There are few villains in the Marvel Universe that conjure as much dread as Thanos, the Mad Titan. Whereas foes like Doctor Doom or Magneto may threaten the safety of Earth, entire galaxies can be on the line when confronting Thanos. And thanks to Josh Brolin's excellent performance in Avengers: Infinity War, even mainstream audiences have become familiar with Thanos' awe-inspiring might and terrifying ambitions. His cunning and strength, his goal to achieve omnipotence, and his ongoin൲g dalliance with the cessation of half of all life in the universe make him a force to be reckoned with. On paper, anyway.
For all his intimidation and power, Thanos gets his butt kicked. Like, a lot. While some of these defeats are understandable, like the entire Avengers team taking him down, there have been some cases where the Mad Titan has been defeated by a single person. And not even an extremely skilled or powerful single person either. The purple menace from beyond the stars has been knocked down a peg by perfectly ordinary people. Maybe it💧's just b𓂃ecause Thanos is a villain so he has to lose in the end. Maybe it's just part of his own nature to be self-defeating.
But whatever the reason, Thanos has suffered some pretty humiliating defeats in his time. So if you still need to get over the ending of Infinity War, here's a soothing balm of karmic justice. Let's take a look at 25 Characters that Defeated Thanos (and it's too embarrassing for w🍰ords).
25 🧔🌄 Squirrel Girl
Squirrel Girl started out as a joke character, but it's hard to tell who the joke is on. Doreen Green is a muta꧑nt with the ability to command squirrels, but her real power seems to be defeating characters way outside her weight clas🔴s.
She's scored victories over Doctor Doom, Wolverine, and even befriended Galactus.
So it's no surprise that✃ eventually she went toe-to-toe with Thanos. The funniest part about this battle is that it happened off-panel, so we readers only ever s🧸aw the aftermath. Uatu the Watcher was even on hand to make it clear this was the real Thanos.
24 Thor
Of all the Avengers, Thor is probably the one with the best chance of taking on Thanos and winning. That's exactly what happened in Thor Vol.2 #25. Thanos, empowered by a serie💫s of magic items, had already beaten Thor in battle by the time the issue starts.
It looked like all was lost for the God of Thunder.
But it turns out T🉐hor lost on purpose, to give Odin time to create another set of magical power-ups. Now evenly matched with Thanos, Thor proceeded to lay t💟he smackdown with his magic hammer. This Thanos was later said to be a clone, but still. An impressive defeat.
23 Deadpool
A big part of Thanos' motivation in the comics is his crush on Mistress Death. Basically Marvel's version of the Grim R🃏eaper. Much of Thanos' wanton cruelty were attempts at wooing her. Too bad for him, he's not the only one attracted to her. Deadpool is also after the dark lady's heart and the two have come to blows over it. In the issue, they decided to have it out once and for all (with DP getting a cosmic power-up to make♛ it fair.) Ultimately, the Merc won not by winning the fight but by convincing the Mistress to dump Thanos.
22 The ꦡPet Avengers ꧟
Thanos has taken on whole superhero teams, but none have been as embarrassing as his loss to the Pet Avengers. The Pet Avengers, if it wasn't clear, are a group of superpowered animals. And Thanos lost to them. It was during one of the Mad Titan's periodic quests to collect the Infinity Stones, which were in the Pet Avengers' po🌜ssession at the time. Just go with it. So Thanos ended fighting with a few dogs and cats, and a frog with the power of Thor, until the Inhuman mutt Lockjaw used his teleportation powers to send Thanos to another dimension.
21 ꦗ Doctor Doom
For someone supposedly so cunning, you'd think Thanos would pick his battles better. Just look at the Secret Wars event. During that story, the Marvel Multiverse had collapsed into a single planet called Battleworld ruled over by a cosmically-empowered Dr. Doom, now calling himself God-Emperor Doom. Thanos, who's become a god himself several times, showed up to make trouble in Doom's new kingdom. He demanded Doom bow to him. In response, Doom obliterated Thanos, l💮eaving only a charred skeleton behind. You'd think someone obsessed with obtaining omnipotence would know better than to challenge someone called God-Emperor.
20 Groot
All right, this one was a team effort but we're giving it to Groot because he scored the first hit on Thanos and it was darn cool how he did it. In Avengers Assemble #8, the Mad Titan has got himself yet another ultra-powerful cosmic artifa🃏൲ct and is using it to subjugate the Earth.
The Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy team up to defeat him.
Afte🐽r getting a special weapon to de-power Thanos, the full force of both teams go up against him. But like we said, Groot got the fꦛirst hit. He got it by having the Hulk throw him at Thanos and knocking the villain down with punches.
19 Star-Lord
Another team effort, but Star-Lord landed the final blow this time. The Guardians were by themselves, facing a newly resurrected Thanos and not doing too terribly well. The Mad Titan had the team on the ropes when Star-Lord pulled out a Cosmic Cube. There was only enough juice left in the cube for one attack and Star-Lord didn't waste it. He shot a massive energy blast into Thanos' chest, knocking the big purple badd🅷ie out cold. Not a permanent defeat, but a good show by the Guardians. They celebrated by hitting up a bar for drinks.
18 ꦅ A Random Child
The 70s were wild, ya'll. It brought us stories like this one from Spidey Super Stories #39. Thanos is on Earth stealing the Cosmic Cube with Spider-Man and fellow hero Hellcat in hot pursuit. The𝓰 two end up fighting Thanos but neither can match him while he's wielding the cube.
That is until Thanos makes the ground shake and drops it.
S🧸ome random kid named Jim who's been watching all this then comes over and picks up the cube, rendering Thanos powerless and tying the villain up. The Cops (!?) then show up and arrest Thanos. Seriously. This was also the first appe✨arance of the infamous .
17 Gamora
It's safe to say that Gamora has some "issues" when it comes to her adopted father. Thanos did put her through some brutal training as a kid to turn her into a living weapon. It's understandable she'd want some revenge on the guy. Gamora almost got her chance when Thanos challenged her to a sparing match/duel in the Infinity War storyline. Though Thanos was stronger, Gamnora had the advantage in speed and used that to end the fight quickly with a nerve strike to his ಌthroat. Thanos was paralyzed by it, but Gamora didn't🍸 go for the fatal blow. She knew Thanos was bluffing.
16 Ca🧔pta🔴in Marvel
No, not that one. Before 🎶Carol Danvers, the alien soldier Mar-Vell (seriously) bore the mantle of Captain Marvel. Thanos' creator Jim Starlin wrote Mar-Vell's comic book and gave the two characters a deeply antagonistic relationship during his tenure. In one instance, Starlin had a weakened Mar-Vell escape from a stasis field the Mad Titan had trapped him and his allies in and try to fight a Cosmic Cube𒅌-empowered Thanos. He ended up not winning the fight, but it did distract Thanos long enough for Mar-Vell's friends Mantis and Drax the Destroyer to foil Thanos' plans. A technical defeat is still a defeat.