Cosmic hero Adam Warlock has reappeared in an unstable state of mind, following a two year absence. His former enemy Thanos fears that he's made a huge mistake. And a mysterious alien seems to be watching both of them.
Aided by Gamora, Pip, Moondragon, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, and Doctor Strange, they now need to defeat their strange foes and save the universe.
Infinity Abyss contains the following tropes:
- Actually a Doombot: Some of Thanos's recent appearances prior to the series are revealed to be clones, not Thanos himself. In particular, the Thanos defeated by Badass Normal Ka-Zar is revealed to be a weaker clone. Thanos's dismissive comments about their flawed copies of his personality also put this into Armed with Canon territory.
- Armed with Canon: Starlin, who created Thanos, is quick to confirm that his defeats in recent stories (none written by Starlin himself) were because each 'Thanos' was Actually a Doombot, as those stories ignored the Character Development Thanos went through after The Infinity Gauntlet.
- Avengers Assemble: Thanos and Adam Warlock gather a team of heroes to help them defeat the Thanosi.
- Barrier Maiden: Atlez, also known as the Anchor of Reality, is the one who keeps the universe stable and prevents it from being destroyed. The little human girl Atleza takes his job at the end of the story.
- Bedlam House: Pip the Troll finds Warlock imprisoned in a oppressive insane asylum on planet Degaitor.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: The X Thanosi looks really puny in contrast with the musclebound Warrior Thanosi.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: X puts Moondragon under mind control and turns her against the other heroes.
- The Brute: The Warrior, a Thanosi with the powers of Gladiator of the Shi'ar Empire is the most powerful and imposing of the Thanosi next to Omega, and also the most violent and dimwitted.
- Clone Degeneration: Thanos deemed the Thanosi clones a failure due to an intellectual deficiency that drives them to cause unnecessary destruction and be obsessed with death and nihilism like Thanos used to be.
- Creating Life Is Bad: Thanos's modified clones, the Thanosi, are the main villains of the story. Their deceased predecessors, who fought Thor, Ka-Zar and the Avengers prior to the series (an Actually a Doombot reveal) weren't much better.
- Creator Cameo: When Pip first finds Adam Warlock, Adam's doctor is a Dr. Nilrats. He's drawn to resemble Jim Starlin as well.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: When Armour finds himself facing the original Thanos, he's immediately killed with a single blast from Thanos's Eye Beams. The implication is that he's left as Half the Man He Used to Be, but a Gory Discretion Shot leaves the detail unseen.
- The Dragon: X seems to be Omega's right-hand man as he commands the other Thanosi during Omega's absence.
- Evil Sorcerer: Mystic, the Thanosi with the powers of Doctor Strange and ends up being defeated by the actual Strange.
- The Faceless: We never see the unmasked face of Armour, the Thanos clone inspired by Iron Man.
- Final Boss: The Omega shows up in the last issue after the other Thanosi have already been defeated.
- First-Episode Twist: Thanos enters into an uneasy alliance with Pip and Moondragon so that they can retrieve and reawaken Adam Warlock. The end of the issue reveals that it's not Thanos, though. The telepathic Thanosi named X has been impersonating him.
- For Science!: Thanos created Omega simply because he liked the intellectual challenge to see if is it possible to obtain Galactus' DNA and use it to make a hybrid.
- Go Out with a Smile: X dies like this as Moondragon's illusion made him believe he was embracing nihilistic oblivion.
- Living Macguffin: Atleza Langunn, a little human girl who is chosen to become the new Anchor of Reality and the plot revolves around the Thanosi targeting her and the heroes protecting her.
- My Brain Is Big: The X Thanosi's head is huge compared to his short, chubby body.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Thanos describes the Thanosi as a unique blend of android, clone and mystical doppelganger.
- No One Could Survive That!: Thanos manages to get out alive of the artificial black hole created by the Thanosi with only a few scratches.
- Older and Wiser: Thanos reassures Gamora that he has become an older and wiser titan, no longer tricked by empty, unspoken promises, after she calls him out on finding the call of oblivion tempting.
- Omnicidal Maniac: The Thanosi plan to find and kill Atlez, the anchor of reality, and his successor Atleza to cause the end of the universe.
- One-Letter Name: X, the telepathic clone of Thanos. It’s also a Meaningful Name, as X's enhanced telepathy comes from Thanos mixing his own genes with Professor Xavier.
- Opening a Can of Clones: The Thanosi clones were introduced to explain away those Ka-Zar, Thor and Avengers: Celestial Quest stories that ignored Thanos' Character Development from Straw Nihilist villain to Anti-Hero and Aloof Ally of Adam Warlock. Gamora even reacts to Armour's speech to the nihilist cult by saying that he can't be the real Thanos as he moved away from that.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Gamora finds herself in the middle of a crowd of Children of the Void cultists listening to Armour preaching about the greatness of oblivion and how meaningless life is. Gamora quickly realizes Armour can't be the real Thanos, as Thanos was no longer a delusional nihilist after the Infinity Gauntlet business.
- Parental Substitute: At the end of the story, Adam and Gamora become Atleza's caretakers and move to a pocket dimension together.
- Red Shirt Army: Averted for once. Earth heroes like Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and Genis-Vell are actually helpful with saving the universe in a Jim Starlin story, rather than being expendable pawns to show how dangerous the Thanosi are.
- Retcon: Jim Starlin made this story primarily to retcon the Ka-Zar, Thor and Avengers: Celestial Quest stories that regressed Thanos into a moustache twirling Evil Overlord after Starlin put the character through a Redemption Arc after the ending of Infinity Gauntlet. Revealing that the Thanos of those stories was actually a bunch of clones that went rogue.
- Sdrawkcab Name: When Pip finds Adam Warlock at the Corporation for Mental Stability on Degaitor, he's being tended by a Dr. Nilrats.
- The Speechless: Omega, the leader of the Thanosi, cannot speak. He still manages to communicate with his brethren, and he has nothing to say to his enemies.
- Straw Nihilist: The Thanosi are murderous nihilists who wish to destroy the entire universe. The Children of the Void are an equally unhinged nihilist Death Seeker cult who serve Armour, believing that he's the real Thanos.
- Unrealistic Black Hole: The Thanosi's artificial black hole consumes everything within two light years within 30 seconds, leaving no trace behind when it vanishes again. Even if it's artificial, that suggests the things sucked into it were going much faster than the speed of light.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: Adam Warlock defeats the Warrior Thanosi by stealing his soul with the Soul Gem. However, the Warrior's soul almost drove Adam to insanity.
