'Guardians of the Galaxy' 2: Thanos Won't Have Big Role in Sequel, James Gunn Confirms

Days after Marvel Studios producer Kevin Feige teased that Thanos (played by Josh Brolin) wouldn't have a big role in the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel, Vol. 2, the film's director, James Gunn, has confirmed that the major villain won't be becoming a big part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a while.

According to Newsarama, the outspoken Marvel director took to Facebook to answer a few fan questions recently, and of course, the subject of the evil mastermind of the MCU came up, as Brolin's character only first spoke in the previous film.

"Thanos is not a big part of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," Gunn shared recently. "Although we're connected to the rest of the [Marvel cinematic] universe, and of course there's always a chance of the Guardians interacting with the rest of that universe, this movie isn't about leading up to that."

So it's still a bit unclear whether or not he'll be in the 2017 film at all, but if it were the case, we might just be looking at a mid or post-credits scene or just a tease of what's coming.

As Vulture reports, Feige had already advised fans not to "look too hard" in the film for the villain, teasing that Thanos' next appearance will be straight to business.

Thanos first appeared on the MCU in the mid-credits scene of 2012's The Avengers, when it was revealed that he had been the one who gave Loki (Tom Hiddleston) the scepter and the Chitauri army to conquer Earth for him.

Since that moment, the character appeared in the first Guardians film as well as the mid-credits scene of last year's Avengers: Age of Ultron. He's expected to be the major villain in Avengers: Infinity Wars, set to be released in two parts between 2018 and 2019.

In the comic books, Thanos is in love with the embodiment of death, Mistress Death (a character that has only been referenced in the films, though never explicitly), for whom he does every bit of evil, while he attempts to gather the Infinity Stones or Gems in the Infinity Gauntlet, which was first previewed in this year's mid-credits scene.