Marvel has the market cornered on post-credits sequences consisting of smirking villains only die-hard fanboys will recognize on sight, and the most prominent of these was the emergence of Thanos at the end of The Avengers. His arrival was a pretty big deal and signified something major down the line, so big that the story will build beyond Avengers: Age of Ultron and likely through to The Avengers 3. The next step in Thanos' plan will be seen in Guardians of the Galaxy, and now we have more information on just how much he will factor into the story. Spoilers beyond this point, folks.
With Josh Brolin now set to voice the Mad Titan Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vulture is spilling what they know about what the villain will be doing in the film. He won't be popping up in another secret credits scene, rather he'll appear in holographic form right from the start and will be as such through the majority of the film. The primary villains of the story will be his lieutenants, Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) who will be following his orders and likely trying to acquire the gems to Thanos' most powerful weapon, the Infinity Gauntlet. We'll see at least one more of the gems, probably the one gained by The Collector (Benicio Del Toro) at the end of Thor: The Dark World. As we've talked about numerous times before, the Gauntlet is on Asgard right now in Odin's care. Because most of the Guardians team have ties to Thanos, some familial like Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and others like Drax (Dave Bautista) seeking revenge, the villain is mentioned frequently throughout.
And all of this should lead quite nicely to one epic showdown in the third Avengers, meaning Guardians of the Galaxy is far more important than Marvel has been letting on up to this point.
