Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has confirmed the not-so-secret casting of actor Josh Brolin as the voice of the evil Thanos in “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

The Latino Review originally reported Brolin’s casting, but Marvel had not confirmed the actor was a part of the production until now. Feige confirmed the news in an interview with Collider, stating Brolin was the film’s first pick for Thanos.

"We knew he was going to be in this movie. We wanted somebody to be more than just the voice," Feige said. "Josh did the performance as well. We were looking at a wish list of, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if names,’ and his name was on it. And you look at his face and the performances he gives, he could be Thanos without any effects. He has that kind of face and that kind of gravitas to it.

"We reached out to him and it was one of those things that does not happen all the time but when it does it’s very nice, where he was totally intrigued. He was a fan of what we did, he met with Jeremy Latcham in a hotel in London and learned about the characters a little bit. I spoke to him on the phone a few times. We ran it by James who loved it, ran it by Joss who loved it because Thanos is in this universe because of Avengers. Then we shot him and recorded for it."

Thanos made his first appearance in the Marvel franchise in an Easter Egg at the end of Marvel’s first “Avengers” film. Brolin is expected to reprise his role in “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” but Marvel hasn’t confirmed the appearance. “Guardians of the Galaxy” will be released to theaters on Aug. 1.