Damn if Aaron isn't making Thanos into a sympathetic character.
In the first issue, Aaron downplayed the isolation that Thanos felt as a result of his mutation. I didn't quite catch the import of that decision at first, but, in this issue, it sets the stage for Thanos' murder spree, since it establishes that Titan is the type of place where everyone accepts everyone for who he is. Thus, in this sort of Utopia, someone like Thanos can be accepted for who he appears to be and, conversely, not really be suspected of who he actually is.
But, who is he? Aaron is leaving it to us to guess if Thanos' murder spree is a reflection of nature or nurture. Thanos seems to suspect that it's his nature, given that his obsession with vivisection comes from his desire to discover why he feels the way that he does when he murders someone. Is it an integral part of him or is it something born of his peculiar circumstances? He also hypothesizes that it's the lack of love in his life, a pretty plausible conclusion given that his mother immediately tried to kill him and his "girlfriend" rebuffs him constantly. But, his mother tried to kill him because she sensed evil in him and it's pretty clear that the "girlfriend's" obsession with him comes from a similar sense of something innately part of him. As such, we still lack a clear answer to whether it's nature or nurture.
But, Aaron also shows that it's increasingly mattering less and less. As Thanos comes to enjoy murder, you can see the point is coming when he's going to stop worrying about it. I'm still intrigued by the series of events that'll lead to Thanos becoming the psychopath that he'll eventually become, but we've definitely seen the roots of that psychosis laid here. All in all, this mini-series really does surprise by providing new insights into Thanos while not really undermining his established history. It's an impressive feat, needless to say.
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