Darkseid would win in a fight against Thanos if he is in his true form (even if Thanos has the Infinity Gauntlet). If Thanos would fight one of Darkseid’s avatars, he would win with the help of the Infinity Gauntlet but would lose without it.
Speaking of Darkseid vs Thanos, there’s still a lot to be said. Throughout the rest of this article, we will look at their powers in more detail and see how the fight between Darkseid and Thanos would play out.
Thanos vs Darkseid: Who Is Stronger?
Thanos’ Strengths and Weaknesses
As far as Thanos is concerned, he is extremely powerful. He is an Eternal and has proven himself more powerful than most characters in the Marvel Universe, even without external enhancements such as the Infinity Stones.
He is immortal, has superhuman strength, speed and durability, he is practically invulnerable, can teleport and regenerate, he can manipulate matter, use telepathic abilities, manipulate energy, and even fly; he also has superhuman intelligence. In that aspect, Thanos is a truly formidable foe, but he is not the strongest one around.
Finally, the thing that makes Thanos so powerful is the Deviants gene he has, but also his years of training and preparation. Thanos is a very determined and focused character. He has a goal and a mission, and his determination is such that he will not hesitate to do anything he deems necessary to fulfill his goals, no matter what the costs.
Darkseid’s Strengths and Weaknesses
Darkseid, on the other hand, is not just a god-like being, he is a god. One of the New Gods, to be precise. Although being humanoid, New Gods (something like the Eternals in Marvel’s universe, but a tad more powerful) are exceptionally powerful, with Darkseid being the most powerful among the group.
He has superhuman strength and stamina, and his regeneration skills, combined with his nigh invulnerability make him practically immortal; Darkseid has died on several occasions, but it was never permanent. He also gained the power of the Omega Force, which made him a lot stronger than before.
Thanks to the force, he can fire Omega Beams, beams of energy that can destroy matter in a second (although some cosmic entities like Doomsday or Superman are immune to it).
He also has cosmic awareness, he can travel through dimensions and space (he can create Boomtubes at will, without the need for a Mother Box), he can alter his size, and has psionic abilities (telekinesis, telepathy).
Thanks to the Omega Force, he can also resurrect the dead. If needed, he can also feed on the energy of Apokolips and other planets, much similar to Galactus.
Darkseid vs Thanos: Who Would Win?
When comparing these Thanos and Darkseid, there are three different situations to consider. Two where Thanos fights one of Darkseid’s many avatars, with or without the Infinity Gauntlet, and one where Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet fights Darkseid’s still unseen true form. We are going to analyze each of these situations separately.
Thanos (with the Infinity Gauntlet) vs. Darkseid
Everyone knows by now that Thanos’ power levels become nigh-infinite when he has the Infinity Gauntlet with all six Stones with him. The Infinity Gauntlet is Thanos’ most powerful weapon and the powers it grants him are just amazing.
He literally has reality-bending powers, which makes him practically invincible, although some earlier comics books have shown that he can be defeated.
As far as Darkseid is concerned, the guy is pretty confident in his own powers and doesn’t really value weapons that much. Certainly, he has very powerful equipment, arguably even more powerful than Thanos (sans the Gauntlet), but he relies on his own, inherent powers, his strength, and his mind.
His most powerful “weapon” is the Anti-Life Equation – which he almost never manages to obtain, though – but the Anti-Life Equation just “annuls” life, it doesn’t have such powers as the Gauntlet. The equation allows Darkseid to control everyone with more ease, but that’s pretty much it.
So, if Thanos, equipped with the Infinity Gauntlet, would face off against Darkseid – even if we gave him the Equation in this scenario – the ruler of Apokolips wouldn’t really stand much chance.
Namely, Darkseid, as is usually portrayed in the comics, is very much a reality-based deity, not a supernatural being, which means that the Gauntlet’s powers would work on him, thus allowing Thanos the victory in this scenario.
Darkseid’s Anti-Life Equation wouldn’t really be of much use here, both because Thanos could counter its effects with the Infinity Stones, and because Thanos seems to be immortal in the sense that (Lady) Death doesn’t really want him, despite his emotions towards her. This is why Thanos wins this scenario.
Thanos (Without the Infinity Gauntlet) vs Darkseid
Non-enhanced, this is a fight that really tells us about the two villains and this is the scenario that you could use as a reference point, because it portrays who the two actually are, without additions and without any weapons.
In this scenario, neither of them have any weapons, meaning that Thanos doesn’t have his Gauntlet and that Darkseid doesn’t have the Anti-Life Equation.
Now, in this scenario, we have to dissect their powers a bit more. What we know instantly is that they’re both equally durable in a fight, that they’re both capable of making this fight last very long. In terms of pure physical power, we’d have to say that Darkseid seems to be the stronger one.
He has consistently fought much stronger opponents than Thanos and the only ones who managed to do some serious harm are Superman and the Anti-Monitor, the former one of the strongest beings in the universe and the latter an entity that is as powerful as Darkseid himself.
He did get beaten up (in his early days) by Doomsday, but that guy is so resilient that he would beat up Thanos as well.
In terms of special abilities and energy manipulation, Thanos has limited access to these powers without enhancements, while Darkseid is naturally able to use his deadly Omega Beams.
And while they’re not 100% lethal for more powerful opponents, they still do a lot of damage. Thanos probably wouldn’t die from the Beam (at least not immediately), but Darkseid would be able to deal a lot of damage with them.
They are also pretty equal when it comes to speed, but unlike Thanos, Darkseid can change his appearance – including his size – which gives him yet another advantage in this scenario.
This means that, when we add all of this up, that Darkseid would be able to defeat Thanos in a direct fight, without any enhancements on either side. The student hasn’t bested the master in this case, and we have Darkseid taking this one, making the comparison a tie for now.
Thanos (with the Infinity Gauntlet) vs Darkseid’s True Form
And now for the ultimate clash, a clash that is going to determine which of these two powerful villains is the stronger one. We’re not pitting the characters’ two most powerful forms against each other as we’re comparing the powerful Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet against Darkseid’s true form.
We won’t be repeating what we said about Thanos’ Gauntlet form, but we can focus a bit on Darkseid’s true form.
Namely, as it turned out, Darkseid is an eternal, omnipresent threat that manifests itself through an infinite number of avatars on each Earth of the Multiverse (or, as it is called now, the Omniverse). Each of these avatars is, as we know, powerful, but they’re still just a figment of Darkseid’s true powers.
His true form has been foreshadowed in some earlier stories (you can read our article for more details), but it wasn’t until the Infinite Frontier imprint was announced that Darkseid’s true form appeared. The true Darkseid was actually imprisoned on Earth Omega, a hidden part of the Omniverse, from where he controlled his avatars.
At one point, though, Darkseid manages to escape his prison and united with his avatars, thus finally embodying his true form.
What can Darkseid do in this true form? We have no clue (yet!), but we know that he is the most dangerous being ever to appear in the rich DC Comics history. Even while he was imprisoned, his true form was described as a power able to destroy the whole Multiverse, a truly menacing threat on a god-like level.
Now that he has finally appeared, we have yet to see how much damage he can do, but there is absolutely no doubt that the whole Omniverse is facing destruction.
So, what can Thanos do against this form? Not much, really. The Infinity Stones are powerful and they can manipulate time, space, reality, and whatnot, but Darkseid’s true form exists outside all of these elements. He is omnipresent as he seems to be a part of existence itself and cannot thus be controlled or defeated easily.
We’ll have to see what the writers at DC think of, but as far as we know now – there is absolutely nothing Thanos could do with the Infinity Gauntlet that could harm Darkseid’s true form, as it seems that that form could destroy the whole Omniverse, something even Thanos is not capable of doing. This is why we have Darkseid winning this one.
Darkseid vs Thanos: The Bottom Line
Without three scenarios done, we can now declare the winner.
In a direct, non-enhanced clash between Thanos and Darkseid, we have Darkseid winning it. He is more powerful and has a much richer array of powers without any enhancements.
With the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos would be able to defeat Darkseid with relative ease, as the god of Apokolips isn’t really capable of resisting the Infinity Stones.
But, even the Gauntlet would be of no use to Thanos in a face-off against Darkseid’s true form, a world-shattering power that would be able to defeat Thanos.
To sum it up, we have Darkseid taking two of the three scenarios and can thus declare that Darkseid is the ultimate winner of this clash of titans.
Thanos vs Darkseid: Who Is Smarter?
Now, as a dessert of sorts, we are going to tell you which of the two villains is smarter. This is also a difficult one to analyze, as both are extremely intelligent and are great tacticians, as was consistently proven in different comic book narratives.
Still, what differentiates the two is that Darkseid is more focused and has more experience, which ultimately makes him “smarter” if that is your preferred choice of word.
Darkseid is very single-minded. He knows what he wants and he will stop at nothing to get it. He has absolutely no empathy and most emotions are quite foreign to him. There is absolutely nothing and no one that he answers to and his only goal is to become the ultimate ruler of everything.
He also has a lot of experience, as he has been pillaging planets for millennia, all in search for the Anti-Life Equation, the ultimate weapon which would grant him what he wants.
Thanos, on the other hand, as focused and experienced as he is, has one weakness – his love for Lady Death. Whatever he does, Thanos does to impress his love and that is also his weakness, as he loses focus from the more important goals. Darkseid doesn’t have any such weakness and that is why we think that he is smarter than Thanos.
Darkseid vs Thanos: Fans Deciding the Winner
In 2019, Twitter made a poll asking fans to vote who would win in a fight between Darkseid and Thanos. More than 33,000 fans gave the vote. The result was nearly 66% of votes in the Darkseid’s favor.
Darkseid or Thanos: Who Came First?
Though Thanos was the first to appear on the screen (in the MCU), Darkseid appeared first in the comics (Forever People #1 in February 1971). Thanos wouldn’t make it to the pages of Marvel comics until 2 years later in Iron Man #55 in February 1973.
