It's Never Too Early For A New Avatar Of Death

For those of you reading Thanos Imperative, do you think there's any chance the anti-matter charge Drax slapped on Thanos' chest in issue 3 actually killed him?

Normally, I wouldn't buy it, even with Drax stating 'Kill confirmed.' Thanos is on the cover of next week's issue, and the event has his name in the title. Also, he was only brought back from the dead a few months ago, and it's been suggested he may be, I'm not sure "immortal" is the right word. It may still be possible for him to die, but it's harder than it used to be. He might still be able to die, he simply can't be actively killed. In which case they'd have to wait until he kicks it of old age. Plus, he's the only character having much success killing beings from the Universe That Can't Die.

But there's a part of me that argues it would be a pretty big shake-up to the story. Bring Thanos back, make him a big deal in the story, then kill him before he does anything of significance other than talk about how to fix things. Having Drax lose control (or lose sight of the bigger picture, however you'd like to put it), and kill Thanos when they needed him would neatly mirror Annihilation as well. it's the kind of ugly reversal the cosmic Marvel events have utilized before*. It would up the difficulty level that extra bit, force Star-Lord to try and find a substitute for the Avatar of Death.

There's even a argument in favor of it. Cancer-Vell needs to kill the Avatar of Death (Thanos) in a specific ceremony (the Necropsy). Best I can tell, Thanos has to be killed there, in a specific way. That's why he ordered his followers to capture all the anomalies (like Major Victory and Namorita) rather than simply killing them on sight. If Thanos was actually killed, then Mar-Vell can complete his ceremony. More than likely, Death will tap somebody else for the job (Drax, perhaps, since he likes destroying so much), and the plan continues. Plus, whoever would take Thanos' place isn't someone Mar-Vell's likely to be expecting. let's hear it for the element of surprise.

I expect Thanos will have survived Drax' attack, probably largely unscathed. Knowing Thanos, he'll probably laugh at Drax' failure, while simultaneously being angry that he survived. But there's always a chance they'll surprise me.

* With Annihilation you could point to Drax killing Thanos or Galactus being weaponized by Annihilus. Conquest, maybe the point when Adam, Phyla, and the High Evolutionary believe they're safe, only to find the Phalanx waiting for them. War of Kings, it was probably when Lilandra died.