Could the Avengers travel in time to kill baby Thanos? Comic book heroes have tried.

Universe of superheroes like that of Avengers: End of the game have always followed a generous interpretation of the laws of science – and this can lead our heroes to thorny ethical dilemmas. Do clones have rights? Can ghosts testify in their own murder trials? Can we go back in time and kill a murderer in his cradle?

Avengers: End of the gameI only played one of those questions, but it's a question that Marvel Comics has answered recently, definitely and weirdly. To really dig, we will have to enter the field of spoiler.

[[[[Ed. Note: This piece contains spoilers for Avengers: End of the game.]

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During Avengers: End of the gameWar Machine raises a pertinent question: since they plan to go back in time and recover the Infinity Stones before Thanos destroyed them, why do not the heroes just go back in time and kill Thanos as a child?

The answer is first that the Avengers do not kill babies. Second, time travel does not work that way. Changing the past does not affect the present, because by the time you return to the past, the present IS your past and the PAST is your PRESENT and … well, read our article about it.

But if Marvel Cinematic Universe did not have the courage to kill baby Thanos in its cradle, this is the world of Marvel Comics, in the pages of last year. Cosmic Ghost Rider. It should not be surprising to say that it does not work – not just because the person who returns to the past was not as responsible as the Avengers.

Meet Frank Castle, the cosmic ghost rider

Yes, the Punisher is the one who hides behind the inflamed skull. This version of the character comes from a scenario in which Thanos managed to assassinate most of the universe, making Frank one of the only survivors of the Earth's superhero. From the devil, the devil Mephisto offered Frank the powers of the Spirit of Vengeance, so that he could take revenge on Thanos.

Frank used the powers of Ghost Rider to follow Thanos in space, where he met Galactus, who was also very angry at Thanos for killing all the planetary life the devourer of the worlds needed to maintain himself. They decided to team up and Galactus made Frank his herald, giving him the Power Cosmic – an unlimited source of cosmic god energy – in addition to his Ghost Rider abilities. After thousands of years of struggle, Thanos defeated Galactus AND Frank, and honestly, after all these adventures with Cosmic Power and the Spirit of Vengeance in him, Frank was a little behind his rocker.

Cosmic Ghost Rider tells Odin to expel Frank from Valhalla for being too annoying. But, recognizing his heroism in life, Odin grants him a boon: he will free Frank anywhere in the time and space he wants. So, naturally, Frank asked to go to the planet Titan the day of the birth of Thanos to kill him in his cradle. But things do not go as planned.

Frank Castle could be crazy, he could be the Spirit of revenge, and he could have cosmic power – but he can not bring himself to kill an innocent person. And although Galactus and the Watcher told him that it was a bad idea, he decided to try to raise Thanos so that he would not be an evil murderer conqueror.

As soon as Frank makes his decision, he is immediately attacked by several future versions of the Guardians of the Galaxy, each directed by Cable, increasingly old and traveling back in time, all trying to do the same thing: kill Thanos in one baby. Why?

Of course, it's because Frank turned out not to be the best model. He fails and Thanos grows up with Punisher's ethic. This new goal of Thanos – which he explains after he returns in time to find Frank and his baby Thanos and send him to his future – is not in balance or adoring death. It's a punishment. Punishment for anyone who does not obey him.

Then of course, Frank must break the ass of his big purple son, kill him, then bring the baby Thanos back to his cradle. And it is there that he learns that he has always played in the projects of Mistress Death for Thanos.

Donny Cates, Dylan Burnett / Marvel Comics

And that's why you can not go back in time to kill the baby Thanos in his cradle. You will end up raising baby Thanos in a different version of the dictator of the homicidal space: you will have to tear off his skull and become a pawn of another cosmic force.

But you do not have to take my word for it. You can read Cosmic Ghost Rider: the baby Thanos must die.