1. What About This Thanos Fella?
Marvel ComicsThe post-credits scene of the Avengers movie left a lot of people confused. What was this teasing about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Are we expected to know what this means? We don't even have chicken shawarma over here, so far as we know. It's certainly not as popular. And if that wasn't enough, patient audience members were then "rewarded" for staying at their screens far longer than the poor kid who has to sweep up all the spilled popcorn and seed wanted them to with...some big purple guy grinning. Is that it? Who even is that? What has that got to do with anything? And what's all this Infinity Gems nonsense we got palmed off with at the end of Thor: The Dark World? Is that the same thing? Well, yeah, actually. Firstly, though, the purple guy: ruiner of Drax's life, adoptive father of Gamora, perpetual thorn in the Guardians' side and a constant threat to the Marvel Universe as a whole, Thanos is the Big Bad of the Guardians Of The Galaxy film, so far as we can tell. Josh Brolin has been cast as "playing" the character in the Marvel films, so we're expecting him to not so much be appearing as a villain but more operating all the shady business from behind the scenes, as is his want in the comics. Born on Saturn's moon Titan, the child of two super-powerful aliens, Thanos is a grade-A jerk who wants nothing more than to completely wipe out all life in the universe. Which he does because he's in love with Death who, yes, is a Grim Reaper-style literal embodiment of the absence of life, and wants to impress her. Comic books are pretty amazing sometimes. Sometimes he does this the old fashioned way, travelling about the place and mucking in by wiping out civilisations personally, as was the case with Drax and Gamora's people. Getting a bit impatient, though, Thanos then sought out the Infinity Gems, which would give him power of the whole of reality. In the Infinity Gauntlet miniseries from a while back he used this power to wipe out half of the universe - and half the superheroes in existence - before, obviously, good trimuphed over his supreme evil. In summation, then, Thanos is probably the biggest threat that has cropped up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and he's most likely going to be causing trouble for the Guardians Of The Galaxy. Considering how many members of the team have a history with the purple-faced giant, we expect it might get personal. At least involve a lot of explosions. And hopefully some Blue Swede, too.