When it comes to on-screen villains, few antagonists hold a candle to Darth Vader.
Voiced by James Earl Jones, the rasping, all-powerful Sith Lord has been a fixture of the Star Wars universe for generations, and even returned to the silver screen quite recently thanks to the launch of Gareth Edwards’ anthology pic, Rogue One. Often imitated but never quite equaled, Vader set the bar high for his fellow screen villains. And that’s a legacy Joe Russo hopes to channel into Thanos in time for Avengers: Infinity War.
Chatting to ComicBook.com, the film’s co-director expressed his desire for Josh Brolin’s Mad Titan to become the Darth Vader for a new generation, as he shares many of the sociopathic traits that defined Vader’s reign of galactic terror.
The stakes are incredibly high. I wanted to turn Thanos into Darth Vader for a new generation. He’s an incredibly intense character. Sociopathic. He takes no prisoners. I think the audience needs to be prepared when they go see these movies.
Story-wise, Joe Russo went on to compare the third Avengers film, one which seemingly builds on the cataclysmic events of Thor: Ragnarok, to a ’90s heist movie for its relentless pace. With so much content to get through, not to mention the sheer volume of characters set to appear, Infinity War was always going to motor along at a brisk clip, but here, one half of the film’s directing duo touched on the “real urgency” coursing through its veins.
Structurally, with this first film, Avengers 3, we’ve been using smash and grab ‘90s heist films. There’s a real urgency to the film and it adds a level of excitement and relentlessness to the movie. It’s a lot of divergent narratives coming together into a climax.
Packed to the rafters with scene-stealing chemistry and “intense surprises,” Avengers: Infinity War will launch into theaters on May 4th, 2018. If you’re curious to take a peek at the movie in action – albeit through a bootleg recording of the SDCC teaser – look no further than this post.