Dread it. Run from it. King Thanos is coming, and Josh Brolin's Marvel Studios return may be equally inevitable.
In 2022, Disney and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige announced King Thanos was coming to Disneyland's Avengers Campus for a Multiversal attraction featuring a successful Mad Titan and a staggering roster of MCU heroes.
Following Thanos star Josh Brolin's rather intriguing comeback comments, Disney delivered an equally exciting King Thanos update adding further fuel to Avengers: Secret Wars speculation.
Disney Announces King Thanos 2025 Start Date
Following the D23 reveal that Avengers Campus' King Thanos ride will be called Avengers: Infinity Defense, Disney announced preparations for the land's expansion are about to get underway.
According to the Disney Parks Blog, the last day park guests can ride Disney California Adventure's Red Car Trolley is February 8, all due to Avengers Campus upcoming 2025 construction.
In sharing further details about the attraction at D23, Disney revealed new concept art showing King Thanos, the Avengers, and guests battling at familiar MCU locations, including New York City, Asgard, and Wakanda.
However, Infinity Defense isn't the only new attraction coming to Avengers Campus.
Stark Flight Lab, and which also features the talents of Tony Stark's Robert Downey Jr., is being constructed next door.
Since Thanos is the headliner star of Avengers: Infinity Defense, Josh Brolin may be already committed to the project.
And, since Marvel stars often film and record dialogue for Disney Park experiences while filming Marvel Studios projects, he may be doing just that (along with other MCU stars) on the set of the Russo Brothers' Avengers: Secret Wars.
Disneyland's Infinity Defense construction update actually followed Brolin's own New York Comic Con comments to Collider where he discussed a possible reprisal.
According to Brolin, bringing back Thanos "has to be right" but he would do "anything that the Russos wanted me to do:"
"I’m not kidding — There’s a thing with playing Thanos. It’s like, ‘Oh, they’re gonna bring Thanos back.’ It’s like Sicario; it has to be right. It’s like Ryan Reynolds and I talking about Taylor Swift and we should be talking about Deadpool 4. But we go back and forth. Again, it’s what in his mind fits, what in my mind fits. Thanos has to fit if you’re going to bring him back. I would do anything that the Russos wanted me to do."
As for Joe and Anthony Russo, they're seemingly collecting MCU veterans like Infinity Stones with Robert Downey Jr, Hayley Atwell, and Chris Evans already expected to return for Avengers: Doomsday, the film expected to lead to Secret Wars.
When asked directly if he's been contacted for a comeback, Brolin wouldn't confirm or deny. His only response? A potentially telling cough.
Why Thanos Works for Marvel's New Ensemble Projects
In terms of Disney's Avengers: Infinity Defense, King Thanos works because he isn't the same baddie from the films but rather a Variant who's wreaking havoc across the Multiverse.
Since Marvel Disney Park experiences exist in their own timeline, but one that "mirrors" the on-screen MCU, there's character crossovers, clashes, and team-ups that canon wouldn't normally allow.
As for Avengers: Secret Wars, however, Josh Brolin's possible return as Thanos may raise a few eyebrows, especially since the MCU is already setting up Galactus and RDJ's Doctor Doom as the new big bads.
Still, bringing Brolin back could serve two purposes with the first being an alternative, heroic version of Thanos.
If Robert Downey Jr. is playing a villain (and Chris Evans isn't exactly the Captain America fans remember), why not let Josh Brolin put a new spin on the purple Titan, similiar to the rehabilitated Ravager Thanos from What If...?
The second purpose could be to adapt the comic book Secret Wars storyline from 2015 where Thanos arises to challenge Doctor Doom's control of Battleworld.
While only time will tell, it's tough to imagine that a comic-inspired battle, that's also an Endgame rematch between Thanos and RDJ, wouldn't fit Josh Brolin's requirement of the baddie having "to fit if you're going to bring him back."
Marvel fans should expect to hear more about Avengers Campus' King Thanos as construction gets underway in 2025, and possibly confirmation of Brolin's return as Marvel Studios continues to lay the groundwork for Doomsday and Secret Wars.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters on May 1, 2026; Avengers: Secret Wars is set to debut May 7, 2027. Avengers: Infinity Defense has yet to receive an opening date.
