Thanos vs Annihilators

Originally posted by Fifthchild
This response (and Quanchi's etc) sums up why its kinda pointless debating the issue when people keep avoiding the obvious point raised before:

Its pretty hard to reconcile the idea of Thanos being completely mission focussed and not concerned about Gladiator when:

[list]
[*] Thanos stated that he was loving beating Ronan et al up (his words - "orgasmic"😉 and relishing the fight...except seemingly for facing Gladiator
[*] Warlock tried to get Thanos to stop and focus on the mission and Thanos rebuffed him - saying he wanted to deal with The Annhilators first
[*] Thanos was, if taken at face value, disappointed that Ronan was not much of a challenge
[*] He was thrilled when Surfer turned up to prolong the fight
[*] He was angry when Warlock disposed of Surfer before they could duke it out
[*] He stated in very clear terms that they better get out of dodge before "the most dangerous" of them finally got back
[/list]

Your challenge is to reconcile all this with the fact that Thanos wanted nothing to do with Gladiator. Because the idea that "Thanos doesnt fight when he dont wanna" obviously doesnt fit with any of this whatsoever.

Thanos was super-keen to fight Bill (sans Stormbreaker at least), Ronan and the Surfer. In contrast Gladiator was keen to fight Thanos but Thanos chose to "disappoint" him by putting a cosy 22 light years between the two of them.

Until someone can come up with something reasonable and not just repeat the same thing over and over, and given what I've seen I'm not holding my breath, I think I'm done with this thread.

👆 cool story bro. Since my prior argument isn't good enough for you I will take another approach. Lets just forget the entire dialogue where Thanos speaks about Gladiator. If Thanos didn't neutralize Gladiator and kept him there he would have decimated him anyway lol. So at the end of the day none of this matter.... Oh and if you ask why then it is quite simple. Silver Surfer arrived at the scene which replaced Gladiator in that situation and got stomped. Surfer is superior to Gladiator and is arguably Marvels greatest heralds. I am going off of Surfer's history of better feats as well as individuals actually saying that surfer is the most powerful of the annihilators. So surely Gladiator would have performed better than surfer right? Well surfer didn't perform at all because he got bodied. Sad this had to be said because people want to create a deep reasoning for the whole teleportation debacle when it is actually insignificant lol. And you should be done with this thread because there is no need to present any further reasoning due to the fact (again) that Thanos would stomp anyway. Good day.

Originally posted by dial J for Josh
👆 cool story bro. Since my prior argument isn't good enough for you I will take another approach. Lets just forget the entire dialogue where Thanos speaks about Gladiator. If Thanos didn't neutralize Gladiator and kept him there he would have decimated him anyway lol. So at the end of the day none of this matter.... Oh and if you ask why then it is quite simple. Silver Surfer arrived at the scene which replaced Gladiator in that situation and got stomped. Surfer is superior to Gladiator and is arguably Marvels greatest heralds. I am going off of Surfer's history of better feats as well as individuals actually saying that surfer is the most powerful of the annihilators. So surely Gladiator would have performed better than surfer right? Well surfer didn't perform at all because he got bodied. Sad this had to be said because people want to create a deep reasoning for the whole teleportation debacle when it is actually insignificant lol. And you should be done with this thread because there is no need to present any further reasoning due to the fact (again) that Thanos would stomp anyway. Good day.

SMH. Is that why Thanos said Gladiator was the most dangerous?

Originally posted by Branlor Swift
"The denial here is strong."

This was posted by Carver. Ask him what he thinks about Black Bolt vs Thanos everybody.

That Black Bolt was weakened. That's what I think.

Originally posted by carver9
That Black Bolt was weakened. That's what I think.

The basis is that you were going to prove that the scene from NA 12 happened prior to the end of Infinity 3 in case you forgot. Or some other made up shit you said. It wasn't clear what scans you were going to use or prove wrong.

Originally posted by carver9
SMH. Is that why Thanos said Gladiator was the most dangerous?

If Surfer was there he would have said Surfer is the most dangerous lol and he got stomped. So again. What is your point.

Originally posted by dial J for Josh
👆 cool story bro. Since my prior argument isn't good enough for you I will take another approach. Lets just forget the entire dialogue where Thanos speaks about Gladiator. If Thanos didn't neutralize Gladiator and kept him there he would have decimated him anyway lol. So at the end of the day none of this matter.... Oh and if you ask why then it is quite simple. Silver Surfer arrived at the scene which replaced Gladiator in that situation and got stomped. Surfer is superior to Gladiator and is arguably Marvels greatest heralds. I am going off of Surfer's history of better feats as well as individuals actually saying that surfer is the most powerful of the annihilators. So surely Gladiator would have performed better than surfer right? Well surfer didn't perform at all because he got bodied. Sad this had to be said because people want to create a deep reasoning for the whole teleportation debacle when it is actually insignificant lol. And you should be done with this thread because there is no need to present any further reasoning due to the fact (again) that Thanos would stomp anyway. Good day.

...this is your argument?

"Lets ignore what was actually shown in the comic. Thanos would smash Gladiator....um...the end"

As to your Surfer/Gladiaor justification - Thanos was chomping at the bit to fight Surfer. And yet mysteriously he seemed rather keen on the idea of keeping several light years between himself and Gladiator - we are discussing this particular scene remember? I was hoping you could offer a semi-plausible explanation but instead: "But uh - if we ignore this issue...Surfers got the best featz!"

I mean my exoectations were pretty low but that was something else. Well done.

Look, let's be fair here, the Gladiator dialogue happened but it's not relevant to the plot in anyways, it's just a nod.

It's a nod of Gladiator being a Superman clone and Thanos aknowledging how powerful Superman is, making reference to how he poses the greatest threats to cosmic enemies such as Darkseid. Starlin knows that for his ultimate villain, Thanos, the ultimate foil would be Superman, because he's the ultimate hero. The passing mention of how Gladiator is a great threat is a nod to that.

Originally posted by dial J for Josh
If Surfer was there he would have said Surfer is the most dangerous lol and he got stomped. So again. What is your point.

He brought up Surfer though and knew he was there all along and this was before the battle.

Originally posted by Fifthchild
...this is your argument?

"Lets ignore what was actually shown in the comic. Thanos would smash Gladiator....um...the end"

As to your Surfer/Gladiaor justification - Thanos was chomping at the bit to fight Surfer. And yet mysteriously he seemed rather keen on the idea of keeping several light years between himself and Gladiator - we are discussing this particular scene remember? I was hoping you could offer a semi-plausible explanation but instead: "But uh - if we ignore this issue...Surfers got the best featz!"

I mean my exoectations were pretty low but that was something else. Well done.

👆 Cool story bro. Thanos would still murder Surfer and Gladiator at the same time still so nothing matters. No explanation required.

So basically the conclusion is that Thanos is terrified of Gladiator.

Now what? That doesn't suddenly add or take away actual feats. Thanos could be the most scared thing to ever exist and that still doesn't mean that Gladiator could beat him, or even last.

Funny how comparisons between Gladiator and Thanos are irrelevant outside the recent scan though. The end result is irrelevant, only the statement leading there. Statements on there own carry some weight. But a statement where an amped Warlock and Thanos are scared of Gladiator? Lol proof.

Although Carver's meltdown is pretty great.

Still waiting on anything to prove on how Gladiator beats Thanos.

h1, carver and fifthchild seems to dodging it.

It's amazing how a spite thread can last for 16 pages.

Even after we have on panel proof that Thanos can easily beat this team.

Originally posted by Estacado
It's amazing how a spite thread can last for 16 pages.

You shouldn't admit you made a spite thread mmm

Originally posted by Bentley
You shouldn't admit you made a spite thread mmm

Originally posted by Bentley
Look, let's be fair here, the Gladiator dialogue happened but it's not relevant to the plot in anyways, it's just a nod.

It's a nod of Gladiator being a Superman clone and Thanos aknowledging how powerful Superman is, making reference to how he poses the greatest threats to cosmic enemies such as Darkseid. Starlin knows that for his ultimate villain, Thanos, the ultimate foil would be Superman, because he's the ultimate hero. The passing mention of how Gladiator is a great threat is a nod to that.

Originally posted by Branlor Swift
So basically the conclusion is that Thanos is terrified of Gladiator.

Now what? That doesn't suddenly add or take away actual feats. Thanos could be the most scared thing to ever exist and that still doesn't mean that Gladiator could beat him, or even last.

Funny how comparisons between Gladiator and Thanos are irrelevant outside the recent scan though. The end result is irrelevant, only the statement leading there. Statements on there own carry some weight. But a statement where an amped Warlock and Thanos are scared of Gladiator? Lol proof.

Although Carver's meltdown is pretty great.

I'm not even that interested in Gladiator vs Thanos - based on the bulk of continuity Thanos would be the favourite IMO - I just object to the mental gymnastics some people are putting themselves through in trying to explain away this particular scene. It is what it is.

Originally posted by Bentley
Look, let's be fair here, the Gladiator dialogue happened but it's not relevant to the plot in anyways, it's just a nod.

It's a nod of Gladiator being a Superman clone and Thanos aknowledging how powerful Superman is, making reference to how he poses the greatest threats to cosmic enemies such as Darkseid. Starlin knows that for his ultimate villain, Thanos, the ultimate foil would be Superman, because he's the ultimate hero. The passing mention of how Gladiator is a great threat is a nod to that.

It wasnt just dialogue though and its not just a verbal nod. Thanos' actions, especially when contrasted with how he acts in the rest of the scene, tell the picture. And his dialogue makes the reasons pretty hard to deny.

A verbal nod is something like: "That...may be the toughest opponent I've ever faced" or "Your power may be great but blah blah blah..."

Originally posted by Fifthchild
It wasnt just dialogue though and its not just a verbal nod. Thanos' actions, especially when contrasted with how he acts in the rest of the scene, tell the picture. And his dialogue makes the reasons pretty hard to deny.

A verbal nod is something like: "That...may be the toughest opponent I've ever faced" or "Your power may be great but blah blah blah..."

Again, the battle of Sungod vs Hulk and the whole issue is seen as a nod to the crossovers of the nineties. But in that case the story was structured around a nod, then we can give it value and sense.

My reasoning is simple, instead of interpreting characterization or plot elements I reduce it to the following core values: It is a nod? Yes. Does it advance or serve the plot? No. It's just a nod then.

I put this in the Thanos respect thread but I'll add it here for a bit of discussion.

"Given what he says he knew Adam Warlock had been changed ("You're not my Adam Warlock", and later about him being much more powerful and a threat) and given how quickly Adam was to try and fight him moments later he probably didn't trust Warlock at his side when Gladiator returned. The Adam Warlock in the fight agaisnt BRB, Ronan, Quasar and Surfer is not the same as in the panel where he mentions Gladiator returning and Thanos knows it."

You have to read the book to know that but the second Adam Warlock acts differently to the first and they almost fight on Thanos' ship which Adam is the one to instigate. Thanos may have trusted "his" Adam Warlock to fight alongside him for the rest of the Annihilators but he clearly doesn't trust this new one, he's obviously going to play a big role in the next two books by Starlin.

Originally posted by Bentley
Look, let's be fair here, the Gladiator dialogue happened but it's not relevant to the plot in anyways, it's just a nod.

It's a nod of Gladiator being a Superman clone and Thanos aknowledging how powerful Superman is, making reference to how he poses the greatest threats to cosmic enemies such as Darkseid. Starlin knows that for his ultimate villain, Thanos, the ultimate foil would be Superman, because he's the ultimate hero. The passing mention of how Gladiator is a great threat is a nod to that.

No, he didn't say he was a great threat, he say he was an annoyance. Stop stretching the truth. He was he was the GREATEST THREAT OF "THIS" LOT. It was a nod, though.