Avengers: Infinity War Concept Art Reveals Young Thanos at 13, 17 and 22 Years Old

Marvel Studios has been reveled a whole new wave of deleted scene material and conceptual art for its epic two-part “Infinity Saga” climax, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Even though both films have been out of theaters for awhile, the new insights about what could’ve been has definitely gotten Marvel fans buzzing again. Of course, one of the biggest things that Infinity War and Endgame introduced was the full-fledged version of Josh Brolin’s Thanos – and as new concept has revealed, Thanos’ story in Avengers 3 & 4 was a lot more intricate and extensive in earlier versions of both films.

Case in point: take a look at concept art of what a younger Thanos would’ve looked like in Avengers: Infinity War!

Artist Ryan Meinerding shared this concept art on his Instagram. It depicts Thanos at ages 13, 17, 22, and the current adult version we meet in Infinity War. As Meinerding himself describes it:

“Thanos age progression! This was done when we were going to show more of his backstory in the film. The ages are meant to be how old the audience would see him, not how old he actually is. So much fun working on this guy for the Russo Brothers! #thanos” —Ryan Meinerding

These different conceptions of The Mad Titan would’ve gone hand-in-hand with Infinity War and/or Endgame‘s more extensive backstory for Thanos and Titan, which was originally part of the narrative. In fact, the sequence with that would’ve featured the “Young Thanos” seen above was also going to feature The Mad Titan’s entire family, and detail what happened to/between them when Titan finally fell. If you haven’t checked out the Thanos family concept art yet, make that your next stop.

At this point, it’s hard to see how or where Thanos’ larger backstory could’ve fit into either Infinity War or Endgame, which is why most fans easily accept that omission. Judging from the material we’ve seen, though, getting Thanos’ backstory in some other format (animated short, live-action minseries, etc.) would be something that a whole lot of Marvel Cinematic Universe fans would be happy to check out.

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Spider-Man 3 on July 16, 2021, What If…? in Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022. Marvel Studios Disney+ series without release dates include Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk.