What Kind of Creature Is Thanos? Is He a God, an Eternal, or Something Else?

Both in the MCU and in the comics, Thanos is among the most formidable villains that the Avengers have ever faced. Known as the Mad Titan, Thanos’ origins left audiences pondering the nature of his being. Is he a god, an Eternal, or something entirely different? He is extremely powerful, nearly immortal, intelligent beyond measure, and skillful combatant, so what is he? The Marvel universe is filled with various alien races, different types of humanoid races, and superpowered cosmic beings. Having said that, Thanos’ origin is pretty clear both in the comics and in the MCU, and this is what we’re going to shed light on today. Let’s see what kind of being Thanos is.

Thanos is an Eternal, this means that he belongs to a race of ancient and superpowered beings created by Celestials. Thanos is, however, different than all other Eternals due to carrying a mutation in his genetic code which manifested as the condition known as Deviant Syndrome. Deviant Syndrome is what gave Thanos his unique coloring, thick skin, and monstrous nature. In the MCU, Thanos has a different origin, and instead of being Eternal, he belongs to the race known as “Titans.” Titans are humanoids that inhabit the planet Titan. The planet was destroyed due to overpopulation which made the whole race of Titans functionally extinct.

Now that we’ve given you a brief summary of Thanos’ race, it’s time to analyze this in more detail. If you want to know more about Eternals, Deviants, and Titans, stay with us and keep reading!

What is the connection between Eternals, Deviants, and Thanos?

Before we explain what Thanos is exactly, it’s time to explain the differences between two distinctive races created by Celestials. Eternals were a humanoid race created by Celestials. They are known as Homo Immortalis due to being an extremely long-lived offshoot of humanity. Eternals are extremely intelligent, they are functionally immortal, and they were tasked with watching over humanity.

Some of them even assumed the roles of messengers of gods. Eternals were created over a million years ago when Nezarr the Calculator wanted to create his own species after collecting enough samples for highly versatile human genes.

However, something else was created by the Celestials first, and this other offshoot of humanity was called the Deviants or Homo Descendus. Deviants were created by Ziran the Tester. Deviants were twisted and grotesque creatures, and even though Ziran the Tester created 100 Deviants and Nezarr the Calculator created 100 Eternals, Deviants, after some time, came to vastly outnumber Eternals. Eventually, they were purged from Earth, but the purge was extensive and included significant collateral damage.

The question of how exactly Deviants came to outnumber Eternals by such great numbers is intriguing, and it leads us to better understand Thanos’ origin.

Unlike Deviants, Eternals couldn’t breed with each other. They could only breed with other species and other Deviants. Still, the original 100 Eternals could not create 100 more pureblooded Eternals, and their numbers remained pretty much the same. This is where Thanos’ parents come in.

What kind of creature is Thanos?

Thanos was born to Sui-San and A’Lars, a pair of Eternals who found a way to reproduce with each other via Quantum Bands. Eternals Sui-San and A’Lars had two sons, Eros, the firstborn, and Thanos. This should mean that Thanos was pure Eternal, but something happened. Even though Eternals and Deviants were created separately, Eternals still had a genetic predisposition for Deviant mutations, which is exactly what happened with Thanos.

Thanos was born as an Eternal but carried a Deviant mutation, meaning he is both Eternal and Deviant. It was obvious that Thanos was different since he was born. It is said that when Sui-San saw Thanos’ eyes for the first time, she could see the death in those black pits, and she tried to kill him. Years later, Thanos killed her.

Due to being an Eternal with a Deviant mutation, Thanos inherited purple skin that was more similar to hide than skin. His distinctive appearance is not the only thing that Thanos has in common with Deviants. He was likewise prone to destruction, nihilism, and pure evil, just like the rest of the Deviants, even though he couldn’t be considered fully Eternal or Deviant.

What race is Thanos in the MCU?

MCU largely reworked Thanos’ origin story, and with the introduction of the Eternals to the MCU with their standalone movie, most fans were left visibly confused. Eternals are sort of immortal androids in the MCU, and realistically their story doesn’t match what we know of Thanos. This is because, in the MCU, Thanos is not an Eternal; he is instead the so-called “Titan.”

Titans were a humanoid race that inhabited the planet Titan, but the whole race perished due to overpopulation and an extreme lack of resources. Being the smartest of his race, Thanos proposed a culling plan, but instead of considering it, the leaders of Titan mocked Thanos and called him a madman. Time eventually proved him right, and due to calamities, lack of resources, and eventual in-fighting that happened on Titan, the whole race was extinct, leaving Thanos the only survivor.

The fate of his homeworld as well as his race fueled his destructive journey in the MCU and led him to wipe out half of all life in the Universe by using the Infinity Gauntlet.

How are Eros and Thanos connected in the MCU?

Now that we’ve cleared up that Thanos is not Eternal in the MCU, this still leaves us with the question of how is Thanos a Titan, connected to Eros, an Eternal that is his biological brother in the comics.

It’s simple, Eros and Thanos are adoptive brothers in the MCU, which means there are no biological bonds between them. Eros was stationed at Titan, Thanos’ homeworld, and eventually became a part of the royal family and was considered his adoptive brother. The connection between Thanos, Eros, and Eternals in the MCU is a bit more complicated in the comics, but it works somehow.

And there you have it. In the comics, Thanos is Eternal with a Deviant gene which makes him different from the rest of his people. In the MCU, Thanos is not Eternal (even though they exist); instead, he was given a new backstory. He belongs to a race of Titans that did have dealings with Eternals in the past, but as far as we know, Thanos is not biologically related to his adoptive brother Eros that likewise appears in the MCU.