SPOILER ALERT: Why Did Joss Whedon Choose The Mid-Credits Scene He Did? Find Out Here!

If you were one of the many, many people who went to see THE AVENGERS this weekend, you were in for a treat during the end credits…a set up for what could be the villain for AVENGERS 2.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

But if you are a huge Marvel fan, you may be wondering why and how Thanos came into the picture (especially since he is more of a Fantastic Four baddie than anything else).  Marvel head Kevin Feige says that the idea was fully that of director Joss Whedon:

“I wanted to get cosmic and did with ‘Thor’ and told [Joss Whedon] that we wanted it to be aliens, that a portal opens in New York and aliens poor out, because the cosmic cube opened a portal. Who they were, what they were, and how they interacted was all Joss and Joss is a huge fan of Thanos.”

When asked about the decision, Whedon said he knew in his gut that Thanos had to be the guy behind all of Loki’s madness:

“He for me is the most powerful and fascinating Marvel villain. He’s the great grand daddy of the badasses and he’s in love with death and I just think that’s so cute. For me, the greatest Avengers was The Avengers annual that Jim Starlin did followed by The Thing 2 in 1 that contained the death of Adam Warlock. Those were some of the most important texts and I think underrated milestones in Marvel history and Thanos is all over that, so somebody had to be in control and had to be behind Loki’s work and I was like ‘It’s got to be Thanos.'”

Feige says that besides Thanos’ appearance, he is often asked why the catchphrase “Avengers Assemble” was never said in the movie:

“There wasn’t a right place for it…That 360 shot… if right at the end of that, he goes ‘Avengers Assemble!’ [then] well, we just assembled. You do it without saying, it gives more impact.”