When & Where Was Thanos Born? (Comics & MCU)

Thanos is one of the most iconic villains in Marvel Comics, and due to his brilliant character arc in the MCU, he became known to the wider public in recent times. This is one of the reasons why all aspects of Thanos’ personality have been explored several times here on Comic Basics. However, one of the most intriguing aspects remains Thanos’ origin story and the circumstances surrounding his birth. We know that Thanos’ origin differs slightly in the comics and in the MCU. Due to that, we’ve decided to explore when and where Thanos was born, both in the comics and in the MCU.

In the MCU, Thanos was born on planet Titan between the years 1013-1018. In the comics, Thanos was likewise born on Titan, but the year of his birth is a bit vaguer. It’s estimated that he is likewise around 1000 years old. One major difference between the comics and the MCU remains the question of Thanos’ race. In the MCU, he was presented as a Titan, while in the comics, he is an Eternal/Deviant hybrid.

Now that we’ve given you the answer to the main question, it’s time to analyze it in a bit more detail. If you’re interested in more, stay with us and keep reading!

Thanos birth in the MCU: Location, year & what happened explained

The version of Thanos from the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not the mainline version of the character that is presented in the source material, as there are several differences between the two characters that seem unimportant at first but will likely play a bigger role in the future considering that Eternals are officially part of the MCU.

Even though we didn’t see Thanos’ birth on screen, we know a thing or two about the circumstances of his birth. Thanos was born on an extremely technologically advanced planet called Titan between the years 1013-1018 making around 1000 years old at the time of his death in 2018.

Like in the comics, Thanos was a natural-born son of A’Lars, but the name of his mother was never mentioned. Neither A’Lars nor his wife were Eternals which means that Thanos is not Eternal. Rather he is a pure-born Titan.

At the time when Thanos was born, Titan was still a relatively lush and green planet, a thriving civilization with lots of potential. However, it quickly became evident that Titan would fall due to a lack of resources and in-fighting of the existing resources.

Thanos, when he came of age, proposed to cull half of the population of Titan, a feat for which he was named “The Mad Titan,” a nickname that will stick with him for the rest of his life. Thanos eventually proved to be right, Titan did fall, and by the time we meet Thanos in the MCU, it’s already a barren wasteland with no potential.

It is unknown whether the rest of the Titans in the MCU share Thanos’ physiology, skin color, and ridged chin, as in the MCU, he is not an Eternal and, therefore, cannot suffer from the Deviant syndrome.

One more interesting thing is that Thanos’ Eternal brother Starfox is present in the MCU, but it’s not his true-born brother but rather an adoptive one. There is no genetic link between them.

Thanos’ birth in the comics: location, year & what happened explained

In the comics, Thanos’ birth was shown in a bit more detail, but the timeline remains unclear due to numerous time-travel shenanigans and eventual retcons concerning his story.

We do, however, know that Thanos was born on Titan, an Eternal colony following the Eternal civil war. He was born to a pair of Eternals A’lArs and Sui-San. Eternals naturally weren’t able to reproduce with each other. This is why A’Lars gifted Quantum Bands to Sui-San as a wedding gift, so they could conceive naturally.

Sui-San had a difficult birth with Thanos, and when he was born, it was obvious that he looked nothing like the rest of the Eternals. It was established that Thanos suffered from the Deviant syndrome, which made him vastly stronger than other Eternals but also more violent and ruthless. It’s also what gave him his brutish physique and purple skin.

It’s said that as soon as Sui-San caught a glimpse of Thanos’ pitch-black eyes and twisted appearance, she wanted to kill him, which caused A’Lars to commit Sui-San to a mental institution. Thanos was named after the Greek god Thanatos due to the fact that he represents Triumph over death.

In the comics, Eros is the other son of Sui-San and A’Lars, making him a true brother of Thanos related by blood. Eros, however, didn’t suffer from the Deviant syndrome.

How old was Thanos when he died?

In the MCU, Thanos was between 1000 and 1005 years old when he died during the events of ‘Avengers: Endgame.’ This is calculated taking into account his supposed birth date. In the comics, once again, it’s difficult to say since Thanos died numerous times.

Most recently, Thanos died during the events of ‘Eternals’ Vol 5 #12 when he tried to abuse the Eternal Machine. It turned out that Druig, a member of Polarian Eternals, used a fail-safe system within a machine to created by Phastos to eliminate Thanos before he could destroy the world. It’s estimated that Thanos was at least 1000 years old during his death, but as I’ve said, it’s difficult to determine because he died at least five times in the mainline comics.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!