Josh Brolin has portrayed several iconic characters from popular culture in films since the turn of the century, including Cable in Deadpool 2 and perhaps the most renowned superhero antagonist, Thanos, from the Avengers series.
Nevertheless, Brolin reveals that his portrayal of Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was not initially intended to have the significant role it eventually did in projects like Avengers: Infinity War and its sequel, Endgame.
During a recent episode of Tony Hawk’s Hawk vs Wolf show, Brolin noted that initially, it was planned as a simple nod to the comics, just a cameo appearance.
“When I did the Marvel thing – When I did Thanos, that was supposed to be a little cameo,” stated the Dune star.
“That was never supposed to be those two movies [Infinity War and Endgame].”
Brolin mentioned that when he first appeared as Thanos, he received a comprehensive document containing a wealth of Marvel lore and likely information about the character itself.
He recalled that during his initial discussions with the studio, he was “surfing and doing drugs” when the Marvel “bible” arrived.
“They sent this thing and I looked through it and I go ‘This is so cool’.”
Brolin also noted that he might not have been as enthusiastic if it were just to portray a regular character in the MCU. He expressed greater interest in playing a major villain.
“The idea of doing a major nemesis, purple or not, against all these dudes – like, had it been one of the guys, I don’t know that I would have been excited,” he said.
“But the fact that it was this guy against all those guys? I go ‘Yeah, that’s really cool, and why not?'”
While unsure when Marvel Studios decided to elevate Thanos to the central figure of the Infinity Saga in the MCU, Brolin offered some insight.
“I think, I don’t know for sure, but I know that when we started to do it, I think that they were really happy with it,” he said.
“I think that was because of them too, It wasn’t necessarily because of me.”
“I went in with this Richard Burton kind of Shakespearian thing and they were like ’Nah, that’s not – what you’re doing is not really working’,” he added.
“They were like ‘We see him more relaxed, kind of itching his nose’ and I was like ‘oh’ – cus when you think of mo-cap, you think ‘what am I supposed to do? something dynamic?’ and they’re like ’ No, we just want you to be – just be a dude’.”
“I started thinking of Marlon Brando and Apocalypse Now and then we started paralleling different – you know, ideas and I was like ‘I fu**ing love this’.”
“I loved doing that movie, those two movies.”
Brolin’s initial appearance as the character was in a cameo scene in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, with another appearance as a stinger moment in the first Avengers film.
Despite Thanos being teased in previous films, Brolin claims he wasn’t informed about major plans until after his cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy.
“So then I think that they had ideas and they were like ‘what if we book in this 10 years with this guy Thanos and we’ll bring everybody together and we’ll do a thing’,” he said.
“I was like ‘yeah, I’m in’.”
Marvel Studios’ decision to make Thanos the primary antagonist for every hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to unite against proved highly successful, earning billions of dollars at the box office and garnering worldwide acclaim from fans.
