Remember when Anthony Russo said there’d be 67 characters in Avengers: Infinity War? That was cute, and the director and his Marvel co-pilot, Joe Russo, confirmed to us that he was just being figurative with that number. That said, the scale will still be much larger than previous films if only because of the grand entrance of Thanos. The Mad Titan, voiced by Josh Brolin, will be getting plenty of screen time, as teased by screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.

During an interview with The Huffington Post, McFeely said:

[Thanos]. It’s easy. Really giving him good scenes. You know, he’s never been the villain in any of the movies. He’s never been the main character in that way, so giving lots of good screen time to Thanos is paramount and pretty fun.

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Image via Marvel Studios

We first saw a glimpse of Thanos’ profile in a post-credits scene tagged to The Avengers, but he was portrayed by Damion Poitier back then. The character appeared fully formed in Guardians of the Galaxy, and was teased again in another brief scene at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron. This building anticipation around his arrival is both a challenge and an advantage. Markus said:

There’s an aspect of, you know, people know what’s coming, so our challenge is how best are we going to handle this somewhat known quantity. But also he’s barely been touched on. He’s at about 20 seconds of screen time.

McFeely added:

He hasn’t had an amazing scene. I think it’s an advantage ultimately, right? Because people are anticipating this guy coming in and really delivering the goods. So, I think they’re eager, and we just have to deliver it. We don’t have to convince them that he’s gonna be interesting. We just have to execute what has been teased.

The Avengers will need everything they’ve got if they’re to take on one of the biggest threats in the universe, but who will be left to fight at the end of Captain America: Civil War? The Russos also direct that film, which will essentially break the heroes either physically or psychologically. The films leading up to Infinity War suggest Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Spider-Man will answer the call to arms, though it’s unclear just how many of the original Avengers line-up will be included.

Avengers: Infinity War - Part 1 will bow on May 4, 2018, while Part 2 is scheduled for May 3, 2019.


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Image via Marvel