After six years of waiting in the shadows and sending out other villains to handle his dirty work, Thanos will finally “do it himself” in Avengers: Infinity War and hunt down the six Infinity Stones in order to accessorize his gauntlet take over the universe. We’ve previously heard that he won’t just be the antagonist of the movie, either, as despite the amount of heroes involved, he’s actually considered the the main character. But how does that work exactly?
The Russo brothers have shed some light on this by explaining how the Mad Titan’s quest to locate the Stones will form “the bedrock of the film,” as Anthony Russo told the press at a set visit last year. His brother and co-director Joe elaborated, saying that Thanos’ hunt for those Stones is what drives the movie.
“It’s a key driver to the movie. We have quite a few McGuffins in this movie that have different relationships to different people. Doctor Strange is the bearer of an Infinity Stone. He has been charged with protecting that Infinity Stone. There are a lot of characters that will come into direct conflict with Thanos.”
So, that’s how Doctor Strange gets involved, and by extension Iron Man, as seen in the trailers. We also know that Hulk will face Thanos on board the Asgardian refugee ship when the villain comes searching for the Space Stone. The Guardians of the Galaxy, meanwhile, witness Thanos torturing the Collector for info on the Reality Stone, while the big third act of Infinity War will then revolve around the Avengers protecting Vision, as Thanos tries to get at the Mind Stone lodged in his cranium.
The Russos went on to stress how Thanos will go on the offensive “more so than he has at any point in the past” and will make “a more effective move for the Stones” than previously seen. This will result in “a lot of pain” for the galaxy’s mightiest heroes, as Joe Russo put it:
“So Thanos decides to do it, he really goes for it, and he’s kind of one step ahead of our heroes during the movie. And he puts them through a lot of pain, I guess, in the process of that.”
The co-director then made clear how dangerous Thanos is, by comparing him to perhaps the most iconic villain in cinematic history, something the Russos have done before.
“If you took Darth Vader, and you multiplied him times ten… Our job with Thanos is to make him the preeminent villain in the Marvel universe. That is his role in the comics, that’s his role in these movies, and in order to be a preeminent villain, you have to do some pretty bad things.”
The directors certainly have a tough job in making sure that Thanos lives up to the hype, but with any luck, they’ll be able to give us a truly formidable opponent to watch our heroes go up against when Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on April 27th.
