‘Avengers 3’ Director Wants Thanos To Be This Generation’s Darth Vader

Thanos Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel Avengers

Avengers: Infinity War co-director Joe Russo has recently revealed what goals he and his brother Anthony have for the biggest villain of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Russo says that he wants Thanos to rival one of the most famous cinematic villains to grace a long-running movie franchise and compares his mission to a certain genre of filmmaking.

Speaking twice with representatives of ComicBook.com, Russo explained that he wants to make Thanos one of the most memorable villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He’s setting his sights high, as he wants Thanos to rival Darth Vader in terms of onscreen presence:

“The stakes are incredibly high… I wanted to turn Thanos into Darth Vader for a new generation. He’s an incredibly intense character. Sociopathic. He takes no prisoners. I think the audience needs to be prepared when they go see these movies.”

As a villain, Thanos has largely remained lethargic for Phases 1 and 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, choosing to send his lackeys to (thus far unsuccessfully) retrieve objects that contain the Infinity Stones, six objects that when combined with the Infinity Gauntlet (which Thanos wields) give the wielder near-omnipotence. That changes with Avengers: Infinity War, as now Thanos is choosing to cut out the middleman and find the Infinity Stones himself (with a liiiittle help, as it appears that Loki offers the Tessaract to Thanos). Since Thanos presumably knows where all of them are at this point, we’re going to see the Mad Titan and some of his other lackeys scour the galaxy to find the Infinity Stones, in a cinematic style which Russo claims will draw influence from a specific type of film:

“My brother and I like use movies (because we’re film geeks) as influences for us. Sometimes, with so many people working on these films, it’s just great to show them footage or talk about a film that everyone knows so you understand the tone, or the theme, or the structure that you’re playing with. Structurally, with this first film, Avengers 3, we’ve been using the smash-n-grab ’90s heist films, so there’s a real urgency to the film. I feel like it adds a level of excitement and relentlessness to the pace of the movie. And it’s a lot of divergent narratives coming together into a climax.”

Thanos has served as one of Marvel’s most iconic villains and has been hyped up for five years since the mid-credits scene of The Avengers. One can only hope that he’ll live up to the massive expectations that have been placed upon him.

Avengers: Infinity War will be released on May 4, 2018, and has a cast that includes Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark (Iron Man), Chris Evans as Steve Rogers (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth as Thor Odinson, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner (Hulk), Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow), Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton (Hawkeye), Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch), Paul Bettany as the Vision, Chris Pratt as Peter Quill (Star-Lord), Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautisa as Drax the Destroyer, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Vin Diesel as Groot, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Stephen Strange, Tom Holland as Peter Parker (Spider-Man), Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier), Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa (Black Panther), Paul Rudd as Scott Lang (Ant-Man/Giant Man), Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, Benedict Wong as Wong, Letitia Wright as Shuri, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Tom Hiddleston as Loki Laufeyson, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Benicio Del Toro as Taneleer Tivan (Collector), Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Ebony Maw, and Josh Brolin as Thanos.

Source: ComicBook.com (1, 2)