Major Avengers Villain Rumored for MCU Return

A major Avengers villain is rumored to be returning to the MCU in the near future.

In the 2012 Avengers movie, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes faced off against Loki. The 2015 sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron, saw them fight the titular artificial intelligence being, while Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame were largely about Josh Brolin’s Thanos.

While the Avengers are now about to face Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, a recent rumor suggests that Marvel may be bringing back a villain from the heroes’ past in the near future.

Which Avengers villain is rumored to be returning?

According to scooper MyTimeToShineHello, Brolin’s Thanos will be coming back to the MCU at some point in the future.

This comes after it was reported by scooper Daniel Richtman that Marvel has more plans for Ultron. It has already been confirmed that Ultron will appear in the Vision Quest show, though Richtman says the character will appear in the Marvel Studios projects beyond that.

“That’s the thing with comics the villains always come back,” MyTimeToShineHello wrote. “Also guess what, Thanos is coming back too!”

This is a rumor that should be taken with a grain of salt, as this has not been confirmed by Marvel or other outlets at this time; it is, however, notable given that MyTimeToShineHello is now doubling down on this claim. They wrote in 2024 that Thanos “will return, sooner than you think.”

Brolin said in October 2024 about potentially reprising the role, “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.”