The relationship between Gamora and Thanos is a complicated affair. So how did the Mad Tyrant become father to The Deadliest Woman in the Galaxy?
In the Marvel comic book story, Thanos selected Gamora purely as a potential weapon to be trained up to become an assassin of the Magus.
Image from syfy.com
If we are to believe the MCU movie, Thanos felt true love for his adopted daughter, even if he was prepared to sacrifice her to achieve ownership of the Soul Stone in Infinity War.
Whichever source material we look at, ultimately, Gamora turns against Thanos and his plans for galactic genocide.
And in both versions of the story, Thanos takes the life of the last Zen Whoberis.
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What is the Origin Story of Gamora?
Gamora was born into the alien humanoid race called the Zen Whoberis. When her home planet was destroyed, Thanos took the young Gamora into his care.
In her original timeline (7528) Gamora’s race was wiped out by a zealous religious order called the Universal Church of Truth which worshiped the Magus.
Is the Gamora story in the comics similar to the MCU Movie?
The origins of Gamora in the MCU movies follow a similar path to that of the comics.
In both the movies and the comics, Thanos raised Gamora from childhood where she became “the deadliest woman in the galaxy.”
Image from express.co.uk
However the scenes from Infinity War show Thanos leading the invading army that destroyed her people.
Gamora tried to hide with her mother but was found by Thanos’ soldiers who brought them out before Thanos. He noticed Gamora attempt to fight off the guard restraining her which piqued his interest in her.
Thanos used a knife to show the young girl his theory about balance in the universe. As Gamora turned to see her family get massacred, Thanos redirected her attention to the knife.
When Gamora achieved her task of balancing the knife in her hand, Thanos complimented her.
From this introduction, Thanos took pity on the young Zen Whoberis girl and adopted her.
Gamora and Thanos Origins in the Comics
In the original comic book story, it was a fanatical cult called the Church of Universal Truth that wiped out the species of her home planet.
In this version Thanos wished to train Gamora as a weapon against Magus, the founder of the Church.
But a new comic tries to combine the comic book origin story with that in the MCU.
In the recent Thanos comic by Tini Howard both of these alternative pasts collide. Within this new Gamora backstory, the past is narrated by Gamora herself.
Image from inerd4u.com
As in Infinity War, it shows Thanos and his Black Order as destroyers of the Zen-Whoberi people.
But the extermination is in an attempt to prevent the Magus and the Universal Church of Truth from getting to the people first and offering them the chance to convert.
This story shows Thanos’s infatuation with Death and how Thanos sought to gain the affections of Death through Gamora.
The Universal Church of Truth
The Universal Church of Truth sought to create a religious empire that spread across the Galaxy.
It would arrive at a planet and offer peace and harmony through faith. Any culture that accepted the offer would be adopted peacefully into the church.
However any planet that did not accept it’s conversion, would be “purified”. A purification of a planet meant extermination for anyone unwilling to convert.
The Grand Inquisitors of the church exterminated the entire population of Zen Whoberis.
Thus was the fate for resisting to conform to the empire that the church wanted to span the entire galaxy.
Thanos Adopting Gamora
Thanos from Earth-616 decided that he could train Gamora to become a deadly weapon that would help him to defeat the Magus.
He sought a person from a future in an alternative reality that would be ready to defeat the Church of Magus.
Thanos teleported into the planet of the Zen Whoberi and created a force field around young Gamora.
Thanos then brought Gamora from her reality of 7528 back to his own timeline of Earth-616.
Thanos decided to adopt Gamora as a step-daughter and raised her to become a loyal assassin.
Thanos told Gamora that he was now her master and that one day she would be sent to destroy Magus in revenge for her home planets extermination.
Gamora later attempts to defeat Magus. Although her assassination attempt on Magus fails, she is able to and prevent the original fate of her people.
However the Zen Whoberis were still not able to escape extinction.
Within the Earth-616 timeline the Zen Whoberis were wiped out by Badoon.
In a version of the story told by Gamora she tells that when the Badoon wiped out her entire race, Thanos found her as the sole survivor of her species.
Although this is likely to be as a result of the writer forgetting the true origin story.
Gamoras Training
Thanos broght Gamora to his space ship, the Sanctuary where she was to learn many deadly arts and become enhanced as a superhuman.
The life that Thanos subjected his adopted daughter to was full of torturous training and mind games. He pitted her in constant trials of combat against her adopted sister Nebula.
The training that Gamora undertook meant that she would become a skilled master at many martial arts from every corner of the Universe.
Young Gamora
As a young girl, Thanos tried to introduce normality into her life which included birthday celebrations and a type of Yule holiday.
Although he did not admit to it, Thanos began to feel paternal towards young Gamora.
At five years old, Gamora helped to defeat an intruder on the Sanctuary. The intruder had sneaked on board in an attempt to assassinate Thanos using an energy weapon.
However Gamora was able to avert the assassins shot by throwing her doll at his eye. This gave Thanos the opportunity to destroy the perpetrator.
Distressed by witnessing death in such a graphic way, Gamora tried to gain fatherly comfort from Thanos.
Thanos began to realise that he had created a father – daughter relationship with Gamora which was not the purpose of the plan.
Thanos interpreted emotional attachment as a sign of weakness.
Gamora Enhancements
Another significant thing that happened in the early life of Gamora is her near death experience.
Gamora had completed a significant amount of combat training by the age of 15.
During a trip to the planet Tartoonla#7, Gamora went exploring against the instructions of Thanos.
During her excursion, Gamora was attacked by alien thugs. The gang was too numerous for her to defeat and she was badly injured.
In retaliation, Thanos disposed of Gamors attackers and returned the near-dead Gamora to the Sanctuary.
Thanos restored the injured Gamora by enhancing her body with bionic implants. These upgrades gave her improved physical strength and augmented abilities.
As a result, Gamora became as powerful as Adam Warlock. Her improved abilities included resistance to distortion and accelerated healing.
Q: Is Gamora related to Thanos?
A: Gamora is not related to Thanos. But thanos did adopt her as a young girl following the destruction of her home planet.
Q: Why did Thanos choose Gamora?
A: Thanos chose to adopt Gamora because he wanted to train her as a weapon to help him defeat the Magus. Since the Magus was responsible for the death of her home planet she would be inspired to fulfill this objective.
Q: Who is Gamora’s real father?
A: Gamora’s real father was an unnamed Zehoberei who was killed when she was a girl. In the Marvel comics her family was exterminated by the Universal Church of Truth. In the MCU movie her species was destroyed by Thanos.
Q: What is Gamora’s power?
A: Gamora’s powers include accelerated healing with superhuman strength and agility. When she was fatally attacked, Thanos enhanced her body to make her super powerful. She is also trained in deadly combat and martial arts from throughout the galaxy.
