The test involved three or four shots of Josh Brolin that were filmed with the actor talking to the directors. This early commitment by Marvel was pivotal in the way Josh Brolin would play Thanos. As a result they engaged Digital Domain three or four months before the shoot to do extensive testing and development. Marvel was very aware from the start of this film that with over 40 minutes of Thanos on screen, if the character did not work, the film would not work. VFX Supervisor Kelly Port headed the Digital Domain team who developed the new face pipeline for Avengers: Infinity War. They were joined by Weta who handled the major fight on Titan between Thanos and Dr Strange, Star-lord, Spiderman, Mantus, Drax and Ironman. In the film, the Thanos character was primarily produced by Digital Domain, who did 400+ shots. One of the main reasons Brolin could deliver such a subtle and measured performance is that he saw the first complex Thanos test from Digital Domain at the start of principle photography (see below) and recognised how well the process could work in maintaining the subtlety of his performance throughout the pipeline.

Instead, we see Thanos as a complex character with a nuanced performance based on the acting of Josh Brolin. In Avengers Infinity War, Thanos is a character that is far from a typical pantomime cartoon villain. Often, the plot provides little in motivation and the character, in turn is rarely seen with any subtlety. It is not uncommon for villains to be criticized as one dimensional or lacking motivation. One of the most remarkable aspects of the latest Avengers film is how much focus, screen time and empathy there is for the film’s antagonist Thanos.

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