A newly-emerged The Avengers behind-the-scenes image reveals the original Thanos actor in full prosthetics and costume. Marvel Studios had been teasing the introduction of the Mad Titan since 2011's Thor, and the following year, he made his on-screen debut during the stinger of the Joss Whedon's flick. It wasn't until 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy that Josh Brolin started portraying the character, with another brief cameo in 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Six years after the character's first appearance on he big screen, Thanos was officially introduced in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, the jam-packed film served as the villain's origin story despite the fact that it didn't delve much into his full backstory. Nevertheless, since he emerged victorious at the end, it is dubbed as his movie. He returned in this year's Avengers: Endgame where he met his end. Between Brolin's brilliant performance and impressive CGI work on the character, it's easy to forget that first and only time that Thanos was portrayed by a different actor - as fans are reminded in new set photos from The Avengers.
Shared by the official Instagram of Ironhead Studios is a batch of The Avengers BTS images while Damion Poitier was preparing to debut Thanos in the film's end-credit scene. Fans in the comments section are blown away by the craftsmanship of that went to creating this look, some of them hoping that Brolin's version got the same treatment instead of a full CGI. Check out the photos below:
With this batch of BTS images, fans can compare and contrast how Thanos' look evolved over the years. And while he resembled his comic book counterpart all throughout, there were several changes to his design that was finalized for Infinity War and Endgame. It's unclear when fans can see the Mad Titan once again considering his fate in Avengers 4. As the most ruthless villain the franchise has seen (which checks out with his print history) thus far, he made his mark in the MCU despite ultimately getting defeated. With Brolin sticking around Marvel Studios as Cable in the Deadpool series, it won't be the difficult to bring back Thanos in some sort of way.
As cool as it may be to see a non-CGI version of Thanos in Infinity War and Endgame like in The Avengers, it's simply easier to use VFX to produce the appearance they wanted for the character. On top of that, there are certain elements to the character that can't be pulled off with practical prosthetics, particularly his massive size. Poitier's version was sitting down, and was a close-up shot, so his actual size didn't matter. But Thanos has had countless interactions with various MCU heroes in the Avengers sequels, and the filmmakers had to make sure that he looked as realistic as possible being a giant character compared to others.
Source: Ironhead Studios
