The Black Order

• Core Identity: The Black Order is an elite and utterly ruthless cabal of alien warriors who serve as the personal enforcers, generals, and heralds for their master, the Mad Titan thanos. * Key Takeaways: * Role in the Universe: In both their primary incarnations, the Black Order functions as the spearhead of Thanos's will. They are deployed to conquer worlds, cull populations, and retrieve objects of power, acting as a force of nature that precedes the arrival of the Mad Titan himself. They are his most trusted and feared lieutenants. thanos. * Primary Impact: Their most significant impact was during the 2013 Infinity storyline in the comics, where they led a full-scale invasion of Earth. In the MCU, their quest for the infinity_stones directly led to the catastrophic events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, resulting in the death of trillions. * Key Incarnations: The fundamental difference lies in their relationship with Thanos. In the prime comic universe (earth-616), they are generals bound by fear and a desire for conquest. In the MCU, they are presented as the adopted “Children of Thanos,” fanatically devoted to his genocidal cause out of a twisted sense of familial loyalty. ===== Part 2: Origin and Evolution ===== ==== Publication History and Creation ==== The Black Order first appeared in a shadowy cameo in New Avengers Vol. 3 #8 (September 2013), with their full introduction following in Infinity #1 (October 2013). They were co-created by writer Jonathan Hickman and artists Jerome Opeña and Jim Cheung as a central component of the massive Infinity crossover event. Hickman's stated goal was to elevate the threat level of Thanos. For years, Thanos had often worked alone or with lesser-known minions. The creation of the Black Order provided him with a new set of formidable, character-driven antagonists, each with a unique powerset and personality, who could challenge the entire roster of Earth's heroes simultaneously. They were conceived as Thanos's “dreadlords,” a council of cosmic evil that would make his latest invasion of Earth feel more significant and perilous than any before it. Their design and function draw thematic parallels to other villainous retinues in fiction, most notably Darkseid's Female Furies from DC Comics, providing the “big bad” with a court of deadly, loyal followers. ==== In-Universe Origin Story ==== The origin of the Black Order differs significantly between the comics and the cinematic universe, reflecting a change in their core concept from a military council to a dark family unit. === Earth-616 (Prime Comic Universe) === In the prime Marvel continuity, the Black Order is not a “family” but a coalition of pure terror. They are a group of monstrous beings hand-selected by Thanos from the various worlds he had conquered and razed. Each member is a prodigy of death and destruction, often the last of their kind or an outcast whose unique, terrifying abilities made them invaluable to the Mad Titan's armies. They are known as the Cull Obsidian, a name that refers to their group as a whole, with “Black Order” being another common moniker. Their primary mandate under Thanos was to serve as the vanguard of his conquest. They would travel to planets targeted by Thanos and demand a grim tribute: the heads of all young beings between the ages of 16 and 22. This tribute was a lie; its true purpose was to scour the galaxy for Thanos's own half-Inhuman son, Thane, whom he intended to kill. The members of the Order followed him not out of love or ideology, but out of a mixture of abject fear, respect for his immense power, and the promise of indulging their own sadistic and violent natures on a galactic scale. The original members were Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw, Black Dwarf, and Supergiant. Their loyalty was to power, and as would be proven later, it could be transferred from one master to another. === Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) === In the MCU, the group is exclusively referred to as the “Children of Thanos.” This title is literal, though not biological. Each member was an orphan from a world that Thanos “saved” by slaughtering half of its population. He took these orphans—Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian (the MCU name for Black Dwarf), Proxima Midnight, and Corvus Glaive—and raised them as his own, alongside gamora and nebula. He forged them into warriors and assassins, instilling in them a fanatical devotion to his philosophy of “balancing” the universe. Unlike their comic counterparts who revel in wanton destruction, the MCU's Black Order is mission-oriented. Their sole purpose in Avengers: Infinity War is to retrieve the six Infinity Stones for their father. This familial dynamic creates a complex and abusive hierarchy. They see Gamora and Nebula as sisters, albeit failed ones who betrayed their father's cause. Their devotion is absolute, and they refer to Thanos with reverence and filial piety, viewing his genocidal plan not as conquest, but as a righteous and necessary crusade. This reframing from hired generals to zealous disciples makes their actions more ideologically driven and personal. ===== Part 3: Mandate, Structure & Key Members ===== The composition, powers, and even names of the Black Order vary dramatically between the comics and films. === Earth-616 (Prime Comic Universe) === The Earth-616 version of the Black Order is a group of individual powerhouses, each specializing in a different form of combat or strategy. ==== Corvus Glaive ==== * Role: Thanos's right-hand man, second-in-command, and field general. He is a master strategist and a cruel, calculating leader. He is also the husband of Proxima Midnight. * Abilities: Corvus possesses superhuman strength, speed, and durability, but his greatest asset is his cosmic glaive. This weapon is sharp enough to cut atoms and, more importantly, grants him true immortality as long as it remains unbroken. If he is “killed,” he can fully regenerate his body from the glaive. This makes him exceptionally difficult to defeat permanently. ==== Proxima Midnight ==== * Role: The most skilled warrior and weapons master in Thanos's army. She is a fearsome and relentless combatant, known for her unmatched martial prowess. She is the wife of Corvus Glaive. * Abilities: Proxima possesses immense superhuman physical abilities. Her primary weapon is a spear forged by Thanos himself from a sun trapped in distorted space-time. It can act as a multi-pronged spear of light, a toxic projectile with a fatal poison that is lethal to most beings, and has the ability to return to her hand. Its projectiles have near-infinite mass and can track any target. ==== Ebony Maw ==== * Role: The great manipulator and psychological threat. Ebony Maw is not a physical fighter; his power lies in his mind and voice. He is a whisperer of lies and a corrupter of souls. * Abilities: Maw's primary ability is his super-persuasive voice, which allows him to infect the minds of his victims, subtly manipulating them into doing his bidding. This is a form of powerful mental control that works like a virus, breaking down even the strongest wills over time. He used this power to turn doctor_strange into a double agent during the Infinity event. He is a genius-level intellect with a penchant for torture and deceit. ==== Black Dwarf ==== * Role: The brute force and heavy infantry of the group. Black Dwarf is the tank, a being of immense size and physical power, deployed to shatter enemy defenses through overwhelming strength. * Abilities: Black Dwarf has super-strength on par with beings like the Hulk and Gladiator, as well as skin that is nigh-impenetrable, making him highly resistant to physical and energy attacks. He wields a massive, two-handed axe-mace capable of leveling buildings. Despite his power, he is the only member to fail in his primary mission during the Infinity event, being repelled from Wakanda. ==== Supergiant ==== * Role: A mental parasite and potent telepath. Supergiant's expertise is in the violation of the mind, feeding on the intellects of her victims. ¹⁾ * Abilities: Supergiant is an immensely powerful telepath, capable of mind control, memory manipulation, and firing psionic energy blasts. Her signature ability is “intellect devouring,” where she can mentally consume the thoughts and knowledge of her victims, leaving them as empty shells. She successfully controlled the Inhuman king Black Bolt during the Infinity event. === Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) === The MCU streamlined the team, removing Supergiant and altering the powers of the remaining members to better suit the visual medium of film and to avoid overlapping abilities. ==== Ebony Maw ==== * Role: Retains his role as Thanos's chief lieutenant and herald, but his powers are drastically changed. He is the one sent to confront Earth's most powerful sorcerers. * Abilities: Instead of subtle persuasion, the MCU's Ebony Maw is a master of telekinesis. His control is incredibly precise and powerful, allowing him to levitate, disassemble objects at a molecular level, form shields, and launch thousands of sharp projectiles. He effortlessly subdued doctor_strange and proved to be a significant threat to Iron Man and Spider-Man. He maintains his arrogant and intellectual personality. ==== Cull Obsidian ==== * Role: The heavy hitter, renamed from Black Dwarf.²⁾ His role is identical: be the muscle. * Abilities: Cull Obsidian possesses immense strength and durability, able to stand against the Hulkbuster armor. His weapon is more complex than a simple axe; it is a multi-purpose, technologically advanced hammer connected to a chain that can be used as a grappling hook, a shield, or a flail. He is a formidable physical force but lacks tactical finesse. ==== Proxima Midnight ==== * Role: An elite warrior and assassin, often fighting alongside her partner, Corvus Glaive. * Abilities: She retains her superhuman physicality and expertise in combat. Her spear in the MCU is also a powerful energy weapon capable of firing deadly blue energy blasts and is sharp enough to injure even super-durable beings like Vision. She proved to be a match for both captain_america and Black Widow in combat. ==== Corvus Glaive ==== * Role: A stealthy and ruthless assassin, serving as one of Thanos's top warriors. * Abilities: Like his comic counterpart, his primary weapon is a powerful glaive. This weapon is shown to be sharp enough to stab through the synthetic flesh of the Vision and disable his phasing abilities. While the MCU version is not explicitly stated to be immortal via the glaive, he is incredibly resilient and a deadly, precise fighter, specializing in surprise attacks. ===== Part 4: Key Relationships & Network ===== ==== Core Allies ==== === Thanos === The single most important figure in the Black Order's existence is Thanos. * In Earth-616: The relationship is that of a tyrant and his generals. They fear Thanos's power and are loyal only as long as he is the strongest force in the room. They carry out his will for the spoils of war and the opportunity for destruction. Corvus Glaive, in particular, is ambitious and has attempted to usurp power in Thanos's absence. * In the MCU: The relationship is a deeply twisted version of a father and his children. They are bound to him by a shared ideology and a lifetime of indoctrination. They seek his approval and are genuinely fanatical about his “balancing” crusade. Their loyalty is absolute, and they willingly die for his cause. This makes their connection to Thanos far more personal and tragic than in the comics. === The Challenger === In the Avengers: No Surrender storyline, after being killed, the Black Order (specifically Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, and Ebony Maw, along with Black Swan and a revived Black Dwarf) were resurrected by the Elder of the Universe known as the Challenger. He forced them to serve as his team in a cosmic contest against the Grandmaster's Lethal Legion, with Earth as the battlefield. This demonstrated that their services could be commandeered by any cosmic being powerful enough to control them. ==== Arch-Enemies ==== === The Avengers === As Earth's primary defenders, the Avengers are the Black Order's most frequent and formidable opponents. * In Earth-616: During Infinity, the Black Order invaded Earth while most of the core Avengers were off-world fighting the Builders. They faced a skeleton crew of Avengers, the Illuminati, and the forces of Wakanda. The conflict was a global war, with different members of the Order attacking different locations, leading to iconic matchups like Black Dwarf vs. Wakanda and Ebony Maw vs. Doctor Strange. * In the MCU: The Black Order's mission to collect the Infinity Stones brought them into direct, brutal conflict with the Avengers across the globe and in space. Key battles include the fight in New York (Maw and Obsidian vs. Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man), the battle in Edinburgh (Glaive and Midnight vs. Scarlet Witch, Vision), and the climactic Battle of Wakanda, where the entire team fought against Captain America's forces. === The Illuminati === In the comics, Thanos's invasion of Earth was secretly a hunt for the Infinity Gems, which at the time were held by the Illuminati (iron_man, doctor_strange, Black Bolt, etc.). Ebony Maw's specific mission was to locate the Gems by manipulating Doctor Strange, making this secretive group a primary, albeit hidden, target of the invasion. ==== Affiliations ==== * Armies of Thanos: Their primary and defining affiliation. They are the command structure for Thanos's vast legions of Outriders and Chitauri soldiers. * Hela's Hel-Lords: In a 2019 Guardians of the Galaxy run by Donny Cates, it was revealed that after Corvus and Proxima were killed, their souls were claimed by hela, the Asgardian goddess of death. She resurrected them to serve as her enforcers, forcing them to hunt for Thanos's consciousness, which was seeking a new host body. ===== Part 5: Iconic Events & Storylines ===== === Infinity (2013) === This is the Black Order's debut and their most defining story. With the Avengers in deep space, Thanos and his Black Order launch a devastating invasion of Earth. Their true goal is to find and kill Thane, Thanos's Inhuman son. The event showcases each member's unique threat: * Ebony Maw outsmarts Doctor Strange and uses him to locate Thane. * Corvus Glaive attacks the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. * Proxima Midnight attacks Atlantis and forces Namor to bend the knee. * Black Dwarf leads a failed assault on Wakanda and is soundly defeated by Black Panther and the Wakandan army. * Supergiant** attacks the Inhuman city of Attilan and takes control of its king, Black Bolt.

The event ends with the defeat of the Order: Black Dwarf is killed by Ronan the Accuser, Supergiant is killed by Lockjaw, and Ebony Maw betrays Thanos to mentor Thane, while Corvus and Proxima are defeated by the returned Avengers.

This five-issue miniseries by writer Derek Landy gave the team a rare spotlight. Hired by the Grandmaster for a mission, the Black Order is dispatched to a war-torn planet to retrieve a powerful artifact. The story delves into their internal dynamics, highlighting the treacherous relationship between Corvus Glaive and Ebony Maw, and showcasing their sheer brutality when unleashed from Thanos's direct command. It establishes them as more than just minions, but as a deeply dysfunctional and deadly team of cosmic mercenaries.

This weekly storyline saw the Black Order resurrected by the cosmic entity known as the Challenger to be his champions in a game against the Grandmaster. The Earth is stolen and becomes the game board. This arc pits the Black Order against a massive, unified roster of Avengers. A key plot point is the severing of Corvus Glaive's connection to his glaive, which leads to his permanent death. It was a major chapter that explored their existence independent of Thanos's shadow.

The Black Order serves as the primary antagonists of this 2019 Nintendo Switch video game, with the game itself named after them. Their mission, similar to the MCU, is to collect the Infinity Stones for Thanos. The roster includes all five original comic members: Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian (using his MCU name but based on the Black Dwarf design), and Supergiant, marking her first major appearance in media outside of comics.

Corvus Glaive and the Black Order appear as antagonists in the War for Wakanda expansion. In this continuity, they are working for the villain Ulysses Klaw, who has hired them to steal Wakanda's Vibranium. This version portrays Corvus as a cunning but ultimately mercenary force, willing to serve masters other than Thanos.

The Black Order has appeared in several animated series, including Avengers Assemble and Guardians of the Galaxy. In these appearances, their roles are generally simplified. They are portrayed as recurring, powerful henchmen for Thanos, often appearing one or two at a time to battle the heroes. Their complex personalities and relationships from the comics are typically streamlined for a younger audience, focusing on their physical threat level.

• thanos
• infinity_(event)
• infinity_stones
• marvel_cinematic_universe
• the_challenger
• avengers

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