This is definitely good news to me as it’s learned the Russo brothers have cut Thanos’ backstory from The Avengers: Infinity War.
As if the scene with baby Gamora and Thanos holding hands wasn’t cringe-worthy enough from the latest Avengers: Infinity War trailer, I was not looking forward to some sort of fifteen minute scene to somehow make the Mad Titan relatable to audiences.
Kevin Feige and Josh Brolin previously hinted they were going this route, with their words just as cringe-worthy as the scene.
“He’s from a planet called Titan that’s no longer inhabited because of things that he thought he could help prevent, and he was not allowed to do that,” Feige recently told EW.com. “What he feared most happened, and the planet and everybody on it basically went extinct. He vowed not to let that happen again. He thinks he sees the universe going down the tubes. He thinks he sees life expanding outward unchecked. That will bring ruin, he believes, to the universe and to that life.”
This is what Brolin had to say about seeing a younger Thanos:
“He’s different from his family,” Brolin said. “They’re all Titans and they all look similar, but he was born deformed. You see how he grew up, you see he was like the Quasimodo of this time, or if you’ve ever read Perfume [Patrick Süskind ‘s 1985 novel about a serial killer who craves beautiful scenes but is disgusted by the smell of humanity], it’s a great parallel to Thanos. He stuck out. He was an anomaly. He was a freak. And that lent to this apparent insanity.”
IMO, we don’t need to know about the Thanos backstory other than he’s a Mad Titan and one powerful SOB. The past few years in Marvel Comics they attempted to explore Thanos’ origin and backstory, which was just as cringe-worthy and downright awful (basically anything except for Starlin’s stuff). The less is more approach is better for the film as it comes off as even scarier and leaves the audience guessing.
Update: This article and the possibility of no Thanos origin in the movie has been getting a lot of feedback from fans. I suggest you read Timelord’s review for Marvel Comics’ Thanos Rising #1 which was an attempt to shoehorn an origin for Thanos in to the comics (and probably because of the MCU).
While I don’t know exactly how much of the Thanos backstory they are cutting (they should start with that Gamora scene), the Russo brothers filled in Total Film magazine the following:
“We were considering showing [Thanos’] backstory,” says Anthony Russo, “but ultimately felt it wasn’t necessary for the movie.”
Russo continues with mention the Infinity War will still be “told from [Thanos’] point of view,” with it noted that is better than shoehorning in some sort of goofy (my description) origin story, which is 100% true.
Now is there any chance of cutting the goofy Guardians of the Galaxy scenes??
