Josh Brolin Calls His Deadpool Experience a 'Business Transaction' Compared to Making Avengers

Josh Brolin’s is opening up about his vastly different experiences working on two major movie franchises: Deadpool and The Avengers.

The actor appeared on the Team Deakins Podcast on Wednesday, where he discussed playing the villains Cable in Deadpool 2 and Thanos in Avengers.

“Deadpool was hard,” Brolin, 52, said. “Even though it was funny, it was harder.”

He added, “That was more of a business transaction, it was more, ‘We need to make this like this,’ which I didn’t feel that way with Avengers.”

Brolin spoke about working with Anthony and Joe Russo, who directed 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, saying, "When I said yes to Avengers, it was a small thing, it was a cameo. But when they came to me, they gave me a big bible."

"The fact that it was all the Avengers against this one guy, I liked that aspect of it," he said. "The more I talked to the Russo brothers, I mentioned [Marlon] Brando in Apocalypse Now [as inspiration]. I started seeing the parallel which I liked for me."

Brolin also said the Russo brothers would reference classic cinema to him to inspire his portrayal of Thanos.

“They would constantly go back and reference Scarface or Dog Day Afternoon,” Brolin said. “Whether or not it was a manipulation, they knew what to throw out there to bring it back into something inspired.”

In 2018, Brolin opened up about getting into shape for his role in Deadpool 2, joking, “I just look like that always.”

“No, I had to hit the gym three hours a day, every day,” he said at the time. “I just saw [Arnold] Schwarzenegger at the gym the other day, and he just turned 70 and I just turned 50. There’s something great about being involved in something like this.”

“At my age, it’s either buy a Ferrari or get involved in the Marvel Universe,” he added.