Here are 10 facts every Marvel fan should know about Thanos' kids, from the son whose powers were nerfed by the MCU to the forgotten daughter who might be even more terrifying than the Mad Titan himself.

10 Thanos Has a Son Even Marvel Has Forgotten

Zorr the Conqueror Debuted Way Back in Nova #1

Debuting and dying in 1976's Nova #1 (from Marv Wolfman & John Buscema), Zorr is a towering alien warlord who tried to make Earth his new domain. Zorr mixed it up with Richard Rider's Nova before being disintegrated by Nova Centurion Rhomann Dey, and was forgotten by fans and creators alike. However, Zorr was later tied into Thanos' line by Nebula, who claims to be Zorr's daughter and Thanos' granddaughter. While it hasn't been officially confirmed that Nebula's claims are true, the next entry on this list will show why they're way more likely than not, making Zorr the long-lost son of Thanos.

9 Thanos Has Dozens of Biological Children

He Just Doesn't Let Them Live to Adulthood

As revealed in Jason Aaron and Simone Bianchi's Thanos Rising, the Mad Titan has fathered countless children across the galaxy. During his early career as a cosmic pirate, Thanos attempted to settle down again and again, trying to recapture the romance he'd experienced in his youth with a manifestation of Death herself. This resulted in many different biological children spread across the galaxy, who Thanos pathologically abandoned to move on and try again.

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Later, after Thanos clarified his nihilistic philosophy, he returned to his many children, slaughtering them one after the other in order to correct the crime of having brought more life into the galaxy. However, Thanos wasn't able to track down all of his biological children. In the Infinity event from Jonathan Hickman and Jim Cheung, Thanos takes to demanding a 'tribute' from the worlds he conquers - the heads of all citizens between the ages of sixteen and twenty-two. It later emerged that Thanos was trying to track down and eliminate his half-Inhuman son, Thane, on who more later.

Given the number of children fathered in random ports across the galaxy, it makes sense that someone like Zorr could slip through Thanos' later attempts to purge his bloodline. Thanos' semi-addictive habit of creating life is one of many contradictions that define the Mad Titan - a death-loving tyrant obsessed with creating life. Even after turning against his biological children, Thanos took in his adopted kids - the Children of Thanos, aka the Black Order - suggesting that some part of the Mad Titan craves a parental legacy.

8 The MCU Cut Thanos' Daughter from the Black Order

Supergiant Is a Powerhouse Who Didn't Make It to the Movies

Thanos' Black Order are one of the most powerful groups in the galaxy, with each member possessing immense superhuman abilities. Movie fans met Thanos' adopted kids in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War, but sadly one member of his family didn't make the cut. Supergiant was introduced alongside the rest of the Black Order, with the power of near-irrestible mind control. Supergiant consumes the minds of her victims, reading their thoughts and controlling their perceptions and actions. She isn't limited to doing this on an individual basis, and can control large amounts of people from a great distance away.

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Fans speculated that Supergiant's powers were too similar to those of Ebony Maw, however it's unlikely that was the reason (since he didn't actually get to keep his comic abilities.) More likely, the Black Order were cut down as a matter of story logistics, with Supergiant's incredible abilities making her the hardest to write around - her possession powers would have been harder to beat than her siblings' superstrength and advanced weaponry.

Supergiant was killed in the comics by the teleporting Inhuman Lockjaw, likely so the Black Order could appear in their recognizable movie form. However, she's since returned in a new body made of psionic energy, and continues to be a major threat in the Marvel Universe.

7 Thanos' Black Order Are More Tragic Than You Think

They're Villains, But They're Also Traumatized Siblings

The Black Order are often presented as Thanos' kill squad of deadly lieutenants, but the name 'Children of Thanos' is entirely literal. Each of the Black Order were adopted and raised by Thanos, some of them aboard his ship Zero Sanctuary. The ship was built like a haunted funhouse, with corridors that led to dead ends, and frequent layout changes so that no-one ever felt at home. Thanos would also occasionally quench his thirst for death by hunting and murdering his own underlings, as shown in 2019's Thanos series from Tini Howard and Ariel Olivetti, creating an atmosphere where no-one was safe.

The Children of Thanos were raised in direct competition, leading to some messed-up relationships. In the MCU, Gamora and Nebula have a dark sibling dynamic thanks to Thanos' psychological and physical torture, and the other of the Black Order have similar issues. Perhaps most heartbreakingly, the towering Black Dwarf (renamed Cul Obsidian in the MCU - originally another name for the group as a whole) is secretly in love with teammate Proxima Midnight, despite her marriage to his brother Corvus Glaive (as shown in Black Order, from Derek Lady and Philip Tan.) The musclebound villain explains his situation in surprisingly tender tones, stating that:

I am glad they found each other. I would rather feel the emptiness inside me than see a hint of it in either of them.

Most of Thanos' children also spend their time plotting against him, with both Corvus Glaive and the Ebony Maw attempting to usurp his position at different times. The Black Order aren't just Thanos' enforcers - they're his brainwashed, traumatized kids, trying to maintain some semblance of family under the darkest conditions possible.

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6 The MCU Nerfed One of Thanos' Children

Ebony Maw's Telekinesis Is Pathetic Compared to His Comic Powers

It might surprise MCU fans to hear that Ebony Maw had designs on Thanos' throne - after all, in the movies he's depicted as possessing powerful telekinesis, but nothing that would pose the Mad Titan much of a threat. However, in the comics Ebony Maw is probably the most powerful of the Black Order. While Maw has telekinetic powers in the comics - as well as a little magical talent - his major ability is his supernatural persuasiveness.

Once Ebony Maw begins talking, his subject is quickly bent to his will, no matter how strong their mind. Indeed, in New Avengers #9 (from Jonathan Hickman and Mike Deodato), Ebony Maw easily hypnotizes Doctor Strange, forcing him to cast spells against the Illuminati. Once Ebony Maw has hypnotized someone, he remains in their head in perpetuity unless forced out, able to influence their behavior and appear to them whenever he chooses. Even when Ebony Maw betrayed the Black Order and was captured by Corvus Glaive, he was still able to talk his way free in a matter of hours.

5 The Black Order Has An Extra Member Who Wasn't Raised by Thanos

Black Swan Is an Enigmatic Villain with Major Ties to Doctor Doom

While the majority of the Black Order were raised by Thanos, the Mad Titan surprisingly allowed a late-ing member in Yabbat Ummon Tarru, aka the Black Swan. Possessing superstrength, flight, force fields and energy manipulation powers, Black Swan is part of a multiversal religion that worships Doctor Doom in his guise as the godly Rabum Alal. Known as the Black Swans, this religious group were dedicated to escaping the collapse of the multiverse via a series of 'Incursions,' where alternate realities crashed together.

Black Swan ed the Black Order when Thanos began destroying alternate realities to safeguard his own, and has stayed with the Black Order ever since, seemingly finding family among the broken killers. While the MCU didn't feature Black Swan, that's likely because she appears later in Marvel canon than the stories the movies adaptated, and it doesn't mean she'll never appear. With Doctor Doom being set up as the major villain of Marvel's Multiverse Saga, don't be surprised to see Black Swan come to the big screen soon.

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4 Thanos' Son Gallowglass Only Exists in the Ultimate Universe

But the Villain Is His Coolest Child, With a Truly Explosive Power

While Thanos has the Black Order in Marvel's mainstream continuity, they're actually not his first cadre of killer children. In 2006's Ultimate Fantastic Four #34 (from Mike Carey and Pasqual Ferry), fans met Gallowglass and Ronan the Acc - the sons of Thanos in Marvel's Ultimate Universe continuity. Ronan is a pretty direct adaptation of the character of the same name from Marvel's mainstream continuity, possessing incredible strength and wielding the 'Ultimate Weapon' energy staff.

However, Gallowglass is more unique, while having similarities to the mainstream villain Blastaar. Gallowglass is presented as the leader of Thanos' forces, and has an unstable body which causes huge explosions when not protected by his personal energy shield. Gallowglass ruthlessly weaponized this power when invading Earth, slaughtering human troops as if they weren't even there. While some of the Ultimate Universe's ideas belong in the past, Gallowglass' awesome design, intimidating power and incredible presence mark him as a character who deserves to jump over to Marvel's mainstream.

3 Thanos' Son Thane Became the Most Powerful Being in the Universe

But He Still Couldn't Beat the Mad Titan in a Way That Mattered

One of Thanos' biological children conceived with an Inhuman, Thane is a powerful superhuman who has a different power in each hand. Thane's left hand kills whatever he touches, while his right hand can project a block of amber-like material that vastly slows time within it, imprisoning his target without actually killing them. While Thanos searched for Thane to kill him on principle, Ebony Maw saw Thanos' son as a way to gain power, becoming the confused young superhuman's corrupt 'advisor.'

Ebony steered Thane into greater and greater power, eventually putting him in the position to become the latest host of the Phoenix Force - the ultimate force of creation in Marvel's multiverse. Sadly, even this power wasn't enough for Thane to truly defeat Thanos, who managed to trap his son in the God Quarry - a cosmic prison that promises infinite power while actually trapping all those who seek that prize within its walls forever.

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2 Thanos' Forgotten Daughter Is a Mystery That Really Needs Closure

Atrea Is a Shocking Powerhouse with Control Over Death

Back in Ultimate Universe continuity, Thanos has his only known biological daughter, Atrea. Atrea is a true mystery, with her full parentage, backstory and purpose potentially never to be revealed. She is the owner of her own pocket reality, in which she appears to have total control over life and death. Superstrong and totally immortal, Atrea overpowered the Fantastic Four's Thing like it was nothing, and was able to snatch people into her pocket dimension from the Ultimate Universe's main reality.

Atrea considered herself an enemy of Thanos due to his cruel treatment of her, but she wasn't much better, believing herself to own everyone and everything she 'saved' from her father's grasp. Atrea has no equivalent in Marvel's mainstream timeline, and the end of the original Ultimate Universe line stopped fans finding out any more about this intriguing figure. However, with rumors of the Ultimate Universe's return in an crossover, it's possible Atrea could finally make her comeback.

1 Thanos and Death Have a Truly Messed-Up Kid

Rot Is More Cosmic Horror Than a Real 'Child'

One child of Thanos who has never met any of the others is Rot - a terrifying undead energy-being that almost swallowed the entire universe in Avengers: Celestial Quest, from Steve Englehart & Jorge Santamaria. Upon Thanos' demise, his energies combined with his beloved Death, creating an unnatural being which is neither alive or dead, but which negates all forms of energy. The Rot destroys literally anything it touches and was so powerful and otherworldly that even Universal Abstracts like Death and Eternity couldn't stop it.

Thankfully, Rot was stopped when Thanos and Death once again merged, allowing them to harness the energy their 'child' was made of. The Rot takes the appearance of an encroaching, ink-like blackness. While not an individual and neither living nor dead, the Rot did appear to have some form of sentience, even if this only manifested as a hatred of all other things in existence. Easily Thanos' most powerful child, Rot shows just how dangerous the connection between Thanos and Death is to the rest of the universe.

Thanos' children are some of the most powerful individuals in Marvel lore, and yet few of their backstories have been fully uncovered - hopefully, fans will learn more about the Mad Titan's biological and adopted kids in future comics, as there's still a huge amount of untapped potential in all these characters.