For those of you who were a tad upset when Ultron, and not Thanos, was mentioned as the villain of Avengers 2, Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige has heard your concerns:
I think someone on the Guardians Of The Galaxy panel let loose that Thanos is a part of the movie, which he is. Thanos plays a part in Guardians as a mastermind. He very much exists at nearly another plane than any of the other characters. And we have big plans for him, over the course of a long, long time… We saw him smirking at us at the end of the first Avengers and the next time we’ll see him is in Guardians.
That’s a quote from Feige from a quick interview with IGN during the San Diego Comic Con, putting a lot of the fans’ fears to rest that we won’t have to wait all that long to see the purple-hued villain.
Of course, this makes sense. If you are setting up Thanos as the big bad guy for Avengers 3, which could very well be the last installment of that franchise, you are not going to put him on the shelf for five years. It also makes sense that if you establish a bad guy who lives in outer space, and you have a film set in outer space then the bad guy should be in that film.
Furthermore, I get the impression that Thanos will be popping up in other films in Phase II and Phase III, which makes me wonder where he’d fit in in the rumored Doctor Strange and Black Panther films. I have the feeling that, depending on grosses, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 might be in the mix for Phase III now.
Feige goes on to speak about Loki and his role in the Marvel universe and if there is any chance of him being reformed. His deft avoidance of the question leads me to believe that the character will be making a further appearance in the future Phases as well.
