SUPER INTELLIGENCE

A pretty useful tip: you don't get to be one of

the most dangerous villains in comics by being
an idiot. While Thanos is physically very
powerful, it's his intellect and vast amount of
knowledge that truly make him an omniversal
threat. While Thanos is not the first to use the
Infinity Gems/Stones, he is the apparently the
first to think of using them all together.
Thanos is also a master of technology, equal to or
even exceeding the likes of Reed Richards.

One of his most ubiquitous creations is his

Space Throne. Able to withstand full-power
blasts from the Silver Surfer, it can also deliver
devastating energy blasts. Discerning readers
might remember it from its brief appearance
in Guardians of the Galaxy. Why did the
armrests have rockets, anyway?

14MASTER TACTITICAN
Part of Thanos' brilliance comes through in his
dastardly and labyrinthine schemes. While
most of his more famous plots involve just
brute-forcing his way through, he still gets to
flex his secret evil plans every now and then.
In Annihilation, he "serves" outer-space bug
lord Annihilus in order to further his own goals.
In Secret Wars, he even allows himself to be
captured in order to destabilize Doctor Doom's
paradise.
It's entirely likely this aspect will show up
in Infinity War. While we've only seen the
classic "Thanos beats everyone up" in trailers,
it's possible, even likely, that the battles we see
are all a smokescreen for a larger, grander
scheme. While Thanos' main goal is of course
obtaining the Infinity Stones, we still don't know
how he's going to go about obtaining the Soul
Stone.
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13TELEPATHY
One of Thanos' least remembered powers, it's
also one of his most dangerous. Even without
the Mind Stone, Thanos is able to reach into
another's mind and speak with them,
sometimes even controlling them. While not as
strong as someone like Jean Grey or Professor
X, he can still drive people mad with a gesture,
or defend himself from powerful psychics like
Mantis and Moondragon.
But, like everything else, his telepathy becomes
most dangerous when combined with his
intelligence and scheming mind.

He can manipulate and corrupt someone

without even speaking, or being in the same
room. He's used this to great effect in the past,
driving people insane while imprisoned and
otherwise helpless. These powers are of
course only enhanced by the Mind Stone.

12MASTER FIGHTER
While Thanos' brute strength is key to his
domination of opponents, it should also be said
that he is a master hand-to-hand fighter. There
aren't a lot of characters in the Marvel Universe
that are physically stronger than him, but when
he faces them, he can usually gain the upper
hand with his fighting skills and intelligence.
He's been shown to be skilled a blade, as well
as just his fists, wielding Surtur's Twilight
Sword to battle a Mjolnir-wielding Silver Surfer.
He's also skilled at combining his physical
abilities and energy manipulation (more on that
later) to overwhelm his opponents. Whether
these skills appear in Infinity War remain to be
seen, but it seems unlikely, as Thanos seems
to be overwhelmingly stronger than the
Avengers.
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11ENERGY
MANIPULATION

Just in case Thanos' fighting skills and strength

aren't enough to overwhelm any opponent, he
also has EYE BEAMS... as well as various
other energy manipulation and projection
abilities. His eye beams alone have been
shown to be able to strike multiple targets. This
ability likely stems from Thanos' origins as a
Darkseid ripoff/knockoff/homage. The eye
beams especially call to mind Darkseid's
Omega Sanction.
Interestingly, Thanos can also manipulate metal with
magnetism, just like Magneto.

Like all of Thanos' powers, his energy blasts

are extremely powerful. Even on the low end,
his blasts can knock beings like Thor and Hulk
unconscious. At their most powerful, they can
crack Galactus' armor and knock the Devourer
of Worlds off his feet. In an apocalyptic future
where Thanos wins, the energy blasts become
so powerful, they can blow Galactus' head
clean off with a single shot.

10SUPERHUMAN
AGILITY AND REFLEXES

Thanos is a member of a race called the

Eternals. Genetically engineered by the
Celestials, Eternals have a whole suite of
powers and abilities that place them above
normal humans. They're stronger, faster, and
generally just better than base humans, on top
of being nearly immortal. Thanos, as an
Eternal has access to all these abilities,
although he has since augmented his strength
and speed to be well above a normal Eternal.
What this all means is, despite his bulk,
Thanos is surprisingly agile. His reflexes are
also enhanced to well above human levels.
This, in turn, makes him a much more
dangerous fighter on top of his skills and
intelligence. While these powers are rarely on
display due to Thanos just tanking hits, they're
still part of the full package of the Mad Titan.
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9TELEPORTATION
Another of Thanos' lesser known abilities, this
power comes not from his natural abilities, but
from his technological mastery. His Space
Throne, in addition to all its other abilities,
allows Thanos to teleport. What makes this
power special, and separate from the rest of
the Space Throne, is that he can teleport even
when he's not sitting on it. It also allows him to
teleport others.
The range on this ability is unknown, both how far
he can teleport and how far he can be from his
Throne.

This power may even show up in Infinity War,

as Thanos can be seen in trailers walking out
of portals. Granted, he likely achieves this with
the power of the Space Stone. The Infinity
Gems replace or enhance a lot of Thanos'
base powers, but that doesn't mean he's not
dangerous without them.

8MATTER
MANIPULATION

Another ability born out of his Eternal heritage,

Thanos has the power to manipulate matter at
an atomic level. While this power doesn't come
up often, it was introduced in the very first
Thanos story, way back in 1973. There,
Thanos turns one of his Skrull servants to
stone. The mechanism of this transformation is
unclear, but Thanos claims responsibility.
This ability doesn't really come up often or at
all after this story, but it speaks to Thanos'
character that he keeps such a powerful ability
in his back pocket. Similar to the Molecule
Man's power, but on a smaller scale, this often
forgotten power makes Thanos incredibly
dangerous. Like everything else, the Infinity
Stones enhance this ability, particularly the
Reality Stone, which expands this power to
include all reality.
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7FLIGHT
Seems like a pretty basic power to be obscure,
but here we are. Introduced only recently, in
2014, Thanos demonstrated the ability to fly
unassisted in a battle against Star-Lord. Before
this, Thanos only flew with his Space Throne.
It's unclear if this is a newly acquired power, or
born out of some technological gizmo.
It's also possible that Thanos just never felt the
need to fly unassisted.

Another possibility involves the power of

teleportation granted by the Space Throne.
Like teleportation, it's possible that the Space
Throne is able to remotely grant its power to
Thanos. Even further, this could be an offshoot
of Thanos' magical abilities (more on that
later). It's also possible that Thanos saw this
power as irrelevant due to his ability to teleport.

6MAGIC
Part of Thanos' vast expanse of knowledge
includes the mystic arts. Thanos, being
Thanos, doesn't restrict himself to mere
conjurer's tricks, though. His incredible intellect
allows him to combine his mystical skills with
his technological marvels, resulting in
wondrous creations. The most impressive of
these is the ubiquitous Space Throne, a
combination of super science and magic that
grants him myriad abilities.
His powers allow him to create force fields,
rend skin from flesh with a gesture, and with
the Space Throne, teleport. Thanos once
further enhanced these mystical abilities by
combining his DNA with Doctor Strange's,
implying that his mystical skills and abilities
aren't quite on the same level as the Sorcerer
Supreme's. His mystical skills are also key to
gathering and controlling the power of the
Infinity Gems.
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5CURSES
Part of Thanos' magical repertoire includes
powerful curses. The most notable application
of this power is laying a curse of immortality on
Deadpool. Due to their occasional rivalry over
the love of Death (the cosmic abstract),
Thanos eventually curses Deadpool to never
die. Whether this curse comes from Thanos'
mystical abilities or from his relationship with
Death is unclear.
He has yet to curse anyone else, but it's possible his
transmutation of a Skrull lackey to stone is related.

While Thanos generally plays the long game,

he also doesn't frequently leave his foes alive.
This makes a long-term curse like that he laid
on Deadpool both impractical and
unnecessary. Further, it neither helps him
gather the Infinity Gems, nor is it enhanced by
any of the Gems.

4IMMORTALITY
Another gift from his Eternal physiology,
Thanos is functionally immortal. He does not
age, cannot die of old age, and is immune to
disease. This of course causes some
problems, as he is in love with Death and
cannot be with her unless he dies. This was a
key plot point in the recent "Thanos Wins" story
arc.
For a time, he was completely immortal, due to
being banned from Death's realm by Death
herself. Similar to the curse he laid on
Deadpool, he simply could not die, no matter
how severe the injury. This in turn led to some
pretty intense rage issues. The ban has since
been lifted, although in recent times Thanos
has moved on from Death and instead seeks
the release of Oblivion.
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3HEALING FACTOR
Of course, the main issue confronting Thanos
about his immortality is his extreme resilience.
Not only does he have ridiculous toughness,
further enhanced by his first death and rebirth,
he also has an Eternal healing factor. So in the
rare event where he does actually get hurt, he
simply regenerates and heals.
While not on the scale of Wolverine or the Hulk, he
still regenerates far faster than a normal human.

A major limitation to this power means he is

unable to regenerate organs, and likely limbs.
The circumstances of his death
in Annihilation (spoilers, but also the book is
more than 10 years old) involved Drax ripping
his heart out. It's entirely possible that Drax has
a nullifying effect on Thanos' powers, but
regeneration has never been one of Thanos'
most powerful abilities.

2TELEKINESIS
Another rarely used power, Thanos possesses
the power of basic telekinesis. Whether this is
an offshoot of his energy manipulation or
magic powers, Thanos still uses it to the simple
effect of holding foes in place. However, it is
powerful enough to arrest the movement even
of the heralds of Galactus.
This power has some precedent to appear in
the MCU. After all, Scarlet Witch gained her
telekinetic powers through experimentation
with the Mind Stone. This might imply Thanos'
telekinesis is related to his telepathy, much like
Professor X and Jean Grey. Again, this isn't a
power that Thanos usually needs, as he can
simply tank hits or kill any foe he might need to
restrain with telekinesis. Also, he's not above
walking across the room to pick something up.
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1TIME TRAVEL
Like any self-respecting super-scientist,
Thanos has a time machine. Although he has
never used it to physically travel in time, he
certainly has the capability to hop around in the
timestream. Instead, he uses it to observe the
future and past, to build a catalog of Adam
Warlock's life. It also allows him to anticipate a
visit by time-travelling warlord Kang the
Conqueror, and enlist him into his service
More importantly, it was a precursor the power
of the Time Gem. On a much grander scale
than the time machine, the Time Gem allows
the user to time travel, and control the past,
present, and future. When combined with the
other gems in the Infinity Gauntlet, it allows the
wielder to exist in all points in time
simultaneously.
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