If you’ve already seen Avengers: Infinity War, you’re probably filled with one, main wish: to see the movie again. But if you had two wishes, the second one would probably be to see Thanos (Josh Brolin) die a horrible, awful death. So who kills Thanos in the comics?
That’s a pretty tricky one, because the Mad Titan is nearly immortal. Nearly being the operative word, because like most Marvel Comics characters, even with virtual immortality and infinite strength, he’s died and come back to life multiple times. In fact, “Infinity Gauntlet,” one of the main comics Infinity War is based on, kicks off after Thanos is resurrected by the literal avatar of Death.
So with that in mind, let’s explore who kills Thanos in the comics — and speculate wildly about who, if anyone, can do the deed on screen.
Who Kills Thanos: Adam Warlock (and Spider-Man!)
At the end of a massive crossover, in “Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2,” Spider-Man is solo against Thanos. He frees the Avengers, wrestles the Soul Stone (called the Soul Gem at the time) from Thanos, and frees a guy named Adam Warlock.
Adam, btw, has only appeared in cocoon form in the MCU, so don’t expect him to turn up in the movies yet. Anyway, Adam turns Thanos into stone, and then dies himself. Technically Thanos isn’t dead — he’s just living stone — but it’s pretty close.
Regardless, it would be pretty great to see Spider-Man return, and then be the key to stopping Thanos in the next movie, imho.
Who Kills Thanos: Nebula
This isn’t death either — not exactly — but in the climax of “Infinity Gauntlet,” Thanos achieves cosmic awareness, and leaves the husk of his body behind. He’s turned Nebula into a living corpse, and once she’s left alone, manages to take the gauntlet off Thanos’ hand and take over the universe. She also reverses time 24 hours, bringing everyone Thanos made disappear back to life.
Oh, and Thanos ends up joining the heroes to stop her.
All in all, though this isn’t exactly a death scenario, it seems like the most likely possibility for Avengers 4.
Who Kills Thanos: Drax
In the 2006-2007 “Annihilation” event, Drax finally kills Thanos. No tricks, no imaginary stories. Thanos dies. Of course, it’s all part of Thanos’s plan… But yeah, Drax straight up murders him.
Could this happen in the movies? It would certainly bring the Destroyer’s storyline to a close. But since Drax is mostly played for laughs, maybe not.
Who Kills Thanos: Doctor Doom
After “Infinity,” writer Jonatham Hickman’s next enormous event was a reboot of the classic storyline “Secret Wars.” In it, Doctor Doom is elevated to god status, and rules over the patchwork planet of Battleworld. He kills Thanos. This will not happen in the movies.
I don’t think I need to explain why? But just in case: they’re not doing “Secret Wars”; and Doctor Doom is still (for the time being) a Fox property, not Disney/Marvel.
Who Kills Thanos: Thanos
At the climax of the recent “Thanos Wins” storyline by Donny Cates and Geoffrey Shaw, Thanos kills Thanos. Sort of. Thanos’ biggest enemy has always been himself, so naturally after he killed everyone else in the Universe Thanos would transport his young self forward in time, in order to kill himself.
That way, Thanos will finally be able to die, and marry Death — his one true love. Except Thanos beats himself, by deciding his future version is so pathetic he doesn’t deserve to die. By making different choices, Young Thanos erases Old Thanos from existence — and wins.
Could this happen on screen? Definitely not, but like we said earlier: Thanos will be the key to his own downfall.
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Squirrel girl also kills him.