Marvel Read-Through: Thanos War

6 min readAug 30, 2021

Captain Marvel vows to defeat Thanos as he taunts the fallen Avengers

After taking some time off, I’m back! It’s only the 1970s, I can’t give up now. And oh boy do I have a good story arc to discuss this time, Jim Starlin’s first major Thanos storyline. That’s right it’s the Thanos War. Captain Marvel and the Avengers take on the Mad Titan in a cosmic battle to decide the fate of the universe. But first, we have to check in on the Avengers as they learn about Mantis’ mysterious past.

Mantis’ father meets her mother. The Vietnamese people are colored yellow — I was very taken aback by the coloring of Vietnamese people

So this guy Libra has just been defeated by the Avengers when he drops a bombshell that he is Mantis’ father. Understandably, she’s skeptical since she was raised by the Priests of Pama in Vietnam and never knew of Libra’s existence. It turns out he fell in love with with a Vietnamese woman and they had a child together. This upset her warlord brother who hunted them down, killing Mantis’ mother and causing her father to leave her with the Priests of Pama. They trained her in martial arts and believed her to be the Celestial Madonna, some sort of savior for them and the plant-like aliens the Cotati. I enjoyed learning of this history since it played a role in last year’s major crossover event, Empyre, and I was kind of lost while reading that. Of course, my joy was short-lived when the Swordsman sneaks off to Vietnam to kill Khruul to impress Mantis, which is just a dumb idea that results in him getting captured and tortured. In the short time I’ve spent with Swordsman I’ve grown to like him but once again Steve Englehart’s creative direction doesn’t sit well with me here. He’s been with the Avengers for approximately ten issues and still sneaks off to take down Khruul on his own? Has he not learned to be part of a team by now?

It’s the Avengers to the rescue in the next issue as they save Swordsman and defeat the Star Stalker, a creature Khruul has unleashed. This was a fun issue. The team took quite a beating from the Star Stalker and seeing them at the edge of defeat only for Mantis to figure out how to defeat the monster was enjoyable. I like seeing the new members get time to shine and prove their worth alongside the heavy hitters. Overall this was a fine little arc but nothing too special. It feels unresolved since there is still so much to learn about Mantis. I am excited to read more about Mantis’ past and the team’s adventures in Vietnam eventually, but the placement of this arc being separated from the rest of it (which takes place six issues later) was odd.

And now the main event: Thanos War! Captain Marvel takes the lead role in this storyline as he fights against Thanos who has returned to Earth to search for a Cosmic Cube. The main story takes place in the Captain Marvel title. While there a couple of jumps to Marvel Feature and Avengers, this is Mar-Vell’s story. This arc featured so many characters, from the Thing and Super-Skrull to the entire Avengers roster to Drax and Moondragon, and I loved the way it brought so many players together. Thanos really only becomes the major threat that he is in the 1990s, but Starlin still managed to make him a massive threat here. The story is very well-written and thought out. It gives everyone a chance in the spotlight, advances Mar-Vell and Rick Jones’ story, and was just a ton of fun to read. I especially liked the more abstract aspects, like Mar-Vell becoming cosmically aware and Thanos turning himself into the universe itself. It was an epic tale and the scale was massive. This is the kind of sci-fi stuff I love reading.

Death makes her first appearance — The first ever appearance of Thanos’ love: Death

I do have to admit that the pacing of this arc was strange to me. The first three issues go together nicely, but the next four issues slow down the plot quite a bit. After escaping Thanos, Mar-Vell goes on his journey to become cosmically aware and battles the Controller, while Drax takes on Thanos in a completely separate part of the story. There’s also an aside in Marvel Feature #12 that sees Iron Man and the Thing team-up to take on Thanos’ goons the Blood Brothers. This middle portion of the story was slow compared to the action-heavy fast pace of the rest of it and it felt a little out of place. I think if it hadn’t been four issues long and hadn’t included the Controller or the Blood Brothers to distract the heroes from Thanos and focused only on Mar-Vell’s evolution then it would have fit nicely. The final four issues of the arc pick up the pace again and are excellent. It ends in an epic battle and comes to a very satisfying conclusion.

A recap page that details the events of the past few issues — Comics in this era love catching readers up as part of the story. It feels like a waste of a few pages every time just to retell the past few issues

I also have to mention the art throughout this arc. Starlin’s cosmic drawings are insanely gorgeous and mesmerizing to look at. The splash pages were beautiful, the layouts were creative, and the art was experimental. I loved every panel. Here are some examples:

Drax and Thanos engage in mental warfare

Moondragon and Thanos engage in mental warfare

Starlin knocked it out of the park with this story. While multiple writers are credited, it is his plot and ideas that are being told here and it is a great arc. I knew very little of Thanos’s time in the 1970s, but I am very glad I finally got to read some of it. I’m excited to see him return.

After the Thanos War wrapped in Captain Marvel #33, I continued on to read #34 as well. It wasn’t a great story but it’ll be important later on when Captain Marvel dies so I had to incorporate it. Not much to report here, just a standard issue that really only matters retroactively when we learn the events of this issue are the cause of Mar-Vell’s cancer.