Josh Brolin’s Thanos, a character whose power and strength almost defies belief, has been described as many things by many people.
While some consider him to be death incarnate, there are those like Anthony Mackie who have deemed Thanos to be the “one true lead” of Avengers: Infinity War. And for good reason, given Marvel’s imminent blockbuster is said to be structured around his search for the Infinity Stones – six cosmic gems of untold power who grant their wielder the ability to control time and space with the snap of their fingers.
From what we understand, he’s the crux – the anchor point – around which the film unfolds, and it’s up to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to confront Thanos and his sinister Black Order across three distinct fronts: Wakanda, New York, and outer space, where the Guardians are busy guiding Thor on the hunt for a new weapon.
That’s something which Joe and Anthony Russo touched upon in a recent interview with The Telegraph India, explaining that the Mad Titan believes he’s doing the right thing.
“Every villain is a hero in his own story and believes that what they’re doing is right,” said Joe. “They’re just in conflict with the rest of the world. Thanos happens to believe that what he is doing is right, and he behaves nobly towards that goal. But he will not stop until he achieves the goal because he believes that there is weakness that stands between him and the completion of the goal.”
Continuing on, they noted that the story in Infinity War is actually told from Thanos’ point of view, which offers some unique insight into the Avengers.
“We thought it was fascinating to tell a story from the point of view of a villain,” Joe said. “So when you watch the film, you’ll see that the film is told from Thanos’ perspective. That offers a unique insight into our heroes, but it also offers a unique insight into villains and how they think.”
“It was a very organic choice in this film because we’re dealing with several different groups of characters, some of which have no knowledge of the existence of the other,” Anthony said. “Thanos is the one thing that unifies them all in this movie. So, orientating our story and telling it from his point of view had a lot of practicality to it as well.”
From everything we’ve heard so far, it’s clear that the chief antagonist of Avengers: Infinity War and the current MCU is unlike anything we’ve ever seen, which only has us counting down the days until April 27th. After all, the hype surrounding Thanos at the moment is considerable, given his numerous cameos and post-credits appearances over the years.
Will he be able to deliver on his promise of being the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s deadliest threat yet? Well, given the often underwhelming nature of the franchise’s villains, we’d say most definitely. But we’re also fairly confident that the Mad Titan will go down as a great antagonist in his own right, perhaps even earning his place alongside some of cinema’s best, like Darth Vader.