Joss Whedon was the director to first introduce the Great Titan Thanos during the post-credit scene of The Avengers movie.
With a smile, things in the MCU would never be the same.
Now in a recent interview, interestingly enough, Joss Whedon offers up he was pretty clueless about using Thanos as a villain.
“Honestly, I kind of hung [Thanos] out to dry. I love Thanos. I love his apocalyptic vision, his love affair with Death. I love his power. But, I don’t really understand it,” Whedon told IGN. “He’s had a lot of power, and he was cool in the comics. And I’m like, Thanos is the ultimate Marvel villain! And then I was like, I don’t actually know what I would do with Thanos.”
Whedon continued by giving the Russo brothers kudos for the portrayal of Thanos in The Avengers: Infinity War.
“And then I was like, I don’t actually know what I would do with Thanos. So, I liked what [the Russo brothers] did so much, and I thought Josh Brolin killed it,” Whedon said. “And they did an amazing job of keeping that performance on-screen. But it wasn’t like I was like, here’s a set of directions. I was like, I’m gonna get through Ultron, nap for four years, and then I’ll come to the premiere. Which I did! It was like, this is so cool!”
Joss Whedon added that he doesn’t feel what happened in the comics would have translated well on-screen.
“I thought they did what they needed to do,” Whedon said about the Russo brothers changing the motivations of Thanos for Avengers: Infinity War. “[Thanos falling in love with Death is] not a concept that will necessarily translate. It’s sometimes also an easy out for a villain. To say, I love destruction! No, really, I’m in love with it. And yet, you’re still just a nihilist. Whereas they gave him an actual perspective and made him feel righteous to himself, which is always a better idea. So I liked what they did very much. I did not know about it, I certainly didn’t come up with it.”
Thanos returns next year in The Avengers 4 out May 3, 2019.
