‘Avengers’ Flashback Photo Reveals Original Thanos

An old photo of the original design for a practical live-action Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been revealed.

In the post-credits scene from Marvel’s The Avengers in 2012, the Mad Titan made his debut when he was revealed to be behind Loki’s army in the Battle of New York. At the time, the character was fully practical, before being computerized in Guardians of the Galaxy and, later, Avengers: Infinity War.

Check out a photo of the Thanos make-up from The Avengers in a post from Iron Head Studio below!

“Flashback to a day on set for The Avengers circa 2011,” the post reads. “Jose was hired to design and sculpt this makeup to be applied to actor Damion Poitier, who portrayed Thanos in the post-credits scene. Although Thanos ended up getting a digital sheen for the film and eventually became fully digitally rendered in Avengers: Infinity War, Jose still has a soft spot for this practical makeup design. The appliances were painted and applied by Thom Floutz.”

In fact, the photo above was taken long before Josh Brolin was cast as Thanos. Though Avengers: Infinity War did not have Thanos’ name in its title, the film was very much the Mad Titan’s movie.

“We always knew that that would be the most profound or some of the most profound beats of the film,” Avengers: Infinity War co-director Joe Russo told ComicBook.com. “We wanted the story, Thanos, even though he’s the villain, to follow the traditional arc of hero beats. In that you have to follow through with what he did and carry him to the ending, self-satisfied, sitting on his porch, feeling the weight of what he’s done in order for him to have the completion. That’s how it wraps up for us and that’s why we say it’s a self-contained story and that there is an ending, it’s just not the ending that you’re used to. And Thanos, if you track all his major beats, they tell a complete story.”

Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, Avengers 4 on May 3, 2019, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019.