As The Infinity Gauntlet chugs along, Thanos proves to be so unstoppable and omnipotent, it becomes difficult for the reader to imagine how things could get resolved in a clear and creative fashion. Unfortunately, writer Jim Starlin never manages to get out of the corner he paints himself into with his story, and Thanos loses his power in a completely uninspiring way. In the minis penultimate chapter, Thanos defeats Eternity and takes his place, which expands his consciousness into the universe and leaves his body comatose. At that moment, the space pirate Nebula, who had been under Thanoss control, manages to steal the gauntlet and undo all of the destruction the Mad Titan caused. She even resurrects the heroes Thanos killed earlier. It is quite a shock that someone as mighty as Thanos would lose the gauntlet without much of a struggle and the fact that a character as minor as Nebula unseats him (rather than one of the many A-list heroes featured in the series like Captain America, Hulk or Thor), just makes the plot development even more contrived and disappointing. As an added bonus, Thanos has to band together with the recently resurrected heroes to defeat Nebula. Its a blatant attempt by Starlin to tease Thanos as a tweener hero/villain rather than the evil force he had been characterized as for years.
Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.
