Rumor: 'The Avengers' Has Another Villain

The Avengers is shooting now, and we know a few things about the film. The official roster of heroes has been known since Comic Con last year (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Nick Fury, and the Hulk) and we know that Loki (Tom Hiddleston), adopted brother of Thor, will be one of the prime antagonists. There's a bit more that we know, but I'll keep that after the break. for those who would rather not be spoiled this early. And now there is a report that confirms some suspicion that arose last summer about another character that could be making trouble for Earth and The Avengers.

OK, so the further background is that Loki uses the Cosmic Cube (or Tesseract, as it is called in one instance) that the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) digs up in Captain America: The First Avenger to bring an alien race called the Skrulls to earth.

Now Latino Review says that there is another villain: Thanos, a long-running Marvel Comics bad guy. If accurate, this would confirm some speculation that arose last year when Marvel showed off a prop version of the Infinity Gauntlet at Comic Con. That item was also seen very briefly in Thor. I'm going to blockquote Adam here, because when he covered the prop's reveal at Comic Con last year, he said everything that needs to be said:

I'm gonna call it right now and predict that, assuming Marvel is sticking the mythology of the comics, this reveal of the Infinity Gauntlet is evidence that either Loki (Thor's arch nemesis) or Thanos (a mutant member of the race of superhumans known as the Titanian Eternals) will be the central villain of The Avengers. In the Marvel comics, Loki attempts to harness the power of the Infinity Gauntlet by stealing the Infinity Gems, and also pursues the Cosmic Cube, which was featured in the Captain America Comic-Con footage. Thanos is also a possibility, as he too sought after the Cosmic Cube, and more importantly, is the creator of the Infinity Gauntlet.

The Latino Review report seems to suggest that Thanos wouldn't have a huge part in the movie — could he appear to set up an even larger-scale conflict that would power a sequel?