Here’s How Thanos Was Created for ‘Avengers: Infinity War’

Despite being fully computer generated by visual effects teams, Josh Brolin‘s performance as Thanos was one of the most entertaining parts of Avengers: Infinity War.

Now a new report from SlashFilm reveals how it all came together, as they were fortunate enough to explore the visual effects house of Digital Domain to find out how the artists crafted the Mad Titan’s journey to obtain the Infinity Stones. Check it out in the video player above.

Marvel Studios released their own featurette but it’s not as detailed, though it does include Brolin and some of the other creative heads behind Avengers: Infinity War.

“Thanos is a very complex character,” Brolin said. “What he’s doing, from his point of view, is a very positive thing.”

“We wanted to tell a story about a character with a really complex and empathetic interior life,” co-director Anthony Russo added. “There’s not a lot of actors who can give you both of those things. Josh Brolin brings a reality to the character.”

The directors have spoken at length about Thanos and Brolin’s portrayal, praising the nuance he brought to the character despite all of the CG work.

“I think Thanos is a marvel,” Joe Russo said previously to IndieWire. “It really reflects every level of nuance in Josh Brolin’s performance. You’re watching Josh as a giant, purple alien, and you’re seeing all of his movement, all of his facial expressions, on the most subtle level. I don’t know that we’ve seen that level of photo-real performance capture before. Maybe in the Apes films, but this is really groundbreaking.”

“Even though he’s despicable on so many levels, there’s a part of Thanos that is very empathetic,” said Anthony. “He has a very complex inner life, and he’s not all bad. Josh is a performer who’s capable of delivering that kind of complexity, where you have that level of violence in him, but at the same time you have that level of sensitivity.”

Avengers: Infinity War is now available on Blur-ray, DVD, and digital HD.