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Josh Brolin has more geek movie experience than pretty much any other actor in Hollywood. He not only has major comic book characters on his resume including Cable and Thanos, but he also has films like Dune and Men In Black 3 on his resume. The guy is clearly no stranger to the culture… and yet, he still finds it a tough experience when he goes to conventions and gets asked unanswerable questions.
Earlier this month, Brolin was a guest on The Graham Norton Show, included in a panel including Cher, Michael Fassbender and Kiera Knightly, and there was a point during the episode where he and Fassbender began talking about attending comic conventions (the latter, of course, well-known for playing Magneto in the X-Men movies). While Brolin may be an intimidating presence on screen playing villains like Thanos and tough guys like Gurney Halleck, he has no idea what to do when he is presented with questions from passionate fans:
Did you ever go to a Comic-Con? That’s tough. They’re fans. They are true fans, which is great. But then the fan will come up and very seriously say, ‘Did you ever realize, I’m sorry to bother you, but did you ever realize that if you had the power to kill half the universe, you probably also had the power to create twice the resources?’ Super smart! And then you’re like, ‘Next!’
To be fair to Josh Brolin here: he doesn’t write the material; he just performs it in front of the camera. In fact, this particular fan quibble can’t even be redirected to Avengers: Infinity War/Avengers: Endgame screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, as they were simply adapting the Thanos storyline from the comics written by Jim Starlin in the early 1990s (though in that case, Thanos was partially motivated to kill half the universe because of his love for the personification of Death).
The story reminds me of the infamous comments made by Ben Affleck to director Michael Bay on the set of the sci-fi blockbuster Armageddon. The actor (who would have “Academy Award-winning screenwriter” on his resume within a few years) wondered aloud if it wouldn’t be easier to teach astronauts how to drill than it would be to teach oil drillers to become astronauts. In Affleck’s words, Bay told him to “shut the fuck up.”
Taken at face value, I suppose Thanos’ decision to wipe out half of life in the universe instead of doubling the number of resources is more a reflection of the character’s personality and line of thinking about the way that life works. Because life will always continue to grow and expand across the cosmos, both moves are temporary fixes anyway, so it says something about the Mad Titan’s mindset that he thinks mass death is the superior option. I’d say that this idea could make for an interesting episode of What If…?, but that show is coming to an end after Season 3, with new adventures currently premiering daily for those with a Disney+ subscription.
There’s another takeaway one can get from this story too: if you see Josh Brolin at a convention, maybe don’t make his day more stressful by asking questions that you’re only asking to make yourself feel smart. Just let him know that his work is appreciated and move on!