Okay, so some of guys carefully hid under your spoiler buttons in that other thread that the Red Hulk at the end of The Avengers wasn’t Hugo Weaving’s character from Captain America. I was pretty proud of myself for explaining that to Dingus after we saw the movie. “Yeah, that’s Redskull from the Captain America movie,” I explained, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “He’s on the Pinball FX table if you want to know more about him.”
Instead, Red Hulk is someone named Thanos. So I dutifully read his Wikipedia entry and I still have no idea why that would lead to any sort of excitement from anyone. What makes him cool? Why does he matter? Basically, how would you explain to a non-Avengers nerd the implications of having him as a reveal at the end of the movie?
Thanos is only meaningful to Marvel nerds, really. He’s one of their big, cosmic foes that several classic story arcs centered on, especially the Infinity Gauntlet. Avengers members have battled him individually and collectively for decades. He’s basically Marvel’s Darkseid (a villain only meaningful to DC nerds).
I’ve never been too interested in Thanos, but he’s one of the perenially big bads in the Marvel U. As Dave said, he’s a cosmic level baddie. So transcendent in power over most mortal attempts at measurement that he’s almost a force of nature in the universe.
But he’s also always trying to gather six ‘infinity gems’ to collect in his infinity gauntlet. Each gem is manifests the ability to control it’s representative aspect of Time, Space, Mind, Soul, Reality, and Power. Obviously, wielding that type of absolute and unstoppable control is not an ideal circumstance considering Thanos is literally in love w/ the goddess ‘Death’.
I didn’t know him either but from what I read he sounds like a fantastic Whedon villain; seemingly unstoppable, and if he has this gauntlet, apparently omnipotent. Whedon does very well with seemingly unstoppable bad guys (for example; every season of Buffy that you like).
I just hope he stays in the dark for as long as possible because he might look a bit too cartoony if he’s all CG.
Through osmosis and videogames, I’ve amassed a fair amount of comic book savvy. I’ve heard of Dr. Doom, Killer Croc, Galacticus, and the both colors of Venom. I’ve even heard of Dr. Strange and Moon Knight and skrulls. But I’ve never heard of this Thanos dude. He must be really second tier.
And that stuff about gathering gems and omnipotence sounds incredibly dopey. Especially if one of the gems is on a lava world and one of the gems is on a snow world and one of the gems is on a ruined city world. I guess its no worse than a renamed Cosmic Cube. But at least I understood Loki’s motivations and limitations, having seen the Thor movie.
And that’s a great point, Rory. I want an actor for a villain, not CG. Unless it’s CG of Andy Serkis.
Thanos: Think of a combo of all the Avengers put together and double it. double Hulk’s strength, double Thor’s fighting ability, double Cap’s tactical ability, and double Iron Man’s intelligence.
What makes him cool?
He’s the ultimate Big Bad. Smart, capable, and utterly ruthless. Some choice quotes:
“From knowledge springs power, just as weakness stems from ignorance.”
“Running away is disorderly. Departing is strategic.”
“Make no mistake, I detest these seemingly alturistic actions into which I am forced, just as I detest you and your ilk. You would do well to remember that.”
“Death, Thuder God, is akin to lovemaking. It gets better every time.”
“DIE, life-loving simpletons!”
Why does he matter?
He’s in love with Death and wants to kill everything in the universe as a present to Her.
/garyoldmanonEVERYONE!!!/garyoldmanoff
Implications of the reveal to a non-Avengers nerd?
He killed the Avengers. Easily. They got better.
Mr. Guarinc, you do way better PR for Thanos than Wikipedia. Thanks. Sounds like the next movie will be pretty short. Thanos shows up, kills everyone, and finis.
Thanos is like Darkseid from DC…except he is even nastier.
He at one point killed half of the universe with a thought, all at the same time.
Why? Well, it was his version of buying flowers for his lady love Death.
Yep, this guy is super powerful…and creepy.
Somewhere—maybe it was in the other thread here—it was suggested that the scepter he gave Loki was powered by the blue gem, which is apparently the mental one, which sorta makes sense. I was excited to recognize him, but I have the same worry that he’ll be hard villain to care about the way we could relate to Loki’s motivations.
Maybe I read the wrong books, but Thanos hasn’t really been a big part of anything since Bendis’s rise to fame over at Marvel, so it makes sense that you wouldn’t know him from any recent video games or casual discussion.
In an interview with /Film, writer/director Joss Whedon discussed why he wanted to include the character in “The Avengers.” Whedon said, “He for me is the most powerful and fascinating Marvel villain.” He went on to joke, “He’s the great grand daddy of the badasses and he’s in love with death and I just think that’s so cute.” He explained that he wanted to have someone behind Loki’s machinations in the film, and that Thanos was the character in the Marvel Universe that fit the bill.
What was even more interesting to me though is this part:
There’s no word yet on when we can expect “The Avengers 2,” but “Iron Man 3” is slated for release less than a year from now on May 3, 2013. “Thor 2” will follow on November 15, 2013, and “Captain America 2” is scheduled for April 4, 2014.
Whaaaaaa? So the next movie is Iron Man 3? Maybe he was setting up the main bad guy in Iron Man 3 then, not Avengers 2?
Iron Man 3 is likely the Mandarin. Please Fing Fang Foom, please! Thor 2 could be more Asgard stuff. Magog? Cap 2 dealing with adjustments to the modern world and SHIELD stuff. Then Avengers 2 with Thanos. Perhaps.
I thought it was pretty widely understood that they’d keep doing single-character sequels too, but maybe not. In any case, Thanos is much too powerful to be a villain for an Iron Man movie alone.
They’ve already basically said that Iron Man 3 will be from a relatively recent storyline.
WOULD YOU LIKE IT SPOILED WITHOUT CLICKING THINGS?
Seems VERY unlikely. Thanos is far too powerful for Iron Man, who’s just encountered him in groups as far as I know. Only heroes like Thor, Hulk, and the Silver Surfer could realistically last long enough around Thanos solo to justify having him appear, and even then it’s a mismatch.
This reminds me: The Other, the leader of the Chitauri that talks to Thanos during the credits scene (and to Loki during the film), was played by Alexis Denisof. I never would have guessed that from his voice. Denisof is most famous for his role as Wesley on Buffy and Angel.
Maybe it’s just because I’m a comic reading nerd, where everyone’s got their own books as well as the team books they’re a part of, but it seemed totally normal to me, and makes sense logistically too. They want to ride this success with a movie every year for as long as they can, and a movie with the whole cast every year would probably be impossible to arrange.
The aliens were the Ultimates version of the Skrulls weren’t they? I think the Skrulls proper are tied up in contract with the Fox movie contract for Fantastic Four.
They claimed to be the Skrulls, and then some real Skrulls showed up and said they were full of shit. The ultimate true story is not known yet, so far as I know.
