Other than a scene featuring The Vision talking about the Mind Stone on his forehead, Captain America: Civil War didn’t address Thanos or really do anything to set up the events of Avengers: Infinity War. The Mad Titan didn’t even show up in an after-credits scene – but what was the reason for this?
Captain America: Civil War writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely recently shed some light on that question, with the former saying the following about it:
“Well, I mean, he’s going to have two movies. So we didn’t want to play him out and then have people be like, ‘Eh, more of this guy…’ We also wanted [Civil War] to be a very kind of boots-on-the-ground, grounded movie that set the stage for Infinity War, that sets all the Avengers apart from each other and at their weakest point. So that when this giant purple man does show up, they’re not ready for it.”
That actually makes a lot of sense, and having Thanos be a surprise to the disassembled Avengers will definitely be better dramatically. Of course, chances are we’ll see the villain at least once before then, with Thor: Ragnarok a likely candidate for him to make a cameo appearance in.
In addition to Markus’ comments, McFeely also explained why Thanos isn’t in Captain America: Civil War.
“Yet again, they gave me 45 seconds of Thanos!” That does nobody any good. The Civil War story is about this group breaking up on their own accord, and they do not need to be helped by the guy from space.”
One criticism which hasn’t been aimed at Captain America: Civil War is that it spends too much time on world building (unlike, say, Iron Man 2), so the writers no doubt made the right decision when all is said and done.
Tell us, where do you think Thanos is going to show up next? Sound off below and let us know.
