DC Has Just Settled Thanos Vs. Darkseid – Who Won?
Spoilers Warning: The following contains spoilers for Justice League Incarnate #1
We all know that the Marvel and DC universes have a wide history of referencing each other in their storylines, ranging from subversions of some of the biggest characters of rival companies to deliberate counterparts. And now, one of the two has lain down the gauntlet and cleared the fact that their ultimate bad guy could wipe out the competition, quite easily.
Justice League Incarnate #1 Has Given Us The Answer
In Justice League Incarnate #1 by Dennis Culver, Joshua Williamson, and Hi-Fi and Tom Napolitano, Darkseid goes against DC’s equivalent of Thanos – and their fight settles who is the most powerful.
Right now, in the DC Universe, Earth-8 is the home to most Retaliators. This Universe has been designed in reference to Marvel Comics, with characters like Machinehead and American Crusader being counterparts of Iron Man and Captain America. This also means that they have their own version of Thanos – Tartarus, who is one of the most feared forces on Earth-8.
Tartarus attacks the Retaliators that results in a lot of deaths as he seeks to claim all the power to himself. But soon, he’s confronted Justice Incarnate and well, Darkseid who arrives to claim the energy for himself.
Despite belonging to different universes, Thanos and Darkseid have often been linked together. Thanos was created by Jim Starlin, in contrast to Darkseid in the DC Comics and Metron from Jack Kirby’s New Gods. Both are really powerful in their respective universes, with both having immense power, plans for the future, and dangerous intent and have confronted each other in the past too.
Darkseid Will Always Have An Upper Hand
This issue of DC Comics goes on to cement this bond between the two, revealing that Darkseid had already found a rival in Tartarus and has devised a peace treaty with him.
However, since Darkseid absorbs all other variants and becomes more powerful, he vanquishes the former bargain. The two exchange blows, with Tartarus even reciting some known Thanos lines from the MCU. Despite applying all that Tartarus had, even using the Eight Rings of the Ancient Spectrum, there is nothing he can do against a fully powered Darkseid. Although Tartarus manages to land a few nice blows, it isn’t long before Tartarus is killed by Darkseid. After killing him, he even calls him, ‘a pale imitator of his might.’
It’s a solid show by Darkseid, the result of which was inevitable. While Thanos is really powerful in the Marvel Universe, he has never reached the level of power and omnipotence Darkseid has. Even a Twisted Titan like Thanos cannot stand someone like Darkseid, ultimately making him way more powerful and in his current form, he can wipe out the Quintessence in a single act.
