With Thanos introduced during the closing credits for The Avengers, it seems to go without saying that he'll have a larger role to play in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But what role will that be exactly?

Many fans have speculated that the Mad Titan will return in Guardians of the Galaxy, which is set to hit theaters in August 2014. That seemed to be all but confirmed by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige in a recent interview, although we won't get our hopes set on Thanos' Guardians appearance until we have the official word.

Comic Book Therapy recently caught up with Thanos creator Jim Starlin at Dragon*Con and asked him how he felt about the big role Thanos has to play in the Marvel universe. It should go without saying that he's pretty excited.

"I think it’s pretty cool, actually," said the creator, who in May expressed mixed feelings on the subject. "I will be curious to see more of Thanos. We only saw that head-and-shoulder shot. The little filigree they added to the armor was kind of nice. I can’t wait to see the whole guy and hear him speak."

It was Damion Poitier who played Thanos in The Avengers closing credits, but there's a slim chance he'll be brought back for future movies. Instead, Marvel will likely cast a more established actor to lend his talents to the creation of the Titan.

"I had thought about Idris Elba [voicing Thanos], who is an English actor I always thought about. He is already appearing as Heimdall," Starlin admitted. "There were rumors going around that Arnold Schwarzenegger was going to be tapped for it, which at first I thought was a bad idea but then I caught him in the news since his post-cancer treatment and he has Thanos’ voice. He has this real gravelly voice and he would probably work well. Couldn’t think of anybody else I’d throw out off the top of my head."

We're sure that it won't take very long for Marvel to debut a shortlist of actors they're considering to play Thanos.