‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Director Joe Russo Sheds Light On Thanos And His Black Order Henchmen
You can’t talk aboutAvengers: Infinity War—and its exciting, exclusive first footage shown to the folks at the D23 Expo and this weekend’s San Diego Comic Con— without going into its Big Bad,Thanos.
The purple galactic warlord has sown death and destruction across the universe, though, apart from a brief role inGuardians of the Galaxy, it’s been mostly offscreen. Now in the thirdAvengersmovie and the 19th Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Thanos will finally get his time in the spotlight. And aided by his bejeweled Infinity Gauntlet, he’s going to look oh so shiny.
A Whole New Thanos
Eagle-eyed fans have noticed Thanos sporting a new look in the promotional images and merchandise forInfinity War— namely, no more armor and…sneakers?
IGNaskedInfinity WardirectorJoe Russo, who was at the San Diego Comic-Con without brother and co-directorAnthony Russoat his side, about Thanos' curiously stripped-down outfit:
While Thanos' head looks oddly bare without his signature helmet that he has worn in the comics and in the short after-credits cameos he’s appeared in, Russo’s approach makes sense. And it’s probably easier to animateJosh Brolin’s motion-capture character without the extravagant armor.
Russo also expanded on other changes they’ll be making to theInfinity Warstoryline which, according toComing Soon, won’t solely draw from theInfinity Warrun like we thought. Hence the inclusion of Thanos' henchmen, the Black Order.
Why Thanos Needs The Black Order
Russo toldComic Book Moviethat he and his brother brought are altering the powers of the Black Order, comprised of Black Dwarf, Corvus Glaive, Ebony Maw, and Proxima Midnight, to bring their “own spin to the Black Order” inInfinity War:
“We get inspired by a lot of different material when we’re working on the movie. We pulled from both Infinity runs for this, and look, there are a scary bunch of characters who I happen to think, when I read the Infinity run, were super cool. And when I got the opportunity to make this movie, I said I have to do the Black Order. You know, we have so many characters and Thanos needs to be teased out. You can’t have the characters challenging him every step of the way. There has to be characters that they have to go through to get to him. The Black Order is the perfect cast of characters to do that with.”
Thanos has traditionally been a loner, single-minded in his quest to complete the Infinity Gauntlet and win Death’s favor, but with the sprawling Marvel universe boasting heroes across the galaxy, he’ll need some help by the henchmen to confront them all. Russo said that the Black Order are there to only increase Thanos' menace.
Who Are The Black Order?
The Black Order were created four years ago in 2013 byJonathan Hickman,Jerome Opena, andJim Cheungto fight for Thanos inNew Avengers Volume 3 #8. Here’s a quick rundown of who they are.
