We’ve been jonesing for a good villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since the beginning. Over the course of Phase 3 so far, they’ve actually done a pretty good job of making increasingly strong baddies, but with the upcoming Thanos, they really need to amp things up to 11.

After all, audiences have been waiting to see what the Mad Titan is capable of ever since we saw his ugly mug at the end of the first Avengers movie. But can they accomplish this? Avengers: Infinity War co-director Anthony Russo seems to think so.

“If you took Darth Vader, and you multiplied him times ten…Our job with Thanos is to make him the preeminent villain in the Marvel universe. That is his role in the comics, that’s his role in these movies, and in order to be a preeminent villain, you have to do some pretty bad things.”

The pretty bad things all seem to revolve around the Infinity Stones, some of which are held by fellow Avengers like Doctor Strange and Vision. Here’s what Joe Russo said:

“It’s a key driver to the movie. We have quite a few MacGuffins in this movie that have different relationships to different people. Doctor Strange is the bearer of an Infinity Stone. He has been charged with protecting that infinity stone. There are a lot of characters that will come into direct conflict with Thanos.”

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Thanos has been after these Stones for some time, and in this film, he really seems to take his dedication up a notch, as Joe Russo said:

“So Thanos decides to do it, he really goes for it, and he’s kind of one step ahead of our heroes during the movie. And he puts them through a lot of pain, I guess, in the process of that.”

And from what we’ve heard in the past, Thanos’ overall motives behind causing all this pain may actually be rather altruistic, which is a great sort of backstory for any villain. Perhaps Marvel will create another Loki contender, after all!

Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on April 27, 2018.

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SOURCE: ComicBook.com