and doesn’t share his brother’s physical characteristics or behavioral problems.

Adam Warlock also has a biological sibling, if you can call it that. Ayesha, another Enclave creation, replaced Adam Warlock as the Enclave resumed their plans of world domination.

Ayesha and Warlock were genetic twins and had quite similar appearances, the significant difference being their gender. In the MCU, Ayesha serves as Warlock’s mother.