When a villain’s capable of wiping out half of all life in the universe with the mere snapping of his fingers, it feels a little redundant to say he’s pretty damn dangerous. Nonetheless, in order attain this level of might in Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos had to embark on an interplanetary quest that proved the Mad Titan to be a force to be reckoned with, even without the Infinity Stones under his control.
In the commentary track for the film’s new home video release, co-director Joe Russo describes the purple tyrant as “almost unstoppable,” prompting co-writer Stephen McFeely to clarify that it’s more than just an assortment of all-powerful stones that makes him a formidable foe.
“He’s got the strongest will,” said McFeely. “I mean, that’s one of the things we always thought is that he’s not dangerous because he’s got the Stones, he’s dangerous ’cause he has the will to use them.”
The opening sequence aboard the Asgardian ship also shows Thanos to be a rather impressive fighter, besting two of the Avengers without even making use of the Power Stone already in his possession. And here, the filmmakers explain the thinking behind this scene.
“Here you see the early establishment of just how fearsome Thanos is even without, he’s got one stone here and I don’t think he’s even using it,” McFeely said.
“He’s not using it,” Russo said. “This is to show that Thanos, the Genghis Khan of the Marvel Universe, he’s unbeatable in 1-on-1 battle. He’s conquered thousands of worlds. He’s a much more polished fighter than the Hulk, and Thor, and Loki.”
“We want to announce Thanos as the biggest villain in the MCU, he takes out the previous reigning champion, and by defeating Hulk relatively savagely and easily, hopefully, there’s a sense of dread over the course of the rest of the movie for anyone who will come up against him, and so that’s just sort of a scene design,” McFeely said.
Indeed, this opening section would set the tone for a film that would essentially consist of two-and-a-half hours of Thanos charging through one opponent after another. If that’s a spectacle that you’d like to revisit, Avengers: Infinity War is out now on Digital HD, and coming to 4K Ultra HD, Blu-Ray and DVD on August 14th.