Appearing in "Memory Disorders"
Featured Characters:
- Thanos
- Adam Warlock
- Gamora
- Pip the Troll (Pip Gofern)
- Moondragon (Heather Douglas)
- Dr. Strange (Stephen Strange)
- ⏴ Spider-Man (Peter Parker) ⏵
- Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell)
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Thanosi
- Nihilist Sect
Other Characters:
- Atleza Langunn (First appearance)
- Ruby Langunn
- Brian Langunn
- Debby Langunn
- Sub-Mariner (Namor McKenzie) (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Vision (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Iron Man (Tony Stark) (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Hulk (Bruce Banner) (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Captain America (Steve Rogers) (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Thor Odinson (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- The Thing (Ben Grimm) (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd) (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Valkyrie (Brunnhilde) (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Gargoyle (Isaac Christians) (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Clea (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Ancient One (Yao) (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Dormammu (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Nightmare (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Goliath (Clint Barton) (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Hellcat (Patsy Walker) (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Wasp (Janet Van Dyne) (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom) (Referenced)
- Doctor Octopus (Otto Octavius) (Referenced)
- Death (Mentioned)
- Ka-Zar (Kevin Plunder) (Mentioned)
- Low-Level Thanosi (Mentioned)
- Higher-Powered Thanosi (Mentioned)
- Avengers (Mentioned)
- Professor X (Charles Xavier) (Mentioned)
- Gladiator (Kallark) (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
- Humans
- Eternals
- Mutants
- Zen-Whoberis
- Laxidazians
- Titanian-Kree Hybrids
- Abstract Entities
- Cosmic Beings
- Shi'ar (Mentioned)
Locations:
- Earth
- Thanos' Hideaway
- Unnamed planet in Kree Empire (Destroyed)
- Overspace
- anchorpoint of reality
- Hell (Mentioned)
- Death's Domain (Mentioned)
Items:
Vehicles:
- Thanosi spaceship
- Skrull Research Vessel
Synopsis for "Memory Disorders"
Warlock continues to recall the recent events that led to his current crisis:
Spider-Man peeks into the white house his spider-sense led him to but sees only an unassuming family of a husband, wife, and two-year-old twin daughters. The hidden danger quickly presents itself as armed Nihilist crusaders teleport onto the scene outside and Captain Marvel arrives following the trail connecting the nothingness cubes. An ensuing battle comes to a swift end when the Nihilists are consumed by another nothingness cube.
At Thanos' hideout, he shows Gamora a chamber filled with broken tubes containing the corpses of his own lookalikes, some of which bear a hybrid appearance. Thanos explains that he created these Thanosi - a blend of android, clone, and mystical doppelganger - as a means to perform certain social experiments on the powerful beings of the universe. He was dissatisfied with their simple-minded and destructive behavior and was in the process of decommissioning them when an unknown party attacked and damaged the hideout, allowing five Thanosi to escape: four hybrids replicating features of Professor X, Gladiator, Doctor Strange, and Iron Man and the fifth known as Omega that Thanos considers especially dangerous. His investigation of the event showed that the Thanosi were also given a key line of code directing their current quest, "Adam Warlock is the key to oblivion".
The Thanosi dispatch the mind-controlled Moondragon against Doctor Strange. In the mental/mystical battle that ensues, Strange narrowly comes out the winner. Armour himself goes to Thanos' hideout to investigate Gamora's security breach, not realizing the real Thanos survived their earlier trap and is preparing one of his own.
At the ruins of the Infinity Watch's castle, Pip helps Warlock recall a clue to finding Atlez. Warlock directs Pip's teleporting power to the plane where they can meet with Eternity, but are perplexed to find him bilaterally composited with his counterpart, Infinity. Elsewhere, Atlez laments as time and space start to deteriorate.
Notes
- Atlez's identity as the green alien is confirmed in the recap page of this part.
- This story retcons nearly all of Thanos' appearances of the previous five years as being defective clones, as Starlin apparently wasn't satisfied with the consistency of his portrayal. The affected stories include:
- Ka-Zar (Vol. 3) #4 - Ka-Zar (Vol. 3) #11, in which Thanos schemes to harness the energies of the Savage Land's terraformer to empower himself. Attributed to a Low-Level model.
- Thor (Vol. 2) #21 - Thor (Vol. 2) #25, in which Thanos collects an array of mystical artifacts in an attempt to assassinate the universal Designate and is killed by Thor. Attributed to a Higher-Powered model.
- Avengers: Celestial Quest, in which Thanos reluctantly joins forces with the Avengers against the Rot, an all-consuming void that was born from the union of Thanos and Death when Thanos died. This exclusion is particularly audacious since Death herself seemingly identifies the Thanos impostor as the true Thanos in that story.
- The only recent Thanos appearance apparently not retconned out here would be the story from Captain Marvel (Vol. 4) #17 - Captain Marvel (Vol. 4) #19, which Starlin was also involved in.
- Moondragon restrains Doctor Strange with an illusory golem in the shape of the Thing.