THANOS-THRALLS
Membership: Ballista Grim, Blood Brothers (Gh'Ree, R'Hos), the Controller (Basil Sandhurst), Czar-Doon, Ferox, Gamora, Gromak, Infesti Macera, Jalin, Mantrax, Qu'lar the Massive, Ramrod, Skragg, Snare, Styx, Super-Skrull (Kl'rt), Tuareg, Trynka, X-7;
unidentified Aakon, an unidentified Alpha Centaurian, an unidentified Archeopian, an unidentified Astran, several unidentified Baddon, at least three unidentified Hujah, an unidentified Kodabak, an apparent unidentified emissary of the Overlord, an unidentified Queega, an unidentified Rigellian, several unidentified Skrulls, an unidentified Tribbitite, an unidentified Xeronian, unidentified alien race, the Universal Language Equalizer's guards, many others
Purpose: Obedience to Thanos, foot soldiers in his conflicts
Affiliations: The Black Order (Black Dwarf, Corvus Glaive, the Ebony Maw, Proxima Midnight, Supergiant), I.S.A.A.C., Nebula, Stellarax, Thanos
Enemies: The Avengers (Beast/Hank McCoy, Black Panther/T'Challa, Captain America/Steve Rogers, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Mantis, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, Swordsman/Jacques DuQuesne, Thor, Vision), Caleb, Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell), Yvette Douglas, Drax the Destroyer (Arthur Douglas), Ego the Living Planet, Eros, the Eternals of Titan, Gertie, Rick Jones, the Magus, Mentor (A'lars), Moondragon (Heather Douglas), Professor Benjamin Savannah, Lou-Ann Savannah, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), the Thing (Ben Grimm), the Universal Church of Truth, Adam Warlock
Aliases: "The Children of Thanos"
Base of Operations: Usually intergalactically mobile aboard Sanctuary, Sanctuary II or Sanctuary III; previously Zero Sanctuary; Titan, moon of Saturn and a base on the surface of Saturn
First Appearance: Iron Man I#55 (February, 1973)
History:
(Thanos Rising I#3) - Thanos claimed his first army of Thralls after killing the captain he'd been serving on an extraterrestrial ship of plunderers. The crew then declared Thanos was their captain.
(Iron Man I#55 (fb)) - Crossing the galaxy, Thanos amassed an ever-larger army of Thralls, paying them off in booty. The Thralls were loyal to Thanos.
(Thanos Rising I#4) - Thanos began leading his Thralls in assaults on other worlds, killing much of their populations as offerings to the cosmic being Death. Finally, he led a fleet of Thralls in an assault upon his home, Titan, in which they killed most of the moon's population.
(Daredevil I#107 (fb)) - Following the conquest of Titan, Thanos sent out his Thanos-Thralls to seize other worlds in his name.
(Captain Marvel I#32 (fb)/Warlock and the Infinity Watch I#11 (fb)) - Thanos visited Earth in a ship piloted by his Badoon Thrall Czar Doon. When their ship was spotted by Arthur, Yvette and Heather Douglas, Thanos ordered Czar Doon to destroy the Douglas' vehicle, killing Arthur and Yvette.
(Thanos III#1 (fb)) - Thanos killed his Thrall Ferox as an offering to Death. Seeking to kill people before they could be converted into the Magus' Universal Church of Truth, Thanos led his Thralls to the planet of the Dorcaernir, who were pacifists, and led a group of Thralls called Butcher Squadron as they slew many of the world's inhabitants. Next, they moved on to Zen-Whoberi and killed many of the inhabitants but Thanos claimed Gamora for himself, choosing to raise her as a daughter.
(Thanos III#2 (fb)) - Thanos had his Thralls bring Gamora to his space station, Zero Sanctuary, and tested her against members of Butcher Squadron. He also killed his Thrall Snare.
(Thanos III#3-5 (fb)) - Thanos brought his Thralls to Sakaar to kill Insectoid eggs. Thanos' other Thralls grew annoyed by his attachment to Gamora and the Blood Brothers attempted to kidnap her, but Gamora overpowered her abductors and returned to Zero Sanctuary. The Thralls ultimately destroyed Zero Sanctuary in order to obliterate a starship from the Universal Church of Truth. Afterward, Thanos began building his starship Sanctuary I and promoted surviving members of Butcher Squadron into his elite servants, the Black Order.
(Warlock and the Infinity Watch I#9 (fb)) - Once, Thanos brought Sanctuary II (a twin ship to Sanctuary I) to the planet Tartoonla #7 and journeyed to the surface in a shuttle alongside Gamora and some of his Thralls. Thanos ordered Gamora to guard the shuttle but she disobeyed his orders, believing the Thralls were sufficient guards. Gamora wound up being badly beaten on the planet; Thanos killed her attackers then brought her back to Sanctuary II to augment her body to be more resilient.
(Thanos: A God Up There Listening I#1-6 (fb)) - At one time, Thanos led his Thralls in an assault on Ego, the Living Planet. His crew included Trynka and members of the Black Order. Most of Thanos' fleet was destroyed, killing many of his Thralls.
(Iron Man I#55 (fb)) - After defeating Drax the Destroyer (the reanimated Arthur Douglas), Thanos brought him to a desert base he'd established on Earth. When Drax sent out a telepathic distress call to the Earth hero Iron Man, Thanos sent the Blood Brothers to defeat him.
(Iron Man I#55) - The Blood Brothers bested Iron Man and brought him to the desert base but Mentor and Titan's super-computer I.S.A.A.C. sent a burst of energy from Titan to Iron Man's unibeam which released Drax from his bonds. Drax and Iron Man defeated the Blood Brothers but Thanos fled, leaving behind a robot duplicate of himself to delay the two heroes.
(Captain Marvel I#33 (fb)/Avengers: Celestial Quest I#5 (fb)) - Thanos and his army of Thralls returned to Titan and conquered it.
(Captain Marvel I#26 (fb)) - Intent on continuing his activities on Earth, Thanos recruited the Controller and had him place his slave discs on important leaders around the world. The Controller also manipulated Lou-Ann Savannah.
(Captain Marvel I#25) - Seeking the Cosmic Cube, whose location was known by Rick Jones, Thanos sent three of his Thralls after the Kree hero Captain Marvel, who was bound to Rick Jones by the Nega-Bands. The Thralls (the robot X-7 and two blue-skinned extraterrestrials) fought Mar-Vell in an alleyway on Earth but were easily beaten and had Thanos teleport them away before they could be interrogated. Next, Thanos sent his two Skrull agents Skragg and the Super-Skrull to murder Rick's friend Professor Savannah. Disguised as police officers, the Skrulls arrested Rick. When Rick switched places with Captain Marvel, the Skrulls appeared to him as a variety of his former enemies. This seemed to wear down Mar-Vell's psyche and when he switched places with Rick again, the Skrulls placed a Psycho-Probe helmet on his head and notified Thanos they had Rick. However, Rick and Mar-Vell had feigned mental collapse and soon Rick switched places with Mar-Vell again and he defeated both Skrulls, who teleported back to Thanos rather than face capture.
(Captain Marvel I#26) - When Captain Marvel questioned Lou-Ann, she told him what she'd learned about Thanos and the Controller, unaware Thanos, Skragg and the Super-Skrull were remotely monitoring their conversation. The Super-Skrull led his foe the Thing into a trap set by Skragg which removed the Thing's voice, gambling that when Mar-Vell encountered the Thing he'd mistake him for one of the two Skrulls. They tried to manipulate Mar-Vell into killing the Thing but he ultimately relented from taking his life. The Thing regained his voice and Thanos slew Skragg for failing him. Captain Marvel and the Thing confronted Thanos and the Super-Skrull but Thanos forced Mar-Vell to switch places with Rick Jones, then teleported back to Titan with him.
(Captain Marvel I#27) - Thanos had Czar-Doon and an Alpha Centaurian Thrall restrain Rick while he encoded his mind within I.S.A.A.C. (which served Thanos because he was in command of the moon) so he could learn the Cosmic Cube's present location. While he went in search of the Cosmic Cube, Thanos left Super-Skrull in command of his other Thralls on Titan. Rick Jones was released from a Titan prison by Eros and Mentor; Rick switched places with Captain Marvel and he aided Eros and Mentor in overthrowing the remaining Thralls on Titan. When Mar-Vell seemingly slew the Super-Skrull, the other Thralls fled Titan.
(Daredevil I#105 - BTS) - Moondragon attacked Daredevil, mistaking him for a Thanos-Thrall because she had been misled by Kerwin J. Broderick, one of Thanos' human agents.
(Marvel Feature I#12) - When Iron Man investigated Thanos' desert base on Earth, Thanos sent the Blood Brothers after Iron Man but with the help of the Thing, Iron Man defeated the Blood Brothers.
(Captain Marvel I#30) - Captain Marvel confronted the Controller, who believed he'd become a viceroy on Earth after Thanos conquered it and had those he'd enslaved standing by to await the arrival of the Thralls' fleet. When Mar-Vell bested the Controller, Thanos teleported him away from the fight, seemingly killing him.
(Captain Marvel I#31) - With the power of the Cosmic Cube supporting him, Thanos displayed the fleet of Space Raiders commanded by his Thralls, bragging to his enemies that at his command, they would plunder the Earth.
(Captain Marvel I#32) - The Thralls' fleet began moving toward Earth and were observed by the space station Starcore, who alerted the Avengers.
(Avengers I#125) - The Avengers engaged the Thralls' fleet in combat, destroying several of their vessels with their Quinjet, a captured Zodiac Star-Cruiser and the sheer power of the god Thor. When the Thralls asked Thanos for help he ignored their pleas. Eventually the Avengers found the Universal Language Equalizer which enabled the Thralls to communicate with each other and wrecked it. The destruction of the device caused the Thralls to turn against each other and ultimately the entire invasion force was beaten.
(Avengers Annual I#7) - Rebuilding his fleet around Sanctuary II, Thanos commanded an even larger force of Thralls than before, with thousands of vessels in the revived fleet. Using a "Star-Burster" that synthesized the power of the Soul Gems, Thanos intended to destroy entire stars as an offering to Death and quickly moved his fleet toward the Solar System. Thanos traveled alone on Sanctuary II, using Sanctuary III to travel with his fleet and serve as a decoy as it was identical to his command ship. The Avengers, Moondragon and Captain Marvel again opposed Thanos and destroyed several of the Thralls' ships before boarding what they thought was Sanctuary II, but was actually Sancatury III. A large force of Thralls fought the heroes aboard Sanctuary III, including Qu'Lar the Massive. Adam Warlock intervened and located Sanctuary II and the Avengers stopped the "Star-Burster" weapon.
(Marvel Two-in-One Annual I#2 (fb)) - Returning to Sanctuary III, Thanos led his Thralls into victory over the Avengers. Thanos had his Thralls imprison the Avengers and the corpse of Adam Warlock aboard Sanctuary III.
(Marvel Two-in-One Annual I#2) - The Thing and Spider-Man were drawn into the conflict against Thanos and boarded Sanctuary III, battling the Thralls aboard. When Thanos saw from his command room that the Thralls were losing he switched off gravity; in the zero gravity environment, the Thralls gained the upper hand and fired stun blasts that knocked out the two heroes. Spider-Man later escaped Thanos' confines and evaded recapture by the Thralls, then finally set the Avengers, Thing, Captain Marvel and Moondragon free. The assembled heroes fought Thanos and the Thralls until Spider-Man chanced to summon up the spirit of Adam Warlock from his Soul Gem; Warlock transformed Thanos into stone, killing him. Losing their fighting spirit, the Thralls surrendered to the heroes.
(Captain Marvel I#59) - Still influenced by Thanos, I.S.A.A.C. seized control of Titan and used the Titans' bio-engineering to fabricate soldiers to serve him. I.S.A.A.C. reached out to the Thanos-Thralls, who affirmed their alliance with him in Thanos' name. When Captain Marvel and Drax were lured to an ambush on Titan, two of the Thralls informed I.S.A.A.C. of their arrival. I.S.A.A.C. placed his creation Stellarax in charge of an army of Thanos-Thralls and sent them to Earth to conquer it, but en route to Earth, Stellarax informed the Thanos-Thralls he wanted to conquer the planet in his own name, then overthrow I.S.A.A.C. and conquer Titan. One of the Thralls attempted to warn I.S.A.A.C., but Stellarax killed him.
(Captain Marvel I#60) - Stellarax and his Thralls landed in the backwoods of Kentucky and menaced a farmer named Caleb and his family. Stellarax told Caleb to spread the word of their conquest.
(Captain Marvel I#61) - Rick Jones and his girlfriend Gertie discovered Stellarax's starship in Washington D.C. but one of the Thralls captured them.
(Captain Marvel I#62) - Stellarax had his Thralls confine Rick and Gertie aboard their starship and traveled back into Earth's orbit while he announced his invasion in Washington D.C. However, Captain Marvel and Drax returned to Earth from Titan and Drax damaged the starship, then fought the Thralls single-handed. Just as Captain Marvel bested Stellarax, he ordered the starship's crew to fire their death-ray, but Rick Jones threw off their aim and it narrowly missed hitting Washington D.C.
(Marvel Spotlight II#1) - Thanos-Thralls riding Sky-Sleds equipped with laser cannons attacked Stellarax's starship when it returned to Titan, not realizing it was inhabited by Captain Marvel, Drax, Rick Jones and Gertie. The four heroes survived the ship's crash on Saturn's surface and continued to fight the Thralls. Some of the Thralls tried to lead the four heroes into a trap for I.S.A.A.C. to launch a hail of missiles upon them, but other Thralls feared being killed in the attack and warned Rick of the attack in advance. After Captain Marvel saved the Thralls, they surrendered to him, saying they'd realized I.S.A.A.C. had neither respect nor reverence for living beings.
(Marvel Graphic Novel I#1) - When Eros, Mentor and Captain Marvel came to Sanctuary II to view Thanos' petrified remains, some of the Thanos-Thralls launched an attack on them. Captain Marvel easily bested them then interrogated them to learn why they'd attacked; one of the Thralls explained they were "Children of Thanos" and still worshiped him as a god despite his death, believing he'd be resurrected. Outraged by the Thralls, Mentor claimed custody of Thanos' remains and told the Thralls they were free of Thanos.
(Avengers I#255 - BTS) - In Thanos' absence, his alleged granddaughter Nebula seized Sanctuary III as her base of operations.
(Silver Surfer III#38) - When Thanos returned, he appeared upon Sanctuary III to reclaim it. Many of the pirates who had served Nebula had previously been Thralls and they saw Thanos' reappearance as a fulfillment of their prophecies. Falling on their knees, they began worshipping Thanos. When Nebula's crewman Geatar tried to defend her, Thanos slew him then lit Nebula on fire. Thanos had the ship's first officer, Styx, assume command over the vessel and follow his instructions to rebuild the Thanos-Thralls as a "holy mission."
(Silver Surfer III#45) - After obtaining the six Infinity Gems, Thanos returned to Sanctuary III to check on the progress of Styx's "holy mission." Styx informed him that word of Thanos' return to life had spread throughout the stars and "every malcontent, pirate, merc, nihilist, psychotic and religious zealot in the galaxy" had rushed in to join his "flock." Styx was also pressing what he called "infidels" into Thanos' service, saying those people required "a little disciplinary reinforcement." Sanctuary III now included a massive fleet of warships and support vessels, which Styx boasted could "easily" take on most intergalactic forces and that no planetary defenses could stand against them. As Thanos had become virtually omnipotent, he had little use for the Thralls but told Captain Styx he'd make them his personal guard. Styx confessed many of the men in the armada had hoped for more active duty. To placate them, Thanos used the Infinity Gems to conjure up a massive pile of treasures to give to the men.
Comments: Created by Jim Starlin, Mike Friedrich and Mike Esposito.
Many of Nebula's subordinates were likely to have been part of the Thanos-Thralls prior to joining her forces (due to how they react to seeing him in Silver Surfer III#38), but we can't be certain which were and which weren't.
The green-skinned helmeted alien from the Iron Man I#55 flashback (above, top left of page) reminds me of the helmets worn by the Space Beasts.
The death of Arthur Douglas has been shown in various flashbacks over the years but Thralls aren't shown accompanying Thanos in all of them; I've included just the flashback from Captain Marvel I#32 (the aftermath of Arthur's death was first shown in Daredevil I#105's flashback but without Thanos present) and those which depict at least one Thrall.
Profile by Prime Eternal.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Thanos-Thralls should not be confused with:
Gromak was a Thanos-Thrall with purple skin and white hair. He was aboard one of the vessels which the Avengers attacked during the Cosmic Cube affair. After the Avengers destroyed the Universal Language Equalizer, he was unable to communicate with his fellow Thralls.
--Avengers I#125
Tuareg was a Thanos-Thrall with large pointed ears and fangs. He was aboard one of the vessels which the Avengers attacked during the Cosmic Cube affair.
--Avengers I#125
images: (without ads)
Captain Marvel I#31, page 9, panel 4 (main)
Iron Man I#55, page 9, panel 1 (supplement)
Avengers Annual I#7, page 22 (Sanctuary II crew)
Captain Marvel I#59, page 13, panel 1 (Stellarax leading Thralls)
Marvel Graphic Novel I#1, page 8, panel 1 (Thralls post-Thanos death)
Avengers I#125, page 17, panel 1 (Gromak)
Avengers I#125, page 14, panel 3 (Tuareg)
Appearances:
Iron Man I#55 (February, 1973) - Jim Starlin (plot, penciler), Mike Friedrich (scripter), Mike Esposito (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)
Captain Marvel I#25 (March, 1973) - Mike Friedrich (writer), Jim Starlin (penciler), Chic Stone (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)
Captain Marvel I#26 (May, 1973) - Jim Starlin (plot, penciler), Mike Friedrich (scripter), Dave Cockrum (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)
Captain Marvel I#27 (July, 1973) - Jim Starlin (plot, penciler), Mike Friedrich (scripter), Pablo Marcos (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)
Daredevil I#105 (November, 1973) - Steve Gerber (writer), Don Heck (penciler), Jim Starlin (penciler), Don Perlin (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)
Marvel Feature I#12 (November, 1973) - Mike Friedrich (writer), Jim Starlin (penciler), Joe Sinnott (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)
Daredevil I#107 (January, 1974) - Steve Gerber (writer), Bob Brown (penciler), Sal Buscema (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)
Captain Marvel I#30 (January, 1974) - Jim Starlin (writer, penciler), Al Milgrom (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)
Captain Marvel I#31 (March, 1974) - Jim Starlin (writer, penciler), Al Milgrom (inker), Dan Green (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)
Captain Marvel I#32 (May, 1974) - Jim Starlin (writer, penciler), Mike Friedrich (co-scripter), Dan Green (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)
Avengers I#125 (July, 1974) - Steve Englehart (writer), John Buscema (breakdowns), Dave Cockrum (finishes), Roy Thomas (editor)
Captain Marvel I#33 (July, 1974) - Jim Starlin (plot, penciler), Steve Englehart (script), Klaus Janson (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)
Avengers Annual I#7 (1977) - Jim Starlin (writer, breakdowns), Joe Rubinstein (finishes), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Marvel Two-in-One Annual I#2 (1977) - Jim Starlin (writer, breakdowns), Joe Rubinstein (finishes), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Captain Marvel I#59-62 (November, 1978-May, 1979) - Doug Moench (writer), Pat Broderick (penciler), Bruce Patterson (inker), Roger Stern (editor)
Marvel Spotlight II#1 (July, 1979) - - Doug Moench (writer), Pat Broderick (penciler), Bruce Patterson (inker), Roger Stern (editor)
Marvel Graphic Novel I#1 (1982) - Jim Starlin (writer, artist), Al Milgrom (editor)
Avengers I#255 (May, 1985) - Roger Stern (writer), John Buscema (penciler), Tom Palmer (inker), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Silver Surfer III#38 (June, 1990) - Jim Starlin (writer), Ron Lim (penciler), Tom Christopher (inker), Craig Anderson (editor)
Silver Surfer III#45 (January, 1991) - Jim Starlin (writer), Ron Lim (penciler), Tom Christopher (inker), Craig Anderson (editor)
Warlock and the Infinity Watch I#9 (October, 1992) - Jim Starlin (writer), Angel Medina (penciler), Bob Almond (inker), Craig Anderson (editor)
Warlock and the Infinity Watch I#11 (December, 1992) - Jim Starlin (writer), Deryl Skelton (penciler), Steve Carr (penciler), Bob Almond (inker), Craig Anderson (editor)
Avengers: Celestial Quest I#5 (March, 2002) - Steve Englehart (writer), Jorge Santamaria (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Scott Koblish (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thanos Rising I#3-5 (August-October, 2013) - Jason Aaron (writer), Simone Bianchi (artist), Riccardo Pieruccini (inker, #4-5), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Thanos: A God Up There Listening I#1-6 (May, 2014) - Rob Williams (writer), Mast (storyboard artist), Geoffo (storyboard artist), Neil Edwards (penciler, inker), Isab Soria (penciler, inker), Paco Diaz (penciler, inker), Wil Moss (editor)
Thanos III#1-6 (June-November, 2019) - Tini Howard (writer), Ariel Olivetti (artist), Darren Shan (editor)
First posted: 10/09/2026
Last updated:
09/24/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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