Black Bolt vs. Thanos: Who Would Win & Why?
Black Bolt, the King of Inhumans, is widely considered among comics fans to be one of the most powerful beings residing permanently on Earth. His powers are incredible, especially those related to his hypersonic scream, making MCU fans wonder if the Infinity Saga would play out differently if he were around. So, if Black Bolt and Thanos ever fought, who would win, and why?
Although Black Bolt is incredibly powerful, he’s no match for Thanos. The Mad Titan would win that fight virtually every time, even if Black Bolt’s screams hurt him. Thanos is stronger, much more durable, and has a variety of powers that Black Bolt cannot match.
Still, we’ve seen the Inhuman King decimate planets with his screams, so he’d certainly be a great addition to the Avengers against Thanos. However, if he screamed at the Mad Titan, he’d kill his peers before Thanos would feel any damage. Let’s dissect both characters and their powers to see who’d come out on top and why.
Black Bolt And His Powers
Blackagar Boltagon, aka Black Bolt, is the King of the Inhuman race, residing in a secret city called Attilan. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #45 in 1965 as the son of the two Attilan leading geneticists.
He was subjected to a mutagen called the Terrigen Mist before he was even born, causing him to be much more powerful than regular Inhumans. His energy-manipulation abilities, combined with the Inhuman physiology, make him a deadly foe for anybody who stands in Black Bolt’s way. Here’s what he can do.
Inhuman Physiology
Black Bolt is the King of the Inhumans and one of the most powerful members of the race ever. Like other Inhumans, he has superhuman physical and mental abilities – only his are even more powerful than those of a common Inhuman.
Boltagon has superhuman strength, powerful enough to stand his ground against the Hulk or Gladiator. He’s also capable of harnessing energy in such ways that grant Black bolt speed that’s high enough to make his movement invisible to the human eye, as seen in Inhumans Vol. 2 #5.
He also has superhuman stamina and durability, allowing Black Bolt to withstand strikes from insanely powerful opponents such as Namor, Hulk, Gladiator, Thor, and even Thanos himself.
Master Blow
Black Bolt’s Master Blow is connected to another one of his powers, and that’s particle and electron manipulation, absorption, and projection. Blackagar wears a suit with a fork-looking antenna on his head that allows Black Bolt to harness and channel electrons and energy to amplify certain powers to an insane degree, be it his strength, speed, or something else.
He does that with a unique, organic mechanism in his brain that produces unknown particles, allowing Black Bolt to mentally manipulate particles and electrons at will. He usually uses that power to channel energy into one arm, giving himself outstanding amounts of strength for one deadly punch, known as the Master Blow.
It’s powerful enough to decimate even the toughest opponents. The bad part is that using such great amounts of energy depletes Black Bolt, so he refrains from using those all-out blows in fights. Nobody wants to burn out after one punch, right? He ain’t no Kimbo Slice.
Hypersonic Scream
The Hypersonic Scream is Black Bolt’s most famous and most notable power. Blackagar rarely talks, not because he has nothing to say, but because even a whisper can cause huge amounts of damage. At his strongest, Black Bolt’s screams were powerful enough to literally destroy planets.
A sigh from Black Bolt can kill a human, and his normal speech is enough to take the meat off your bones. However, again, the more power Blackagar puts behind his screams, the more it depletes him, making him weaker for a certain period of time.
Thanos And His Powers
Thanks to the MCU, we all know Thanos all too well. But what if I told you that the MCU showed us nothing compared to what the Mad Titan is in the comics, regardless of the Infinity Gauntlet. He first appeared in Iron Man #55 in 1972 and has been a Marvel supervillain powerhouse ever since.
He’s one of the most powerful beings in the universe, even without the Gauntlet. Here’s what makes him such a menace.
Titanian Eternal Physiology
Thanos is an Eternal from the Planet of Titan. However, he also has the Deviant Syndrome, making him much more durable, but causing his stumpy physique and purple skin. He was born with the ability to synthesize and use cosmic energy to his will. And, from birth, Thanos was dominant, even by Eternal standards.
He has incredible superhuman strength, speed, stamina, reflexes, agility, and durability. To add to his natural abilities, Thanos spent his life doing everything possible to become more powerful, including bionic enhancements, mystical practices, and more.
Now, his strength is up to par with the Hulk at full strength, and he literally never gets tired. As for Thanos’ durability, I’ll just say that he’s almost invulnerable for now, but there’s much more to it. Apart from physical attributes, Thanos is incredibly intelligent and has profound knowledge not only in science but also in magic and combat tactics.
Energy Blasts
We haven’t seen this power in the MCU, but as I’ve mentioned, Thanos has the ability to synthesize and project cosmic energy at will. He can produce energy blasts powerful enough to knock Galactus down on his behind. It’s an underestimated side of the Mad Titan’s powers – that should never be underestimated.
Mental Powers
I’ve already mentioned that Thanos is incredibly intelligent and a masterful tactician, along with his overall scientific and mystical knowledge. What I didn’t mention is that he also possesses psionic abilities, including telepathy and telekinesis.
To what level he can do it himself is uncertain, but it is certain that his defense from mental attacks is on an unprecedented level. Only the most powerful telepaths in the universe could break into Thanos’ mind, and it still wouldn’t be easy.
Nigh-Invulnerability/Immortality
Thanos’ physiology and all the enhancements he had made make him practically invulnerable. However, he did die once, and Death herself resurrected him. In fact, she banished Thanos from her realm, meaning he can never really die. I mean, he can, but he’d always come back, meaning that the Mad Titan is truly immortal in every sense of that word.
Also, the resurrection pushed his invulnerability to a whole new level – to a point where physical damage seemingly can’t hurt him at all. The guy took a massive beating from an enraged Thor, who wielded the Power Gem, and all he got was a bit of a bloody nose.
Black Bolt Vs. Thanos: Who Wins?
In the end, I think it’s pretty obvious that as much as I love Black Bolt and as powerful as the King of Inhumans is, Thanos is simply on another level. He’s stronger, exponentially more durable, immortal, has psionic abilities, never gets tired, and on top of that, is a genius, even for Eternal standards.
Even if you put all that aside and say – well, hey, Black Bolt’s screams destroy planets – Thanos already went through planet-shattering explosions with no damage whatsoever. Even if you don’t believe what I’m saying, all you need to do to compare these guys is to look at their fight in Infinity #4.
Long story short, Thanos took three of Black Bolt’s screams from point-blank range, pushed through them, grabbed the Inhuman by the head, and smacked him to the ground like a ragdoll, knocking him out cold.
Admittedly, Black Bolt wasn’t really at his best-of-the-best version or power level, and he probably held back just a bit on those screams, not to cause utter destruction of Earth.
But, still, Thanos took three powerful Black Bolt screams at arm’s length, and all it did was blast off his armor and maybe give him a bit of a nosebleed – although I’m not sure if that’s even blood in the last frame of Thanos’ face.
Overall, no matter how you turn it – Black Bolt is extremely powerful, but Thanos would crush him like a bug 9.9/10 times. The 0.1 chance I’m leaving to Black Bolt is if he’s connected to that Reed Richards machine that focuses his screams in a single direction, and it’s somehow blasted directly into Thanos’ ear. Not sure how they’d even do that, but I can see that being hurtful to the Mad Titan.
