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Thanos, who made his debut on Iron Man #55 (Feb. 1973), has only one goal, and that goal is to conquer the galaxy. Building a base on Earth, he has an army of alien mercenaries with a quest to find the Cosmic Cube, which has the power to grant any wish.
Thanos also has a thing for "bad girls" since he fell in love with the "mistress" Death. And to prove his love, instead of roses or writing her a poem, he was going to destroy all the life in the universe. How romantic.
At one point, Thanos finds the Cosmic Cube and wishes to be in control of everything. Obviously, Captain Marvel takes some issue with this and destroys the Cube, thus taking away his newfound power. Then, since he isn't powerful anymore, Death dumps him.
Born on Titan, a moon of Saturn, Thanos comes from the race of the Eternals. But he had a Deviant gene in him somewhere and started to resemble them more. Like many odd-looking youngsters, Thanos distances himself from his society and becomes a recluse. He's so much of an outsider, that he starts his own nuclear attack and kills millions of his race. Oh and he once kidnapped his mother and dissected her. He also even trained his daughter to become an assassin.
He has the power of telekinesis and matter manipulation, has superhuman intellect, can master any technology, time travel and even teleport. He also looks like a gorilla.