It has been a few years since The Mad Titan known as Thanos first appeared very briefly in a post credit scene in The Avengers. Ever since, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been building him up with little teases, all leading up to Infinity War in 2018. Thanks to the visual effects company Ironhead Studio, we now have a new look at Thanos.

The studio released the new look at Thanos on their various social media channels yesterday, and the have been circulating like wildfire on Twitter ever since. The photo features a front facing shot of Thanos, showcasing his classic armor, and his no nonsense look. What is perhaps most notable though is that this look appears to be based a lot more in the practical effects realm, as opposed to being almost entirely CGI, and the results are very compelling.

The best look we have had of Thanos so far was in Guardians of the Galaxy, and there is no question that it is very obvious how CGI heavy the character is. Not only that, but for how menacing of a character Thanos is in the Marvel Comics universe, his face does like a little cartoony and less imposing than perhaps it should. This new look is much more menacing and much more in line with the Thanos that fans are familiar with from the comic books. When looking at he side by side, it is pretty easy to see just how significant the difference is.

Ironhead Studio has done quite a bit of work with Marvel in the past. They did a lot of work on the first Avengers, and their website features one of the original bits of concept art for Thanos that was used in that movie. It is similar to the looking over the shoulder shot that was ultimately used in the movie, just without his helmet on. The look has come a reasonably long way since those initial concepts, and it is clear that the studio is taking time to perfect the look.

For a character that has had something like 20 seconds of screen time in total, we talk about him an awful lot. That is because we know just how much potential there is for him to be a great villain, and this new look is very encouraging. We'll see how Josh Brolin's Thanos looks in all of his glory when Infinity War part 1 drops on May 4, 2018. Be sure to check out the new photo of Thanos for yourself below.