Best 1991 Adventures (6)

By: Joshua Glenn
May 26, 2020

One in a series of 10 posts identifying Josh Glenn’s favorite 1991 adventure novels.

Jim Starlin, George Pérez, and Ron Lim’s superhero space opera The Infinity Gauntlet.

Thanos, an Eternal who carries the Deviants gene, is a super-powered nihilist in love with the physical embodiment of death; this much has been established before the beginning of this epic limited series. In order to impress Mistress Death, Thanos has collected the Infinity Gems (Soul, Mind, Power, Time, Reality, Space) and mounted them on a gauntlet; he now possesses godlike powers, which he uses to snuff out a quarter of all living things in the universe. This includes many Marvel superheroes. Earth, meanwhile, is derailed from its orbit, which leads to a new ice age. Epic! Adam Warlock, a cosmic superhero who’s tangled with Thanos before, recruits Earth’s remaining heroes and villains — the Silver Surfer and Doctor Strange being the most important of these — to steal the Infinity Gauntlet. Thanos kills many of our favorite heroes like a man swatting mosquitoes, which is weirdly thrilling. Also, he’s a sympathetic figure, because he truly believes that the universe only has so much life and energy to go around. Is he right?

Fun facts: Published July–December 1991, in six installments. The storyline crossed over into other Marvel titles. (Starlin developed the character Thanos in 1973.) The Infinity Gauntlet story is retold in the movies Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Casting Josh Brolin as Thanos was a terrific decision.

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Best 1991 Adventures (6)

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