10 Defining Rules Of Iconic Characters (That Came Later Than You Think)

Some supervillains just want to watch the world burn. Others, though, have every bit as strict a moral code as the heroes that they face.

Just take a look at Thanos. He doesn't want to rule the galaxy or to cause chaos. He just has a total commitment to creating balance by destroying half of all existence. Hell, it often seems more of a burden to him to destroy half of everything, rather than villainy that he takes pleasure in. But he's going to do it anyway because it's important to stick to your values.

It's such a core component of the character that it remained the main aspect of his MCU plot even with a totally different motivation. (In the comics Thanos's desire to balance the living and the dead by killing 50% of everyone comes from wanting to impress the sexy personification of death, rather than some environmentalist saviour complex.)

In his early appearances, though, Thanos had no such code. In fact, when writer Jim Starlin first introduced the Mad Titan back in 1973 he was just a generic evil alien wannabe-overlord. A decidedly skinnier Thanos can be seen telling Iron Man that he was the future Emperor of Earth in his first appearance in Invincible Iron Man #55 and offering little more motivation than that.

His literal courtship of Death was added shortly afterwards, but the whole "wipe out half of all life" rule for which he is now most widely known didn't come in until the Infinity Gauntlet arc in 1991.