While Marvel Studios is busy putting a bow on Phase Three, what with Ant-Man and the Wasp now less than a month from release and Brie Larson gearing up for her MCU debut in Captain Marvel, we’re inching closer to, what’s arguably, the pièce de résistance, Avengers 4.
Granted, we’ve still got a long road to traverse before Cap, Iron Man and the leftovers get a chance to wipe the smile from the face of villainy – Thanos – but, day by day, vengeance is slowly being pieced together, in one way or another. Take last night, for example.
The Collector himself, Benicio del Toro, appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to promote his latest badass role in Sicario: Day of the Soldado. Naturally, seeing as the protocol does mandate that when interviewing any member of the MCU, one must poke and prod until, at the very least, a morsel of secretive information is divulged, Colbert complied.
So, during the sit-down, while del Toro decided to test the notion that a majority of communication is nonverbal, Colbert asked the Academy Award winner: “Do you appear in Avengers 4? Just blink.” Of course, del Toro blinked. “A-ha! That’s verified,” Colbert responded.
If you recall, in Infinity War, Thanos seemingly disposed of the Collector on the planet Knowhere, but this isn’t the first time del Toro has teased his character’s resurrection. The Puerto Rican-born actor recently told Cinema Blend: “I think he’s alive, yeah. I think that you know, I think he’s alive. You’re talking to him!”
While there’s every chance that he could be playing coy here, something tells us he’s not. I mean, the Collector’s a crafty guy and you’d have to imagine he’d have a plan in place for when Thanos inevitably came knocking on his door. Then again, even if he survived his initial encounter with the Mad Titan, he very well could have been wiped out by the aforementioned Snap of Doom. Really, it’s hard to say, but we wouldn’t be surprised if Taneleer Tivan popped up for a surprise appearance in Avengers 4.