The Thanos Imperative Primer

The Thanos Imperative is upon us and because so many people asked me about if we'd have one, here is a quick primer on the event.  We cover the basics of what you need to know, what books you need to buy, character profiles and more.  Hit the jump and find out everything we know about The Thanos Imperative.

Index

• What is The Thanos Imperative?
• What is The Thanos Imperative about?
• How many books are involved in the crossover?
• Is there a checklist?
• Summary of Events
• War of Kings
• Realm of Kings
• Thanos Reborn
• The Horrorscope
• The Thanos Imperative: Ignition
• Character Profiles, Factions & Locations
• Thanos, The Mad Titan
• Nova
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Lord Mar-Vell
• Adam Warlock/Magus
• Quasar
• Silver Surfer
• Medusa, the Inhumans and the Kree Empire
• The Shi'ar Imperium
• King Blastaar
• The Fault
• The Cancer-verse
• Darkhawk
• Talon
• Where can I find more information?
• Any questions?

What is The Thanos Imperative?

The Thanos Imperative is the next big cosmic event from Marvel Comics.  It is a six-issue mini-series that picks up where the recently ended Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy titles left off.  Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, the two writers responsible for the cosmic renaissance in the Marvel Universe, and with art by Miguel Sepulveda, the event kicked off with a bang last week in the prelude issue, Thanos Imperative: Ignition #1.

What is The Thanos Imperative about?

Death. Actually, scratch that, it's about the lack of death. After the War of Kings, a rift was created in time and space, known as The Fault.  On the other side of The Fault was a universe unlike our own where life had won out and conquered death.  It was literally a universe where nothing could die.  This universe is tentatively referred to as the Cancer-verse and was also filled with twisted versions of our own characters, such as the Avengers, and, like a ravenous tumour, these undying cancer versions of our own heroes are now spilling out into our universe and looking to snuff out the Avatar of Death - Thanos - so they can create another universe of endless life.

How many books are involved in the crossover?

Unlike previous cosmic events, The Thanos Imperative is scaled back into a much smaller event and only features the main event title, aptly titled The Thanos Imperative.  Similar to the original Annihilation, this book will be six-issues long and feature the entire epic storyline from start to finish.  Previous events featured tie-ins in Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy, but as both titles ended leading into to this event, neither will feature as tie-ins.

Is there a checklist?

Marvel has not released a checklist, but it's a fairly straightforward event with only the one main title to follow.  I've listed the prelude issues and the release dates of the title for your convenience below.

Prelude Issues

• Realm of Kings #1 - Establishes the Cancer-verse and explores The Fault in the aftermath of War of Kings.
• Guardians of the Galaxy #24-25 - Featured the return of Thanos and led directly into The Thanos Imperative: Ignition #1.
• Nova #36 - Information pertaining to the evil Quasar and his building of the Horrorscope on Earth, which resulted in the chase seen in Thanos Imperative: Ignition can be found in this issue.
• The Thanos Imperative: Ignition #1 - Official prelude issue released last week.

Event Issues

• The Thanos Imperative #1 - June 3rd, 2010
• The Thanos Imperative #2 - July 14th, 2010
• The Thanos Imperative #3 - August 11th, 2010
• The Thanos Imperative #4 - September 2010
• The Thanos Imperative #5 - October 2010
• The Thanos Imperative #6 - November 2010

That's everything you need for this event unless Marvel solicits some heretofore unmentioned tie-ins.

Summary of Events

Reading Order: War of Kings -> Realm of Kings (Realm of Kings #1, Realm of Kings: Inhumans, Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard) -> Guardians of the Galaxy #20-23 -> Nova #32-35 -> Guardians of the Galaxy #24-25 -> Nova #36 -> The Thanos Imperative: Ignition #1 -> The Thanos Imperative #1-6

War of Kings

War of Kings was a literal war between kings.  In this case, it was the mad emperor Vulcan of the Shi'ar Empire waging war on the Black Bolt led Kree Empire.  The war itself was devestating and left many planets ravaged, but the end result is what is most important for you to know about going into The Thanos Imperative.

Black Bolt, seeing no other alternative to end the war, launches a weaponized Terrigen Mist bomb towards Shi'ar space.  This T-Bomb required the power of Black Bolt's voice to activate, so he was aboard it on its journey to Shi'ar space.  Vulcan intercepted the bomb and the two fought.  The resulting fight caused the bomb to detonate and this sheared the very fabric of space and time and created what became known as The Fault, a light years long rip in space that led to another universe, later known as the Cancer-verse.  

The detonation of the T-Bomb and death of their emperor resulted in Gladiator becoming the new emperor of the Shi'ar and he immediately agreed to an unconditional surrender to the Inhuman led Kree, whom Medusa was now the sole ruler of as queen with her husband, Black Bolt's, death.

Realm of Kings

In the aftermath of the War of Kings, many factions made attempts at exploring what became known as The Fault.  The first to do so was Quasar.  On the other side of The Fault, he discovered a twisted version of our universe where life had defeated death and now spread out over the universe like a cancerous growth.  These universe had its own evil versions of our heroes, such as the Avengers pictured above, and the Lovecraft-ian like universe now seeks to spread its undying touch to our universe.

In follow-up Realm of King stories, both the Inhumans and Shi'ar sent scouting parties into The Fault and came back with dire news of an impending attack.  Both factions are joining forces and heading to The Fault in preparation for war. 

Thanos Reborn

In earlier Guardians of the Galaxy issues, the Universal Church of Truth was shown to have in their possession a cocoon very similar to the one Adam Warlock typically resides and is rebirthed in.  The problem was that Adam Warlock was already alive at the time we saw these cocoons.  It turns out that after Thanos died in Annihilation, Adam Warlock's spirit anticipated the need for Thanos in the future and placed him in a regenerative cocoon - the very same one that the Church had somehow come to possess.  

In the most recent Guardians of the Galaxy issues (#24-25), Thanos emerged from this cocoon and killed Phyla-Vell in the process.  Thanos was not happy at the prospect of living again and vowed to kill every last living thing for denying him his place at his love's, Death herself, side.  He was brought down in his weakened state through the use of a damaged Cosmic Cube and was taken prisoner by the Guardians.  

The Horrorscope

While the Guardians of the Galaxy were busy dealing with Thanos's rebirth, Nova was made aware of a doppleganger Quasar causing trouble at Project Pegasus on Earth in Nova #36.  He joined forces with Darkhawk to stop what turned out to be the Quasar from the Cancer-verse.  This Quasar was building a 'horrorscope', which is a device of unknown purpose, but was revealed in Thanos Imperative: Ignition to have divined a certain location that Lord Mar-Vell, the leader of The Fault forces, required knowledge of.  It is unknown what the location is or what it pertains to, but speculation is that it will allow the 'many angled ones' to manifest in our universe from the Cancer-verse.  After destroying the horrorscope, Nova gave chase to the evil Quasar and we pick up his story in Thanos Imperative: Ignition.

The Thanos Imperative: Ignition

The Thanos Imperative kicked off in similar fashion to every other Marvel cosmic story by having a one-shot prelude.  Following in tradition, the issue set the stage for the event by introducing the major characters, doing some basic recap work on who Thanos is and how he came back to life and then, like previous events, ended with a shocking cliffhanger reveal of who was leading The Fault armies - none other than the Cancer-verse version of Captain Mar-Vell, a hero long associated with Thanos and the cosmic side of things and who, ironically, died of cancer.  He now goes by the name, Lord Mar-Vell, and is powerful enough to kill Magus in an instant upon learning of his failure to kill the Avatar of Death (aka Thanos).  

Additionally, this issue saw Thanos break free of the restraints the Guardians of the Galaxy were using to keep him prisoner.  He had vowed that for making him live again, "everything dies" when they originally captured him.  Whether he's calmed down since then or not remains to be seen.  He may ally with the Guardians against The Fault forces or kill them outright.  It should be noted that Thanos is still weakened from his rebirth, but the Guardians noted he was getting stronger with each passing moment and they would not be able to contain him forever.  It is unknown just how powerful Thanos currently is, but he is still a universal threat, even in his weakened state.

Character Profiles, Factions & Locations

Thanos, The Mad Titan

Thanos was born to the Eternals Mentor and Sui-San on Saturn's moon, Titan.  Due to a genetic anomaly, Thanos was born with a Deviant gene and that is why he does not look human like the other Eternals.  Thanos was always conscious of his appearance and, while not treated like an outsider by the other Titans, he acted the part and kept to himself.  

His isolation led to his belief in existential nihilism, which basically means he believes life has no meaning or intrinsic value and, in general, that life has no purpose.  This also led to his obsession with Death and put him on his course to please his mistress.  Combined with his use of bionics and mysticism to augment his already formidable powers, this caused Thanos to be regarded as The Mad Titan.

In addition to super human strength and endurance, Thanos has exhibited the ability to project powerful cosmic blasts, telekinesis, telepathy and simple matter manipulation.  Also, he is a master strategist and extremely cunning and, even if he did not possess the vast powers he already does, would still be a universal threat based on his intelligence and pragmatic nature alone.   

The most notable feat for Thanos was acquiring the Infinite Gems and forming the Infininty Gauntlet.  Upon reaching godhood with the gauntlet, Thanos wiped out half of the universe with the snap of his fingers.  In more recent times, he helped Annihilus capture and weaponize Galactus during Annihilation before being killed by Drax the Destroyer.  He was recently reborn due to Adam Warlock's interference and, as he loves Death and wished to be with her in the afterlife, he is not pleased with the prospect of living again and vowed that "everything dies" for making him live again.

Nova

Richard Rider is Earth's Nova Corps member. As the sole surviving member of the Nova Corps after the Annihilation Wave destroyed Xandar and the entirety of the corps, Richard was charged with housing the Xandarian Worldmind and safekeeping it until he could find a new home for it to reside.

To help him with this deed, the Worldmind granted Richard the status of Nova Prime and, with it, the entirety of the Nova Force. This increased Richard's powers exponentially, effectively making him one of the most powerful beings in the universe.

Over the course of Nova's ongoing series, he and the Worldmind recreated the Nova Corps, or at least are in the early stages of recruiting and training. 

Solicits and interviews reveal that Nova will play a major part in The Thanos Imperative and is charged with assembling a cosmic powerhouse team of heroes to fight back against the Cancer-verse army.

Guardians of the Galaxy

The Guardians of the Galaxy is a recently formed team of would-be heroes that joined together during Annihilation: Conquest. Led by the human, Peter Quill, also known as Starlord, the team is made up of cosmic powerhouses, such as Gamora and Drax, as well as lesser known cosmic characters, such as Rocket Raccoon, Mantis, Bug and the time displaced Vance Astro.

The Guardians make their home on the space station Knowhere, which is located at the edge of the universe and is basically the head of a decapitated Celestial. They make use of advanced teleportation technology to make their way around the universe.

In regards to The Thanos Imperative, the team is currently trying to decide what to do with Thanos, who they captured - barely - through the use of a broken Cosmic Cube Starlord had procured during their previous adventures.  At the end of Thanos Imperative: Ignition, Thanos was shown breaking free of his restraints. The status of the team remains unknown, but expect most, if not all, to survive the encounter and be a major part of the event.

Lord Mar-Vell

At the end of The Thanos Imperative: Ignition, Magus sacrificed countless Universal Church controlled planets in order to open and stablize The Fault further so that his master could lead their army through.  That master was Lord Mar-Vell, an evil doppleganger of the beloved original Captain Mar-Vell that died of cancer.  It is unknown what powers he possesses, but he was powerful enough to kill Magus, a character our heroes could not even touch, let alone defeat, in an instant for failing him. 

Adam Warlock/Magus

Adam Warlock came back during Annihilation: Conquest to help stop Ultron and the Phalanx from conquering Kree space.  He later joined the Guardians of the Galaxy and was busy trying to stop tears in space, which we now know to have been related to the Cancer-verse. 

During their adventures, Warlock was forced to fix the time stream by merging an abandoned future, one in which he became the Magus, onto ours.  The resulting merging caused Warlock's evil persona, the Magus, to overtake him.  As time was in flux, it actually resulted in the Magus having been in control of Warlock for months prior to the "present" time and he turned on his allies without their knowing and helped usher in the creation of The Fault. 

He went on to lead the Universal Church of Truth and it was revealed he had been working to help bring the Cancer-verse residents to our universe.  However, Lord Mar-Vell apparently killed Magus in The Thanos Imperative: Ignition and their associations make it appear as though he may have been a Cancer-verse version of Adam Warlock all along, leaving the door open for our Adam Warlock to appear again, but this is mere speculation on my part.

Gladiator

The current leader of the Shi'ar Imperium, Gladiator is arguably one of the most powerful beings in the universe - when he sets his mind to it.  His powers are completely based on his state of mind and he typically approaches Silver Age Superman-level strength, speed, agility and all those other powers associated with Superman.  He is listed as one of the cosmic powerhouses Nova will attempt to recruit and is currently leading a Shi'ar armada towards The Fault alongside the Inhumans and Kree.

Quasar

Wendell Vaughan has been at the forefront of the events leading up to The Thanos Imperative.  After dying at the hands of Annihilus in Annihilation, he became a quantum energy being and it was deemed safer that he scout the Fault first.  What he found was the Cancer-verse, a universe filled with evil versions of our own champions and a place where life won out and was spreading like a cancerous growth.

When Quasar attempted to leave, the evil version of Quasar from this universe took his place and returned to cause havok and impersonated the real Quasar.  Our Quasar was eventually found by a Shi'ar scouting party and his interactions with The Fault had restored his human body. 

Quasar is extremely powerful and wields quantum bands that have made him a protector of the universe.  He is listed as one of the cosmic powerhouses that Nova will attempt to recruit to fight back against The Fault forces.

Silver Surfer

Currently, the Silver Surfer is a herald of Galactus.  His allegiance lies only to his master, but Norrin Radd has always championed life and will likely heed the call for aid by Nova, who has been stated to seek the Surfer's help in fighting back against The Fault's forces.  It is unknown how Galactus, a being often described as a fundamental force of the universe that balances out life with his cosmic munchies, will react to the prospect of endless life that the Cancer-verse offers. 

Other Notable Characters, Groups or Locations

Medusa, the Inhumans and the Kree Empire

Black Bolt's widow and Queen of the Inhumans and Kree Empire, Medusa became the monarch of both after the death of her husband at the end of the War of Kings. Since the death of her husband, she has become much harsher in her ruling of both the Inhumans and Kree.  After a scouting party learned of the impending danger of that lay beyond The Fault, Medusa is currently leading an armada comprised of the Kree, Shi'ar and King Blastaar's Negative Zone army towards The Fault in preparation for war against the Cancer-verse invaders.

The Shi'ar Imperium

Led by Gladiator after the death of both Vulcan and Lilandra during the War of Kings, the Shi'ar Imperium is but a shadow of its former self and currently defers to the Inhuman led Kree Empire in all matters of state due to their unconditional surrender at the end of their war.  The Shi'ar, too, entered The Fault and learned of the dangers therein and are currently preparing for war as their armada joins up with the Inhumans on a course for the The Fault.

King Blastaar

Blastaar is a resident of the Negative Zone and long time enemy of the Fantastic Four that has attempted to conquer on Earth on numerous occasions. During Annihilation: Conquest, he had teamed with the Kree to battle back against Ultron and the Phalanx.

Most recently, he somehow became king of the Negative Zone and forcibly enlisted the aid of Starlord to help him seize control of Prison 42, the prison for super powered people created during Civil War, in an attempt to gain access to the portal to Earth so that he could, again, attempt to conquer it.

Currently, Blastaar has made efforts to 'fit in' with other royalty and even joined the Galactic Council to further cement his status as King.  He is currently joining forces with the Shi'ar and Kree and leading his army towards The Fault in prepartion for war.

The Fault

At the end of War of Kings, Black Bolt detonated a weaponized Terrigen Mist bomb, known as the T-Bomb.  The resulting explosion tore the fabric of space and time and created a large rift in space that became known as The Fault.  It was later revealed that this was actually a gateway to another universe, known as the Cancer-verse, where twisted versions of our own universe exist in a universe devoid of death.  As the doorway to our universe, The Fault is a hotly contested area and will feature heavily in The Thanos Imperative.

The Cancer-verse

The Cancer-verse is the nickname given to the universe found on the other side of The Fault.  It was given this name due to the fact life has literally won out over death in that universe.  The result of this is undying, twisted versions of our own characters living on eternally and life running amok like a cancerous growth.  That cancer is now spreading out into our universe and threatens to wipe out death in our universe as well.

Darkhawk

Darkhawk is an Earthling named Chris Powell. He is a friend of Nova, Richard Rider, and a former New Warrior. Originally, his powers stemmed from an alien gem that granted him the use of a powerful battlesuit. With the conclusion of his recent miniseries, War of Kings: Darkhawk, it was revealed that the amulet was not unique and actually was created for use by the Fraternity of Raptors. The Fraternity was described as, "the curators of history, and the custodians of the future", of which Darkhawk was one of only two surviving members.  Another member of this organization, Talon, framed Darkhawk for the murder of Empress Lilandra of the Shi'ar Imperium.  At the end of Nova #36,  Darkhawk was injured battling the Quasar from the Cancer-verse while helping Nova stop the Horrorscope at Project Pegasus.  Whether he recovers in time for The Thanos Imperative remains to be seen.

Talon

Talon is an alien member of the Fraternity of Raptors, a cosmic group referred to as the curators of history and custodians of the future. He uses a power armour similar to that of Darkhawk and revealed to Darkhawk that they were the only two surviving members of the Fraternity. Throughout the course of War of Kings, it was revealed that Talon and this Fraternity were actually a shadow organization that furthered their own agendas throughout history with the use of assassinations and other powerplays to install governments and topple empires.  He was seen as a disguised advisor to Gladiator, the current leader of the Shi'ar, during Realm of Kings.  It is unknown what, if any, part he will play in The Thanos Imperative, but it is speculated that he will make his presence known at some point as a conquered universe does not serve his purposes.

Where can I find more information?

Our War of Kings Primer is a great resource for catching up on the Marvel cosmic line. It features detailed summaries of events from the start of the line up until that event, which may help fill in some blanks or information that this primer doesn't touch upon.  You can also find out more information about the event from past interviews with Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning regarding the event on CBR or Marvel.com.

Any Questions?

I believe that covers everything you need to know about this event, but if you have any other questions, feel free to leave a comment below and we'll do our best to answer you or even add it to the primer if need be.

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