Flashback: When Marvel’s Thanos Appeared In A Show’s Opening Titles

Back in 1987, Marvel was still at the top of the comic book publishing world but their movie success was decades away. We know how their story goes, and how their ultimate acquisition by Disney has created a media juggernaut.

Thirty years ago, though, the company was purchased by a much smaller firm called New World Entertainment which among other things produced TV programs such as Sledge Hammer! In 1987, New World produced a TV series called Once a Hero about an older man named Abner Bevis (imagine Stan Lee) whose comic book creation, Captain Justice, surfaces in the real world.

The show was not very successful; in fact, ABC ended up airing only three episodes, and it’s said that some stations pre-empted the Saturday series premiere with a syndicated series called Star Trek: The Next Generation instead. Seven episodes were produced; we aren’t even sure if the remaining four ever aired anywhere.

Why is this relevant now?

The opening title sequence for Once a Hero featured adapted “comic book covers” of Captain Justice’s exploits, redrawn versions of existing Marvel covers, and one of those Marvel covers was a reworking of a Captain Marvel vs. Thanos cover from the Jim Starlin era of the comics (Captain Marvel #33 from 1974, for those keeping score). With Thanos at the top of the world in this weekend’s Avengers: Infinity War, it might be fun to see, again, where he got his first major broadcast spotlight. Interestingly, it came at a time when both Starlin and Thanos were absent from Marvel Comics; Infinity Gauntlet and Starlin’s Silver Surfer run were still a few years away.

You can see those credits below; sadly, the video quality is not too great.