The recent D23 Expo, aside from revealing new information about Disney’s slate of upcoming animated andStar Warsfilms, gave us new details about the upcoming Marvel Studios epic,Avengers: Infinity War.Infinity Warpromises to begin to put a bow on the first chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that began ten years ago withIron Man.Aside from showing new footage from the film, the expo also revealed thatJosh Brolin’s villainous Thanos won’t be fighting the Avengers alone—he’ll be joined by his henchmen, “The Black Order”. The Order is made up of alien members representing species from across the galaxy that work under Thanos, helping their master fulfill whatever task the Mad Titan has at the top of his mind during any given day. The members of this dastardly quartet includes the terrifying Corvus Glaive, the amazonian Proxima Midnight, the beastial Black Dwarf, and the treacherous Ebony Maw. There is an additional member dubbed Super Giant in the comics, though she was not shown during D23 and may not appear in the MCU proper. With all this being said, the Black Order are a fantastic addition to Infinity War and add a nice punch to the growing threat that is Thanos.
So who is The Black Order (also referred to by Marvel Studios as “The Children of Thanos”)? Just how bad are they? We’ve got answers.
The Black Order was created, amazingly, only four years ago in 2013 by creatorsJonathan Hickman,Jerome Opena, andJim Cheung. They were conjured as Thanos’ goons during the crossover event Infinity, inNew Avengers Volume 3 #8. Thanos himself was normally portrayed as something of a loner, usually discussing plans with artificial intelligence he helped create, though the inclusion of this new gang of underlings helped the Titan to move his plans along that much faster. In this storyline, Thanos had the Order come to Earth to help him discover the whereabouts of his son, Thane. Thane was born an Inhuman, a long line of children that Thanos had sired by traveling across the galaxy. What was so disturbing about Thanos’ daddy issues was that he had these children simply as a showing of goodwill toward Death, in that by killing them after they were born, it would be a perfect tribute to the object of his affection in his insanity riddled brain.
The Black Order split up and began fighting heroes across the globe, while most of the Avengers were caught unawares in outer space, fighting a completely different threat in the form of the “Builders.” Black Dwarf had a blowout fight with T’Challa, the Black Panther, in Wakanda, Corvus Glaive fought the X-Men in Westchester, Proxima Midnight took on Namor the Submariner in Atlantis, and Ebony Maw moved on his own against Dr. Strange. During the Infinity Arc, Thanos killed Black Dwarf for losing against T’Challa, Proxima and Corvus were trapped inside a giant crystalline square along with Thanos, and Ebony Maw took Thane under his wing, leading him on a path of darkness. Since then, the Black Order has appeared sparingly but remains associated with all things “Thanos” within the Marvel Universe.
Corvus Glaive
Corvus is, originally, by far the most loyal to his master Thanos and is actually married to Proxima Midnight (I’m sure the two had “murdering innocent people” on their Tinder profiles). He is essentially Thanos’ right hand man, normally visiting planets and telling them that they must offer a tribute to the Mad Titan in order to stay in the land of the living. Said tribute is actually the heads of their youngest sons, which is obviously a pretty lofty request. Glaive himself acts as the “Mouth of Sauron” to the Mad Titan, negotiating with whatever party that Thanos is trying to strongarm. Eventually, Corvus ended up on Thanos’ bad side and basically committed suicide, which acts as a nice segway into his powers. Corvus Glaive has your usual enhanced strength, speed, agility and so on, but also is essentially immortal, only able to be killed when his staff is destroyed. If Corvus’ body is destroyed, he will eventually regenerate, but if his staff kicks the bucket, so does he.
Proxima Midnight
As mentioned above, Proxima and her husband Corvus Glaive are two psychotic peas in a pod. Midnight acts as more of an enforcer to Thanos than Glaive, going toe to toe successfully with the likes of Thor and the Hulk to name a few. Much like her husband, Proxima has enhanced strength, speed, and agility though her staff also has a nice number of benefits that she uses to her advantage. At one point, she manages to pin down the Hulk as her spear can amplify its weight to that of a star! Also, her staff is able to shoot out three “heat seeking beams” that can essentially destroy nearly anything that they touch. While not committing suicide like her husband, Proxima was recently killed by Hela in the series, “The Unworthy Thor” in which she fought with the Odinson who no longer wields his magical hammer (currently Jane Foster is the wielder of Mjolnir and uses the title of “Thor”).
Black Dwarf
The bruiser of the Black Order, Black Dwarf is a monster on the same level as the Hulk, towering over the competition with his hideous form. In the upcoming film, they’ve changed his name from Black Dwarf to Cull Obsidian ,which I suppose sounds a little more unique. In the Infinity storyline, Thanos beat Dwarf within an inch of his life once he failed to kill the Black Panther. Exiled onto a ship that was hovering above earth, Black Dwarf then encountered a gathering of space bound heroes, and villains, in the forms of Gladiator of the Sh’iar: The Super Skrull, Annihilus, and Ronan the Accuser of Guardians of the Galaxy fame. These folks had made a pact with Earth to help them out with their Thanos problem in exchange for their assistance with the extraterrestrial threat of the Builders. Black Dwarf surprisingly managed to hold his own against the powerful quartet, that is until Ronan, who is currently something of an anti-hero in the Marvel comic universe, smashed his head in with his hammer, adding Dwarf to the list of deceased Black Order members.
Perhaps the most enigmatic member of the Black Order, Ebony Maw doesn’t so much as obey Thanos as he does happen to align with some of his ideas. Maw is the sorcerer/manipulator of the team, using his abilities to even manage to hold Doctor Strange under his sway for a time. Always committed to working in the background, at the end of the Infinity arc, Ebony saw his chance and escaped with Thanos’ son Thane in tow, promising to lead the young progeny of the Mad Titan to his “destiny”. Maw’s ability to negotiate his way out of any situation has worked pretty well for him so far as he is seemingly one of the only members of the Black Order that is still alive to his day, bouncing around the universe after Thane was captured by followers of Corvus Glaive.
Avengers: Infinity War
Next year’sAvengers: Infinity Warwill see the debut of Thanos and his Black Order, though clearly there will be some changes from the comics. Aside from some design tweaks, the Order are also labeled as the “Children of Thanos” in the film, which was not the case in the funny books as the Order simply followed his orders but weren’t related to him. Also missing is Super Giant, a telepathic member of the team in the comics, who was not shown with Thanos during the reveal, which I suppose is for the best considering how crowded the movie already is. As for the Order themselves, we’ll have to see who will be playing each member and if they’ll all be created entirely in CG or with a dash of practical effects. I could see members like Corvus, Proxima, and Ebony being regular actors while Black Dwarf/Obsidian would have to be brought to life with motion-capture.
The Black Order makes for a great threat to accompany Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet next year and it will be something to see them brought to life.
