With the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe set to begin next year with the arrival of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, there’s been a lot of speculation about what’s next when it comes next — especially in terms of the Avengers films. The next two Avengers films, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars aren’t set to arrive until 2026 and 2027 respectively with both films being directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, but that hasn’t stopped fans from asking some big questions, such as could we see a return of the biggest Marvel villain to date, Thanos. Now, speaking with Collider, Thanos actor Josh Brolin is addressing the possibility revealing that he has one condition to returning as the Mad Titan — the character has to fit.
“I’m not kidding — there’s a thing with playing Thanos. It’s like, ‘Oh, they’re gonna bring Thanos back.’ It’s like Sicario; it has to be right,” Brolin said. “It’s like Ryan Reynolds and I talking about Taylor Swift and we should be talking about Deadpool 4. But we go back and forth. Again, it’s what in his mind fits, what in my mind fits. Thanos has to fit if you’re going to bring him back. I would do anything that the Russos wanted me to do.”
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Brolin’s condition does make a good bit of sense. After all, Thanos met his end in Avengers: Endgame (twice, technically, once when Thor decapitates him after the surviving heroes track him down and try to get the Infinity Stones to undo the events of Infinity War and then again at the end of Endgame when Tony Stark sacrifices himself with a new snap.) The villain’s death was a significant and powerful moment for the franchise so bringing him back in any capacity would have to similarly have meaning and “fit” with the story being told in the next Avengers films. That said, the opportunity to create that fit is there when one looks to the comics. In Marvel’s Secret Wars comics, Thanos is a part of the storyline which sees Doctor Doom seizing power. That said, it doesn’t seem like Thanos’ involvement in the story would be particularly expansive, though at this point everything is speculation until more concrete details about plans for not just Avengers: Secret Wars but Avengers: Doomsday start to come to light.
As for Brolin, he has made comments about returning as Thanos before. Earlier this year, he told ComicBook that he didn’t know if they would bring Thanos back, though he had heard some things “through the grapevine”.
“You know, I hear kind of like through the grapevine, that they’re gonna bring him back,” Brolin said at the time. “And there’s the What If…? series and that’s a different kind of Thanos and all that. But I don’t know in the Marvel world whether they’re going to bring him back, but I didn’t know that he was the most killed-off Marvel villain …. You learn something new every day.”
As for the future of the Avengers movies more broadly, Joe Russo recently suggested that Avengers: Doomsday will be as game-changing as both Infinity War and Endgame, suggesting that whatever is coming with the eagerly anticipated film when it arrives in 2026 will be huge.
“We’re all very close,” Russo said about the connection with Robert Downey Jr, who is returning to the MCU for Doomsday not as Tony Stark/Iron Man but as Doctor Doom. “We had been working on another project before Marvel approached all of us — so we’re working on another project with Robert — and there was a story that evolved through conversations that we got very excited about. Because it’s always got to be the story.”
He continued, “Why would we come back if we didn’t feel like we had a story that had a possibility of being on an equal footing with Infinity War and Endgame unless there’s a kernel there for an idea that’s really explosive?”
Avengers: Doomsday is presently scheduled to open in theaters on May 1, 2026. Avengers: Secret Wars is presently scheduled to follow on May 7, 2027.