Why Thanos Looks Different In Avengers: Infinity War

One of the first things that Marvel fans noticed in Avengers: Infinity War is that Thanos looks a lot different than in previous films. But it turns out Marvel decided early on that a new look for the Mad Titan was necessary.

Way back when Thanos first appeared in the post-credits scene of 2012's The Avengers, he was a lot different. His skin was more of a reddish-purple and he sported a purple and gold helmet with full body armor, looking very much like a king. In Infinity War, though, that reddish hue almost looks pink and the regal armor and helmet are gone. Even his eye color has changed from a glowing bluish purple to something less defined. His face also more closely resembles that of Josh Brolin, the actor who gave voice to the CGI character. Some Marvel fans preferred the first look and many began to complain about the changes, But Marvel insists it knew what it was doing when it changed Thanos' design.

Matt Aitken, VFX supervisor on Infinity War for Weta, spoke about these changes in an exclusive interview with Screen Rant:

"Those sequences in Guardians is where we see him most clearly in the previous MCU films. It was a wonderful freedom to not have to match that exactly. I think it's one thing to have a Thanos who in those scenes was definitely more stylized, holed up for those short beats that he was in those films. But when he had to be the lead character and hold film and appear in hundreds and hundreds of shots, it was great to have the latitude to refine his look, to make his facial appearance more natural, so he's definitely more detailed and has a more natural shape to his face, to his lips, to his brow, his nose, and all those details we're talking about in terms of the blemishes and the pores and the stubble. If we'd been confined to those earlier iterations, it would have been too much of a limitation, I think, so that was never an issue. Right from the start, Marvel recognized the need to go to the next version of Thanos, and we were never asked to match that earlier version at all."

Aitken did point out that it was necessary to keep the character recognizable, which is why the Infinity War version of Thanos still has that "wacky chin" and purplish skin.

Even Netflix had something to say about Thanos' new design, giving voice to fans who thought the CGI in Infinity War did not do the character justice. That, however, has not stopped the movie from becoming one of the biggest opening films of all time. Reports suggest that the movie may see a $2 billion total gross. The movie has broken a series of records since its opening and it doesn't look like anything will stop the Infinity War juggernaut soon. The movie has done well worldwide, even breaking records in Russia, which is not a country fans might expect such a movie to do well in.

In spite of many Marvel fans being less than thrilled about Thanos as he appears in Infinity War, Marvel made sure to announce the villain will return for Avengers 4 in the post-credits scene. And although those fans will have to wait until 2019 when part two of the story finally hits theaters, there are two other MCU films that will pack butts in theater seats until then: Ant-Man and The Wasp and Captain Marvel. Both movies will probably play into what happened in Infinity War in some way, hopefully dropping hints about what fans can expect when Thanos does return onscreen next year.