Thanos may not return in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," but he'll get his due in "Avengers: Infinity War." According to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, the Mad Titan could almost be considered the main character of the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe installment.

"We’ve been criticized, if a big criticism of ours is that we focus on the heroes more than the villains, I think that’s probably true," Feige told ScreenRant and other reporters. "I don’t think it will always be true and I think some of you spoke to Chris [Markus] and Steve [McFeely] at the 'Civil War' junket. When the heck was that, yesterday? Last week? And they talked about, in appropriately oblique terms, Thanos. Thanos in 'Infinity War' is, you know, in a movie that has a lot of characters, you could almost go so far as to say he is the main character, and that’s a bit of a departure from what we’ve done before, but that was appropriate for a movie called 'Infinity War.'”

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Though he has appeared in several movies from "Avengers" on, Thanos has just barely begun to make his mark on the MCU. The Mad Titan has lurked in the background, pulling some strings here and there, but certain aspects of the character remain unclear. For instance, Thanos is obviously gunning for the Infinity Stones, but he hasn't revealed why; he has attempted to wipe out entire planets and races, including Earth, but his motivations haven't been stated outright. In the comics, his murderous intent is driven by his love of Death, who he hopes to woo through mass destruction. However, no such figure has surfaced in the MCU as yet, so his motivations remain a mystery. Per Feige's comments, though, it looks as though we'll be learning a lot more about the character in "Infinity War."

Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”), “Avengers: Infinity War” is expected to be the culmination of the subplots involving Brolin’s Thanos and the Infinity Stones that have been threaded through many of the Marvel films for years. Directed Joe and Anthony Russo (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Captain America: Civil War”), the film arrives May 4, 2018, followed by an as-yet-untitled sequel on May 3, 2019. The sprawling ensemble cast includes Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Chris Pratt, Jeremy Renner, Benedict Cumberbatch and Brie Larson, among others.