After hanging in the background doing, let’s face it, very little for the past six years, Avengers: Infinity War has a big job to do in making sure that Josh Brolin’s Thanos comes across as the biggest, most dangerous threat the Avengers have ever faced. To tackle that challenge, it sounds like the film’s directors have gone all out on his quest to bring together the Infinity Stones, which will see the pic draw from another genre for inspiration.
Co-director Joe Russo told EW that Thanos will be several steps ahead of the heroes in Infinity War, as he’s practically playing the lead in his own “’90s heist” movie.
“He’s on a hunt. We’re using a bit of a ’90s heist genre component. Thanos is on a smash-and-grab, and everybody’s trying to catch up the whole movie.”
The Russos have previously talked about the heist film feel they were trying to achieve in Infinity War. Anthony Russo revealed last year that he and his brother “looked at a lot of movies that had that heist-style energy to them” in order to portray Thanos’ key quest in a “bold, strong way.” You can see where they’re going with this, too. Thanos will be undertaking about six heists at once as he has to infiltrate the locations where the Infinity Stones are hidden across the galaxy.
Moreover, the Russos have claimed that Thanos’ heists will be so significant to the plot that he’s basically the main character of the piece. Seeing as Infinity War features more superheroes than any Marvel movie ever has, it’s a surprising decision to pitch the villain like this but, in many ways, it’s a clever way of making sure the antagonist stands out as well as ensuring that all the heroes receive a fairly equal amount of screentime.
So, can Thanos really live up to all the hype and avoid the curse that has befallen the many underwhelming MCU villains before him – typically, the alien ones? It certainly sounds like the Russos have done all they can to make sure the Mad Titan really makes an impact, so let’s hope it pays off when Avengers: Infinity War finally arrives on April 27th.