Comics
Josh Brolin On Thanos’ Love of Death and Future Cameos
One of the coolest character arcs in Marvel’s “Infinity Gauntlet” miniseries was Thanos’ obsession with Death, and how it eventually lead to his defeat.
Thanos has been teased, twice now, in Marvel’s feature film adaptations. With his latest appearance in this summer’s Guardians of the Galaxy, press is starting to feel the presence of the “Gauntlet”, and has starting bugging Josh Brolin about playing the iconic character.
With Sin City: A Dame to Kill For just weeks away, IGN caught up with Brolin who talked about how he landed the role (you can read that at the aforementioned link), and what we can expect from Death (who is a female character in the books).
“His relationship with Death, who is actually the woman, I love that,” Brolin enthused. “You can take Sin City [in which Brolin plays a man obsessed with a dark-hearted woman] and pump it full of steroids, and then you have Thanos. I like that he’s motivated by that — not just motivated by destruction or death or this or that. He’s motivated by a very identifiable, human trait.”
He also talked about some weird rivalry he built with Robert Downey Jr. that started at the Comic-Con. It would be nice to see Thanos get a bit more personality and character development, instead of being just a brute.
“Not that I’m ever 100-percent sure, but we had constructed this small thing, Kevin Feige and I and Robert, and going on-stage at Comic-Con. Then it became something else. Once I got on-stage, it sort of became its own improv. I knew at that point, because I saw the rivalry between Robert [Downey Jr.] and I, and I thought, ‘I get this. I suddenly really get it.’ So I feel like I’m more inside it than I was. It was more a display to me before that. It was more cosmetic. Now I think I’m starting to get who the guy is a little bit.”
And not that we were’t expecting another cameo leading up to the big war, Brolin confirms this:
“I know what one appearance is going to be for sure. There’s one or two that I don’t know.”
We won’t see the “Gauntlet” story until at least the third Avengers, but it’s nice to feel the anticipation building and building. I’ll explode by the time Avengers 3 comes out.
The supernatural world of Korean folk horror movie Exhuma grows larger with the arrival of prequel spinoff webtoon Maengjong this weekend, Variety reports today.
Naver Webtoon debuts Maengjong on May 30.
The series hails from Haemuri (Olgami) and will trace the high school origins of how shaman duo Hwarim and Bonggil, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun in the 2024 film, came together to face occultish threats.
The story is set to begin when “Hwarim, who has been concealing her identity following a childhood encounter with a snake spirit called Jin, crosses paths with Bonggil at their school.”
Variety notes that Exhuma director Jang Jae-hyun participated in the project’s early concept stage.
“We are presenting ‘Maengjong,’ a new series capturing the appeal of the horror-occult genre, ahead of the full summer season,” said Lee Jeong-geun, Naver Webtoon’s Korea webtoon content leader. “With the high school story of Hwarim and Bonggil, who left a strong impression in the film ‘Exhuma,’ enhanced by Haemuri’s characteristic tense direction, we expect it will be a welcome work for genre fans.”
“It is meaningful that the spin-off story of ‘Exhuma,’ loved by many audiences, expands by meeting the new grammar of webtoon,” said Lee Hyeon-jeong, managing director of the film business division at Showbox, which distributed the film. “We hope it will be a fresh experience for both film fans and webtoon readers.”
Exhuma was a breakout hit in 2024, becoming the first Korean occult film to surpass 10 million ticket buyers and the country’s highest-grossing film of the year. I wrote in my review that “the intricately woven Exhuma delivers one of the year’s biggest surprises in horror so far.”
The bond between Hwarim and Bonggil was one of the film’s highlights, making this prequel webtoon a must for fans.
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