Scrapped Avengers: Infinity War art provides glimpses of the Titan society

Avengers: Infinity War is in conversation even seven years after its release in 2018. Two days ago, on May 30, 2025, Jerad S. Marantz, one of the artists who worked on the 2018 blockbuster, revealed concept art which ultimately wasn't used in the final product. Marantz surprised Marvel fans everywhere through his last Instagram post, which would've fleshed out Thanos.

Thanos is already regarded as the MCU's best villain, apart from Killmonger and Loki. His motivations in Avengers: Infinity War have people still debating whether his action of culling half of life across the universe will help in climate change or not. The scrapped concept art featuring the characters might have further humanized Thanos if they had appeared in the final movie.

Scrapped Avengers: Infinity War concept art explained:

Marantz posted four images of scrapped concept art featuring the citizens of Titan. These images feature characters from different sections of Titan's society. If this concept art was used, Avengers: Infinity War would've had a flashback that would've shown how Titan fell to the state it was as The Avengers (Tony and Peter), Doctor Strange, and the Guardians of the Galaxy saw it.

While it would've meant a longer runtime, this scene would've added a layer of tragedy and pathos to Thanos' story in Avengers: Infinity War. Jerad S. Marantz wrote this caption along with the post:

"This was a fun assignment! While working on Infinity War and Endgame, I got this quick assignment to design the citizens of Titan, Thanos’s home world. I had to really cover the gambit of people and classes. I decided to do these quick sketches. I’ve never really done this before, but I wanted to get the ball rolling. I assumed I would be modeling out some of these designs and taking them a lot further, but it ended up being enough. Now I love designing this way and do it whenever I can. I think because I’m so detail oriented it’s great to have a technique that just covers the broad strokes. It’s very important that as a concept artist you can fully resolve a concept, but if you can’t sketch, you really can’t do anything worthwhile. #mcu #conceptart #costume #avengers #averngersinfinitywar #avengersendgame"

Will we ever see Thanos return in the MCU?

While Brolin debuted as Thanos in 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy, his interpretation of Thanos catapulted to popularity with Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. After that, the actor returned as the mad Titan three times in all three seasons of What If...? (Season 1 episode, "What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?", Season 2 episode, "What If... Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?", and Season 3 episode, "What If... Howard the Duck Got Hitched?").

But, despite three What If...? appearances, fans are wondering if Thanos, as played by Brolin, will ever return in the MCU. Josh Brolin himself said this in an October 2024 Collider interview:

"I’m not kidding — There’s a thing with playing Thanos. It’s like, ‘Oh, they’re gonna bring Thanos back.’ It’s like Sicario; it has to be right. It’s like Ryan Reynolds and I talking about Taylor Swift and we should be talking about Deadpool 4. But we go back and forth. Again, it’s what in his mind fits, what in my mind fits. Thanos has to fit if you’re going to bring him back. I would do anything that the Russos wanted me to do."

Thus, based on what the actor said, it seems that Brolin is open to reprising the role of the Mad Titan. Furthermore, even if Thanos were to return, it is unclear if this version of the character would be the same one as the one from Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.