AVENGERS versus INFINITY WATCH

Warlock Must Die! (Marvel)
Where: Warlock and The Infinity Watch #27 When: April 1994 Why: Jim Starlin How: Tom Grindberg

The Story So Far...
While Adam Warlock attempts to use the combined Infinity Gems of Soul, Mind, and Power to unlock the lost memories of teammate Maxam -- he has no idea forces are conspiring to destroy he and The Infinity Watch!

US Senator Kyle Munson has used his mind-altering powers of hate to turn The Avengers into a bloodthirsty hit squad headed to Monster Island with a mission to kill Warlock!

The hate-mongering Senator is in truth the malicious Man-Beast who is out for revenge against Adam and The Infinity Watch for thwarting his attempts to conquer Counter-Earth and wield the powers of The Infinity Gauntlet!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Drax 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Giant-Man 6 (Genius)
Speed: Captain America 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Drax 6 (Generator)
Agility: Black Widow 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Drax 7 (Living Weapon)
Energy: Adam Warlock 6 (Mass Destruction)
Total: Adam Warlock 30 (Super)

The Avengers are: Captain America, Giant-Man, Thunderstrike, Black Widow, Hercules, and Vision.

Operating under brainwashing from the former Hate-Monger; The Avengers have already taken out Gamora in the previous issue, but apparently suffered the temporary loss of Vision as a consequence of the beach-side melee.

The Infinity Watch are: Adam Warlock, Moondragon, Drax The Destroyer, Maxam, and Pip The Troll.

The Watch are missing one of their best fighters, but they've still got a whole lot of cosmic might on their side! By nature of their assembly, they wield four of the Infinity Stones: Gems possessed of primordial energies of fundamental cosmic elements that once combined to make the Infinity Gauntlet.

Drax The Destroyer wields the Power Gem, adding it to his already impressive physical strength. In this incarnation we saw him team with Hulk to temporarily topple Thanos during The Infinity Gauntlet, and go toe-to-toe with Thor in the Infinity Crusade! He's a natural to neutralize Thunderstrike or Hercules.

Maxam lacks the boost of a gem, but his ability to increase his size & strength compliments Drax, taking care of either of the loose Avengers powerhouses, or maybe directly countering the super-sized might of Giant-Man!

With the Mind Gem enhancing her mental powers: Moondragon has the potential to neutralize any of their opponents, and maybe even finish the whole fight by breaking the brainwashing that's turned them against The Watch. Failing that, her hand-to-hand skills are good enough to test Black Widow or Captain America!

Warlock could similarly use his natural super-human gifts to fight The Avengers, or wield the Soul Gem to pull everyone into its pocket reality for a dose of soul-searching. if that fails and an exit strategy's needed: Pip the Troll might just be able to help the team escape with the Space Gem's teleporting potential.

We've seen The Avengers take on all kinds of challenges, but we've never seen them take this one. Let's find out what happened!

The Tape: Avengers Ranking: Captain America (#7)

What Went Down...

Through gritted teeth Captain America makes his mad declaration: "WARLOCK MUST DIE!"

The sentiment is echoed by Giant-Man as The Avengers square-up against The Infinity Watch. Adam Warlock asks for reason, while Drax mistakes Thunderstrike for Thor, and Pip The Troll leeringly confronts the Black Widow.

Pip disappears as quickly as The Widow's temper flares, while Warlock gives up on diplomacy and knocks Giant-Man to the ground with a flying right hook!

Moondragon takes the opportunity to launch a jumping martial arts kick, deflected by Captain America's shield. She takes on the hand-to-hand challenge, matching his bitter madness with her own critique of the "pompous" Avenger.

Maxam struggles to land a hit on Hercules, who remains bitter over their meeting during the Infinity Crusade. Herc aims to pay him back, using his own surprise attack to grab Drax by the cape and toss him into the ocean many miles away!

While Drax tries to figure out where he is -- Maxam finds himself caught between a rock lifted by Hercules, and the hard place of Thunderstrike's hammer!

Knowing when he's outmatched: Maxam calls for help, receiving a polite acknowledgment from Warlock, who evades a giant fist swung by Hank Pym -- and unleashes a direct karmic blast from the Soul Gem!

Warlock hops away from the kayoed Giant-Man, but before he can come to his teammate's aid is struck by the massive boulder hurled by Hercules!

A dark shadow watches from nearby island flora, and Pip The Troll materializes at Warlock's unconscious side, tossing his spiked mace "skull-cracker" in favour of brewing a "neat trick" he's been wanting to try out.

Meanwhile Maxam finds a forearm block wanting as Hercules follows it up immediately with a second, more devastating left that catches him across the chin!

Maxam's tired of being a punching bag for two demi-gods, and manages to narrowly avoid the raging descent of Thunderstrike's uru mace!

It crashes into the ground behind him, but Hercules continues his verbal and close-quarters assault, moving in to grab the "varlet" by the collar and punch him straight in the face!

Elsewhere Captain America blocks a kick with his shield, transitioning seamlessly into a shield swipe that Moondragon nimbly leaps over.

She resists Maxam's desperate plea to use a mind-blast: "Don't rush me! I'll be with you as soon as I attend to the good Captain in my own manner!"

A precision chop to the shoulder finds its mark, allowing Moondragon to kick Captain America's famous shield out of his hands! She follows with a stiff right palm strike to his jaw, dodging his right-hand counter punch with a twirl, to strike back with her own uppercut knock out!

Satisfied with her victory over Captain America -- Moondragon is happy to use the Mind Gem's powers to mind-blast Thunderstrike into submission!

The knock-out beam evens the odds for Maxam, but he fails to notice the massive ocean rock suddenly teleported overhead by Pip The Troll, which sends Hercules running clear of the impact zone!

The long thin rock crushes Maxam & Thunderstrike and kicks up a cloud of sand!

Moondragon doesn't even see Hercules coming as he runs right through her like a raging bull with a charging shoulder!

Pip tries to make the save, snapping the wooden handle of his spiked mace as he clobbers Hercules over the back of the head. The demigod shrugs it off, tossing Pip aside as he makes a path toward a recovered Adam Warlock!

Warlock ducks beneath a wild haymaker and returns fire with a jumping kick!

Hercules is unfazed, launching Warlock across the beach with an overhand punch!

He charges after Warlock, who unleashes the awesome mystic power of his Karmic staff, but the demigod "Prince of Power" resists its awesome energy, snatching it by the neck to push it away.

Warlock takes flight, unleashing a blast from the Soul Gem -- but it misses the target, allowing Hercules to grab him by the ankle and smash his face into the sand!

Warlock throws his free foot at Hercules' face, but the Prince of Power absorbs the kick and slams his left fist to the ground -- narrowly missing Warlock, who jumps clear and delivers another kick directly to the face.

Still Hercules shakes the physical assault off, rallying to deliver a devastatingly explosive backfist strike that knocks Warlock off his feet!

Warlock's body stays limp as Hercules walks the distance to pick him up by the collar, but the Avenger doesn't deliver his intended finishing blow.

Instead it's Hercules who is knocked unconscious when the eerie Vision emerges from the beach sand to deliver a surprise attack to his teammate's back!

The synthezoid's artificial brain appears unaffected by the telepathic brainwashing that enthralled his teammates. He reveals the plot to The Infinity Watch, recruiting Moondragon to use the Mind Gem to free them from their hypnosis.

The Hammer...

The last minute save from Vision helps The Infinity Watch secure their victory over The Avengers!

His timing might seem overly dramatic, but his actions are justified with cold synthezoid logic.

Knowing he couldn't possibly curb the hypnotized Avengers alone -- Vision used a skirmish with Gamora in the previous issue to feign damage, waiting for an opportunity to render assistance once The Infinity Watch had the upper hand! Or something along those lines... Something that conveniently gives us a "surprise" twist. Why not?

Vision shares the victory with Moondragon and Adam Warlock, who secured noteworthy individual triumphs over multiple members of the Avengers, including Captain America, Thunderstrike, and Giant-Man.

You already know who scored the double kayo because you just read the scintillating recap above, but it feels especially noteworthy that Moondragon managed to best Captain America in hand-to-hand martial combat!

Cap actually has one of the worst defeat tallies recorded on the site, [second only to Superman at the time of writing], but he balances significant losses with a high number of wins.

Both stats are attributable to Cap's never-say-die attitude and warrior-like vigor for combat. He boldly risks taking the L by standing ground against obvious mismatches, like Thanos, but to other heroes he remains a mythic benchmark for fighting prowess. He holds top fighters like Black Panther and Wolverine to account, while occasionally becoming the scalp himself to prove another hero's worth, like his epic crossover showdown with Batman.

Moondragon's script notes the interest of comparing their fighting skills, but this one lacks the weight of importance other big time showdowns might aspire to, especially in more recent times where that kind of thing is given a lot of pages.

I'm not sure if Moondragon had the cachet for a bigger marquee spotlight against Cap, and the entire battle comes pregnant with modifiers, noting a compromised Avengers in a guest role.

It's all a little rough in composition, reflected somewhat in art that shows plenty of intent, but is a little sketchy compared to Tom Grindberg's usual work, which I have become a growing fan of in recent years.

Bob Almond is no stranger to inking Grindberg with a more characteristic finish, which leads me to wonder if there were deadline pressures, or late editorial interference that impacted the issue. Perhaps negotiations with the Avengers office?..

As much as The Avengers are here to be beaten by the title heroes in their fleeting guest role, it surprises me how impressive a showing Hercules has!

I like the callback to Herc's brief face-off with Maxam in the still-recent Infinity Crusade, but I'm not sure that justifies such a strong outing. He isn't just the last man standing, but also handily intimidates Maxam, and beats the heck out of Warlock! He's practically served a visual win, if not for the interference of Vision!

Perhaps this all speaks to Hercules' mythic inclination towards violent madness, or perhaps there was a particular vested interest in presenting the Avenger as a legitimate, uncompromised threat.

Although most of the presented group could be found in contemporary issues of Avengers, Hercules is the character I would most closely associate with this era of monthly issues, sharing a spotlight with the likes of Black Knight, Sersi, and Crystal -- all conspicuous by absence.

Thunderstrike won't even be back in the fold until next month's issue, May cover-dated Avengers #374, which means he technically showed up two months early as an active Avenger in Warlock and The Infinity Watch #26!

They were crazy times, and how ever this issue managed to come together, it's a nice artifact from both catalogues. A nice chance for us to dip into Adam Warlock and The Infinity Watch, as well!

If you'd like to find more from the characters and topics covered, make sure you hit up links throughout this post, or dive into the Secret Archive for a complete index of featured fights in order of publisher, series, and issue number!

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Winners: Vision, Moondragon & Warlock (w/ Infinity Watch)
#86 (+5) Vision
#200 (+402) Adam Warlock
#382 (+285) Moondragon
#645 (new) Maxam [+1 assist]
#646 (new) Pip The Troll [+1 assist]
#140 (-1) Drax The Destroyer [+1 assist]
#7 (--) Captain America
#48 (-3) Black Widow
#87 (-6) Giant-Man (Hank Pym)
#161 (-4) Hercules
#1040 (-39) Thunderstrike

THANOS versus GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

(Marvel)
Where: Guardians of the Galaxy #25 When: June 2010 Why: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning How: Brad Walker

The Story So Far...
Back-to-back incursions of Annihilus and his Negative Zone Annihilation Wave, as well as Ultron's Phalanx, has left the fabric of space severely damaged and unstable!

With reality itself hanging precariously in the balance: the hero Star-Lord has taken it upon himself to form a new group of heroes known as The Guardians of the Galaxy! Together, they fight to protect the universe, and monitor the threat of dangerous anomalies!

This time the threat has come from one of their own! Succumbing to his evil half, Adam Warlock has become the dreaded Magus! The Guardians pursue him to the planet Sacrosanct, where his sinister scheme has employed The Universal Church of Truth -- but things are not all as they seem!

An illusion of Magus' defeat has masked his escape, tricking The Guardians into believing some of their most loved members have fallen. Worse still, The Church has been guarding a reanimation cocoon meant to return one of the universe's deadliest threats! With Sacrosanct in ruin, The Guardians arrive to discover a foe they hoped never to face: The Titan Thanos lives again!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Thanos 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Thanos 5 (Professor)
Speed: Gamora 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Thanos 7 (Unstoppable)
Agility: Groot 6 (Rubber)
Fighting: Drax 7 (Living Weapon)
Energy: Thanos 6 (Mass Destruction)
Total: Thanos 34 (Super)

Here on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths we use our own scientifically developed numerical scale to measure the typical powers & abilities of heroes and villains. Each statistic on The Tape is assigned a moniker to help personify a broad reference for that level (ie; Intelligence 5 - Professor). For the most part, this system has served us well, but occasionally catchall references let us down...

Thanos may fall into our "Super Class" category, but history shows he is a threat on a cosmic scale! So grand are his dark designs against life that his plans are as likely to endanger worlds as they are the entirety of reality itself!

"The Mad Titan" is named for his birthplace on the moon of Saturn, where a colony of super-powered Eternals was known to settle. Deviant mutation gifted Thanos incredible powers at birth, but also a predisposition towards obsession with death. He amassed further power through strenuous augmentation to feed his desires for death and conquest. Eventually, he turned this power against his own people -- obliterating even his own mother with callous disregard!

So total is Thanos' devotion to death that when he met its personification he fell madly in love. Subsequent efforts to court Death as his mistress have led Thanos to genocidal extremes. His most famous exploit: forging The Infinity Gauntlet in order to reshape the universe -- including decimating half of all life!

We've only seen Thanos a few times on The Comic Book Fight Club, but each appearance has placed him in ominous company!

He sought to manipulate the newly bestowed powers of Kyle Rayner in Green Lantern/Silver Surfer, making a patsy out of Terrax in the process. When the Marvel and DC Universes collided in DC versus Marvel #4, he stood beside Darkseid against an all-star assembly of Avengers and The Justice League! When the two universes were briefly merged: Thanoseid created a nightmare vision of evil that vexed Thorion -- the godly fusion of Thor and Orion!

Despite this awesome level of cosmic might, Thanos is not quite inherently immortal. His Titanian origins grant him considerable durability and nigh eternal life, but it was only during a period when Death denied him entry into her dominion that he was truly unkillable. Indeed, for today's battle he has had to be resurrected from death inflicted by one of his opponents!

The Guardians of the Galaxy are: Star-Lord, Mantis, Moondragon, Gamora, Drax, Groot, Rocket Raccoon, Jack Flag and Bug, with Major Victory.

This rag tag group of heroes was brought together by Star-Lord in order to protect against the effects of fissures in space caused by Annihilation, and subsequent cosmic events.

Appropriately enough, it was in Annihilation #4 that Drax The Destroyer succeeded in fulfilling his life's goal to extinguish the life of Thanos! This makes Drax an obvious punch-hitter for The Guardians, whose only other physical power house is the Planet X "Flora Colossus" known as Groot.

Groot's regenerative and adaptive abilities make him a versatile contributor to the team's combat formations. Moondragon packs a hefty punch thanks to her high-level psionic capabilities, too. Thanos is highly resistant to mental attack, but her telekinetic powers offer strong physical opposition.

Barring environmental factors, the rest of the team can really only hope to provide support against a threat as dangerous as Thanos!

The Tape: Guardians of the Galaxy Ranking: Drax (#172)

What Went Down...
On the planet Sacrosanct: The Guardians of the Galaxy discover a world in ruin.

Rocket Raccoon's scanners can find no signs of the planet's once bustling population. Moondragon's telepathic mind probe has no better luck. The absence of life was the only clue they needed. The presence of an old adversary catches in Drax The Destroyer's throat like "ashes on the back of my throat".

An explosion draws the heroes towards danger -- and an unexpected reunion with old friends: Mantis, Gamora, Cosmo, and Major Victory! The pleasure is short lived. Rampaging right behind them is the source of the chaos: Thanos!

Fresh from a reanimation cocoon: The Mad Titan explodes through fire and ruin, blasting deadly beams of energy from his eyes and hands! The heroes can only run as the naked, snarling behemoth shatters the earth beneath their feet!

Mantis fills Star-Lord and Jack Flag in on previous attempts to contain the feral, recently returned Thanos. His resurrection seems to have been a reluctant one, which cost the lives of not only The Universal Church of Truth who reanimated him -- but also the hero Phyla-Vell.

Madness begets madness. In her grief, Moondragon turns to face the monster who killed her lover and has threatened so much of her life. Thanos greets her with mindless rage and more raw energy projections. She erects a telekinetic shield to defend herself, but his power is alarming in its scale!

Moondragon seeks mental reinforcement from Mantis or Cosmo, but is instead defended from giant clubbing fists by the shield of Captain America! Not by the soldier of distant past, but by a displaced future hero known as Major Victory!

A seemingly stunned Thanos pauses for just a moment as his massive hands begin to smolder. It seems hope is lost for the heroes, but Star-Lord, Rocket, Drax, Groot are there with guns blazing to give their friends time to retreat!

The hi-tech weapons succeed in stopping Thanos for a moment. When the dust settles: his feral rage returns -- expressed in a massive wave of cosmic energy!

The Guardians narrowly avoid certain death by ducking just beneath the power blast! Not all of them intend to shrink away from the deadly Titan, though! With little warning: Groot towers above the battlefield, swinging a piece of a destroyed building like a might club!

The structure smacks into Thanos, but fails to knock him down! The Titan fires back with a shot to Groot's humanoid trunk, but the Flora Colossus endures to bring his massive wooden fist slamming down into Thanos' naked back!

Any other foe would be down for the count, but from his hunched position The Mad Titan locks both hands together to deliver an all mighty, cosmically charged uppercut that knocks Groot off his feet!

While Rocket tends to Groot, who's down for the count; Gamora theorizes that Thanos has actually reclaimed true invincibility! Before The Guardians arrived, her Godslayer sword was broken against his skin! Drax disregards the story.

The Destroyer launches a frontal assault against his arch-nemesis! He absorbs untold energies fired at his back, averting Thanos' gaze with a right hand that closes one of his energy spewing eyes!

With options fast dwindling, Star-Lord assesses the situation with Mantis, and reaches a dire conclusion. While Jack Flag and Bug run distraction to try to save their falling comrades -- Peter Quill strolls casually into the path of danger!

Star-Lord's cavalier attitude makes more sense when he produces the cracked, but still gleaming hope of a Cosmic Cube!

Its light breaks through Thanos' mindless rage, drawing the purple beast toward its familiar power. It was given to Peter Quill by Kang The Conquere. A trump card in the battle against the threat of Magus. It was broken and almost spent, but it still has one last charge for defeating Thanos!

The Cosmic Cube unleashes its final power in an awesome burst of blinding light! When it ceases: The Mad Titan lies smoking in the dirt - alive, but defeated! In a barely conscious state, he finally mutters his first ominous words: "You... Forced Me... To live again... For that... E-Everything... D-Dies..."

The Hammer...
From the clutches of defeat escapes Star-Lord thanks to the awesome might of the Cosmic Cube!

Though none of the other Guardians of the Galaxy could ensure victory themselves, they all played a valid part. For that, they each receive an assist stat. Find out what that means for their positions on the Fight Club Rankings at the bottom of this post!

We have a lot of significant debuting characters in today's featured fight! The Guardians came to peak significance during our dark years, emerging in their current form from the cosmic revival initiated by 2006's Annihilation. There were a few years of overlap, but we just never got around to them. Until now!

This second volume of the series launched in 2008. It redefined Guardians of the Galaxy for a whole new generation, whilst building towards the worldwide licensing phenomenon brought about by their first theatrical outing in 2014!

The majority of these characters existed for many years before assembling as part of the new team. Some were major characters as recently as the nineties, but others had to be plucked from relative obscurity. Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon might be fan-favourites today, but it wasn't that long ago that few even knew who they were, let alone wanted to hear more about them!

From today's perspective, it's strange to think the cosmic wings of the Marvel Universe had ever fallen out of favour. Yet, even a former headlining hero like Silver Surfer was struggling for sustained relevance in Marvel's publishing line-up of the 2000s!

Peter David's work sustained an unlikely Captain Marvel run with Genis-Vel in the title role for two years. Thanos was a steady presence in a variety of series as well, including solo stories, and Marvel's The End. Though acclaimed and/or beloved, these were exceptions drifting to the margins as Marvel Knights pushed an urban renaissance through series like Daredevil, and the company started bifurcating into the stripped down, movie inspired Ultimate line.

The first character to really get a sniff at a revival was Drax The Destroyer in 2005. A four issue mini-series introduced his transformation from the green & purple Hulk wannabe of Jim Starlin Infinity events -- to a red-tattooed Vin Diesel knock-off, seemingly inspired by Pitch Black.

When it came time to launch the all-out Marvel cosmic revival shortly after Drax; the publisher used the same mini-series format to lend heft to their binding Annihilation event. Tie-in titles starred well known cosmic characters of long time notoriety: Nova, Super-Skrull, Ronan The Accuser, and Silver Surfer.

The likes of Peter Quill, Gamora, and even Drax and Thanos, were reserved for the core six issue Annihilation series. They weren't exactly afterthoughts, but their brief appearances were littered amidst the chaos, sharing limited pages with the tie-in stars, other characters, and big villain Annihilus. Certainly a far cry from the starring line-ups of 2017!

The apparent death of Thanos in Annihilation #4 was a shocking moment. It removed one of Marvel's biggest cosmic players, drawing a line in the sand between the new Annihilation era of Marvel cosmic -- and the colourful excesses of The Infinity Gauntlet, and its subsequent sagas.

The Mad Titan had mellowed over the years, fashioned into a less malicious cosmic philosopher. His return in 2010 began a revivification of the classic villain, now one of Marvel's top bad guys thanks a 2012 post-credits teaser in the film Avengers. With a few seconds of purple sneer, Thanos was elevated to top tier status, forecasting an arrival that won't hit cinemas until May, 2018!

May 5th, 2017 will see the theatrical release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. We're getting ready for the cosmic adventure a month early, dedicating all featured fights in April to the heroes and villains of space!

We've started the action with an epic of cosmic proportions! If you'd like to read the battle and preceding issues for yourself, use the Amazon purchase link provided to get the collected edition! Doing so helps support the site at no extra cost to you!

If you want to read about more exciting cosmic battles, be sure to follow links throughout this post (or below), or dive into the Secret Archive to reference hundreds of past features by publisher, series & issue! You can also follow on Facebook and Twitter to like & share daily links inspired by the fight of the day! A galaxy of comic book combat to suit all your needs!

Winner: Star-Lord (w/ Guardians of the Galaxy)
#306 (new) Star-Lord
#352 (-44) Thanos
#140 (+32) Drax [+1 assist]
#518 (new) Groot [+1 assist]
#519 (new) Major Victory (Vance Astro) [+1 assist]
#520 (new) Rocket Raccoon [+1 assist]
#521 (new) Bug [+1 assist]
#522 (new) Mantis [+1 assist]
#523 (new) Gamora [+1 assist]
#539 (+131) Moondragon [+1 assist]
#540 (+46) Jack Flag [+1 assist]

DRAX versus THANOS
"Revelation" (Marvel)
Where: Annihilation #4 When: January 2007
Why: Keith Giffen How: Andrea Divito

The story so far...
When the expansion of our universe comes to impede on the dimensional space of the anti-matter universe called The Negative Zone; Annihilus, it's mighty ruler, marches an army of insectoid creatures in an act of war, thus beginning the path of the Annihilation Wave.

The Wave moves through the universe punishing both the ill-prepared, and those unwilling to pool their forces. Skrull, Kree, Nova Corps, and many other groups, are left decimated, leaving certain key figures from all to rally their forces in an unlikely alliance for the greater good of the entire universe.

Thanos, having allied himself with the destructive Annihilation Wave, sets about facilitating the creation of a weapon designed to imprison and harness the energies of the cosmic world devourer, Galactus. Fortunately, Drax is among the warriors pledged to the resistance, all too ready to fullfil his destiny of destroying Thanos. Great news for the good guys, until Thanos has a change of heart, and quickly goes from harbinger to saviour... Uh oh!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Draw 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Thanos 5 (Professor)
Speed: Drax 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Thanos 7 (Unstoppable)
Agility: Drax 2 (Acrobat)
Fighting Ability: Drax 7 (Born Fighter)
Energy Powers: Thanos 6 (Mass Destruction)


- During secret observation of Earth, Thanos murders a family who have the misfortune of witnessing his ship's presence over the desert. Unable to tolerate the threat Thanos poses to life in the universe, his father, Mentor, summons the astral essence of the murdered man, Arthur Douglas, and has it grafted to the artificial humanoid that would come to be known as, Drax the Destroyer.

Drax lacks the memories of his human spirit, but carries the passion in his designated mission to destroy Thanos at all cost. This pledge brings him into conflict with the mad Titan many times, and even results in temporary death.

These resurrections result in physiological changes in Drax, who typically possesses superhuman strength and durability, flight, energy blasts, and extreme survival capabilities. In the past Drax' physical powers have been balanced by a severely diminished intellect, but more recently he possesses a warrior's instinct, and a penchant for knife fighting.

- His birth on Saturn's moon would come to earn him the monicker of The Mad Titan, but the universe at large Thanos would have no anonymity.
Born with a genetic anomaly that altered his appearance considerably from his fellow Eternals, Thanos grows distant and eventually comes to obssess over death, both figuratively, and as an abstract entity living in the universe.

Thanos embarks on a lifelong quest to prove his love to Lady Death, and is distracted from his pursuits only by attempts to amass further power.
His abilities, inherent and asumed, include; superhuman strength, invulnerability, cosmic energy projection, knowledge of advanced alien sciences, and other.
As a result of his relationship with Death, Thanos is denied passage to the after-life, ultimately making him unstoppable.

The Math: Thanos Ranking: Thanos (#72)

What Went Down...
Having battled his way through the insectoid hordes of the Annihilation Wave, Drax becomes possessed by his mission to destroy Thanos. All to aware of the situation, the Mad Titan compells Drax' 'daughter', Moondragon, to defend him while he dismantles the machine designed to harness Galactus.

Moondragon uses both her psionic powers and an empassioned plea to break through the rage that grips Drax. Both prove ineffective, the green skinned powerhouse tossing one of his newly adopted daggers to incapacitate his daughter with a non-lethal strike of the handle.

Thanos, far from intimidated, asks only for moment long enough to work his way through the processes to dismantle the Galactus bomb. Alas, much like the pleas made by Moondragon, word of the greater good falls on deaf ears.

Drax eminates a green energy as he feverishly stabs and claws at the purple energy shield erected by Thanos. The Titan does his best to continue with the task at hand, despite the imminence of Drax' tearing attacks, but a distant glimpse of a familiar figure is all too informative.

Before it even happens, Thanos calmly recognises his fate, and makes peace with it. After a lifetime at arms length, Death has finally arrived to welcome Thanos in his moment of noble sacrifice. Drax completes his mission, and in doing so, condemns the universe to destruction. Thanos is dead.

The Hammer...
Well, well! In his timely debut appearance on the Infinite Wars, Drax picks himself up a tidy victory over Thanos, and Moondragon!
You'll note the chaos mite, Skreet, is present on Thanos' shoulder throughout the entire confrontation, but at no point enters into the conflict. So, if you spot that tag but can't figure out why, you need to come back and read this, thus negating this order.

In the last shipping list [January 23] the Annihilation Conquest and a brand new Guardians of the Galaxy series were raised, which made this the perfect opportunity to go back and take a look at one of the overlooked crossovers of 2007! Like so many others, it seems we spent so much time on Civil War and Infinite Crisis, Annihilation got completely skimmed over! So, here we are!

It seems there's been something of a cosmic revival on both sides of the 'big two' fence. We closed the year catching up with the events of the Sinestro Corps War, which was the Annihilation-esque extension of the return of Hal Jordan, and the development of a whole new era for the Green Lantern franchise.

I suppose you could say there was a time when cosmic adventures held the same kind of weight as today's urban military fare. The various Infinity sagas famously pit characters as street level as Captain America against the likes of Thanos in what might have been the cosmic crossover taken to it's most absurd level, but thankfully, the Annihilation-revival hasn't been nearly as milque toast [as great as the Infinity Gauntlet and it's related stories were, at the time].

It's somewhat fitting that we acquaint ourselves with the latest of Marvel's cosmic offerings through Drax, because it's with that character that we got the first glimpses of the revival. Though not contrived to be so, a four-issue Drax mini-series pitched and penned by Keith Giffen, proved to be the progenitor of this expansion of the cosmic properties. It's here that you'll find the back story that explains Drax as he is at this point; a far cry from the more familiar purple caped Hulk-like oaf of the 1990's.

Prior to the core mini-series, [of which we are reviewing an issue], a collection of four issue precursors introduced some of the familiar B-list majors of the cosmic roster, and set-up events like the eventual capture of Galactus, and his story throughout the earliest days of the Annihilation Wave. This was told in perhaps the most prominent of the series, Annihilation: Silver Surfer, which also brought the chrome crime-fighter back into servitude of his former master.

Other series featured Super-Skrull, struggling with the Wave in the field, as well as uncooperative Skrulls, and his own struggles with his fleeting status in the Skrull empire. Ronan and Nova filled out the remaining spotlights, which eventually led to a new on-going series for the Centurion survivor.

Being a fan of a lot of these characters, I joined the many other eager fans in lapping this stuff up. In a vaguely ironic way, the thing that probably made this cosmic reneissance so palatable was it's attention to so many characters. The story arcs in a manner familiar to traditional crossovers, but manages to do so mostly isolated from unnecessary tangents and tie-ins.

I'm not exactly a big sci-fi guy.
As much as it is a powerful tool in fiction, if you start to reach Star Trek levels of attention to reality, I'm going to start to get my hackles up. Maybe it's all that sport I've played, but something about that in a science fiction context just has a way of getting out of hand, and I don't like it one bit. Fortunatelly, for the time being at least, the cosmic characters have managed to exist in a reality that has allowed traditional superhero segregation, with versimilitude implied more than it is overtly enacted.

If I had one complaint, it would be a common and trivial one.
Actually, I think it's potentially a great solution to the problem, which if I get around to just saying it, is frivilous death and resurrection.

Somehow Annihilation manages to hold on to a very grim wartorn atmosphere, even though many of it's key players not only have a history of coming back from the dead, but even do so in these very pages! In the cosmic arena, it's almost reasonable to see this as a bold acceptance of this ebbing flow of life and death at this level, but on the other hand, like any other comic, it just cheapens the threat and leaves a bitter taste.

Despite this, there's almost a sense of finality to the unlikely death of Thanos, and I think I'd almost like to see him remain as he's seen in a later issue of Annihilation, standing in accompaniment to "Mistress Death". If pushing the character to rare cameos can be accepted, I'd love to see Thanos be part of that infamous pantheon of cosmic deities and forces that made a lot of this stuff so memorable, for good and bad reasons.

With Conquest I've fallen behind, and honestly, I think we're seeing the perilous pitfalls of the cosmic corner of the Marvel Universe. After the construction of the Annihilation Wave, the return of the Phalanx while brilliant, feels almost too contrived. As wrong as it seems to say it, I almost want to see a couple of on-going series (like Nova) indulge more in the cosmic superheroing of it all, before delving back into the depths of a gritty minute-by-minute battle. Then again, that's more of a personal preference, and I'm not sure I could fault them for it.
At the very least, I think I'd have to be reading Conquest to pick at it and it's more obscure (but pushed) heroes. [Marvel: Review comps welcome!]

Guardians may just serve up what I'm looking for, but for now, the conceptual rebuilding process continues!

And hey, speaking of cosmic fisticuffs, once you've been through the [updated] Infinite Wars Issue Index, you can find yourself a whole other universe of punching, kicking, and screaming thanks to the cosmic force of nature that is: Bahlactus' Friday Night Fights! Are you ready for the Prize-Fight Knockout?!

The Fight: 4.5 The Issue: 4.5

Things get a little heavy at times, but I imagine Annihilaton reads great in a single sitting! The Annihilation mini is collected in the third Annihilation Trade Collection, with the many other related pieces of reading included in books one, and two.

You can pick all of the trades up thanks to Amazon!
By using links found on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths, you not only find a great price, but help fund future entries of your favourite form of fist flying fight clubbery! Mmm, kick-backs!