Whether it’s a marvel of modern movies or the curse of current cinema, it’s always surprising to learn how little or how much actors know about what happens to their characters. Take Josh Brolin, for example.
His Mad Titan, Thanos, has had a ten-year-long introduction into the MCU and stands as arguably its finest villain. But Brolin knew next to nothing of the deaths his character would cause in Avengers: Infinity War. Whilst on the promotional rounds for his role in Sicario: Day of the Soldado, the actor revealed to USA Today that he only discovered that his snap of the fingers killed off half of our heroes when he sat with Chris Hemsworth and watched the film.
“I was literally sitting in the theater going, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God. Spider-Man just disintegrated. That’s not OK,’ I looked at Hemsworth and he looked at me. He smiled and was like, ‘Your career is over.'”
The death that couldn’t be kept from him, of course, was that of the God of Mischief, Loki. That’s because he snapped his neck with his bare hands, which is pretty difficult to forget, as Brolin explains.
“He had been with that character for so long. And he’s so lauded for doing it. Tom was so vulnerable at that moment. So choking him out wasn’t the most fun thing I have ever done.”
Having said that, the actor thrives on the way his actions have divided the legions of Marvel fans. There are those who are actually ecstatic to finally see a villain who poses a threat to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, but then there are those who throw so much hate at him you’d think he appeared in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
“On Instagram people are posting things like, ‘I hate you.’ That’s fantastic. I’m, like, the one guy who smiles when he sees that. It’s like, ‘It worked,'” he admitted.
Whether you love him or loathe him, Thanos is still smashing through theaters as Avengers: Infinity War continues to rack up box office records, and with Ant-Man and the Wasp set to arrive next week, fans are in for what’s perhaps the perfect palette cleanser following the Mad Titan’s actions.