The MCU’s biggest villain wasn’t planned to be Marvel’s big bad

Thanos is the most celebrated villain of the MCU, but his cameo debut in The Avengers was originally little more than a fan service stinger meant to explain a plot hole. 

Appropriately, we’ve just crossed the anniversary of Avengers Endgame’s theatrical release and the date of the fictional, monumental snap that rocked the world. Fans are holding mock funerals for characters who died and celebrating the final defeat of the Mad Titan, Thanos.

Thanos has gone from being a relative unknown to a household name in the decade since he debuted in The Avengers. Thanos appears as a brief stinger in the film, sneering from the shadows of his ship in the depths of outer space. 

While Thanos has been the definitive villain of the past decade, fans may be surprised to learn that wasn’t originally in the cards. 

Thanos wasn’t meant to be the Avengers’ next big bad

According to the new book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, Thanos was intended to be little more than an easter egg that explained where Loki got his army and scepter and was included at the behest of director Joss Whedon.

Whedon had an idea for the movie’s post-credits scene, one that stemmed from his deep knowledge of Marvel comics. In a vignette, he revealed that Loki’s Chitauri army was on loan from Thanos, one of the most terrifying villains in the Marvel cosmos, a large purple alien with a corrugated chin and a serious infatuation with death. Whedon wasn’t trying to set up Thanos as the Avengers’ next foe. Rather, he just wanted to provide an explanation for where Loki’s army came from, seasoned with a bit of fan service. For its part, Marvel Studios was so focused on making sure that everything came together for The Avengers that it approved the inclusion of Thanos without much thought about what that might mean for the movies to come.

Thanos’ debut was one of The Avengers’ most talked about elements after release. The film’s final line heavily implied that Thanos’ love for Death would be the impetus for a fight with The Avengers, though Death herself was ultimately not a factor in the MCU depiction. 

Long-time comic fans were starving for more information. Many correctly speculated that the Infinity War story would be where the films wound up, but no one could have guessed the road it took to get there or where it ended. 

While it is shocking to know that Thanos was such an afterthought for The Avengers, it may not be terribly surprising that it was so thrown together. 

Thanos was originally played by a different actor, Damion Poitier. Josh Brolin wouldn’t take over the role until his cameo in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Even then, the Thanos design was still in its early days and would be heavily revised before his return in Avengers: Infinity War. 

That Thanos came together so well is another example of the sheer luck the MCU seemed to get by on, considering how many elements we now know were constantly in flux or happened just by sheer coincidence. 

MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios is available now. For more MCU news, be sure to follow all of Dexerto’s coverage.