As the old saying goes, nobody ever really stays dead in comic books or comic book movies apart from Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben and Batman’s parents, so despite being killed at both the start and end of Avengers: Endgame, speculation has persisted about a potential return to the screen for Thanos.
The Mad Titan loomed large for years as the Infinity Saga’s end-of-level boss, and justified his status as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s greatest threat by wiping out half of all life in existence. You’d think that Thanos’ arc had been wrapped up pretty definitively, but there’ve nonetheless been constant rumors about Josh Brolin once again donning the mo-cap suit.
Given his ties to the title characters, a cameo in The Eternals can’t definitively be ruled out, while a prequel series on Disney Plus has also been mentioned as a possibility, along with flashbacks that could be used to provide some connective tissue throughout the MCU’s upcoming slate of cosmic adventures.
One cosmic name that’s been frequently linked to their impending live-action debut is Nova, and we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones that told us Taskmaster would be the villain in Black Widow and that Disney is developing live-action Bambi and Robin Hood remakes, all of which were correct – that one of Thanos’ upcoming appearances is currently slated for Richard Rider’s first solo outing.
According to our intel, the Mad Titan will reportedly show up in Nova via flashback, one that will see the genocidal maniac wielding the power of the Infinity Stones to destroy Xandar, which was briefly mentioned as a throwaway line of dialogue in Avengers: Infinity War. While plans can always change, we’re told that this is something the studio is currently looking to do as not only would it establish Nova’s motivations to ensure nothing like that ever happens again on his watch, but tying his origins to a well-known name like Thanos would also provide a solid grounding for a character that many audiences wouldn’t be too familiar with.
