Thanos VS. Darkseid

[Catacomb]

For your galaxy spanning baddie who would you choose? Here it is...Thanos or Darkseid.

[Kevin Scrivner]

Hmmm. Darkseid rules a planet full of loyal slaves with an iron fist, has an army of Parademons, is strong enough to give Superman loose teeth, and his Omega Beams can seek you out around corners. He'd like to annex the Earth.

Thanos is more mobile, terrorizing the galaxy with a handfull of servitors. He loves Death personified and would like to wipe out all life in the galaxy to please her. He's big, bulky, and strong, too, able to give Captain Marvel (the second Marvel version) fits.

Gimme some help. Who won their encounter in the Amalgam crossover series? Or did they get distracted by the good guys? Geez, pesky heroes, always interfering when you're trying to determine who the true Lord of Darkness is.

Wouldn't want either one showing up on my front lawn. What about Lord High Papal from from Epic's Dreadstar series?

[Demonsong]

Thanos, no contest.

[TheEmerged]

Originally posted by Kevin Scrivner
Gimme some help. Who won their encounter in the Amalgam crossover series? Or did they get distracted by the good guys? Geez, pesky heroes, always interfering when you're trying to determine who the true Lord of Darkness is.

Nobody. They sort of hit a snag when the universes starting collapsing on themselves... Okay, what really happened was the heroes interfered (of course).

[Agent X]

Darkseid, the original and mature cosmic super-villain versus Thanos, the "new model" who's trying to "find" himself.

Darkseid, everybody knows where he is and they still don't mess with him unless they absolutely have to.

Thanos, a sneaky git who only shows up when he has the upper hand. (Darkseid almost always starts with the upper hand.)

I like Thanos but, no contest, Darkseid.

[Hermit]

I went with Thanos. He would do anything for love....

"But I won't do that" -Meatloaf

[Ndreare]

Well Thanos is cool and Darksied is a ***** so I would have to say thanos. Plus if you read the new m ini "The End" Thanos becomes a god of unimaginable power.

I actualy have to admit it is my basic leenings towerd Marvel over DC that makes my vote biased.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Ndreare
Well Thanos is cool and Darksied is a ***** so I would have to say thanos. Plus if you read the new m ini "The End" Thanos becomes a god of unimaginable power.

I actualy have to admit it is my basic leenings towerd Marvel over DC that makes my vote biased. I think that bias on the part of many could be telling. Perhaps, if more had read some of the late 70s stories involving Darkseid or the great story arc in the Legion of Superheroes there would be more recognition of what Darkseid is really about.

[TheEmerged]

I have to admit, it was the Legion series that swayed my vote...

[Superskrull]

I'm going with Darkseid. He wins the ruthless & evil contest.
Example: Little Timmy loves his puppy, Rex. Thanos would kill the puppy in front of Little Timmy. Darkseid would kill the puppy and then barter with Little Timmy to have Rex returned to life if Little Timmy agrees to serve Darkseid in all ways. Thanos usually comes off as a cosmic supervillain. Darkseid seems to be much more the Devil of the piece.

[Doug McCrae]

Originally posted by Catacomb
For your galaxy spanning baddie who would you choose?Galactus.

[keithcurtis]

Originally posted by Superskrull
I'm going with Darkseid. He wins the ruthless & evil contest.
Example: Little Timmy loves his puppy, Rex. Thanos would kill the puppy in front of Little Timmy. Darkseid would kill the puppy and then barter with Little Timmy to have Rex returned to life if Little Timmy agrees to serve Darkseid in all ways. Thanos usually comes off as a cosmic supervillain. Darkseid seems to be much more the Devil of the piece.

Very succinct.

Keith "credit wher credit is due" Curtis

[JohnOSpencer]

Originally posted by Agent X
I think that bias on the part of many could be telling. Perhaps, if more had read some of the late 70s stories involving Darkseid or the great story arc in the Legion of Superheroes there would be more recognition of what Darkseid is really about.

Both story arcs with Darkseid vs. the Legion are great. The first one is available in Trade Paperback, and gets two thumbs up(four if you count my gf's).

John Spencer

[J4y]

Challenge video (http://www.fanta.dk/showmovie.asp?mid=7BD3D746-9936-46F1-9452-6C7BB1BBD90D)

Puts faces to the names! :D

[Agent X]

Originally posted by J4y
Challenge video (http://www.fanta.dk/showmovie.asp?mid=7BD3D746-9936-46F1-9452-6C7BB1BBD90D)

Puts faces to the names! :D That's cool.

[Agent333]

Originally posted by Kevin Scrivner
What about Lord High Papal from from Epic's Dreadstar series?

*Shudder* The only villain who probably had more resources than Darkseid AND Thanos combined. Once he had absorbed the power of the 12 gods to take on Dreadstar, he would be at the top of my list.

Still, it comes down to archetype for me. Thanos is the "Mad Titan". High lord Papal is just that. Darkseid is a "God of Darkness". Darkseid wins.

[Bazza]

Originally posted by Agent X
Darkseid, the original and mature cosmic super-villain versus Thanos, the "new model" who's trying to "find" himself. Not quite so. My GM told me that Stan Lee wanted to introduce Thanatos into the Marvel Universe. With a shortened name "Thanos", Thanatos made his appearance. When this occured I'd have to ask him again, but it was around the early 70s if my memory serves me right.

From this I don't think that Darkseid / Thanos making their appearances (or ideas of them) at around the "same" time was coincidential. Very possibly Stan was, (just speculation) trying rival his former partner with this creation.

My GM also said matter-of-factually that Stan has a much darker / shader past than people are obvlios too.

Any confirmation of any of this would be great - my only source is my GM.

* Now where is that email address. *

[Bazza]

Originally posted by Catacomb
For your galaxy spanning baddie who would you choose? Here it is...Thanos or Darkseid. Cat thanks for the Thanos link of the Villians thread.

Bazza "Eternally grateful. Brhaaa haaa haaa" Clarke

[Bazza]

Originally posted by Hermit
I went with Thanos. He would do anything for love....

"But I won't do that" -Meatloaf and he and Mistress Death had a love child. :o *shudder*

[death tribble]

Darkseid.

[Superskrull]

Originally posted by keithcurtis
Very succinct.

Keith "credit wher credit is due" Curtis

I try. :)

I have a habit of trying to pidgeonhole characters in comics & games into their literary categories. Helps me block in story elements around them.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Bazza
Not quite so. My GM told me that Stan Lee wanted to introduce Thanatos into the Marvel Universe. With a shortened name "Thanos", Thanatos made his appearance. When this occured I'd have to ask him again, but it was around the early 70s if my memory serves me right.

From this I don't think that Darkseid / Thanos making their appearances (or ideas of them) at around the "same" time was coincidential. Very possibly Stan was, (just speculation) trying rival his former partner with this creation.

My GM also said matter-of-factually that Stan has a much darker / shader past than people are obvlios too.

Any confirmation of any of this would be great - my only source is my GM.

* Now where is that email address. * A buddy of mine spent an evening in a hotel bar with Stan Lee at a convention. Stan had a blond draped on his arm and she was definitely not his wife. Let's just check comic book appearances on Darkseid and Thanos and not work off of "kernels" of ideas.

[tmutant]

Darkseid seeks the "anti-life equation" to give him the power of life and death over the universe, so as to enslave it. Thanos just wants to kill everything. I go with the more complex motivation. Darkseid.

[Nuadha]

If you want to ever see how truly machivellan Darkseid can be, read the story of how Goodness (better known as "Granny") became part of Darkseid's elite and was chosen to oversee the training of the orphanage. I believed it was called "No Place for Mercy" was originally in New Gods Secret Files, I believe and was reprinted in the Orion graphic novel along with the first story arc of Walt Simonson's Orion run. MAJOR SPOILERS, I outline the entire plot- Part of the training of his soldiers is that they are assigned a dog that that they are to care for and train with and one of their last tests is to kill this dog they have been tought to love. Cadet Goodness, who has been made fun of for her silly name, names her dog Mercy. When she is ordered by superior officers to kill Mercy, she kills her superior officer. When captured and brought before Darkseid, she tells him that she could not kill the dog because the dog has been trained to be completely obedient to Darkseid and is more of an asset to Darkeseid than the officer was. Darkseid puts this to the test. He points to Goodness and says "kill." The dog leaps at Goodness and Goodness kills the dog she loves with a gun she has ready. Darkseid says that he is impressed that she was good enough at training to have the dog be more loyal to him than her. He is further impressed that she knew enough to have her gun ready. He assigns her to run the orphanage now that she has learned the most important lesson of all, "there is no room for Mercy on Apokolips." END SPOILERS

The thing that makes Darkseid so dangerous is that he has an entire planet that is completely devoted to serving him and many of them, like Kalibak and Kato, could take on a guy like Superman on their own. The common battle-cry is "Live for Darkseid! Die for Darkseid!"

[J4y]

I have no idea who Thanos is, but I voted for him anyway since last night I saw Superfriends and Darkseid, his son and some powerful wizard advisor guys or whatever nearly crapped themselves when superman showed up and fled. Wuss.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by J4y
I have no idea who Thanos is, but I voted for him anyway since last night I saw Superfriends and Darkseid, his son and some powerful wizard advisor guys or whatever nearly crapped themselves when superman showed up and fled. Wuss. Yep. The Superfriends is your best source for understanding a character. :p

[Hermit]

Originally posted by Agent X
Yep. The Superfriends is your best source for understanding a character. :p

*G*

[Stone]

Thantos doesn't want kill everything simply just to kill it. He wants to sacrafice all life to Death to prove his love for her and earn her love for him. Ok, he's psycho. Darksied is the guy who is wants it all. If he was able to gain his anti-life equation and make it work, he would discover something else that he did not control (another dimesion, the after life) and want that too. Both are incredibly powerful beings. Darksied is probably more eaxcting in his planning than Thantos. With that in mind, Darksied would set a trap for Thantos. If it works, Thantos is toast. If it doesn't, then I don't wanna be Darksied.

[Bazza]

why not let Access settle this: you remember the guy who can transverse between the Marvel & DC universes. We should let him Amalgam both Darkseid and Thanos together. Problem solved.

Welcome to Darkdeath -- the menace to both universes /evil laugh on Brhaaa haaa haaa. /evil laugh off

q: does anyone reckon that this amalgam character could smack Galactus down?

[Lord Liaden]

The limited-run Amalgam universe did amalgamate Thanos and Darkseid, into "Thanoseid" (one of the cleverer names to come out of that project). He was more a conceptual synthesis of the two rather than a combining of their powers. The latter would indeed be a terrifying entity, although I still think that in pitting him against Galactus it's the Big G who'd be doing the smacking. ;)

Speaking of smackdown, it looks as though poll-wise the Mad Titan is getting his purple keister spanked by the Lord of Apokolips. :p

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden
The limited-run Amalgam universe did amalgamate Thanos and Darkseid, into "Thanoseid" (one of the cleverer names to come out of that project). He was more a conceptual synthesis of the two rather than a combining of their powers. The latter would indeed be a terrifying entity, although I still think that in pitting him against Galactus it's the Big G who'd be doing the smacking. ;)

Speaking of smackdown, it looks as though poll-wise the Mad Titan is getting his purple keister spanked by the Lord of Apokolips. :p As he should be.

BTW, Galactus might have some trouble if Darkseid plotted against him.

[Doug McCrae]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden
The limited-run Amalgam universe did amalgamate Thanos and Darkseid, into "Thanoseid" (one of the cleverer names to come out of that project).I thought the cleverest was the Superman-Captain America combo -

Super-Soldier

Amalgam is interesting from a roleplaying point-of-view. One way to construct gaming characters is to do the same thing as Amalgam - combine aspects of two (or more) comic book characters to create something new.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Doug McCrae
I thought the cleverest was the Superman-Captain America combo -

Super-Soldier

Amalgam is interesting from a roleplaying point-of-view. One way to construct gaming characters is to do the same thing as Amalgam - combine aspects of two (or more) comic book characters to create something new. Dr. Strangefate was a positively frightening concoction.

[Lord Liaden]

Super-Soldier was my favorite Amalgam concept. Combining the "ultimate human" Captain America with the "ultimate superhuman" Superman seemed a little bizarre at first; but when you consider the role of heroic ideal that each of those characters plays in his respective universe, it makes perfect sense. The blending of their origins was nicely done, and making the "S" shield into a real shield was inspired.

There were some really nice ideas in Amalgam, amidst the lame ones like Black Claw. :rolleyes:

[Superskrull]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden
The limited-run Amalgam universe did amalgamate Thanos and Darkseid, into "Thanoseid" (one of the cleverer names to come out of that project). He was more a conceptual synthesis of the two rather than a combining of their powers. The latter would indeed be a terrifying entity, although I still think that in pitting him against Galactus it's the Big G who'd be doing the smacking. ;)

Well, while I don't like the story much, the Galactus/Fourth world crossover done by John Byrne does agree with you. I just had some quibbles with the content of that story. Apokalyps was revealed to be too dead for the big G to snack on and I think he would have figured that out before firing up the old planetary converter. After all, he has his transgalactic food taster looking for good chow, not garbage. Then there was Highfather cravenly hiding his world and letting Darkseid take the menace on. I did like seeing Orion get stomped by the Surfer though. I like seeing that snotty bastard get creamed for assuming he's top dog everywhere. Orion's a jerk.

[Superskrull]

Originally posted by Agent X
Dr. Strangefate was a positively frightening concoction.

Gah! The combined power of a Lord of Order and the Sorcerer Supreme strapped onto the world's most powerful telepathic fanatic makes for one horrific opponent. He was powerful enough to keep Myxyzptlk as a servant and that's just wrong.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Superskrull
Well, while I don't like the story much, the Galactus/Fourth world crossover done by John Byrne does agree with you. I just had some quibbles with the content of that story. Apokalyps was revealed to be too dead for the big G to snack on and I think he would have figured that out before firing up the old planetary converter. After all, he has his transgalactic food taster looking for good chow, not garbage. Then there was Highfather cravenly hiding his world and letting Darkseid take the menace on. I did like seeing Orion get stomped by the Surfer though. I like seeing that snotty bastard get creamed for assuming he's top dog everywhere. Orion's a jerk. I like that Orion is a jerk.

[Superskrull]

Originally posted by Agent X
I like that Orion is a jerk.

I'll admit that Orion is certainly cut from the same cloth as many gods of myth. He's got that snotty divine attitude to mortals down pat. I still like it that he's not the toughest being in the stories, though. Superman can clean his clock and that's always pleased me.

Still, I have to admit, Orion is much cooler than Kalibak.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Superskrull
I'll admit that Orion is certainly cut from the same cloth as many gods of myth. He's got that snotty divine attitude to mortals down pat. I still like it that he's not the toughest being in the stories, though. Superman can clean his clock and that's always pleased me.

Still, I have to admit, Orion is much cooler than Kalibak. It's not that hard to be cooler than Kalibak.

[Kristopher]

*I* am cooler than Kalibak.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Kristopher
*I* am cooler than Kalibak. You sure are. :)

[Lord Liaden]

I preferred Orion the way Jack Kirby wrote him. Yes, he could be arrogant and had a very grim attitude, but he was also deeply conflicted over the cruel and violent nature that was his Apokoliptian heritage. In battle Kirby portrayed him as death on legs; not just powerful, but exceptionally skilled and totally ruthless.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden
I preferred Orion the way Jack Kirby wrote him. Yes, he could be arrogant and had a very grim attitude, but he was also deeply conflicted over the cruel and violent nature that was his Apokoliptian heritage. In battle Kirby portrayed him as death on legs; not just powerful, but exceptionally skilled and totally ruthless. I like the idea that he's conflicted about his jerkiness too. :)

[Nuadha]

After Kirby, I don't think anyone as written Orion "right." In the original stories, I don't think Orion came off as a jerk at all. Sure, he had the contempt for the bugs. All the New Gods, perhaps with the exception of Highfather, did. However he treated the earth mortals with complete respect despite his god-status.

[Enforcer84]

I went with Thanos because he just does the strangest stuff. He had the all powerful infinity guantlet and then decided (at lease subconsciously) that he really didn't want it. He is a thinker as well as a powerhouse (as is his opponent) but I think if he felt Darkseid was a threat to him or his plans Darkseid would be beset with bad things.

Of course Darkseid has it all over him in the taste in clothes catagory.:D

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Enforcer84
I went with Thanos because he just does the strangest stuff. He had the all powerful infinity guantlet and then decided (at lease subconsciously) that he really didn't want it. He is a thinker as well as a powerhouse (as is his opponent) but I think if he felt Darkseid was a threat to him or his plans Darkseid would be beset with bad things.

Of course Darkseid has it all over him in the taste in clothes catagory.:D Darkseid has it over him in success too. Thanos is a flash in the pan compared to Darkseid. Darkseid is to Henry Ford as Thanos is to DeLorean.:) JMO

[SuperPheemy]

Gotta go with the Lord of Apokalypse. I think it was an episode of Superman Animated where Big Blue beat Darksied down, caused the Omega Force to back up in Darkseid's eyesockets, and finally cast him down from his own palace at the feet of those he oppressed.

The people of Apokalypse, instead of deposing their tyrant-god, lifted him to their own backs, and prepared to defend him with thier very lives. I think Darkseid explained it to Superman as the difference between a "Hero" and a God.

I also like how the Omega Beams find their target, no matter where that target is.

[Agent X]

This poll has been roughly steady at about 2 to 1 for Darkseid for quite some time. Seems like we should declare a winner.

[Champsguy]

I vote for Thanos. Darkseid doesn't interest me at all. He's too wrapped up in his place in the 4th world mythos--i.e., he's a plot element that can't be defeated until he's fated to be defeated. Of course, at the same time, he can't succeed either. He's like Dr Manhatten, except less powerful and with the sense to wear pants. At least Odin has had the good sense to cheat and try and get around Ragnarok. The New Gods seem all too ready to sit around with their thumbs up their butts and wait for the end of the world.

But I guess that's why Odin is cool, and Highfather and Darkseid are lame. Thor would beat Orion's ass.

And umm... Thanos at least does things. He's proactive. I never saw Darkseid make a half-dozen clones of himself, splice their genetic material with others, and try to destroy the universe. Man, that Galactus-Thanos guy was mean.

[Bazza]

Originally posted by Champsguy
Man, that Galactus-Thanos guy was mean. Agreed. I bet you that that guy could whipe the floor with Apokalypse -- the planet.

But that is one reason I think Thanos would win. He can (if he wanted to) create a huge villianous organisation involving many planets, and space armadas with a huge army of foot soldiers and another army of paranormals. The Galactus-Thanos guy just being one of those paranormals.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Champsguy
I vote for Thanos. Darkseid doesn't interest me at all. He's too wrapped up in his place in the 4th world mythos--i.e., he's a plot element that can't be defeated until he's fated to be defeated. Of course, at the same time, he can't succeed either. He's like Dr Manhatten, except less powerful and with the sense to wear pants. At least Odin has had the good sense to cheat and try and get around Ragnarok. The New Gods seem all too ready to sit around with their thumbs up their butts and wait for the end of the world.

But I guess that's why Odin is cool, and Highfather and Darkseid are lame. Thor would beat Orion's ass.

And umm... Thanos at least does things. He's proactive. I never saw Darkseid make a half-dozen clones of himself, splice their genetic material with others, and try to destroy the universe. Man, that Galactus-Thanos guy was mean. Champsguy, how many Darkseid stories have you read?

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Bazza
Agreed. I bet you that that guy could whipe the floor with Apokalypse -- the planet.

But that is one reason I think Thanos would win. He can (if he wanted to) create a huge villianous organisation involving many planets, and space armadas with a huge army of foot soldiers and another army of paranormals. The Galactus-Thanos guy just being one of those paranormals. Darkseid already has that stuff. He just faces stiffer competition.

[Morningstar]

Darkseid controls a planet. A planet is BENEATH Thanos. If someone gave him a goal of conquering a planet he would vaporize them just for suggesting something so pitiful.

Thanos only gets involved with galactic size targets and has been made more and more powerful everytime he shows up. He keeps defeating more and more powerful opponents too. He recently defeated several of the Elders of the Universe some of which have planetary scale powers. The Grandmaster for instance can rearrange molecules on a planetary scale, can kill mortal beings with a gesture, etc. Thanos defeated him, as well as others on his level.

For the record, I hate what they have done with Thanos, it smells of pandering to popularity. I liked him better when he was on a lower level like battling super teams instead of Cosmic level beings.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Morningstar
Darkseid controls a planet. A planet is BENEATH Thanos. If someone gave him a goal of conquering a planet he would vaporize them just for suggesting something so pitiful.

Thanos only gets involved with galactic size targets and has been made more and more powerful everytime he shows up. He keeps defeating more and more powerful opponents too. He recently defeated several of the Elders of the Universe some of which have planetary scale powers. The Grandmaster for instance can rearrange molecules on a planetary scale, can kill mortal beings with a gesture, etc. Thanos defeated him, as well as others on his level.

For the record, I hate what they have done with Thanos, it smells of pandering to popularity. I liked him better when he was on a lower level like battling super teams instead of Cosmic level beings. Ummm, a planet full of gods! And Darkseid's obsession with the Anti-Life Equation is dealing with power on a UNIVERSAL SCALE.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Superskrull
I'm going with Darkseid. He wins the ruthless & evil contest.
Example: Little Timmy loves his puppy, Rex. Thanos would kill the puppy in front of Little Timmy. Darkseid would kill the puppy and then barter with Little Timmy to have Rex returned to life if Little Timmy agrees to serve Darkseid in all ways. Thanos usually comes off as a cosmic supervillain. Darkseid seems to be much more the Devil of the piece. Just to remind viewers of why Darkseid is the MAN!

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Nuadha
If you want to ever see how truly machivellan Darkseid can be, read the story of how Goodness (better known as "Granny") became part of Darkseid's elite and was chosen to oversee the training of the orphanage. I believed it was called "No Place for Mercy" was originally in New Gods Secret Files, I believe and was reprinted in the Orion graphic novel along with the first story arc of Walt Simonson's Orion run. MAJOR SPOILERS, I outline the entire plot- Part of the training of his soldiers is that they are assigned a dog that that they are to care for and train with and one of their last tests is to kill this dog they have been tought to love. Cadet Goodness, who has been made fun of for her silly name, names her dog Mercy. When she is ordered by superior officers to kill Mercy, she kills her superior officer. When captured and brought before Darkseid, she tells him that she could not kill the dog because the dog has been trained to be completely obedient to Darkseid and is more of an asset to Darkeseid than the officer was. Darkseid puts this to the test. He points to Goodness and says "kill." The dog leaps at Goodness and Goodness kills the dog she loves with a gun she has ready. Darkseid says that he is impressed that she was good enough at training to have the dog be more loyal to him than her. He is further impressed that she knew enough to have her gun ready. He assigns her to run the orphanage now that she has learned the most important lesson of all, "there is no room for Mercy on Apokolips." END SPOILERS

The thing that makes Darkseid so dangerous is that he has an entire planet that is completely devoted to serving him and many of them, like Kalibak and Kato, could take on a guy like Superman on their own. The common battle-cry is "Live for Darkseid! Die for Darkseid!" Another Reminder!