Avengers: Infinity War: Marvel wants to do Thanos well

Is Kevin Feige reassuring fans, hyping them up or just covering what may or may not be a less than stellar villain in Thanos for Avengers: Infinity War?

Not to be judgmental or anything, but suffice it to say that you should not be shocked that Thanos is one of Culturess’ five things that could cause Avengers: Infinity War to be great … or not-so-great. Not to say that we totally influenced Kevin Feige to say these kinds of things, but we take this more as a sign that we’re not the only ones who are more than a little worried about the big purple guy. (Okay, we’re worried about the big green guy too, but that’s because we actually like Bruce Banner, and he’s suffered enough.)

Both CBR and io9 have picked up the same comments, quoting Feige as saying: “We’ve been teasing him for years and the trick is when you tease something for that long you have to deliver.”

Yeah, you really do have to deliver. Looking at you, The Last Jedi. But that’s for another time.

What Marvel, in general, does well is its ability to build things together — to lay groundwork to justify appearances later and link together all its many superheroes. And even Feige points out in his comments that the films have been doing that legwork for quite some time.

But to also call Thanos the “the biggest and baddest villain in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe” and promise that “people will understand why,” months before the film even drops and after just one trailer?

Next: 5 things standing between Avengers: Infinity War and total failure

That seems to venture a little into hubris or over-hype. Let’s get through Black Panther before we start thinking too much about Infinity War … oh, who are we kidding, we can think about two things at once, especially for Marvel.