As far as villains go in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they don’t come much bigger or much badder than the Mad Titan himself: Thanos. The character has waited menacingly in the wings ever since the credits of The Avengers and will soon make his presence truly known to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. For such a grand character to make such a grand entrance, Marvel seems to have made the right choice in their casting of Josh Brolin. The only question is: how does the actor feel about taking on such a role? The short answer is that he feels pretty good about it.
Speaking with SuperheroHype, the actor explained the intense and unusual process of bringing the character to life, as well as how he felt about taking on such a monumental comic book figure:
It’s not voice work, it’s mo-cap. I’m there. I’m there and I’m not in a booth. I’m being filmed. I have a bunch of crap on my face. [laughs] I’m being filmed by like thirty-four cameras? Thirty-six cameras? Something like that. Every movement, everything. So, it’s very new to me, it’s very exciting, it’s very unnerving. But I sure trust these guys! You know?...It’s one of the better decisions I think I’ve made.
Honestly, that all sounds like quite a bit of work. To achieve the most authentic possible performance, Josh Brolin does not merely lend his voice to the character, the folks at Marvel Studios actually bring him into a studio so he can incorporate his own physicality into the performance, which adds to the overall authenticity. Overall, Brolin seems pleased with his decision to take on the role, as it offers him a chance to step outside of his comfort zone and endeavor to try something he has never really done before. Check out Brolin's quick mid-credits scene from last year's Avengers: Age of Ultron to get a better sense of what he's bringing to the table as Thanos.
It’s good to hear that Brolin has such enthusiasm for portraying Thanos, because only a few years ago he might not have felt the same way. The actor took on the role of Jonah Hex in the 2010 film of the same name – a film that was met with… less than positive results to say the least. Bringing Thanos to life on the big screen seems to be Brolin’s chance at comic book movie redemption, much in the same way Batman is Ben Affleck’s second chance to get the genre right.
At this point we have only witnessed bits and pieces of Josh Brolin’s take on Thanos, but we love what we’ve seen. Only time will tell if the character becomes one of the all time greats, or continues Marvel’s tradition of somewhat lackluster silver screen villains. Thanos will go head to head with The Avengers in Avengers Infinity War Parts 1 & 2, which hit theaters on May 4, 2018, and May 3, 2019, respectively.
