Summary
-
Invincible
artist Ryan Ottley draws Thanos with a puckered face, having accidentally warped his body with the Infinity Gauntlet. - Ottley labels the result ‘Thanus,’ with fans comparing the drawing to
Preacher
character Arseface. - The art calls to mind Thanos’ wildest uses of the Gauntlet – including turning Wolverine’s bones to rubber – but far more grotesque.
A tyrant, murderer and zealot, the Mad Titan Thanos is one of Marvel’s most despicable villains, but even he may not deserve how he’s being treated by Invincible artist Ryan Ottley. Joining writer Robert Kirkman on Invincible #8, Ottley drew over 100 issues of the iconic series, and has worked on other properties including Hulk and Amazing Spider-Man. However, fans may wish he’d stopped there when they see his recent roast of Thanos.
Shared by Ryan Ottley on social media, a throwback post to an old piece of art depicts Thanos with a severely puckered face and the caption, “And with one snap, Thanos made a terrible mistake…” and giant letters declaring the Mad Titan’s new name “Thanus.” Ottley includes the comment “Throwback to this old stinker of a villain.” Commenters quickly compared the art to a fellow comic character; Preacher‘s Eugene Root aka Arseface.
The transformation is a gross fate indeed for Marvel’s villainous Eternal/Deviant hybrid, but it’s also surprisingly in-keeping with how Thanos used the reality-warping power of the Infinity Gems in Jim Starlin, George Pérez, Ron Lim, Josef Rubinstein, Tom Christopher, Bruce N. Solotoff, Jack Morelli, Max Scheele and Ian Laughlin’s 1991 epic The Infinity Gauntlet.
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The Marvel Universe is a big, weird place, and when someone like Thanos kills half of all life, there are going to be some unintended consequences.
Ryan Ottley Makes Thanos’ Snap So, So Much Worse
Thanos Used the Infinity Gauntlet in Weird Ways, But Never… That
Unlike in the MCU, Thanos doesn’t need to snap his fingers to use the Infinity Gems (later renamed ‘Infinity Stones’) in the comics. Instead, he simply has to will reality to change and it does so instantly. Thanos revels in this power when the Avengers come to stop him and utilizes creative ways to dispatch them. Dark fates from the comic include Nebula being unspooled into ribbons, Starfox’s body being separated into cubes, Thor being turned to glass, Wolverine having his adamantium bones turned to rubber, and Thanos becoming a giant to crush the Hulk. Thanos also uses terrifying sentient vines to torture his brother Eros, removing his mouth at one point simply because he can.
Ottley’s art is likely a reference to the ridges on Thanos’ chin, which he shares with the Skrulls in both Marvel comics and the MCU. Fans have speculated this is linked to the shared Deviant DNA of Thanos and modern Skrulls. In Marvel lore, the godlike Celestials visit various planets, branching species by introducing Eternal and Deviant strains. On Skrullos, the Deviant strain won out over the Eternal Skrulls and the baseline species, making it the norm on that planet. Recent comics have revealed that while Thanos is an Eternal, he was created using Deviant DNA, making it seem more probable than ever that this is the source of the feature.
Fans of Thanos may never see him the same way again after this art from Invincible‘s Ryan Ottley, though at least any other cosmic tyrants would think twice before trying to claim the Infinity Gauntlet for themselves.
Source: Ryan Ottley