Thanos Has To Love Death By Staying At A Distance

I'm on a Thanos Imperative kick, and may be for the next few days. I've been giving some thought to Thanos bemoaning his fate in Thanos Imperative #4, after he survived Drax' anti-matter charge assassination attempt. He said that Death had rejected, that he could never be by her side again. Considering how often Thanos proclaims his love for death, that's a big deal for him. He even goes so far as to say that's she's merely using him for her own ends, the same as she's doing with the Guardians of the Galaxy.

I think he's looking at it the wrong way. Thanos has always been trying to do things for Death to prove his love for her, and earn her affection in return. Kill this group of people, conquer this world, gather the Infinity Gems. The thing is, Death never needed any of that stuff. That half of the universe Thanos killed with the Infinity Gauntlet? They 're all going to die someday, anyway. Thanos may have sent them along to Death sooner, but she would have claimed them eventually. He gave Death nothing it couldn't have taken on its own.

Now though, Death needs Thanos. Mar-Vell can destroy her utterly, as he did the Death of his universe, and her only defense would be an Avatar of Death powerful and wily enough to beat Mar-Vell. Phyla could have spared him this (that might have been interesting, her facing off with an evil version of her pop*), but I think when she failed to kill Adam Warlock before he could become the Magus, Death realized she needed a more experienced hand. Who better than her most devoted Avatar?

This is actually Thanos' best chance to impress Death. This time around, he's not some guy trying to impress her with flashy stunts, that stuff is in the past. Now he's her knight, and his immunity to death is her boon to him, like a nice horse or an awesome sword. She's asked Thanos to slay the dragon threatening her realm because he's who she trusts the most. It's not as though there aren't other insanely powerful mass killers she could have drafted. There's Maelstrom, Morg, the Tyrant (if he isn't still alive), there's probably a dead Kang somewhere she could have hauled in, but no.

Yes, it's rough that he can't see a way to be reunited with Death. But Thanos had it pretty easy in this relationship. He did something, and could say he did it because he loves her, even though it's something (conquering, killing, taking power) he'd do anyway. But where was he when the Grandmaster had stolen her power and taken control of her realm for his stupid games? Thanos didn't set things right, Hawkeye did**. This is harder for Thanos, because it involves doing something he doesn't want to - live - because it's what she needs him to do. That's how it is with these things. The knight wants to stay with his lady, but he goes on the quest on her behalf, because he does love her. Talk is cheap.

If Thanos wants to look on the bright side, he can consider the possibility that Death may be able to rescind the immortality she's granted him once the danger is averted. Their separation may not be forever like he thinks.

* I'm not sure it's as interesting as what we have, with Thanos getting to play the hero, even though he still represents Death, and Mar-Vell as the villain. Probably better as is, since we avoid any potential Daddy issues stuff that would like have been played out with Phyla vs. Mar-Vell.

** By getting the Grandmaster so fixated on a game of chance he stopped concentrating on keeping Death imprisoned. Go Hawkeye!