New Marvel Cinematic Universe fan art pitches a prequel movie with Thanos (Josh Brolin). While the MCU had been teasing the existence of the Mad Titan all the way back to 2011's Thor, it took quite a while before the villain was properly introduced. He did appear in other Phase 1 and Phase 2 films in varying degrees, but it was only until Avengers: Infinity War that he officially debuted in the franchise.

The 2018 Joe and Anthony Russo project had a lot of things going in it. Infinity War began the culmination of the Infinity Saga that brought together all the heroes from the MCU for the first time. Aside from juggling a massive cast, the film also served as the origin story of Thanos in the universe, meaning the filmmakers had to be efficient with how they tell their story under a limited amount of time. In the end, everything worked out well as the movie was able to establish the villain and his motivations. That said, some fans can't help but wish that Marvel Studios delved even deeper into Thanos' story via a separate project.

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A fresh piece of fan-created art reinforces the idea as it features a young Thanos with his Black Order. Courtesy of Reddit user Basement Official, the one-sheet makes a compelling case for a potential prequel project featuring the Mad Titan before his introduction in Infinity War. Check it out below:

Thanos really only played a lead role in the MCU in two films - Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame which is where he met his demise. In terms of the franchise's overall story, his arc is complete. It's a little bit different, however, when looking at his personal narrative. Due to the lack of time spent with the character, there is still a myriad of things fans don't know about Thanos. Granted, he explained his motivations and justified them in Infinity War, but other than that, the public barely knows him. The aforementioned one-sheet suggests that it would be great to see how he was before he decided to actively pursue the Infinity Stones himself; it could also reveal how he assembled the Black Order and why they are so devoted to him.

For what it's worth, Chloe Zhao's Eternals can shed some light on Thanos' full origin story. However, fans shouldn't expect the Mad Titan to be a main player in the narrative as the film will focus on its titular characters and how they fit in the MCU. At this point, that's the only project in the slate that might involve the villain as the Marvel Cinematic Universe moves away from the Infinity Saga and onto Phase 4. All that being said, it's not outside the realm of possibility that they eventually revisit the character. After all, they already nailed down the character's elaborate design. Perhaps they can greenlight a Disney+ project tackling his earlier adventures before Infinity War.

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Source: BasementOfficial/Reddit