Just from your own knowledge, before asking anyone else or looking it up on the internet, did you know who the guy in the ending “stinger” was?
I had no fucking clue who ANY of these people or things were, except Thor (and consequently Loki and Dr. Selvig) and Captain America (and consequently the tesseract) because I saw their individual movies, and Hulk because I remember his TV show.
I was pretty impressed by how well the movie got across to me considering how little I understood of its various backstories.
I still don’t know who the guy at the end was, I haven’t been through all the Avengers threads here and don’t remember everything that I did read. If anybody wants to let me know who he is so I know what to expect in the sequel, I’ll appreciate it.
No, never heard of him. Did some digging and Googling afterwards and found out more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanos
No idea. Zero.
Apparently, he’s a big villain in the comics and it’s a big deal that he was behind the stuff in the movie.
I wasn’t sure until Wesley said “to do that would be to court Death”…
Nah, I guess not. I thought it was the Super-Skrull.
(So why does Thanos look so much like the Super-Skrull, anyway?)
The “court Death” thing did it for me also. I wasn’t totally sure until I checked online afterwards, but I was pretty confident that it was him.
I’ve got a weird thing with images and representations of Death, so while I’m not a huge comics geek, I did know of Thanos and his continuing pursuit of Ms. Death.
I actually did think “Darkseid” at first. Second thought being: “Wait a minute… he’s a DC character… so who’s the Marvel guy who looks like Darkseid?” 
This is what I thought.
Of course I did. But I’ve been reading comics since 1973.
I did. But I was once a big fan of the Jim Starlin-era Warlock, so there you go.
Honestly, he’s probably the ONE villain Marvel fans are honestly scared of–and the whispered tones of “Thanos” from the comic geeks in the theater bear that out. It’s not just the raw power (though he does have plenty of that). The guy is a complete nihilist. He would just as soon destroy the universe as rule it. Top-tier power + honestly doesn’t give a damn = probably the most formidible character they could have gotten. Compared to this guy, Dr. Doom is Terra-Man.
I was all “Uh-oh! Uh-oh! It’s Thanos!”
And the only comic I’ve ever read with Thanos in it was the dreadful DC vs Marvel miniseries.
I recognized him…although it took a moment to register his skin was reddish, not green, since the aliens being Chitauri primed me to expect a Skrull…
Being a Marvel Zombie since 1980 when my Mom bought a six year old me a copy of Savage Sword of Conan and got me hooked on comics… I knew who he was from the “court Death” statement and recognized his face when he turned. Thanos… tier 1 power + insane… or rather more than sane if you like.
Michael Fassbender would make a pretty good Starfox!
Okay, not to distract anyone from the polling, but so, what’s this guy gonna do? I presume he was a set-up for a sequel where he’s going to be taking a more direct role in the villainy, right? If he’s all that powerful then why doesn’t he just destroy the universe and call it a day? [/annoying yapping from clueless comics non-reader]
Thanos doesn’t care about the fate of the universe. It’s fine where it is, but it could also be gone tomorrow. What he cares about is impressing and wooing Death, a female embodiment in the Marvel Universe. Unfortunately, she is not very clear on what she wants (death to all or a balance). Thanos is very powerful but not omnipotent. By collecting certain gems and assembling them in a special gauntlet, he can become omnipotent and theoretically worthy of Death.
Though I was a big Marvel comics fan from, say, 6th grade through high school, I hadn’t read any Marvel comics in about 30 years before seeing the movie. I didn’t recognize Thanos when I saw the movie, and only vaguely remembered him after I looked him up.
Wolverine, that is just one arc that Thanos was involved in. During an earlier storyline, Thanos sought omnipotence via the Cosmic Cube, which the film has renamed the “Tesseract”. I should expect this storyline to be the backbone of Avengers 2.
I do doubt that there will be another intermediary used. Once you’ve invoked Thanos, you don’t go back. Or, as Leo Durocher once said, “Never save your best pitcher for tomorrow. Tomorrow it might rain.”