SDCC 2014 Exclusive: Catching Up With Damion Poitier, The Avengers’ First ThanosPosted by Wilson Morales
July 30, 2014
In just a few days, audiences will be lining up in droves to see the latest Marvel film, “Guardians of the Galaxy,” and there’s a good chance they may see the arch-villain Thanos in the film, as the character is involved heavily in the plot. With Josh Brolin recently cast as the new Thanos for “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, he may also be seen in the film.
The character was first brought to light at the very end of “Marvel’s The Avengers”, shown at the middle of the credits, and while the actor who first played that role couldn’t confirmed his involvement back then, stuntman/ actor Damon Poitier has since acknowledged that it was him in that cameo appearance.
Since then, Poitier has done a number of episodic work on several TV programs such as Justified, House of Lies, Divergence, Franklin and Bash, BET’s Real Husbands of Hollywood, and Geek Cred. In 2011, he appeared as Duprez in six episodes of HBO’s True Blood Season 4.
Most recently at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con, Poitier was there promoting his role in the Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
In speaking exclusively with Blackfilm.com, Poitier talked about his brief stint as Thanos, other possible Marvel characters he would like to see on-screen, and his thoughts on Josh Brolin as the new Thanos.
Going back, what role did you have in ‘The Avengers’?
Damion Poitier: At the mid-credit scene, I turned around and smiled. It wasn’t stated but I played Thanos.
Did you go after the role?
DP: They didn’t even say who the character was. I auditioned for “Man #1”. I have known Joss (Whedon) for years because I had worked on a number of his shows. I worked on ‘Angels,’ ‘Firefly,’ ‘Doll House,’ and I went in for the audition and it was serendipitous.
Did Marvel ever considered you to continue playing the role?
DP: Initially, they just hired me as a facial figured. In terms of moving forward, I knew that was a question of what happened in between I got it and the next time they would need it. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the exposure we wanted in the interim, but it’s all good. We got good exposure from that scene and we’ll keep moving from there.
Will you be appearing in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’?
DP: No, just ‘The Avengers.’
When told it would be Thanos, how much did you know about the character?
DP: I have known about Thanos for years because I have the original Infinity Gauntlet series. I bought it when it was coming out. I’m very familiar with the character.
Did you do any physical changes for the role?
DP: No. It was a makeup role, so all I had to do was wear it and do the appropriate expression. It took about 2 1/2 hours just to get the makeup on.
How much exposure have you received since ‘The Avengers’ came out in 2012?
DP: I’ve have had a couple of conventions call me to come by and do signings. Quite a few people have also reached out and the community has been amazing. I’ve appreciated the support I’ve been getting.
What do you think of Josh Brolin now playing the role?
DP: He’s going to kill it. They make smart choices over at Marvel. That’s one of the things that they do. They are always making intelligent choices on who they choose to do their roles.
Having read the comics, what would you like to see with the character on the big screen?
DP: The way that they are doing it is so smart because they are pruning a lot of the stuff that would be difficult to portray in the amount of time it took and bring it in. I’m really excited to see what they do with it. I’m not to predict to see what happens with it. Obviously, everyone wants to see the Infinity Gauntlet and they already said that it exists, so it would be interesting to see if they do something with the Infinity Gauntlet saga. I’m just excited to see what they do.
Now, you are part of the Marvel family but no longer playing the role of Thanos, who else would you consider doing?
DP: Well, I’m talking to them about that. I don’t want to talk about that until such a time is permitted.
Okay. Which character would you like to see get some exposure outside of Black Panther since most seem to bring up that character first?
DP: I have always been a big Nova fan. I like Night Thrasher. I’m also a Darkhawk fan. There are a lot of indie characters that are floating around at Marvel that have really interesting backstories I would like to see come out. Now that they are going into television series like Netflix, there’s a good chance we might see some of these characters, so I’m excited about the whole thing.
What else do you have coming up?
DP: The Halo Master Chief collection. They redid the entire second Halo, Halo II and I took over as the face and body movement for Sergeant Major Avery Johnson. They retained the original voice because he was in I and III, but the face and body movement and a few other characters were all me. That pretty much took up the first half of the year. I did a couple of TV guest spots in the interim, but for the most part I was working on the Halo project. I also have a few things coming up. I did ‘Real Husbands of Hollywood’ with Kevin Hart and they are trying to figured out how to bring back my character. I played David Ty ‘Various Perrious III. Everyone was supercool on that set. No one had any egos. Nothing was off-limits. It was a good time there.
