Audiences knew they were in for a dark movie when they saw Thanos murder fan-favorite villain/anti-hero Loki in the first few minutes of Avengers: Infinity War shortly after the trickster gave the Mad Titan the Tesseract cube (secretly the hiding place of the Space Stone). The Stone gave Thanos the power to travel anywhere in the universe instantaneously, which proved useful in his quest for the other Infinity Stones.

In the comics, however, Thanos acquired the Space Stone (called the “Soul Gem” or “Infinity Gem”) through different means. Moreover, Loki wasn’t the keeper of the Space Stone in this version – rather it was Marvel’s version of DC’s famous speedster The Flash!

Related: Thanos Won The Time Stone In A Disgusting Way (In Comics)

Thanos acquired the Space Gem in the second issue of his miniseries The Thanos Quest, which saw him travel the universe to acquire all six Infinity Gems and form his Infinity Gauntlet. In the first issue of the miniseries, Thanos acquired the Soul Gem (from the cosmic being the In-Betweener), the Power Gem (from the infinitely powerful fighter The Champion), and the Time Gem (from the Elder of the Universe, the Gardener).

Notably, Thanos did not acquire these gems through brute force or intimidation, but guile and subterfuge. He continued using such strategies to gain the remaining Infinity Gems – but also began using the power he had already accumulated to his advantage. This proved particularly useful when he tracked down the Keeper of the fourth Infinity Gem, another Elder of the Universe called The Runner.

Like all Elders of the Universe, the Runner devoted his entire existence in pursuit of a single obsession – in his case, speed. Much like DC’s Flash, the Runner was fixated on becoming faster than he already was, although unlike Barry Allen, the Runner saw speed as an end to itself, not a pursuit of justice. And now that he was the owner of the Space Gem, the Runner felt he had finally attained his greatest desire as the gem made him so fast that he sometimes reached his destination before he had barely begun.

The Runner’s speed was so great that he apparently overpowered Thanos before the Mad Titan even had the chance to lay his hand on the Infinity Gem. Thanos even apparently conceded defeat and told the Runner the origin of the Infinity Gems – how they were birthed from the first and only living being in reality. Unable to find a purpose for its existence, the being committed suicide, and its limitless power was reincarnated as the Infinity Gems. Thanos admitted that he sought the gems so that he could become the equal of Mistress Death and sit at her side.

As the Runner gloated over his victory, however, Thanos revealed he had just been telling his story to keep the Runner in one place long enough for him to use one of his own gems – the Time Gem – to age the Runner a million years. As even Elders of the Universe age (albeit very slowly), this turned the Runner into an ancient being too frail to move or hear. In this state, Thanos easily took the Space Gem from the Runner, noting that the Gem didn’t actually make the Runner faster but allowed him to warp space around him to give him the illusion of greater speed.

Thanos’ final act against the Runner was even more humiliating – using the Time Gem once again, he regressed the Runner to a near-fetal state. Promising the Runner that he still had a use for him, he took the now-infant Elder of the Universe with him to the next stop on his quest. His strategy was not unlike the way his MCU counterpart reversed time around the Vision to resurrect and steal the Mind Stone and showed once again that Thanos is often at his most dangerous when he appears defenseless. Even against a being who’s much quicker than the Flash.

Next: Supergirl Has The Same Power As Flash (But Never Uses It)