The Marvel Actor You Likely Didn’t Know Is In Barbra Streisand’s Family
She’s one of the few Hollywood performers to have won an EGOT, and she even has connections into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It turns out that besides dominating just about every revered awards ceremony, Barbra Streisand also has a stepson that has tried to eliminate half the entire universe, causing significant trouble for the Avengers and their allies. Yes, the acclaimed talent is, in fact, the stepmother to Josh Brolin, who played the gold-glove-loving grimace, Thanos.
Streisand married into the Brolin family in 1998 when she tied the knot with equally beloved star of the big screen, James Brolin. Speaking about his stepmother in February, Josh expressed his fondness for Streisand. After seeing her give her Lifetime Achievement Award speech at the SAG Awards, he had to do a double-take. “I don’t know her like that. I mean, I do, but she’s grandma. You know what I mean? So, it’s just how it is,” he explained to ET. “An amazing professional trajectory.” Amazing, indeed. So much so that her connection to Brolin isn’t the only one she shares with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She was even present after Thanos got snapped out of proceedings.
Barbra Streisand carries a tune or two in Marvel movies
Besides having a stepson that’s obsessed with gathering up Infinity Stones, Barbra Streisand also added her own input to the MCU by way of one of her classic songs. In 2023’s “The Marvels,” during the Flerkian round-up, Nia DaCosta’s team-up movie has a needle drop using her cover of “Memory” from the iconic musical “Cats.” It makes for what is undoubtedly one of the best MCU moments of 2023, which is a tough win alongside the likes of Loki finding glorious purpose and the Guardians wrecking shop in that hallway fight scene.
Her reach into the world of Marvel doesn’t stop there, either. Besides dropping into MCU, Streisand’s work also carried over into the X-Men universe before Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) bridged the gap in “Deadpool & Wolverine.” In “Deadpool 2,” aka the best superhero movie of 2018 (which also starred Brolin as Cable), Wade theorizes that “Papa Can You Hear Me?”, a song made famous by Streisand in “Yentl,” sounds suspiciously like “Do You Want To Build a Snowman?” from “Frozen.” It’s one of the many meta moments in the sequel given the familial connection with Reynolds’ co-star, proving that no matter where Brolin goes, sometimes the Streisand strand is sure to follow.