Thanos

How would this be for a twist? It would be quite shocking if Thanos – the big-bad of the Marvel Cinematic Universe played by Josh Brolin – turned out to be the father of one of the MCU’s most beloved heroes (and would make the obvious mutual attraction between Star-Lord and Thanos’ adopted daughter Gamora seem very weird).

Thanos is incredibly powerful – one of the few beings in the universe capable of wielding the Infinity Gauntlet, by all accounts – so it sort of makes sense that he would have passed on a portion of the ability to withstand the power of the Infinity Stones (like Star-Lord did at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy) to his son.

Granted, there’s a distinct lack of purple in Star-Lord’s appearance and it seems unlikely that his mother would have been attracted to a hulking purple alien, but stranger things have happened in comic books, so why not in the movies based on them?

This outcome would certainly make the inevitable battle between Thanos and the MCU’s heroes a lot more interesting.