Is “Avengers: Age of Ultron” adding yet another character to its already bloated cast? According to new reports, a previously teased Marvel villain may join Ultron (James Spader) – the Mad Titan Thanos (Josh Brolin).

For those who aren’t familiar, Thanos was the villain teased in the post-credits tag at the end of the first “Avengers” movie in 2012. Since then, he’s solidified himself within the canon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with a small appearance in “Guardians of the Galaxy” where Brolin stepped in to do voice over and motion capture.

Now, according to a post on the forum for SuperHeroHype, a user claims that he or she has gotten his or her hands on the official cast list for the Hungarian cut of the movie. The list, which has since been removed at the request of the website, reportedly included Brolin’s name. It’s worth mentioning that a post from an anonymous user on a forum isn’t exactly confirmation of anything. However, as CinemaBlend notes, this would mean that “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is going to start laying the groundwork for the “Avengers: Infinity War” two-parter coming in 2018 and 2019.

There’s no telling exactly how much of a role Thanos would play in the upcoming sequel, but odds are good his role would be very limited as Whedon’s epic has already got an entire team of super heroes, complex new villains and a handful of brand new characters. It’s possible he’ll simply appear the way he did in the first “Avengers,” as a post-credits teaser for the next films.

Speaking of post-credits scenes, earlier this week Joss Whedon revealed to Entertainment Weekly that he would not try and top the famous shawarma scene from 2012. “Avengers: Age of Ultron” will have no post-credits scene. While fans won’t get anything from sitting through the entire credits roll, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige clarified the director’s comments.

“There will be a tag,” he said, adding that there will be a kind of epilogue-like scene shortly after the credits start. “But there’s not a post-post-credit scene.”

It’s possible that Thanos will appear in this epilogue to the movie. After all, he’s got a lot of work to do between now and 2018. As comic fans will note, the “Infinity War” sees the villain get his hands on the six infinity stones as well as the infinity gauntlet. What this means, put simply, is that he becomes the most powerful person in the galaxy and the heroes of the MCU have to stop him.

Still, there’s a lot of time to lay the groundwork for the Infinity War. There’s an entire third phase of movies between now and then with a bevy of post-credit epilogues to set up the big climax. This will be much easier to do now that the Russo brothers have been confirmed by Marvel as the directors of both parts of the “Avengers” finale.

Joe and Anthony Russo will also direct the 2016 movie “Captain America: Civil War,” which will pit Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) against Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.). The film will also bring in key characters like Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), which has led some to refer to the movie as more of an “Avengers” followup than a “Captain America” movie. The Russo brothers previous foray into the MCU includes the very popular “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”

With the director brothers scheduled to do the most crossover work in the MCU to date, its possible that Joss Whedon’s finale farewell to the franchise might be another Thanos tease that the Russo’s will then have to make work.

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