Squid Game Creator Explains Why Season 2’s Most Controversial Player Shares Name With Marvel Villain

Squid Game Season 2 has been taking over the world ever since it debuted with Netflix last year, and the creator behind it all opened up about why the new season’s most controversial new character is named after a Marvel villain. Squid Game Season 2 has been breaking records with the streaming service since its debut in December, and it’s no secret as to why as the season introduces fans to a whole new group of characters competing in deadly games to win a massive prize. But Thanos the rapper has been standing out from the pack for a number of different reasons.

Squid Game Season 2 fans introduces a rapper who has named himself Thanos. He’s not only inspired by the famous Marvel villain as he sports purple hair, but even painted his nails to boast his own version of the Infinity Stones. Speaking to Netflix, Squid Game series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk explained that Thanos being named after a Marvel villain was a way to help fans around the world be drawn to the character. He was specifically designed for for worldwide appeal.

Why Squid Game’s Thanos Is Named After a Marvel Villain

As Squid Game series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk points out about the character, “The reason I named the character Thanos… It doesn’t really suit a rapper as a name, was to design him to be a character fans worldwide could love. But I am so grateful he is getting this much love.” As for the response to the character, it seems this appeal has worked as Thanos has been hailed as one of the big standouts from the new season. He’s outwardly different from anything that was seen in the first season, and the offers a chaotic presence to make the second season that much more of a tumultuous experience overall.

Thanos plays a key role in the new season as a direct antagonist that creates some chaotic moments that shake up the other characters. It’s a personality type that fans had not seen in Squid Game before, and is one that leads towards a certain conclusion that we find at the end of the season. Heading into Squid Game Season 3 later this year without this chaotic presence means things are about to get a lot more serious before the Netflix series comes to an end completely.

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Squid Game’s Thanos Has Been Facing a Backlash

There has been controversy for Thanos behind the scenes as well. Actor Choi Seung-hyun was arrested for marijuana use in 2017, and Squid Game’s creator opened up to People about Choi taking on such a big role after a lengthy hiatus from the entertainment industry, “As you may know, the actor Seung-hyun, about nine years ago got involved in a marijuana scandal in Korea and wasn’t able to do any projects for the past nine years in Korea,” the creator noted. “And so this is a comeback after quite a long hiatus, and particularly because he portrays a character that’s a rapper and also someone who is on drugs.”

In elaborating further, Hwang noted how it was brave for the Thanos star to take on such a role too, “I feel that it took him a lot of guts, in a way, to portray a character, especially someone who shares a lot of similarities that are quite negative to him as a person too,” Hwang stated. “So I think it took him a lot of courage to take on that role. Despite the long hiatus, I have to say, as a director, he performed very impressively and I’m very satisfied with what he did with the character.”