Marvel Comics’ Thanos creator admits he didn’t picture Josh Brolin as the Mad Titan in The Avengers movies. Thanos first appeared in the pages of Marvel in The Invincible Iron Man #55 in 1973.

The supervillainous Thanos indeed quickly ascended to the front ranks of Marvel villains after that momentous debut. Later when Marvel Studios conceived the MCU, Thanos was brought into the mix through a series of brief teaser appearances before making his proper debut as the true big bad of the series in The Avengers: Infinity War, with Brolin in the role. Armed with the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos memorably snapped half of all life in the universe out of existence, including many popular MCU characters. But the damage done by the Mad Titan was of course mostly reversed in the follow-up movie The Avengers: Endgame.

Related: How Thanos Is Connected To The Eternals: Story & Species Explained

There’s little question now that Thanos as played by Brolin has become one of the most iconic of all movie villains. But when Brolin was initially cast, Thanos creator Jim Starlin actually had his doubts about the actor being able to pull off the role. As Starlin told THR, “I never pictured [Josh] Brolin as Thanos. I had a couple of other actors in mind. But now I can’t imagine anyone but Brolin playing Thanos.”

Thanos and Eros aka Starfox

Starlin made his Brolin remarks in light of the recent reveal of Harry Styles as another of his comic book characters, Thanos’ brother Eros. Given the success Brolin had playing Thanos, Starlin seems confident that Styles can pull off the role of Eros, saying “They’ve been good at casting the characters. This actor will probably turn out to be just as good as the others.”

Indeed casting magic has been a big part of why the MCU has succeeded so wildly as a cinematic franchise. Brolin as Thanos is just one example of an actor who seemed like a strange match for a role who turned out to be the perfect person to portray the character in question. Clearly, Kevin Feige and the rest of his team at Marvel Studios have an uncanny knack for matching actor to character. It’s indeed almost impossible now to imagine alternate casting decisions with many MCU roles, as actors like Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth and others have come to be so fully identified with the comic book characters they portray on screen. Given this track record, there’s little reason to be concerned about the latest new casting moves by the MCU, including Styles as Eros. What is up in the air is whether any villain, no matter how well-cast, can truly compete with Thanos given the legacy left behind by that character. The MCU indeed hit a crescendo with the final two entries in The Avengers, and it remains to be seen if the franchise can ever build itself back up to that level again.

More: The MCU Just Repeated Infinity War & Endgame’s Biggest Thanos Mistake

Source: THR

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