Josh Brolin

Denis Villeneuve pulls of an impossible adaptation with flair.

We already know that Avengers: Infinity War will have the biggest MCU ensemble to date — just the title of the film implies something epic. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo have discussed the size of the cast a few times, and numerous interviews with Marvel stars and various reports have confirmed a handful of heroes for the studio’s next crossover event. And if you were paying attention to Josh Brolin’s recent Instagram activity, the actor, who reprises his role as Thanos in the upcoming film, may have just confirmed another co-star.

We know that Josh Brolin is playing the extremely big bad Thanos for Avengers: Infinity War, and we’ve seen Thanos in some short scenes before, but it looks like he’ll be getting a lot more to do in the next superhero team-up movie than sitting in a very large chair. We even saw him walking around during some preliminary motion-capture tests! We also know that the heroes traditionally get some subtle costume upgrades movie to movie, so it’ll also be exciting to see if Thanos is getting a new-ish look too.

With the huge successes of both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War, Joe and Anthony Russo are back at it once again for Avengers: Infinity War, and today we have our first look at Josh Brolin as the villainous purple Titan Thanos. Well, kinda.

Josh Brolin knows the entire story for Avengers: Infinity War. And the Mad Titan approves.

Josh Brolin is very excited about his place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he’s playing Thanos, the villainous mastermind scheming to destroy Earth and The Avengers. He is not so excited about his first role in a comic book movie, 2010’s Jonah Hex, based the DC Comics character of the same name. Brolin did not mince words recently when he said he “hated it.” And if you didn’t quite understand how serious he was, he repeated it one more time. “Hated it.”

After lazily attempting to thwart our heroes from his space-throne in Guardians of the Galaxy, it looks like Thanos will be sitting the next one out, as Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has revealed that the Mad Titan won’t be appearing in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. So, when will we see him again?

Earlier this year Marvel revealed their full upcoming film lineup through 2019, including plans to team up with Sony for a Spider-Man reboot, allowing the web-slinger to crossover into the MCU. During that big Marvel presentation, the studio also showed a teaser for Avengers: Infinity War, featuring the big bad Thanos in possession of all the Infinity stones. That footage leaked online and gave fans a very blurry look at the teaser, but you’ll be able to see a legitimate, high-res version of it when Avengers: Age of Ultron hits Blu-ray.

We first met the cinematic version of Thanos in 2012 -- his face smiling at us during a mid-credits sequence of ‘The Avengers,’ there to let us know that this guy is the mastermind behind the whole operation. OK then! Eventually we learn that Thanos is trying to collect the Infinity Stones, because if he has those, he will become a god. Fair enough. Though, now, after ten movies in the Marvel cinematic universe – ten! – Thanos has a grand total of zero Infinity Stones. So far, Thanos is terrible at being a supervillain.

Marvel Studios held its annual crowdpleaser panel in the vastness of Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday afternoon. The casts of Ant-Man and Avengers: Age Of Ultron were both on hand -- but there wasn't much in the way of announcements, beyond confirming a lot of things we already knew. No new movies announced. No casting news that hadn't already leaked long ago. But with those disappointments suitably girded against, here's what we learned...