Thanos has been lurking in the shadows of the Marvel Cinematic Universe ever since the end-credits tag in The Avengers, and he’s expected to wreak havoc on the entire galaxy when both Avengers: Infinity War installments hit theaters in 2018 and 2019, respectively. However, according to Joss Whedon, the Mad Titan may not be the only one going up against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and the Guardians of the Galaxy when the time comes to finally step off of his throne.
While the Avengers and Age of Ultron helmer won’t be writing or directing either Infinity War film (that duty belongs to Captain America: The Winter Soldier scribes Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and directors Anthony and Joe Russo), Whedon seems confident that Marvel wouldn’t have split the Infinity War storyline into two films if Thanos was the only antagonist.
The director recently spoke with Vulture writer Kyle Buchanan, who posted this snippet of their chat on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/kylebuchanan/status/588386957492817920
While Thanos is certainly powerful enough to take on the Avengers roster on his own, especially with the help of the Infinity Stones, that wouldn’t exactly warrant about five hours of screen time, so Whedon’s comments make a lot of sense from a storytelling standpoint. Plus, we’ve already seen how much Thanos likes having minions do his dirty work and we know that he has armies of aliens at his disposal (along with Guardians of the Galaxy’s Nebula and her other dangerous siblings).
How exactly the other villains will be brought into the fold (or who they might be) remains a mystery, but with three years and six films to go before we get to Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 on May 4th, 2018, anything could happen.