Josh Brolin's villain Thanos is going to have a massive role in the oncoming Avengers: Infinity War – indeed, the biggest role among its massive cast. But what's his deal?

It's already been revealed that he wants to use the six Infinity Stones to eradicate half of all life in the universe, and recently directors Anthony and Joe Russo explained exactly why that is.

"Thanos is this virtually indestructible character who's stronger than the Hulk, and has invincible skin," Joe Russo told The Telegraph India. "He's from a planet called Titan.

Marvel Studios

"Many years prior to the film his planet was experiencing a cataclysmic shift. They were running out of resources, and they were overpopulated. Thanos made a recommendation that they exterminate half the population randomly in order to save the rest of the population. Of course, the Titans rejected his notion, branded him a mad man, exiled him, and the planet ended up dying.

"So he has taken it upon himself to go planet-by-planet throughout the universe and wipe out half of the population of each planet as a way to correct the planet and bring it back into balance."

As previously revealed by Zoe Saldana's Gamora in the Infinity War trailer, Thanos realises that the Infinity Stones will allow him to achieve his goal instantly, saving him from having to trundle from planet to planet and faffing around with all that messy killing.

'Killing half the universe' seems like an overly simple (if completely sociopathic) solution to a complex problem like intergalactic sustainability, but what do we know?

Hopefully the Russos have found a way to make this plot seem more reasonable than it sounds, considering that the film is told from Thanos's viewpoint and we are supposed to identify with him on some level.

It isn't long until we find out, as Avengers: Infinity War is out on April 26 in the UK and April 27 in the US.

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