Is Thanos a Purple Skrull? Similarities Explained

Marvel Universe is home to numerous alien species with their own distinctive appearances. Usually, it’s the skin color, as most aliens are humanoid in nature. Skrulls are currently, with the release of ‘Secret Invasion,’ the most famous aliens in the MCU; they are marked by their reptilian appearance, green skin, and ridged chin. And speaking of the ridged chin, there is another extremely famous alien in the MCU that shares the same feature. Of course, we’re talking about Thanos. So, both Thanos and Skrulls are aliens, and both have oddly specific chins. Is there any connection between them, and what are the odds of Thanos being a Skrull and a purple one at that?

Thanos is not a Skrull. He is an Eternal (in the MCU, a Titan) with a deviant gene which makes him different from the rest of his race. The connection between Skrulls and Thanos (and ridged chins) is the fact that both Thanos and Skrulls have deviant genes, which resulted in the distinctive appearances of their chins.

Now that we’ve covered that Thanos and Skrulls are connected, it’s time to explore how in more detail. If you’re interested in more, stay with us and keep reading!

Thanos is not a Skrull, but his origin is confusing

We’ve already covered the circumstances of Thanos’ birth in quite a few posts, but his origin is so fascinating that even after all this time, new details pop up that need to be explored, and here we are, trying to explain what exactly Thanos is, yet again.

Now, Thanos’ origins in the MCU and in the comics are extremely similar with one significant detail. Thanos is in the comics an Eternal. Eternals or Homo Immortalis are an offshoot of humanity created by Celestials. They basically look the same as humans in most cases but are gifted with incredible powers that are meant to be used to protect humanity from various dangers.

At the same time, Celestials also created Deviants or Homo Descendus. Deviants are practically the opposite of Eternals. They are twisted, horrifying, violent, and created basically to destroy. Eternals had amazing powers, but Deviants had strength in numbers because they could reproduce in great numbers, while Eternals couldn’t reproduce at all.

100 Eternals were created, and due to their basically immortal lives, they couldn’t reproduce. But if that’s true, how was Thanos born?

Well, Thanos’ parents, A’Lars and Sui-San, both full Eternals, used Quantum Bands to reproduce. They went against nature and eventually had two children, Thanos and Starfox. Starfox turned out okay, normal, a full Eternal. At the same time, Thanos was born with Deviant Syndrome.

Since both Eternals and Deviants, due to both being offshoots of humanity, share some similar genes and the same basis, being created by Celestials, there was always a chance that an offspring of Eternals could carry some Deviants genes. This is what happened with Thanos, and those Deviant genes resulted in Thanos being extremely violent, evil, chaotic, purple, physically bigger, and more brutish than the rest of his people, and, of course, having a ridged chin.

Skrulls and Thanos share deviant genes

Skrulls were a species native to the planet Skrullos, situated in the Andromeda Galaxy. Celestials visited them in the past, just like they did with humans, and created three separate branches of the Skrull race, the Latents, Eternals, and Deviant Skrulls.

Deviant Skrulls eventually rose to the top as the most dominant branch of the Skrull species and exterminated the rest of the Skrulls. This is where Skrull history actually begins. Since empowered by Deviant genes, the Skrulls that remained turned into a glorious warrior race of shapeshifting conquerors that managed to conquer numerous other planets.

They are famous for waging war against the Kree and also for being shapeshifters. They are among the most hated species in the Universe due to their warlike mentality. The dominant Deviant Skrulls are today simply referred to as Skrulls since Latents and Eternals have been wiped out.

So due to this, we can conclude that ridged chin is something unique to Deviant Syndrome, and even though Thanos and Skrulls are not directly connected, they share the same genes responsible for this feature.

Thanos is a Skrull on Earth-99997

Now, when I say that Thanos is not a Skrull, this only holds true for the mainstream Marvel Continuity, Earth-616, and the MCU. As we know, there are plenty of parallel universes and realities where just about anything is possible, and one such reality is Earth-9997, where Thanos is indeed a Skrull.

In ‘Universe X’ #X, it was revealed that Thanos’ mother Sui-San, was actually a shapeshifted Skrull wearing a disguise of Eternal, something that A’Lars never figured out.

Thanos was born with traces of Skrull lineage which resulted in his hideous appearance, and this is the moment where Sui-San realized that she had to shapeshift her internal organs as well, and her other younger son, Starfox, looked like 100 % Eternal.

Thanos would probably never figured this out if he hadn’t caught his mother shapeshifting in her Skrull form. Sui-San convinced Thanos to keep her secret since she would probably be dead if the truth of her origin was to be found out.

This prompted Thanos to despise the rest of his family and his race. Lady Death used this opportunity to utilize Thanos’ hate. She, in turn, shapeshifted into Thanos’ mother and convinced Thanos that Titan had to be destroyed.

His real mother died in the attack, and A’Lars covered up her death when he realized that she was Skrull the whole time. During his time as half-Skrull, Thanos also waged war against Kree.

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