Home Entertainment And the actor playing Thanos in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY is…

And the actor playing Thanos in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY is…

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Thanos-in-The-Avengers

It’s been just a little more than 2 years since comic book geeks around the world promptly lost their minds, while all their non-comic book reading friends were frantically asking who the purple faced man was that had brought about this mass hysteria. That man was of course Thanos, the galactic powerhouse revealed to be behind the alien invasion in The Avengers during that film’s end-credits scene. Since then, we’ve seen some of what may be fragments of Thanos’ plan playing out in other movies, but we have yet to see the Mad Titan himself again.

We knew he was coming though – and probably in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy based on how many of that film’s characters are closely related to him – but we just didn’t know who would be playing him when he finally made his appearance. That question has finally been answered.

So say hello to the face (minus some purple skinned CG help) that will be soon be in the nightmares of all the Marvel heroes.

Brolin_Thanos

Yes, Oscar nominated actor Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men, W, Milk, Men In Black 3) will be playing Thanos in at least one scene in Guardians (and then more than likely turning up as the main threat in the inevitable Avengers 3). The news was first broken by Latino Review on Saturday evening, and then confirmed by Variety shortly thereafter. LR reports that Brolin will just be providing the voice of the powerhouse character, who will more than likely be fully realized via CG similar to the Hulk. It’s uncertain at this point if he will also be doing any motion capture for the character as well (actor/stuntman Damon Poiter had been the model for Thanos and done the mo-cap work for the scene in The Avengers).

Brolin would be the second high-caliber actor that Marvel has secured for a villain, as James Spader is currently busy shooting Joss Whedon’s Avengers follow-up, The Avengers: The Age of Ultron, in which he plays the titular killer robot. It’s still unclear just how much of Spader’s performance will be CG mo-cap, and how much will be physical, as set pics have revealed that there is an Ultron “costume” for him to wear. The same combination of approaches could possibly be used for Thanos, but Brolin’s task will be a bit harder based on the huge physical discrepancy between him and the (pardon the pun) hulking Thanos.

However they go about it, we know that this will probably be the first real appearance of Thanos, and not just a brief teaser, as an article earlier in they year on Gunn’s post-production process accidentally revealed details of a big scene in a which a character that could only be Thanos was present. And I’d bet dollars to donuts that the object that Chris Pratt’s Star Lord is seen stealing in the Guardians of the Galaxy trailers, and which is said to kick-off the movie’s story, will undoubtedly be related to Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet.

When Warner Bros was looking for a new Batman last year, Brolin had apparently been one of eventual pick Ben Affleck’s biggest rivals for the role, and actually my preferred pick. But as much as I would have loved to see what he could do as Batman, I am stupidly excited to see what he can do as undoubtedly the biggest and most powerful character to even step onto screen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As if I needed another reason to be amped for Guardians of the Galaxy…

Last Updated: June 2, 2014

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