Thanos vs Ultron: does the Mad Titan beat Final Form Ultron?

Thanos and Ultron are two of the Avengers' greatest enemies. When I put them head to head, my verdict is that Thanos wins. That holds even against the composite Final Form Ultron I used here.

Thanos might be stronger, but on durability these two are essentially dead even, so I don't think strength and durability get us anywhere. In the end, though, the Mad Titan's energy manipulation and his sheer level of power put him above the robot.

Thanos, the Mad Titan, and his cosmic power set

Thanos is an Eternal with the Deviant gene. That makes him unique and extremely powerful, even among his own kind. Above all else, he loves and worships Mistress Death, the entity that embodies death in the Marvel universe. Few can equal his intelligence, his strength or his ambition for power. He has wielded the Cosmic Cube and the Infinity Gauntlet. You could even argue he is on the same tier as Sky Father beings like Odin.

Thanos amplified his physical strength, so he is far stronger than any other Eternal. He is possibly one of the strongest beings in the universe. He has overpowered Beta Ray Bill and beaten the Silver Surfer to within an inch of his life. He defeated Thor even while Thor held the Power Gem, and he sent an attacking Hulk flying with a single punch.

His durability may be even more impressive, especially against energy attacks. He is seemingly unaffected by Thor's massive lightning strikes and the Silver Surfer's full power blasts. He has also stood up against blasts from Odin and Galactus. He can tap into, transform and direct vast quantities of cosmic energy, firing blasts from his eyes and hands. Those blasts have sent a fully fed Galactus flying halfway across a planet, instantly knocked out the Thing, and considerably hurt both Thor and Hulk.

His energy manipulation does more than blast. He lobotomized and mind controlled the Fallen One, and he gave Moondragon a fatal disease just by touching her. His force fields have easily withstood punches from an enraged Hulk and from the Champion holding the Power Gem. They can also trap objects traveling at high speeds, like Mjolnir or Beta Ray Bill's hammer Stormbreaker. He is a powerful telepath who can project mental blasts, travel to the astral plane and mind control the Hulk. Like all Eternals, he can teleport naturally, though he usually prefers technology. He has spent his entire life acquiring knowledge, which makes him one of the most knowledgeable beings in the universe. He is "a threat that no one should want to go up against."

Ultron's adamantium body, arsenal and technomorphing

In the other corner is Ultron, created by Hank Pym to be a technological landmark. Ultron soon intellectually surpassed his father. He fought the Avengers after organizing the Masters of Evil, and he has clashed with them numerous times since. He is driven by his hatred of all organic life and his desire to see it totally destroyed. He started in a basic robotic body built by Pym, but over time he transferred his consciousness into newer, upgraded forms.

His superhuman strength lets him battle Avengers including Iron Man, Vision, Thor and the Scarlet Witch, and lift over a hundred tons. He is faster than the finest human athletes. His greatest physical asset is his durability. His outer shell is adamantium, which makes it almost totally impervious to physical damage. He has taken swings from Mjolnir and punches from the Hulk with relatively little damage. His internal mechanisms are less durable, though, and his joints are titanium to allow flexibility.

His arsenal includes concussion blasters and tractor beams that let him manipulate gravity. He also has radiation emitters and the ability to convert electromagnetic radiation into electrical energy. One ray plunges victims into a deathlike coma and lets him control them or implant hypnotic commands. One of his most prolific abilities is technomorphing. Machinery is putty in his hands, so he can bolster his power, project weapons, strengthen his armor and absorb his surroundings to build larger mechanical constructs.

A transmitter in his head lets him beam some or all of his programming into computers or alternate bodies. He can also control machines remotely, creating a hive mind. He does have a major weakness, though. An internal molecular rearranger makes his adamantium components malleable so he can reconstruct his form. It is virtually impossible to disable from the outside, but if you are able to manipulate it, he is done for.

Why this fight uses Final Form Ultron

I think Thanos should be able to take down a "normal" version of Ultron pretty easily. So I used a composite version of the villain, which brings in Final Form Ultron. This is arguably Ultron at the height of his powers. He lives in the far future and is locked in a constant battle with Kang the Conqueror. Kang assembled an army of heroes and villains from across Marvel's history to take him down. No matter who Kang drafted, he was always destined to lose because of how much power this Ultron had.

This version's body is made of the same material as Captain America's shield. He is smarter than the future version of Tony Stark. He casually stood up to the combined attacks of an army of Marvel's biggest powerhouses, including the Silver Surfer, Doctor Doom, Magneto, Spectrum, Kang the Conqueror, Vision, Hercules and Captain Marvel, and he shrugged them off like they were nothing.

Thanos is stronger than Ultron

Ultron has consistently been portrayed as a team buster, fighting all the Avengers at once. Versions of him have battled the Sentry, Thor and the Hulk. Thanos has to be far stronger, though. He has destroyed planets with the force of his punches, and that alone puts him above Ultron.

He has battled multiple versions of Thor at once and sent Hulk flying miles with a single blow. He nearly beat the Silver Surfer to death with just a few punches. He even punched the In-Betweener, an abstract level being, and made him bleed. Thanos might not have as many strength feats as Superman, Hulk or Thor. He has still shown he is stronger than Ultron.

Durability between Thanos and Ultron is dead even

Durability is where these two are essentially dead even. Thanos is easily one of the most durable villains in Marvel. He has taken energy blasts from the Silver Surfer, attacks from Ronan the Accuser, Thor's strongest lightning and multiple direct shots from Black Bolt without being fazed. He has been sucked into black holes and survived exploding suns. Against Thor, under the Warrior Madness and holding the Power Gem, he took several direct shots to the face from Mjolnir. He was left with only a bloody nose and a smile.

He also stood up to Odin, even when Odin called down Gungnir to put more power behind his attacks. Thanos may not even need his durability, because his force fields have held up to Thor with the Power Gem, the Champion, an enraged Galactus and some of Odin's attacks.

Even normal versions of Ultron have taken a Thor attack that, by Thor's own account, had taken down Hercules. They have taken punches from the Hulk and hits from the Sentry without much injury, and an enraged Hulk's punches only slightly dented him. Here, though, Ultron's shell is made of the same material as Cap's shield, which is famous for its indestructibility. "Just imagine trying to fight against a guy whose whole body is composed of the same stuff as cap's shield." He has backed that up by casually taking attacks from whole armies.

On strength and durability, I don't think we get anywhere. Thanos might be stronger, but he is not strong enough to do anything to Ultron. And while Ultron is weaker, he can keep pushing through anything the Mad Titan can dish out.

Ultron's energy blasts and telepathy fall short against Thanos

Both of them have nearly every power in the book, so the fight has to be decided by more than physicals. Ultron knocked out Vision with one energy blast, injured the Hulk, killed Red Hulk and has liquefied opponents. Iron Man's Bleeding Edge armor has stood up to Final Form Ultron's energy blasts with its shields, though. That armor and its shields are nothing next to the force fields protecting Thanos. I don't see energy blasts doing much to Thanos.

Then there is Ultron's telepathy. His encephalo ray can cause intense traumatic pain. Skilled telepaths like Mantis can block it, but when Ultron noticed her, he quickly shut her down. There is a big difference between Mantis and Thanos, though. Moondragon couldn't even enter Thanos's mind while holding the Mind Stone, and the Mad Titan has battled Galactus. I have a hard time believing Ultron takes him down with telepathy.

Technomorphing is Ultron's best shot at Thanos

Ultron's best shot is technomorphing. He can hack into nearly anything. He fought the Sentry while hacking the world's nuclear arsenals, and he easily hacked Kree technology even though the Kree took extra precautions to make it unhackable. Thanos does use tech, so Ultron should be able to hack it.

The problem is that Thanos uses technology mainly for teleporting or creating force fields. He is naturally a physical powerhouse, and even without his shields he is durable enough to take Ultron's attacks.

Why Thanos beats Final Form Ultron

Thanos can do many things to put Ultron down, but one matters most here: energy manipulation. He has shown he can drain energy from other people's bodies, and that tactic has taken Ultron down before, when Galactus drained all the energy from Ultron's body.

Thanos is also on a higher level than Ultron in general. The Avengers and the Nova Corps both consider him the most powerful adversary in this or any other known universe and the greatest threat to all of existence. Both have battled Ultron too, so we know they rank Thanos above him. The Mad Titan has battled gods and Sky Fathers like Odin, fought abstract beings like Galactus and the In-Betweener, and is allowed to sit at tables with the most powerful beings in the universe. Thanos is on another level above Ultron, even Final Form Ultron. Thanos wins.