Josh Brolin has teased Thanos’ quest to find the Infinity Stones in Avengers: Infinity War on Instagram. While the actual film-to-film connections between the Marvel Cinematic Universe have (for the most part) been looser than some other shared-continuity experiments, typically coming in the form of guest-appearance cameos, references or after-the-fact tie-ins; one element has been in play since the earliest days of Phase 1 - albeit not revealed as such (via retcon) until after the fact: The Infinity Stones, a set of power objects originating as ancient cosmic ingots said to possess unfathomable powers.

In the comics, said Stones are typically sought for reunification with The Infinity Gauntlet by the supervillain Thanos; who turned up as the surprise mastermind behind Earth’s recent troubles in the aftermath of The Avengers. Thanos’ quest to possess and control The Infinity Stones is now set to make up the plot of the forthcoming third Avengers installment, which will feature actor Josh Brolin voicing and providing performance-capture animation for the alien overlord (sometimes referred to as “The Mad Titan”) for a second time after debuting in the role in the original Guardians of The Galaxy.

No footage from the hotly-anticipated film has yet been shown to audiences, but now Brolin has taken to Instagram to tease fans with an image of his character and the full set of Stones… rendered in the style of a 1980s 8-bit video game:

Thanos @marvel A post shared by Josh Brolin (@joshbrolin) on Apr 5, 2017 at 8:18am PDT

Left unrevealed is any new information about The Mad Titan’s role in the actual Infinity War movie, which is named for one of a pair of famous comic-book storylines by Thanos’ creator Jim Starlin but has not been necessarily confirmed to share any of the comics’ actual plot details. In the original comics, Thanos becomes the first being to successfully wield The Infinity Stones (Soul, Time, Space, Mind, Reality and Power) together by fusing them into the device he dubs The Infinity Gauntlet; which he attempts to use to end all life in the Universe in order to endear himself to Death Herself - a cosmic entity with whom Thanos is romantically infatuated.

Described thus far as the beginning-of-the-end for the Marvel Cinematic Universe “as we know it” and a film where Thanos himself is the “main character”, the film is set to unite The Avengers with the cast of Guardians of The Galaxy alongside newcomers like Spider-Man and Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel. Some rumors have suggested roles for characters from the MCU’s popular Netflix series, but have been repeatedly denied by those involved.

Source: Instagram

Next: Who Are Thanos’ Allies in Avengers: Infinity War?

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