Josh Brolin Explains Why The Infinity War Finale Puts A Smile On His Face

“But this… does bring a smile to my face.”

Once the credits rolled on Avengers: Infinity War, practically every member of the audience was left with their jaw on the floor, such was the impact of Thanos’ finger snap.

But there was one person who actually enjoyed Infinity War‘s incredibly bleak finale – Josh Brolin. Yes, the Mad Titan himself fully admits that he’s the “one guy who smiles” when he sees heartbroken fans react to all those character deaths.

Chatting to USA Today (h/t Heroic Hollywood), Brolin conceded that he actually takes pride in the hate directed toward Thanos, as it proves his performance (and the film’s script) worked like a charm. You could even say it puts a smile on his face…

I was literally sitting in the theater going, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God. Spider-Man just disintegrated. That’s not OK. I looked at Hemsworth and he looked at me. He smiled and was like, ‘Your career is over.’ On Instagram people are posting things like, ‘I hate you’. That’s fantastic. I’m, like, the one guy who smiles when he sees that. It’s like, ‘It worked.’

One could even go so far as to argue that there’s never been an MCU villain quite like Thanos, and it’s a credit to Josh Brolin’s nuanced performance, not to mention the way in which Infinity War was directed, that audiences felt a sense of empathy towards his Mad Titan – you know, before he snapped those giant purple fingers and reduced half of all life in the universe to dust.

With more than $2 billion already in the bank, Avengers: Infinity War is far and away the most successful movie ever to grace the MCU. And rumor has it that Marvel Studios has set the sequel’s Blu-ray launch for mid-August. We’ll have more on that one in due time, so stay tuned.