A '90s Silver Surfer TV Series Did Thanos Far Better Than The MCU

Thanos' role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has transformed the once little-known supervillain into an icon of supreme evil among superhero fans. After first appearing as a shadowy figure in a post-credits scene at the end of "The Avengers," Thanos went on to play a small role in "Guardians of the Galaxy" and then emerged as the ultimate villain of the MCU's Infinity Saga in "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame." The MCU's depiction of the Mad Titan focused on his quest to gather the Infinity Stones, giving him the power to erase half of all life in the universe.

"Infinity War" and "Endgame" took inspiration from "The Infinity Gauntlet," the comic book storyline that also saw Thanos achieve supreme power through his acquisition of the Infinity Stones. Beyond Thanos' use of the stones to wipe out half of all living things, though, there was little connection between the source material and the movies. In fact, a few core elements of Thanos' character never made it to the screen in the MCU. However, long before Josh Brolin's CGI version of the character graced the big screen, a more faithful version of Thanos had already been adapted for television. In the 1990s, Thanos made his small-screen debut in "Silver Surfer."

The "Silver Surfer" animated series introduced many cosmic Marvel characters to the small screen for the first time. In this pre-MCU era, many were notably different from how they have been portrayed since. Thanos was no exception.

Silver Surfer maintained Thanos' comic book motivations

In his first appearance on "Silver Surfer," Thanos sought to learn how to control the Surfer's master – the planet-eating Galactus, whose sheer power of destruction Thanos hoped to wield. Thanos' motivation in this destructive quest was revealed to be his desire to free and win the approval of Lady Chaos.

Known as Lady Death (or simply Death) in the comics and renamed in the series to comply with Fox's broadcast standards, Lady Chaos was shown entombed in stone in "Silver Surfer." Thanos desperately sought to set her free and win her love. In the comics, though Death was never entombed in this manner, Thanos was driven by his obsessive and unrequited love for her. His desperate need to win the heart of this dark and mysterious entity earned him the title of the Mad Titan.

In the MCU, Thanos was instead simply driven by the fact that his own planet had died when its resources were expended. Convinced that overpopulation was threatening the entire universe, Thanos set about acquiring the Infinity Stones to rebalance the scales. While his motivations were clearly twisted and ultimately genocidal, the character was not portrayed as truly mad in the same way as his comic counterpart. By contrast, "Silver Surfer" showed Thanos constantly making desperate emotional appeals to the silent stone figure of Lady Chaos. This obsession ultimately drove Thanos to destroy the entire universe, all in hopes of winning Chaos' heart.

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