The Children of Thanos will be the most powerful group of enforcers the MCU will ever see. Plucked from their quiet existence by a mad purple titan, these Children were raised trained to do one thing: do their father’s bidding at any cost and by any means. Siblings Gamora and Nebula have since broken off their ties with their violent family but the four kids remain by the will of their sadistic father and will open never-opened cans of whoop-ass for the Avengers.
Originally created by Jonathan Hickman and Jerome Opena for Marvel’s giant cosmic saga Infinity back in 2012, the four members of the Black Order who will make their debut in next year’s Avengers: Infinity War as the Children of Thanos will be Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw and Black Dwarf. And thanks to the kind folks at Marvel, we got a first good look at them yesterday at the D23 Expo which we will now breakdown for a bit.
Corvus Glaive
Corvus, in the comics, was the most loyal member of the Black Order. He was Thanos’ favored right-hand man, tasked to hunt down his son Thane during the Infinity storyline. Previous Infinity War set pics have shown Corvus Glaive go up against Scarlet Witch and Vision during their stint in Edinburgh, Scotland, alongside Proxima Midnight. Corvus, I’m guessing, will be the first of the Children of Thanos to make its way to Earth. Glaive wields a blade known to cut through virtually anything in existence including Hulk’s thick AF skin. Think of it as the closest thing we’ll get to Adamantium. We don’t know how much of his powers will end up the film but judging how they translated him from his comic book design, they’ll probably keep it as faithful as they can.
Proxima Midnight
Sister to Nebula and Gamora in the films, Proxima played the part of wife to her husband Corvus in the comics. Given their siblings status in the film, we’re not entirely sure how a romantic pairing between the two would work. However, it is worth noting that in those Edinburgh set photos, the two were seen being affectionate with each other after being knocked down in their skirmish against Vision and Scarlet Witch. So it’s either they’re incestuously involved with one another or simply devoted to keeping one another safe like siblings do. Regardless, Proxima and Corvus’ fight with lovers Vision and Scarlet Witch will be one for the books. Her spear has all kinds of weird abilities. One of which is it containing the power of a supernova and the weight of an actual star. Yeah, good luck with that Vision and Wanda. Out of all the designs of the Children of Thanos, Proxima’s is the one that impresses me the most. They managed to find away to make her Hela headgear work!
Ebony Maw
Ebony Maw is the resident tactician and manipulator of the Black Order. You can look to him as the Grima Wormtongue or Loki of the family. What he lacks in physical prowess, he makes up for in his ability to exploit the will of others. In the comics, he was known to submit Doctor Strange’s will into summoning unspeakable creatures to the multiverse. And as evidenced by the recent photos featuring Maw and Strange, I’m guessing something to this effect will happen in the film. Design-wise, they pretty much got the entire Ebony Maw ensemble down to his old-geezer look, which they’ll probably attribute to his alien race. Or maybe Thanos just decided to adopt someone really old.
Cull Obsidian
This brute of a brother to Gamora and Nebula was not named Cull Obsidian in the comics but was called Black Dwarf. Cull Obsidian was the alternate name of the Black Order and for reasons unknown to us fans, the names Black Dwarf and Black Order were nixed by the creatives behind this film. Cull (or Black Dwarf if you’re staying loyal to the source) is most known for his skirmish against the Wakandan army during his invasion in search of an Infinity Stone. Several have described seeing Black Panther’s army (along with Bucky nonetheless) go up against a monstrous creature in the Infinity War sizzle reel from last night. So yeah, this moment is definitely happening:
Cull’s name change isn’t the only departure from the comics. And you can see, Cull visually resembles his comic-counterpart the least. Instead of his orc-esque jagged orange/yellow skin, they gave Cull a more leathery reptilian look. Gone is his primordial stripped down look and in place is a more streamlined technology based outfit. Instead of an axe, he’s got two knuckleduster-like contraptions which I’m sure will turn into some kind of weapon later on. King Kong and Planet of the Apes mocap master Terry Notary confirmed months ago that he would be playing one of these characters. Given the brutish and ape-ish nature of Cull Obsidian, I’m guessing that this is Notary’s role.
The only Black Order member missing is Supergiant, which I’m guessing wasn’t included because of her immense mind control and psychic abilities. They probably didn’t have room in the story for a character with those kinds of abilities.
There you have it folks! A quick rundown of what can we expect from these characters come Avengers: Infinity War. As I’ve been saying for the past few months, the mere fact that these beasts are in the film does not make it look good for the Avengers. They’ve got a lot of hurdles to overcome, Thanos and his gems notwithstanding. Regardless, it’s finally great to see the faceless minions the Avengers are used to dealing with upgraded into something more threatening. Best of luck to those jokers.
What do you think of the Children of Thanos so far? Love ’em or hate ’em? Let us know in the comments below!
