Thanos' proper arrival in the MCU has had quite the build-up. Dating back to the Avengers post-credits scene where he first made his debut, prompting casual moviegoers across to globe to go, "Who's that purple guy?", the big bad has been seen pulling the strings throughout the Marvel universe. From his intimate connection to Guardians of the Galaxy's Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Gamora (Zoe Saldana), to orchestrating Loki and Ronan's attacks, the one thing we know for sure about Thanos is this guy is no good. Or is he? (He's not.)

According to Josh Brolin, the actor taking on the role of the so-called Mad Titan in Joe and Anthony Russo's superhero epic Avengers: Infinity War, there's still some love left in the baddie's heart -- especially when it comes to his adoptive daughters/child soldiers.

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Image via Marvel

When the folks over at EW spoke with the actor, they asked if he thought Thanos had the capacity to care for Nebula and Gamora, and the actor made it clear that there's a lot more emotion to the character than you might expect from the parade of smirks and swagger we've seen so far.

"Yeah. I do think he does. When you see the relationship with Gamora and you see that evolves, God I wish I could tell you. I can’t! When [directors Joe and Anthony Russo] came up to me after we had done maybe three quarters of the film, they said, “It wasn’t necessarily intended that you feel for this guy as much as you do.” Obviously he has a grand plan, like somebody who’s pulling in kids for their own selfish bloodshed. But he has a capacity to love very much and very deeply."

We know Thanos doesn't take to kindly to the people who fail him (#Pray4Loki), and Gamora not only failed to deliver, she betrayed him, left him behind, became a fully-fledged hero, and got her sister to join her. So that certainly sets the stage for an interesting dynamic when the oh-so-unhappy family are reunited.

Of course, Thanos' capacity for love shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to comic book fans -- after all, the through-line of his comic arc is a mad, rampaging quest to win Death's heart. However, as we recently learned, his motives in the film are different, more closely in line with a a sort of cosmic eco-terrorist (you know, destroy some overpopulated worlds to save the galaxy, the usual...).

Angry and bitter from being rejected for his mutated looks and hell-bent in his ways after the destruction of his home planet, Brolin calls Thanos "a Quasimodo of this time" and compares the character to his Milk character, politician turned murderer Dan White. "If he just had somebody to listen to him or he just had [help]," Brolin says. "You kind of get that with Thanos a little bit." We'll also get to see how he got that way -- the report notes that Thanos is "the main focus" of the film and we'll see the villain in his younger years.

According to Brolin, Thanos is also the smartest guy in the room, despite the judgments people make based on his hulking, brutish appearance. "There’s this constant contrasting thing about this Neanderthalic lughead who’s way more intelligent than anybody else in the movie, by far," Brolin says.

That's a big bill of qualities to live up to, especially for a villain that's sharing the screen with the most insane roster of heroes ever assembled in a live action film (more than 70 characters). That said, between Zemo, Vulture, and Killmonger, Marvel has started righting their boring villain ways in recent films, and if Infinity War pulls it off, Thanos might just live up to his title as the MCU's biggest bad yet.

There's been a whole lot of Infinity War news over the last few days, make sure you're all caught up with the links below.