Ever since the mid credits sequence of The Avengers, Thanos has been on the mind of every red-blooded nerd on the planet. When can we expect to see the big purple dude hit theaters in a big way? Marvel President Kevin Feige reveals this, and more about Guardians of the Galaxy, Gamora, and the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

We can’t expect to hear too much for from Feige in the coming months due to the sheer amount of information that has been dropped over the past few weeks regarding the future of the films generated by Marvel Studios, but he did drop a few bits to Empire Magazine (via CBM) at D23 concerning Guardians of the Galaxy, Thanos, Hulk, and when we can expect to see a 2016-2017 film roster to fill out those release dates they reserved ahead of time.

First things first, much like the announcement that Ultron’s backstory will be altered for Avengers: Age of Ultron, a few characters (notably Drax the Destroyer and Rocket Raccoon) have had their origins redone to introduce them to the MCU.

While explaining the members of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Feige had this to say about the team:

“They are an unlikely band. It’s pure circumstance that brings them all together throughout the course of the movie. Rocket has been genetically and mechanically altered, he’s an experiment from one part of the galaxy. Groot is a species that happens to look like trees look, and is quite communicative if you can understand the different inflections in the way he says, ‘I am Groot.’ Peter Quill left Earth in the mid’80s, but when we meet back up with him he’s very much a citizen of the universe. Drax has one goal and one goal only, which is to kill Ronan because of a past tragedy. When we meet Gamora, she’s a bad guy working with Ronan and Nebula and Korath, and by extension for Thanos. Gamora doesn’t necessarily like doing that anymore, and tries to find a new path for herself. But she has a reputation as the deadliest woman in the galaxy that people aren’t greeting her with open arms.”

As you may have noticed, we have quite a few differences already, including the genetically and mechanically altered Rocket, and the fact that Drax was created to kill Ronan and not Thanos. Personally, we’re hoping for Drax to track down Ronan and learn a thing or two about the grandmaster that’s been pulling the strings since The Avengers, Thanos.

He also reveals that we’ll see Gamora as a villain alongside Ronan and Nebula (played by Karen Gillan), which should make for an interesting introduction to the most dangerous assassin in the universe.

Feige has confirmed, however, that Ronan will stand as the main villain in Guardians, but then where will we find Thanos?

“Thanos is lurking above it all. You will learn more about Thanos in Guardians, for sure. Certainly you’ll get more than the one turn around and smirk. You’ll get much more than that!”

Although Feige has thrown around the idea of recasting the role that Damion Poitier originated in The Avengers, no casting announcement for the Mad Titan has yet been announced.

What do you think? Who would you like to see play what Whedon calls “the grand daddy of all bad guys”? Are you interested to see how Rockets’ Drax’s and Gamora’s back stories have been changed?