Last night, Marvel dropped a new Avengers: Infinity War preview during the Super Bowl, which showed off a lot of new footage over just 30 seconds. Most of the commercial revolved around the starring heroes, but at the very end, we got a new look at Thanos, the main antagonist who's been teased ever since 2012's The Avengers. The Mad Titan was only on-screen for a second, but that was long enough for speculation to start pouring in that the scars shown on his face came from a world-famous Marvel Comics mutant who's the best at what he does, which isn't very nice.
After the Avengers: Infinity War Super Bowl TV spot dropped, some Marvel fans wondered if Wolverine was responsible for the scars on Thanos' face, indicating that they've gone mano a mano in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Wolverine and Thanos have fought before in the comics, and Wolverine's adamantium claws would be able to permanently disfigure the Mad Titan's face if he was able to get close enough. That being said, there are a number of reasons why it's extremely doubtful that Wolverine and Thanos have crossed paths in the MCU, starting with the fact that those claw marks on Thanos' face aren't his only visible scars.
Thanos Has A Lot Of Scars
If Thanos is anything like his comic book counterpart, he's been around a long time and taken part in a lot of battles. One doesn't become one of the most feared warlords in the galaxy by sitting on the sidelines and letting flunkies handle all your battles. So yes, there are some scars on the right side (his left) of Thanos' face that resemble Wolverine's claw marks, but you'll also notice in other looks at the Mad Titan that not only is the other side of his face scarred, but he has scars all around his body. Imagining that Josh Brolin's Thanos has already thrown down with Wolverine is certainly fun, but with all the threats and opponents that he's combated over his long lifetime, there's no shortage of possibilities of who or hat could have clawed Thanos' face like that. Hell, if his own claws were outfitted with vibranium or a metal similar to adamantium in durability, Rocket Raccoon could have scarred Thanos' face. I doubt that happened, but it's possible.
The Disney-Fox Deal Has Been Signed, But Hasn't Gone Through Yet
Last December, it was officially announced that Disney intends to buy large portions of 21st Century Fox's entertainment holdings. As a result, the X-Men and Fantastic Four properties, which have cinematically rested solely at Fox for years, could finally be incorporated into the MCU. For years, many Marvel fans have wanted to see the mutant characters and Marvel's First Family share screen time alongside Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America and more, and now it's finally a tangible goal. However, it's not enough for Disney to just say it's buying these Fox holdings. The acquisition has to be legally approved, and that may not happen until the end of this year at the earliest. So even if Infinity War wanted to allude to Wolverine, let alone show him, that wouldn't be possible since the deal is far from being finalized.
The Deal Went Through After Infinity War Was Shot
Because Avengers: Infinity War and 2019's Avengers 4 are so closely connected, Marvel decided to shoot them back-to-back last year. Infinity War began rolling cameras first (duh), with principal photography lasting from January 2017 to July of the same year, and Avengers 4 starting a few weeks later. So Infinity War wrapped up five months before the Disney-Fox deal was officially announced. Oh sure, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and the other Marvel brass might have been aware of Disney thinking about purchasing those Fox holdings that summer, but at that point, Infinity War was already in the can. That means that the Infinity War creative team had already envisioned a Thanos who received those scars in some other way rather than an adamantium-clawed mutant. Alas, Wolverine just wasn't on their minds when this epic story was being crafted.
Thanos Has Seemingly Never Been To Earth
For the sake of argument, let's assume that within the MCU continuity, there aren't any parallel universes that closely resemble ours, and that even if there were, Thanos couldn't travel to them by himself. That means as far as we know, Avengers: Infinity War will be the first time that Thanos has visited Earth. He sent Loki and the Chitauri to invade Earth in The Avengers, but the Mad Titan's flunky, The Other, had to inform him about what obstacles lay on our world after the Asgardian God of Mischief and his army were defeated. Wolverine has visited other worlds in the comics, but like most of the other X-Men, he primarily resides on Earth. So unless there's a radically different, alien Wolverine residing elsewhere in the MCU, it's highly unlikely that Thanos has crossed paths with him already. If Thanos survives Infinity War and Avengers 4, perhaps he could battle Wolverine in Phase Four or beyond, but for the May blockbuster, he, The Black Order and those monstrous hordes have enough Marvel heroes to worry about.
