Official Image Of Josh Brolin As Thanos In 'Guardians Of The Galaxy'

When Josh Brolin took the stage at San Diego Comic-Con wearing an Infinity Gauntlet, it wasn't a surprise. Though Marvel had been very coy as to the identity of the actor who now plays the "mad titan" Thanos, the news broke a few months earlier. Plus, once you see Guardians of the Galaxy, he's right there on screen, pulling the strings. Thanos doesn't have a big role in this film, but he will moving ahead, which is why Marvel cast an actor like Brolin.

With Guardians of the Galaxy now in theaters, Marvel has finally released an official image of Brolin as Thanos. It's a character you're sure to become very familiar with as the Marvel Cinematic Universe transitions into Phase Three in 2015. Check out the Josh Brolin Thanos photo below.

Here's our first official look at Josh Brolin as Thanos. Click to blow it up.

Josh Brolin Thanos

Josh Brolin Thanos

When we spoke to Gunn, he described a bit of the process behind Brolin's work:

Thanos is actually modeled on Josh. The character, if you can look at him, he looks like Josh. We motion captured Josh for the dialogue and everything.

And if you're wondering why you're just seeing this now, Kevin Feige told us about the secrecy behind the casting and character:

Well I don't know if it's super secretive. I mean, often I don't think there's a reason to put out any sort of big press release for each and everything we do and every little move we make. And also in the overall context. So in other words, if we put Thanos in the middle of marketing for Guardians of the Galaxy, I don't know if it'd make a lick of difference in terms of who goes to see the movie.

In fact we take away from [the characters] we actually are advertising. So that wasn't a strategy of any kind. It was just, you know, it was something in the body of the film that hopefully within the context of the film, even if you don't know who he is, makes some sense as an over guy to Ronan, giving Ronan something [SPOILER REMOVED]. But we didn't say don't use any advertisements.

It's not a spoiler to say Thanos survives Guardians of the Galaxy and will likely wreak havoc on the team, and maybe the Avengers, in the next 3-4 years. And Josh Brolin will be the mad at the center of it. What do you think of the Josh Brolin Thanos look?