Avengers: Infinity War - 10 Things We Learned From EW's Cover Story

2. Thanos' Motivation And Backstory

In the comics, Thanos gathers the Infinity Stones as a means of wooing Death herself but, despite rumours of Eva Green being cast as Lady Death, the Mad Titan will have a different motivation in the movie, and like all megalomaniacal villains, actually sees himself as doing the right thing. Kevin Feige told EW:

“He’s from a planet called Titan that’s no longer inhabited because of things that he thought he could help prevent, and he was not allowed to do that. What he feared most happened, and the planet and everybody on it basically went extinct. He vowed not to let that happen again. He thinks he sees the universe going down the tubes. He thinks he sees life expanding outward unchecked. That will bring ruin, he believes, to the universe and to that life.”

That brings more complexity to Thanos than has previously been hinted at, which is important for the villain's success, especially coming after Killmonger. Hopefully that is something that plays out in the movie too, and can be achieved by Josh Brolin through the layers of CGI. And while the character isn't courting Death, he's still causing carnage, with Titan revealed to be the mysterious orange planet we've seen before - and there's a nice image of Thanos bringing a moon down on his enemies. And that's with just two Stones.