Thanos changed everything with one snap. The Mad Titan wiped out half the universe, gave the Avengers their toughest fight yet, and cemented himself as one of cinema’s most memorable villains. But behind the scenes, the man behind the purple CGI giant, Josh Brolin, was dealing with a much smaller problem: he’s actually not very good at snapping his fingers.
Appearing on the podcast On Film… with Kevin McCarthy, the 57-year-old actor admitted the famous snap didn’t feel quite as intimidating when he was the one doing it. “Yeah. It was really, it felt really dumb because I was in a onesie with a bunch of dots and a bunch of Velcro,” Brolin recalled. Imagine the destroyer of worlds fumbling around in a motion-capture suit, stuck to his own gloves because of Velcro. “If I have Velcro on my gloves and I go to scratch something, I can’t get my hand off.” Not exactly the image of cosmic domination Marvel fans had in mind.
The actor revealed his one demand on set may have made things even worse: he wore a very heavy glove on his left hand the entire time. “The one thing I demanded: I wore a very heavy glove in my on my left hand the whole time. Wow. Oh, so it was even my left hand.” Try snapping with that. It doesn’t exactly scream “universe-altering power.” Brolin laughed at the memory of being asked by fans to recreate the moment. “All the shame comes back ‘cause I’m like, ‘I can’t snap very well. I can’t snap.’ It’s not the same snap, man.”
Robert Downey Jr. also played an unusual part in all this. During filming, Brolin described moments where he had to place his hand on Downey’s head, which he admitted felt “super weird.” Adding to the surreal atmosphere, Downey had a habit of keeping nicotine gum on him, with his assistant Jimmy Rich regularly passing pieces to him between takes. Meanwhile, Brolin was left trying to look menacing while softly snapping his fingers like a kid learning rhythm for the first time.
Even though Brolin struggled with the snap in real life, he admits watching the final result in Avengers: Endgame still blows him away. “When I watched that movie, I was like, ‘Wow, I didn’t expect that. That was super powerful.’” He went on to praise the Russo brothers, saying he has “great memories” of filming and remains close with Joe Russo.
The impact of his performance can’t be understated. Endgame smashed records upon release in 2019, becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time until Avatar reclaimed the top spot in 2021. With $2.799 billion at the global box office, Thanos’ snap didn’t just crush the Avengers. It also crushed nearly every financial record Hollywood had seen.
Looking ahead, Marvel is gearing up for Avengers: Doomsday in 2026 and Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027. While Brolin probably won’t return, his old co-star Robert Downey Jr. is set to swap the Iron Man armor for something much darker: Doctor Doom. And if he has to do any snapping, at least fans can rest easy knowing Downey has the technique down. We hope.
RELATED: Spider-Man Fans Have Figured Out Brand New Day’s Mysterious Villain
