In less than four months we’ll see Earth's Mightiest Heroes take on their first big villain since Thanos in Avengers: Doomsday. While we wait for the latest of new Marvel movies, it’s definitely worth looking back at what made the last two Avengers films great: its villain. And the movies’ co-director Joe Russo recently compared him to another famous big bad I wouldn’t have thought of myself.
Thanos has definitely done the most damage in the MCU considering he snapped half of the universe from existence. He had the Avengers defeated for five years before those who were left were able to come together and reverse what he did. When looking back at the evildoer to CBR, Russo said this:
I think Brolin is as scary in this movie as Anton Chigurh, right? Like, he is a Coen Brothers-level villain.
Whoa, what a statement! Anton Chigurh is Javier Bardem’s character in 2007’s No Country For Old Men, which is based on the novel of the same name. And you know what, I see it.
Anton Chigurh is characterized as a man who’s especially chilling to us because he’s someone who doesn’t feel remorse or compassion. And as a hitman, he’ll pretty much kill anyone who stands in the way of him. He’s a total psychopath. The villain was actually named one the best movie characters of all time (via Empire) last year.
Thanos’ mission of killing half the population in the universe due to his experiences on Titan. His failure to see how much pain and death he inflicts because of it is very Anton Chigurh. I think because the movies are in completely different genres, I wouldn’t have thought of the connection. But funny enough, there is one: Josh Brolin’s character of Llewelyn Moss is obviously the main protagonist of No Country For Old Men.
When it comes to Brolin taking on Thanos, it looks very different on set than on the big screen. As the actor said it before, he’s in a “fucking onesie” when he plays the role and really has to “rely on your imagination.” Here’s what Robert Downey Jr. said about getting to work with the actor as Thanos:
Well, it’s amazing too, and we had it with Spader on Ultron, so there had been enough of a dry run to really see… but you gotta have a great actor. Sometimes having a great actor won’t translate to having a great character by the time it's rendered and all that. And this time everybody knew.
What a great compliment to Brolin, who was fantastic as Thanos in the MCU. You can watch all the Avengers movies right now with a Disney+ subscription, and see Avengers: Endgame back on the big screen starting September 25, 2026. Downey has quite the act to follow as he takes on the next villain role of Doctor Doom, but something tells me he’s going to deliver.
