Thanos won’t be in the spotlight after all…

Earlier this month, we had brought you the news that thanks to Thanos’ successful appearance in The Avengers, Marvel had decided to reintroduce the character after many found a renewed interest in the villain. With graphic novels still massively selling regarding the character, it seems like a great move to have the mini-series Thanos: Son of Titan give a new jumping off point to get casual readers into what they can expect from the mysterious figure near the tail-end of the film. However, it seems that now that’s not going to happen as Marvel has revealed you’ll have to get your Thanos entertainment somewhere else.

Friday, Marvel announced to all comic shop, “*THANOS SON OF TITAN #1 (OF 5) & VAR (AUG120580-1, $2.99, FOC 09/24/12) has been canceled.” Not delayed. Not “to be determined”.  Just flat out cancelled.

So, what the hell happened? That’s the thing about the announcement: no one knows. Marvel confirmed the series’ cancellation Friday morning but has failed to comment any further, leading many to wonder just what is going on behind closed doors. With the upcoming MARVEL NOW initiative starting things off fresh, perhaps there’s simply no room for Thanos among all of the new and revamped titles.

The five part mini-series was said to retell the beginnings of the titular villain in a new light as the arc kicked off with a much younger version of the character before his fascination with death. With writer Joe Keatinge at the helm, everything seemed fine. But apparently in the three weeks since the announcement, Marvel had decided it just wasn’t up to par.

Or who knows: they want to delay the series so it works best as a tie-in to their recently announced Guardians of the Galaxy, which is rumored to include the infamous tyrant who once wielded the Infinity Gauntlet within the comics.

The oddest bit is that Marvel Studios had originally rolled out the red carpet for the series and was pretty hellbent on giving the series a run for its money. Even those who stopped by the Marvel booth at San Diego Comic-Con were extremely excited for the upcoming series.

For now though, check out the awesome cover art that could-have-been above (click to enlarge).