Marvel’s Best Villain Has A Surprising Answer About His MCU Future, And It Could Mean a Secret Wars Return

There have been numerous villains throughout the MCU at this point, particularly when considering the myriad villains that have appeared within unique properties (from Spider-Man and Captain America movies to Iron Man, Thor, and beyond) in the MCU so far. Yet, there’s little doubt that the villains of the Avengers movies are among the most important and, arguably, the best in the franchise overall. With Loki in The Avengers, Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and, of course, Thanos in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, these villains are the ones that truly stick out. However, all three villains also seem to be truly gone (or, at least, no longer a threat). With Loki, the original version of the character that audiences knew died by Thanos’ hand in Infinity War, and the living version, the variant in the Loki show, is clearly not a villain anymore.

Ultron has also seemingly been neutralized, as the VisionQuest trailer suggests that, although he is returning, he won’t be doing so as a villain—that remains to be seen, though. Finally, Thanos has now died twice, both of which seemed like rather definitive deaths. First, at the beginning of Endgame, Thor decapitated Thanos after the remaining Avengers found him weakened after he’d used the Infinity Stones. At the end of the movie, Iron Man famously used his Nano Gauntlet to snap Thanos and his army out of existence. With two seemingly concrete conclusions for this character, it felt very unlikely that Thanos would or could ever return. However, Thanos actor Josh Brolin has recently given a surprising answer to a question about that very possibility, and now, there’s plenty of speculation that audiences could be seeing this character again—very soon, in fact.

Could Thanos Be Returning in Avengers: Secret Wars?

Although Thanos seems to be very dead in the MCU, the truth is, no one is ever really permanently gone in this franchise. That’s been proven time and again with characters who seemed to die (Loki multiple times, for example, or even Thanos himself already, in a sense) and then came back. However, just based on the sheer scale of the fight against Thanos and how significant this villain’s death was, it would be a shock if the MCU actually brought him back at this point. Nevertheless, Brolin has recently addressed that possibility and given an answer that makes Thanos’ return now appear to be well within the realm of possibility. According to Collider, when asked about whether he thinks Thanos could return, Brolin said, “I don’t know how to answer that question.”

Granted, Brolin’s response is far from confirmation that conversations have been had about Thanos’ potential return, and it’s possible that he’s just trying to toe the line of giving a definitive answer one way or another. Even so, Brolin’s avoidance of just saying Thanos is surely dead does raise serious questions about whether this may actually be on the table, and along with that comes the question of when he could possibly make his return. With Doctor Doom as the obvious villain of Avengers: Doomsday, it seems most likely that any potential return would be in Avengers: Secret Wars. With so little currently known about that story, there’s little reason to doubt that could be the case, although it will be quite some time before audiences learn if Thanos is indeed coming back.