Netflix‘s Squid Game has found its own agent of chaos, and he’s sporting purple hair in homage to the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s most notorious villain. The second season of the hit Korean series introduces Player 230, a flamboyant rapper who calls himself Thanos, complete with fingernails painted to match the colors of the Infinity Stones. Played by K-pop star T.O.P. (Choi Seung-hyun), this unhinged contestant brings an electric energy to the deadly competition series.
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Unlike Josh Brolin’s universe-destroying titan, Squid Games’ Thanos earned his moniker through his musical prowess, boasting that his “raps could kill half of the people on the planet.” The character arrives in the game after losing his fortune to a cryptocurrency scam orchestrated by financial YouTuber “Amazing Myung-gi” (Yim Si-wan), who also finds himself competing in the games.
T.O.P.’s portrayal stands out for its manic intensity. His Thanos navigates the lethal games with an unsettling combination of drug-fueled bravado and malicious intent, “often dancing, cheering and hitting on young women as the players around him cower for their lives.” The character is never seen without his massive cross necklace, which contains an assortment of party drugs. The casting of T.O.P. also adds another layer of authenticity to the role. As a former member of BigBang, one of K-pop’s most influential groups – once called the “Kings of K-pop” and the first Korean artists added to Forbes’ Celebrity 100 list in 2016 – he brings real-world star power to the character. He also took playing his role very seriously.
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“It was a moment for him to reflect on his career and his life in the music industry,” executive producer Kim Ji-yeonso told TheWrap. “T.O.P. was very serious about his approach, and he had already shown his talent in previous work. So we just it was a good match for this role.”
The role marks T.O.P.’s return to acting after a seven-year hiatus, following his last appearance in the 2017 German-Chinese thriller Out of Control. His previous performances earned significant acclaim, including Best New Actor at the 2010 Blue Dragon Film Awards and the 2011 Baeksang Arts Awards for his work in the Korean war film 71: Into the Fire.
Series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk conceived the character before T.O.P. was cast, crafting an antagonist who would bring an unprecedented level of chaos to the games. This is particularly evident in the Red Light, Green Light sequence, where Thanos’s actions directly lead to multiple player deaths.
In a nod to the show’s meta-referential nature, this also isn’t the first time “Squid Game” has played with real-world connections. Season 1 of the hit series featured a contestant discussing Korean actor Lee Byung Hun, who was actually playing the masked Front Man managing the games. As Squid Game continues its exploration of human nature under extreme circumstances, Thanos represents a new kind of threat – one who treats the deadly competition as his personal playground, bringing Marvel-inspired mayhem to an already lethal game.
Squid Game Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.
