Avengers: Infinity War had so many characters, so it was obvious that many of them would be wasted and overshadowed by other characters. Amongst the heroes, Thor, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and even Spider-Man got to spend quite a lot of time, and when it comes to the villains, they were obviously short-handed and Thanos took the main spotlight. People expected a lot from Thanos’ Black Order, but Marvel’s hands were tied.
Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and Directors Joe & Anthony Russo had to bring in new characters, establish them and do justice to dozens of old characters within a single film, so some characters would have been wasted in order for others to prosper.
Thanos came in and established himself as the greatest villain of the MCU, but the Black Order was ultimately useless. Their only use for the plot was to present somewhat of formidable foes against the Avengers at times when Thanos could not be available.
Still, it was the first time that the Black Order came into the picture, so the creatives had to do something to make them look cooler & closer to the comics. So just like every other character, their suits, and their weapons, the Black Order also got some alternate concept arts which were put in a catalog to choose from.
As you can see above, Cull Obsidion’s appearance could have been very different as compared to the final product. Here’s another look at the big Monster!
Marvel wanted him to look like a Bounty Hunter. He was obviously the muscle of the team, even though he was the one to take many punches throughout the film, dying a horrible death. Still, the alien does look pretty fierce, and Marvel really played with his look:
Ebony Maw was the strongest amongst the Black Order, and he certainly got more memorable stuff to do as compared to the other three children of Thanos. You would be intrigued to know that his look could have been very similar to the comics.
Although we can say that the one we ultimately got was the best! People liked Proxima Midnight for the little amount of time she was in there. Still, it is a big mystery that how were these characters who have immense strength and ability, not able to take down the likes of Black Widow.
The Russos had to power them down to work the story better and give Black Widow & Okoye at least something to do. Here’s an alternate design for the only female in the Black Order:
We all can agree that the version we saw in the movie was better than this. Marvel actually played around with the most useless member of the Black Order which was Corvus Glaive. He among the bunch was the most horrifying to look at. He always had the upper hand against Vision, but ultimately Vision had the last laugh! Have a look at the alternate designs:
Glaive’s under armor was also looked upon by the art designers. We would have liked it a lot if Marvel did a bit more with all these characters, but how could they. The Russos did the best they could with the four of these. Here’s another look at Glaive:
Hopefully, the Black Order can somehow return in Avengers 4, if the movie indeed falls short of villains. But it will be highly unlikely that they will return.
Avengers 4 is going to be a massive event and there’s a lot that’s going to happen in the film! Here’s what the writers of the film had to say about the unexpectedness of Avengers 4:
“Christopher Markus – [Avengers 4] doesn’t do what you think it does. It is a different movie than you think it is…Also…[the deaths are] real. I just want to tell you it’s real, and the sooner you accept that, the sooner you will be able to move on to the next stage of grief.
Stephen McFeely – Put it this way, I think [Infinity War] is a fairly mature movie for a blockbuster. It’s got a lot of fun in it, obviously, but boy, it gets very mature. The second one is also mature. We’re going to own these choices, and hopefully surprise and delight you and get you invested. It’s by the same studio, the same filmmaking team. They were written at the same time, shot at the same time. They’re clearly connected, but they are definitely two different movies, one of which is dependent on what happened previous.”
Avengers 4 comes out on May 3, 2019.
