Thanos Threatens the Marvel Universe With a New, Non-Infinity Gauntlet Weapon

The Mad Titan Thanos is at the center of another Marvel mystery. The publisher released three new teaser images for Timeless, a special one-shot that will have a major impact on the Marvel Universe in 2022. Kang the Conqueror is currently billed as the top figure in Timeless, though Thanos and Doctor Doom loom large in the teaser images. Most eyes will focus on Thanos since his teaser features the Mad Titan wielding a weapon that is most likely not the Infinity Gauntlet at some point in the Marvel Universe’s future.

“What weapon will Thanos wield to threaten the future of the Marvel Universe?” a tweet from the official Marvel Entertainment Twitter account reads. An image in the tweet includes Thanos, Kang, and the Ravencroft Institute, which serves as a prison for the criminally insane. Instead of the Infinity Stones resting on Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet, the stones are buried in Thor’s enchanted hammer Mjolnir, which Thanos is somehow worthy to lift to his side.

This isn’t the first time reader have seen Thanos with the Mjolnir/Infinity Stones combination. Donny Cates and Nic Klein’s Thor saw the Thunder God have a horrifying vision of Thanos with Mjolnir, the Infinity Stones and an army of Marvel Zombies at his command. This comes on the heels of Thor finding it more difficult to lift Mjolnir, though some of that is due to the stress of his new duties as King of Asgard. But if the Timeless teaser is alluding to Thanos taking possession of a different weapon, it will mean big trouble for the Marvel Universe moving forward.

The appearance of the Ravencroft Institute is interesting as well. The facility has grown in stature over the last several years, with Marvel releasing a number of one-shots and a miniseries featuring the institute. Wilson Fisk, the former Kingpin and current Mayor of New York, is in charge of Ravencroft and has put many of his followers in high-ranking positions inside its walls. Marvel obviously has plans for Ravencroft, which is why it has found itself in various storylines.

A teaser that preceded the Thanos image displays artist Kael Ngu’s Timeless cover of Kang inside a watch face, with the time showing as 6:12. Finally, the Doctor Doom Timeless teaser has the ruler of Latveria resting, with one eye glowing green and the other glowing red. Also, the watch face appears to be cracked, teasing a fracture of the Marvel timeline.

Timeless comes from the creative team of writer Jed MacKay and artists Kev Walker, Mark Bagley and Greg Land. The one-shot is scheduled to go on sale in December 2021.