Of all the terrible things Thanos had to do to acquire the Infinity Stones in Avengers: Infinity War, gaining the Soul Stone was easily the worst. Informed by the Red Skull that he had to give up the thing he loved the most to receive the Soul Stone, Thanos dragged his beloved step-daughter Gamora to the edge of a cliff and threw her to her death. The experience gave him the power he sought, but caused even someone like him to regret his actions. Later, Black Widow sacrificed her own life to acquire the Soul Stone and erase Thanos’ actions, providing the saga’s most traumatic scene.
So, it may be surprising to learn that, in the original comic book storyline that Avengers: Infinity War was based on, Thanos didn’t have to make any huge sacrifices to acquire the Soul Stone. In fact, the Soul Stone turned out to not only be the first stone Thanos acquired, but also his easiest conquest!
Thanos gained this prize in the first issue of the two-issue miniseries The Thanos Quest, which followed his mission to acquire all six Infinity Stones (called “Soul Gems” or “Infinity Gems” in the comic) and create his Infinity Gauntlet. In the comic, Thanos does not have any minions to order around like in the movie, and is, in fact, a minion himself. Having been resurrected by Mistress Death, the Marvel Universe’s embodiment of death itself, Thanos has pledged to kill half the universe for Death in order to correct a “cosmic imbalance.” The task is not simply a service for Thanos, however, as the Mad Titan is in love with Death and desires to become her equal.
To that end, Thanos seeks out the “Soul Gems” to give himself the power to slaughter half the universe and earn his beloved’s love. After learning about the gems’ whereabouts by gazing at Death’s “Infinity Well,” Thanos decides to seek the Soul Gem (aka Soul Stone) first. His journey takes him to “The Nexus of Reality,” a maddening realm that requires Thanos to pass through multiple dimensions just to reach it. In many ways, Thanos’ journey mirrors Doctor Strange’s mad trek through alternate realities in the Doctor Strange MCU movie when the Ancient One sends Stephen Strange careening through abstract dimensions.
Where Stephen found the experience maddening, Thanos remains stoic and resolute, even as different dimensions cause his body to freeze, shatter, melt, and otherwise deform. Eventually, he arrives at the Nexus of Reality where the Soul Gem’s keeper – a powerful cosmic being known as the “In-Betweener” – is trapped in a sphere by his masters Lord Chaos and Master Order for his disobedience. Thanos tells the In-Betweener that he wants to leave Death’s service and gain the In-Betweener’s protection. Informing the being that they can shatter his prison if they blast it from the inside and outside simultaneously, Thanos goads the In-Betweener into destroying the sphere. Once his target is freed, however, Thanos’ nature changes completely. He snatches the Soul Gem from the In-Betweener’s head, incurring the being’s wrath. When the In-Betweener tries to attack Thanos, however, he finds his powers don’t work in the Nexus of Reality.
Informing the In-Betweener that Lord Chaos and Master Order gave him the spherical prison to protect his powers out of mercy, Thanos then casually leaves the realm even as Lord Chaos and Master Order appear – ready to give the In-Betweener a sound punishment for his latest defiance. It’s a radically different story than the one presented in Avengers: Infinity War, but one that shows how much more conniving the comic book version of Thanos is.
MCU’s Thanos sees himself as an overlord who can outsource his tasks to his children and minions – sacrificing them whenever he sees fit – but the comic book Thanos is more than willing to go into dangerous territory unaided to get what he wants.