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Comic-Con Helped Josh Brolin Understand Thanos Role Even More

by Ethan Anderton
August 8, 2014
Source: IGN

Just recently, we got our first official look at Josh Brolin as Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy. Even if you haven't seen the film, Marvel revealed a first look photo at the True Grit and No Country for Old Men star as the cosmic villain who will end up creating tons of problems for The Avengers in the future of the comic book studio's cinematic universe. We're not sure when we'll next see the big bad guy pop up on the big screen, but Brolin is aware of at least one upcoming appearance, and he told IGN as much when he talked about how he came to the role, and how Comic-Con helped him understand the character even more.

First of all, keeping things vague, Brolin knows some of Thanos' future plans:

“I know what one appearance is going to be for sure. There’s one or two that I don’t know.”

If you checked out our video blog recapping the footage that was shown at Comic-Con for The Avengers: Age of Ultron, there's a good chance that Thanos has something to do with a pivotal, shocking scene involving Tony Stark. We won't spoil the particular scene here, but you can watch the video blog if you want to know more. Funnily enough, it was his time spent on the Comic-Con stage in San Diego, along with Robert Downey Jr. that helped him understand his role as Thanos even more. Brolin commented on his appearance at the pop culture convention:

“Once I got on-stage, it sort of became its own improv. I knew at that point, because I saw the rivalry between Robert and I, and I thought, 'I get this. I suddenly really get it.' So I feel like I'm more inside it than I was. It was more a display to me before that. It was more cosmetic. Now I think I'm starting to get who the guy is a little bit."

But don't think that Brolin wasn't already in the zone, especially since he already had to get into character for his brief role in Guardians of the Galaxy. Brolin talked about his preparation, fueled by the fact that Kevin Feige and the rest of the Marvel gang already knows everything about his character, putting the pressure on him:

"You know, there are movies that I’ve done where I feel like I have a better understanding before I even started than the filmmakers do. And that’s disconcerting because they’re the filmmakers. They’re like, ‘Well, what do you want to do?’ It’s like,’What do you mean what do I want to do? What do you want me to do?’ We can go back and forth with it, and maybe I’ll have my two cents over here and they go, ‘Oh my God, that would be great. Even though that’s not really a part of Thanos, it would be a great addition to Thanos, to make him even more Thanos,’ or bring even more humanity to Thanos — whatever it is. So I’m in the learning stages that is really exciting. When I first said yes, they sent me so much frickin’ research. I was in the middle of doing 'Everest,' and I was focusing more on Thanos than I was on 'Everest.' But it’s an exciting prospect, truly."

So how did Brolin end up with the role? The actor explains:

"First and foremost, I have a really good friend who I’ve known for years who’s the co-president of Marvel, Louis D’Esposito. I knew Louis as a first AD, and he’s the one who initially called me, and then [producer] Jeremy Latcham. Then I talked to Kevin Feige, ultimately. But there’s something about them that’s so insular and so geeky and so real. I loved it — because I’ve turned down a lot of those types of movies. Not Marvel, but I’ve turned down a lot of those types of movies.

When they started telling me the story about them getting together in Palm Springs, nine of them flipping burgers and talking about what Thanos was going to do and going, ‘What do you think?’ like, ‘Captain America’s going to show up here!’ Then, ‘Oh my God, what if the Hulk came in at that point?’ and all that — I love that shit. I love it, because those guys are absolutely saturated with that world, and they love story. Another thing that I really loved is, they said that they didn’t use directors that did music videos and all that in the past. They would always look for people who had done stories. If you look at James Gunn’s oeuvre, he’s done even web series, but they’re all stories."

So what makes this different from his previous blockbuster work in Jonah Hex and Men in Black 3? Brolin says, "Having done different series and all that, it’s like doing the best series you could ever do. You know you’re taken care of, you know the manifestations are good, you these people are at the top of their game…They understand it. They live it." Well, with Josh Brolin signing on to multiple Marvel movies, it sounds like he'll be living it for awhile too. Of course, we don't know just when he's going to pop up again on the big screen, but next summer would probably be a safe bet. Sound good?

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