It's finally happening; after years of build-up, Thanos is following through on his goals of universal conquest. In Avengers: Infinity War, The Mad Titan will unleash his wrath upon Earth's Mightiest Heroes and attempt to seize control of the Infinity Stones for himself.Ever since Phase One of the MCU, this has always been planned as the grand finale for Marvel's universe in its current state. While Marvel probably didn't have Thanos mapped out as the ultimate villain when Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. were first conceptualizing the first Iron Man film all those years ago, it was still relatively early on that Thanos was settled upon as the endgame villain for the current roster of MCU heroes.

Looking back at the eighteen films which comprise the main story of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thanos played a part, directly or indirectly, in six of them, dating all the way back to 2011's Thor. It's been a long time coming, but it's all going to pay off in Infinity War.

  • This Page: Thor, The Avengers, and Guardians of the Galaxy

Thor

Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Mjolnir in Thor

As early as Iron Man, was Marvel Studios playing with the idea of Tony Stark inhabiting a larger world of super heroes and villains. From Samuel L. Jackson's surprise appearance after the closing credits, to a momentary cameo from Captain America's Shield, it was clear that Marvel had the ambition to move forward with a cinematic universe... If Iron Man and/or The Incredible Hulk achieved a certain degree of financial success.

While Edward Norton's take on the Hulk ended up being somewhat underwhelming at the box office, Iron Man was a hit, and the MCU was born. In 2011, two Marvel movies were released back-to-back: Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger. Thor saw the MCU dipping its toes into cosmic territory for the first time, and a brief detour into Odin's treasure vault revealed several iconic Marvel artifacts, including the Eye of Agamotto and more importantly the Infinity Gauntlet, sporting a full set of Infinity Stones.

Of course, the release of Thor: Ragnarok six years later confirmed that those objects were fake - just included in the movie as fun Easter eggs for the fans - but the implications behind their fleeting appearance fueled excitement over the future of Marvel's storytelling. Thanos' very first fingerprint on the MCU timeline appeared in the post-credits scene of Thor, which showed Loki, who was seemingly killed after his fall from the broken Bifrost Bridge, miraculously alive and scheming to steal the Tesseract.

The Avengers

In 2012, The Avengers revealed the true circumstances behind Loki's mysterious survival. He was rescued though "salvaged" may be a better word by Thanos, who used him as a cog in his grand scheme to take over the universe. The opening scene of the superhero team-up does not reveal the Mad Titan's identity, but it does show his lieutenant informing him that a plan is being put into motion for Loki to conquer Earth and deliver the Tesseract to Thanos, allowing him to move forward with his own plan to conquer the universe.

Of course, thanks to Captain America, Hulk, and the rest of the Avengers, (and also Hawkeye), things didn't go as planned. Earth did not roll over and submit to Loki's rule and cower in fear as an alien portal opened up over Hell's Kitchen. Earth fought back and defeated the Asgardian traitor, with Iron Man even going so far as to intercept a nuclear missile and send it back through the portal to an enemy ship which looks identical to the one seen in the post-credits scene of Thor: Ragnarok.

In the first post-credits scene of the film, the underling from earlier reports Loki's failure to his boss, proclaiming that the humans are stronger than they could have predicted, and that "to challenge them is to court death." At this line, Thanos reveals himself and smiles, accepting the challenge. In an instant, the trajectory of the next half-decade of MCU films was established.

The addition of Thanos to Marvel movie lore was the work of writer/director Joss Whedon, who decided to introduce him as the man pulling Loki's strings, enabling his conquest while working towards a far greater goal, showing that, while the Avengers had saved the day, Phase One was only a prelude to greater battles yet to come.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Thanos Guardians of the Galaxy

For his appearance in The Avengers, Thanos was portrayed by actor and stuntman Damion Poitier, who was credited as "Man #1" to keep his role a secret. When it came time for the Mad Titan to make a full-on appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel brought on A-list star Josh Brolin to perform motion capture for the capture.

The legend goes that Thanos was originally intended to play a bigger role in the quirky sci-fi adventure, but the decision was ultimately made to keep his part minimal - more of a cameo than anything. Guardians was relatively uninterested in being "connective tissue" for other movies, as evidenced by Thanos's abrupt exit from the film and Rocket Raccoon's contempt during The Collector's explanation of the Infinity Stones. As part of an interconnected cinematic universe, Guardians had to lay down some groundwork for future stories, but that doesn't mean it couldn't poke fun at itself while doing so.

Josh Brolin as Thanos in Avengers: Age of Ultron Post-Credits Scene

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Although bringing Thanos to the MCU was Joss Whedon's idea, he wasn't interested in utilizing him as the main villain of the sequel; he had already decided on Ultron, the sentient AI with a major chip on its shoulder. Still, the film managed to further the story of the Infinity Stones by revealing Loki's scepter from the first Avengers to actually contain the Mind Stone, which is used to give life to Ultron and then Vision, the artificial intelligence formerly known as Jarvis. There's also the scenes with Thor, who ends the film setting off on a quest to seek out the Infinity Stones himself, leading directly to Thor: Ragnarok.

Unlike most of Phase Two, Avengers: Age of Ultron only has one post-credits scene, but it's a doozy, if something of a non-sequitur for the events of the film. The scene opens with the Infinity Gauntlet, not in Odin's treasure vault, but in some type of high-tech storage device. Thanos retrieves the gauntlet and puts it on, remarking, "Fine... I'll do it myself."

After Guardians of the Galaxy, Thanos got a little bit of flak for his minor role in the film, and essentially getting usurped by Ronan the Accuser. Even the Team Thor short based on Captain America: Civil War pokes fun at Thanos when Thor describes "the man in the floating chair" as "Purple," armed with "a magic glove," and possessing the character trait of "doesn't like standing up."

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

While Thanos doesn't make a direct appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, his presence looms in the background of the conflict between Gamora and her sister, Nebula. Both were orphans taken in by Thanos to be his personal bodyguards, and both spent their youth being forced to fight each other for his amusement. Every time, Gamora defeated Nebula, and every time, Thanos punished her failure by adding cyborg parts to her increasingly artificial body.

During the events of Vol 2, the sisters have an emotional breakthrough and reach a certain degree of mutual understanding. Nebula and Gamora reconcile, though Nebula refuses to join the Guardians crew. Instead, she sets off on a mission of revenge, aiming to kill her evil adoptive father once and for all.

Nebula is expected to play a large role in Avengers: Infinity War, and audiences are hyped to see her and Gamora teaming up to take on Thanos in a two-on-one melee battle. If she somehow manages to survive the film (and Avengers 4), perhaps she'll join the ranks of the Guardians of the Galaxy in time for Vol 3!

Thor: Ragnarok

Hela stops Thor's hammer in Thor: Ragnarok

Thor: Ragnarok marked a significant tonal shift for the Asgardian corner of the MCU, playing out more like a goofy comedy than an apocalypse movie, but it nevertheless moved forward with the story of the Infinity Stones and Thanos' behind-the-scenes hunt for their power. The first scene sees Thor lamenting the fact that he went out in search of the remaining Stones (as seen in the ending of Age of Ultron), but failed to find any.

Elsewhere in the film, when Hela, the Goddess of Death, raids Odin's treasure room, she comes across the Infinity Gauntlet fleetingly seen in the first Thor movie. She humorously knocks over the stone-studded glove, dismissing it as "fake," and putting an end to over six years of fan theories spun out of the subtle Easter egg.

Near the end of the story, when Loki goes to revive the ancient demon, Surtur, thus triggering Ragnarok and the destruction of Asgard, he stops briefly to give a quick look at the Tesseract, the Infinity Stone he had stolen in The Avengers and used to power his portal above the streets of Manhattan. There's little doubt in the minds of viewers that he pilfered the priceless artifact, which will surely play a key role in Infinity War, since it is also known as the Space Stone, one of the coveted Infinity Gems.

Finally, the post-credits scene features Thor and Loki sitting in their ship full of Asgardian refugees and discussing the future of their people when they are intercepted by a much larger spacecraft. The camera cuts to black before the viewer gets a chance to see who may be commanding the imposing space vehicle, but it's a sure bet that it belongs to Thanos, or at least one of his infamous Black Order.

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Never before has a film series teased its main villain for this long, over so many movies, before finally placing him front and center in an epic action-adventure of unprecedented scale. The closest comparison might be Blofeld from the James Bond movies, who appeared as an unseen figure lurking in the background of 1963's From Russia with Love and 1965's Thunderball before finally making his formal grand debut in 1967's You Only Live Twice, played by the great Donald Pleasance.

By comparison, Thanos made his first legitimate appearance in the MCU back in 2012's The Avengers before slowly gaining prominence in Guardians of the Galaxy and Age of Ultron. Infinity War is a 2018 release, meaning fans have been waiting six years and a dozen films to see Thanos fighting against Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Hopefully, Marvel went to great lengths to make sure it was worth the wait.

More: Avengers Theory: How Thanos' Finger Snap Fits Into Infinity War

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