It is said that all good things must come to an end. Fortunately the same applies to OK and bad things as well. While I wouldn’t call this mini-series “bad,” I just haven’t been thrilled with the portrayal of Thanos since the first issue. This has been really annoying to me as Thanos is one of my all time favorite characters.
So we open the comic and the vast majority of it is destruction. Thanos lays waste to his home world of Titan. After he bombards the planet from his ship, his troops prepare to move in and finish the job. Then Thanos stops them. This is his world to destroy. Every life upon it is his alone to take.
As he sets out, he slowly takes the life of everything he comes across until finally he returns home. Home where his father is conveniently the last person alive on the planet.
His father has created a weapon that he can’t use it against him. As he questions his son as to why he has committed genocide, his response is for love. For the love of Death. His father, Mentor, claims that there is no one else there with him. He claims he’s been running his scanners and they are the only two in the room.
There is no Death there. Only the two of them.
As Thanos dismisses his father, we find that he ends up questioning him as well. Does this mean Death is all a figment of his imagination? That seems to go against all of his motivations of destroying or taking over the universe that has been going on for years.
The story closes and it shows Thanos back in modern times and Death shows up asking for a kiss. She says it’s been so long since he’s given her one. My problem with this scene is that it feels to not hold continuity. If this is set in the present, then why has he still been doing everything for her over the span of his existence? Why have others seen her with him? Even if we ignore the fact that Deadpool is crazy and sees her for that reason, most of the cosmic entities and high powered heroes with things such as cosmic awareness have acknowledged her existence.
So was this just an outright rejection of Death? It’s been done before but it’s been hinted that it’s never been done until after The Infinity Gauntlet story line. (Sure he ends up back with her but still…)
I’m just going to say I don’t like how it was portrayed here. I could see it being taken either way and I feel that both ways don’t fit with continuity.
So there you have it. ‘Thanos Rising’ is over. The only thing we may have gotten out of it is that either Death doesn’t really exist in comparison to every other story we’ve read or that whatever Thanos is doing right now is by his own hand and not for her. Or this won’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Now let’s just hope they don’t screw up Thanos in the upcoming ‘Infinity’ story line.
THANOS RISING #5
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Simone Bianchi
