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Thanos, aka The Mad Titan, has become a household name in pop-culture history thanks to Josh Brolin's fantastic portrayal of him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Brolin lent nuance and mystique to the character via his performance, which endeared him to comic book fans and moviegoers.
In both the comics and the films, we see that The Mad Titan has one goal: to assemble the Infinity Gauntlet by collecting the Infinity Stones and eradicating half of all life in the universe.
The reasons vary in the comics. The Mad Titan eradicates half the population in the universe to impress his lover, Lady Death, in the comics, whereas, in the MCU, he halves the population to solve the problem of overpopulation and its impact on the availability of natural resources.
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Fans, however, have one question in mind regarding comics. Did Thanos successfully get all the Infinity Stones? The answer is yes. How did he get all the stones? Read the article to find out.
Lady Death tasks Thanos to solve the life-and-death imbalance
As mentioned above, Thanos successfully obtained all the Infinity Stones in the comics. However, The Mad Titan was a thorn in the Avengers' side on two separate occasions before his quest to obtain the Infinity Stones.
He first came into conflict with the Avengers when he had a powerful relic known as the Cosmic Cube, which could alter reality. But he was ultimately defeated. He then went on a quest to assemble the Soul Gems, relics that would ultimately become the six Infinity Stones, only to be thwarted by the Avengers again, resulting in his death.
The Mad Titan was believed to be dead until the personification of death, Mistress or Lady Death, resurrected him to solve what she viewed as a metaphysical crisis: The imbalance between life and death. The Mad Titan then fell in love with her.
The Mad Titan initially decided to do her bidding in an old-fashioned way by arriving on each planet in the universe with his pirate army and directly killing half the population.
However, once he looked into a fountain known as the Infinity Well, he gained knowledge of the Infinity Gauntlet and all the Infinity Stones or Soul Gems and their special abilities. He then went on a quest to obtain the stones and the Gauntlet to accomplish Lady Death's task, though he was not entirely honest with her.
Thanos begins the first half of his quest, encountering the In-Betweener, the Champion, and the Gardener
Unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where the Soul Stone is a mystery, Thanos has pre-existing knowledge of the stone and the relic being in possession of a cosmic entity known as the In-Betweener.
The In-Betweener had come into conflict with Lady Death for possessing the Soul Gem. Following this, he was imprisoned by his masters, Lord Chaos and Master Order. The Soul Gem remained in his possession, etched onto his forehead, with the In-Betweener believing the Soul Stone to simply be a trinket.
Thanos visited the In-Betweener and promised to free him from imprisonment if the latter gave him the Soul Stone. The In-Betweener agreed with the intent of betraying the Mad Titan once he got out, only to realize that the Mad Titan played him by not reminding him that his powers would not work after his release. The In-Betweener was imprisoned once again.
Thanos then visited the war-torn planet of Tamarata in search of the Power Stone, where he encountered an Elder of the Universe called the Champion, who possessed the relic but believed it to be damaged. He had been honing his fighting skills for a long time without realizing that the Power Stone was not damaged and was only enhancing his strength.
The Mad Titan then goaded the latter into combat, which destroyed Tamarata when the Champion used his full strength. Thanos then offered to bring the Champion to another planet in exchange for the Power Stone, to which the latter agreed.
Thanos then visited the Elder of the Universe, the Gardener, to obtain the Time Stone from his possession. The Gardener had one goal in his entire existence: To create the most beautiful plant life in the universe. The Gardener was, however, unaware that the Time Stone in his possession was responsible for his garden looking extremely beautiful.
The Mad Titan and the Gardener had a polite conversation, which eventually led to an all-out brawl when the Gardener decided to try and stop Thanos, even if he could not defeat him by his own admission.
Using the powers of the Time Stone, the Gardener entrapped the Mad Titan in his vines, only for the latter to free himself and use the Power Stone to turn the Gardener's powers against him, resulting in his death. Thanos then obtained the Time Stone.
Word of the Mad Titan's quest reaches the Elders of the Universe via the Grandmaster
Thanos then began his search for the Space Stone. By this point, however, the Elder known as Grandmaster had become aware of The Mad Titan's quest, warning his brethren about it. This allowed the Elder, known as the Runner, to get the jump on The Mad Titan and find him before the Mad Titan himself found the Runner.
Despite the Runner initially having the upper hand and an element of surprise against Thanos, the Mad Titan used the Time Stone to gain the upper hand by speeding up the Runner's aging till he became old and weak.
Thanos then collected the Space Stone, which the Runner believed granted him his impressive speed and made the latter a child via the Time Stone. The Mad Titan then took the Runner with him and proceeded to obtain the Reality Stone.
The Mad Titan then visited Taneleer Tivan, aka the Collector, who possessed the Reality Stone. Tivan, unlike the In-Betweener, Runner, Champion, and the Gardener, knew he had an Infinity Stone but was unable to access its power.
Tivan and Thanos had made deals and bargains in the past. The Mad Titan offered the Runner to the Collector to keep in his collection in exchange for the Reality Stone. The Collector agreed and handed over the Reality Stone.
What the Mad Titan did not tell Tivan was that the Runner's de-aging was temporary, and once the Runner returned to his normal age, he would not be pleased with Tivan.
Thanos then visited the Grandmaster to obtain the final Infinity Stone: The Mind Stone. The Grandmaster, who dedicated his entire purpose and existence to the art of contests and games, challenged The Mad Titan to a game in exchange for the Mind Stone.
Thanos and Grandmaster then dueled, with the former besting him. The Grandmaster, however, cheated and used a device to lobotomize the Mad Titan.
Unfortunately for the Grandmaster, the Mad Titan anticipated this move and had sent a duplicate version of himself via the Reality Stone to fight Grandmaster while he obtained the Mind Stone.
The Mad Titan begins his quest to eradicate half of all life
After retrieving all the stones, The Mad Titan visited Lady Death and informed her of his intent. He did not just want to collect all the stones as per Lady Death's request; he also wanted to put himself on her level of power.
Lady Death, however, revealed via her servants that rather than doing her allotted task, The Mad Titan, in his quest, ended up making himself more powerful than her, and because of that, she resented him.
Thanos then moved ahead with his plan to eradicate half of all life in the universe to regain her love.
