Avengers: Infinity War introduces many new villains to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Thanos and his followers, who are also known to be part of the infamous Black Order or who are called the "Children of Thanos" in the film. All of them have a specific role to play in order for Thanos to get the six Infinity Stones and blast away half of the population, and each of them holds different strengths and abilities. The film’s Black Order members include Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive, Cull Obsidian and Ebony Maw, who seems to the most trusted member of the Order.

Ebony Maw is Thanos’ General and the Voldemort-looking individual that chases Doctor Strange across Manhattan in the first part of the film. Played by Tom Vaughan-Taylor, the film’s character is very different from the one in the comics, more so than most of the other members of the Order. Though, Thanos’ General is a really interesting figure in both the Marvel Comics and the MCU film, there's a chance that most viewers probably never heard of the man until the movie was released. In case you're not a dedicated fan, we’re here to tell you all you need to know about Ebony Maw and his hidden secrets and history.

15 DOESN’T REALLY HAVE TELEKINESIS POWERS 

Ebony Maw cannot lift trees or rocks and throw them at you like he does in Avengers: Infinity War. However, Thanos’ General has a way with words and is known as the great whisperer. Maw can convince people to do things they would never do in a million years, which includes someone with the mind of Doctor Strange. He, in fact, corrupts the Strange and forces him to summon and unleash the monster known as The Shuma Gorath in Al Ewing and Greg Land’s Mighty Avengers.

The great whisperer is very much like Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He has the same kind of power of persuasion, though he doesn’t need to use red magic -- all he needs is his mouth. Everyone will remember the scene where Scarlet Witch makes The Hulk go berserk in Sokovia. The green monster starts fighting Tony Stark’s Hulkbuster armor in Avengers: Age of Ultron, shattering a many buildings that stand in his way. Or, you will perhaps remember the time when Clint Barton was under Loki’s charm in the first Avengers movie. It would have been a little redundant to see that again, which is probably why they changed his abilities to alter the dynamics for the third movie.

14 DOES NOT LIKE PHYSICAL VIOLENCE

Thanos’ notorious Henchman will not fight if he can avoid it -- he doesn’t find it necessary whatsoever. Ebony Maw prefers using his grave intellect and persuasive abilities to make people do things for him (such as with Thane, son of Thanos), without them even knowing they serve under his control. Readers will often see him with his hands together in a prayer form, peacefully, while the other members of the Black Order are in attack mode.

He is also a tactical genius and loves strategy and planning. One can believe that he is ten moves ahead of his opponent. He lies and turns things around so that he can get what he wants and he does, but almost never with physical violence. Again, he is not like he is in Avengers: Infinity War where he does fight with telekinetic powers, throwing blocks of pavements at Spider-Man and pushing Doctor Strange upon a wall to take the precious Time Stone away from him. He does not make that much contact with an individual ever. He doesn’t even have to touch someone to win, he simply has to speak a few words and you are doomed. Even when he is gone from your sight, he can still remain in your mind without you knowing which makes him one of the deadliest creatures alive.

13 HE CAN'T FIGHT

When the Black Order is thrown against the infamous Lethal Legion in Avengers #676, it is a combat without mercy. Black Dwarf, Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive, Supergiant and the Mad Titan’s own general Ebony Maw are forced to face Ferene the Other, Drall The Gladiator from Beyond the Stars, Captain Glory, The Blood Brothers, The Mentacle and Molyn, the All-New Mental Master. In order to survive this cold-blooded battle, Maw is forced to fight and is put against the bulky Blood Brothers who are ferociously strong and comes out in one piece. That is only because he uses his teleportation device to escape their reach. Then, he makes fun of the bunch by saying: “Strength without skill… It’s sad really.” Maw knows that strength is nothing without the mind and he uses his power to his advantage.

While Ebony Maw is able to survive a small battle with some ingenious luck, he never shows that he would be able to hold his own physically. He is totally helpless when Corvus Glaive goes after him and attacks him for being a traitor in Thanos #4. So, he would never come out in one piece against Daredevil or Iron Fists. The only way for him to win would probably be using his mouth, otherwise, he would be crushed by their combat skills.

12 HE IS A TECHNOLOGICAL GENIUS

While Maw has little to no superpowers in the comics, he holds many technological devices, most of them alien based. However what is most impressive about him on the technological side of things is that he can build his own. For one, he builds Thane’s armor in "Infinity", an armor that can help Thane contain his power and that helps him get rid of Thanos and save the Avengers. Ebony Maw laughs at Tony Stark in Avengers: Infinity War for speaking for Doctor Strange “Stone keeper, does this chattering animal speak for you?”, almost even making fun of Iron Man’s intelligence as though he has none, though, funny enough, they are both very similar minds.

Tony Stark could build his Iron Man suit on his own and Ebony Maw seems to be able to do similar things. If they had had the time to chat, without worrying about Infinity Stones or Thanos’ plan to wipe out half the universe, they would have the time of their lives exchanging on technological advances.  Thanos’ General also expresses technological knowledge with his mind web in Avengers: Infinity War. He tortures Doctor Strange with pointy dagger-like objects and tells him what technology they are made of.

11 HE DISCOVERED THANOS’ SON

With the gracious help of Doctor Strange in "Infinity", who is under Maw’s persuasion charms, the great whisperer discovers the location of Thanos’ son. Thane is an inhuman-descended being holding the power of dead touch and amber encasement, something that helped him trap his enemy and leave them in a state of “living dead”. Thanos knows very well that he has a son, but has never found him. Many suspect that he, in fact, disguised his quest to conquer the universe just to find Thane.

Then, Black Bolt detonates the Terrigen Bomb, which creates a mist giving Thane powers. His new powers subsequently turn the city of Orollan to ashes, a city that Thane had been living in at the time. Ebony Maw finds the son of Thanos laying among the bodies of Orollan’s people. Maw plays the sympathetic card, acting like he does not know what or who happened to the city and lends a hand to Thane. He rescues Thane and offers to help him control his Inhuman gift. To do so, Maw builds him an Iron Man-style armor. Thane steps on a podium and puts on the armor and as soon as he thanks Maw for it, a light appears from the podium and Thane gets trapped in a containment field. He realizes Maw played him and Thanos, his own father, is now coming to kill him.

10 HELPED THE AVENGERS BEAT THANOS

Although he seems like Thanos’ most loyal servant, Ebony Maw has his own agenda -- he betrays Thane and gives him to Thanos during "Infinity". Then, Thanos tells Thane he will kill him, however with the Avengers and Illuminati forces threatening Thanos’ plan, he never gets the chance to kill Thane. Ebony Maw makes Thane watch Thanos fight the Avengers, to the point where the Titan is destroying them all and the Avengers species is endangered. Thane is horrified because he is nothing like his father.

In fact, in Avengers #676, he keeps shouting and swearing at both Ebony Maw and Trynka that he is not a murderer, that he is not his father nor does he ever want to be. He even says during "Infinity": “I’ve spent my life trying to erase that -- helping people… I save lives, I do not end them… I’m not like him.” Then, Ebony curiously decides to release Thane from his prison at the last second. Thane wonders why and Maw tells him that he wants to see what the latter will do: either run from who he is or accept himself and his destiny. He tells Thane that he could help the Avengers get rid of his father. Thane takes that opportunity and with his amber encasement powers traps Thanos in a state of living dead. This act of betrayal shows how unsatisfied Maw is under Thanos’ leadership, he wants power of his own and he gets it.

9 RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SHUMA-GORATH

The Shuma Gorath is an ancient, one-eyed, squid-like creature that feeds on the souls of its victims. He is a monster particularly known to Doctor Stephen Strange who’s job is to protect reality but also the world against the oldest monsters in the universe. So, during the Avengers’ conflict with Thanos in Mighty Avengers, Ebony Maw decides to provide assistance to his master and goes to New York. Even though Proxima Midnight is at the scene and giving a good beating to the Avengers, it is Maw that creates pure chaos in the city. Once again, he uses Doctor Strange, the only one who can summon such a creature as the deadly monster known as the Shuma-Gorath. Maw breaks into Strange’s mind again and has him send the soul-feeding creature onto the Avengers.

At the scene are hero for hire and New Yorker Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Superior Spider-Man, White Tiger and Power Man to confront the monster and protect the city from it. However, it is Monica Rambeau, aka The Spectrum that ultimately takes the vile creature down. She uses her energy powers to send a virtual tiger against the Shuma Gorath and makes it vanish from the human world. Doctor Strange regains control and the plans of Ebony Maw fail.

8 HE CAN TELEPORT

Being an alien living in space, as said before, Ebony Maw has access to incredible technology that humans only wish they could have. He often equips himself with force fields devices, similar to the one he used on Thane during "Infinity". He also protects himself from Thane’s awakening with a defense shield and one of his other devices allows him to teleport wherever he wants to go. We saw him in Avengers: Infinity War being teleported from his alien ship to New York with the giant known as Cull Obsidian (also known as Black Dwarf in the comics). Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaives also teleport themselves back to the ship, a gadget that Ebony Maw probably developed for his allies.

In the comics, Maw mostly uses teleportation to escape and run away from a physical fight. He uses teleportation to vanish from the fight with the Blood Brothers in Avengers #676. Other than that, we do not see much of him teleporting from place to place in any of the comics. However, this ability is very present in the video games where Thanos’ Henchman appears. Ebony Maw is involved in Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Marvel: Future Flight and Lego Marvel Superheroes 2.

7 HE CAN ERASE MEMORIES

Not only can Maw manipulate you into doing something for him with a few right words but also, after he uses you to do his bidding, Ebony Maw can wipe out your mind of any contact you had with him. You will never remember who he is or what terrible things you might have done for him. He might have even put you on a quest for the future, and you will do it without even remembering why you are doing it. That is what he does to Doctor Strange when he visits him in New York in the Infinity comic.

After he breaks into the Sanctum Sanctorum for the first time, Thanos’ General orders Stephen Strange to do something for him, and then he erases his memory and the magician goes on with life. However, in the Illuminati meeting Reed Richards, aka Mister Fantastic, asks Strange if he is okay after the attack on New York. Stephen says: “I am fine. Perfectly fine.” But he is not, the Doctor leaves the meeting and does a spell to locate Thane. This is something he doesn’t know why he is doing but he knows that it is something that he must do. Maw is still in his head, controlling him and Strange does not even know. That is how powerful Ebony Maw is, and that is why he is Thanos’ number one.

6 FOUGHT EGO THE LIVING PLANET

In Thanos: A God Up There Listening, Thanos goes after Ego the Living Planet and attempts to destroy him. Aboard his ship were an orange being named Trynka, Proxima Midnight and the notorious Ebony Maw. Ego grows furious at Thanos for being blasted by the latter’s ship and begins to send rocks from its own planet the ship’s way. Thanos, Midnight, Ebony Maw and Trynka all end up flying into the emptiness of space.  They all survived and then Ego comes back to strike again, to finish the Mad Titan off in a physical fight. Though that was a mistake for the Living Planet, Thanos and his Black Order, which includes Ebony Maw, vanquish Ego. If Thanos had been in possession of the Infinity Gauntlet at that time, though, he would certainly have ended everything with a snap.

The actual comic is a complicated one though. Ebony Maw tells the story of the battle of Ego to Thane, Thanos’ son, and he uses the ghost Trynka and flashbacks to do so. It is unsure if Maw is really there beside Thane or if he is only a figment of his imagination. However, one thing is for sure, real or not: Maw is once again messing with someone’s mind.

5 HE IS RELATIVELY NEW TO THE MARVEL UNIVERSE

If you look through the old Infinity War comics, you will not find either the Black Order (also often called Cull Obsidian) nor Ebony Maw. The character does not appear in that many events of the Marvel Universe, even the ones related to Infinity War or Thanos and that is because he was created not that long ago. The Black Order were all created by Jerome Opeña, Jonathan Hickman, Jim Cheung, and Dustin Weaver to appear in the new iteration of the Infinity saga in the comic book known as Infinity (2013). A comic that Kevin Feige and the MCU took a lot of inspiration from for Avengers: Infinity War. Before transitioning onto the silver screen, Ebony Maw then appeared in a couple of other recent comics such as Thanos: A God Listening Up There, Avengers, New Avengers and the new Guardians of the Galaxy comics.

Previously, Thanos had some helpers such as The Magus and the Warlock’s Infinity Watch but they served a different purpose for a totally different story. Additionally, they did not seem as loyal, strong and as defined as the Black Order. Not a surprise that the MCU was interested in Maw and his friends for the movies, they are fantastic.

4 MAW AND LOKI ARE QUITE SIMILAR

Similarly to Thor’s adopted brother, Loki, Ebony Maw is a renowned liar, especially when he uses his persuasive powers. He is described as a “black tongue that spreads mischief and evil wherever he goes.” Remind you of someone yet? Loki betrays Thor multiple times, fakes his death, projects his virtual self when he has to go to dangerous places to avoid getting killed and sends his father away on Earth while he impersonates him and takes his “rightful” place on the throne. The adoptive son of Odin also pledges his “undying” allegiance to Thanos in Infinity War before revealing a dagger under his sleeve and trying to kill Thanos instead.

Loki is perhaps the most famous trickster in the Marvel Universe, but not the only one. Ebony Maw is also among Loki’s ranks in terms of double-dealing behavior. He has also betrayed Thanos and the Black Order in the past. For one, he sends Thanos’ own blood to destroy him and also tricks Thane into believing that he will help him, but then stabs him in the back by alerting Thanos. He says some one thing but has got a whole other plan in his mind, one that only involves coming on top. He works for his own benefit, nothing else, even if that means killing a brother, or “ally” to do it. Just like Loki.

3 MANIPULATES THE SORCERER SUPREME

As said before, there is almost no one that can resist Ebony Maw’s persuasion charms. One person you would think who could resist him would be Doctor Strange with his brilliant mind and his numerable unbreakable curses, but he does not. Maw breaks him to the point where Strange betrays his own side. During "Infinity", the team of superheroes learns that Thanos is ultimately looking to find his son and kill him, and they start looking for him. Though, the only Avenger who comes close to finding Thane is Doctor Strange.

Unfortunately, he is under Ebony Maw’s persuasion when he does so and Maw makes Strange forget that he found Thane. Thanos, in fact, sent the Black Order to recover the Stones for him and Ebony Maw went after Strange, similar to what he does in Avengers: Infinity War. Though, in the comics, Strange does not have Iron Man, Spider-Man or Wong to help him get rid of Maw. Instead, Maw breaks into Strange’s mind and makes the Doctor do his bidding for him. Many suspected that Strange might betray the Avengers in Infinity War or that Maw might even end up killing Doctor Strange. Fortunately, thanks to Spider-Man who has seen this “old movie” called Alien, Strange does not meet that fate.

2 HE’S CONSIDERED THE MOST DANGEROUS CHILD OF THANOS

While all the members have something to contribute to the Black Order, Ebony Maw is really the most essential and important figure of the group. Proxima Midnight possesses super strength, super speed, super endurance and conquers Atlantis during "Infinity". Corvus is often described as the chief negotiator and he has similar abilities to Midnight, including strength, fast legs, endurance but also super senses. As for Black Dwarf, aka Cull Obsidian, in Avengers: Infinity War his height and bulky body helps him fight somebody like the Hulk, essentially making him the muscle.

Then, there is also Supergiant, who is not used in the Russo Brothers’ movie but is also part of the Black Order but her powers might be too close to the set they gave to Ebony Maw in the film. Looking like a frail old man might also work to the Maw's advantage, as his unassuming frame doesn't show off his true ability which includes the power to overthrow Thanos with his black tongue. He is also the one making the tactical decisions, making him the mind of the group and without him they don't have any real organization. A real shame that they killed him so early in Avengers: Infinity War -- he could have helped Thanos do so much more.

1 THANOS AND THE BLACK ORDER ARE NOTHING WITHOUT HIM 

Sure, Thanos knows how to fight, can give a good beating to the Hulk and is immortal, but his true strength lies with the Infinity Gauntlet and the Stones. Without them, he is just a purple giant. He cannot control time, or make people vanish into thin air by the click of his fingers. Thanos also cannot be everywhere and with the impending threat that the Avengers impose unto him -- he has a timeline. This means he needs his own army, his own children -- people he can trust. The Black Order is just that, a bunch of loyalists who contemplate him and think of Thanos as a God. They are even often referred to as some kind of cult.

They do his bidding for him and distract the Avengers while he acquires the stones. He especially needs Ebony Maw, who can manipulate and torture anybody into doing anything for him. If Thanos claims he is cursed with knowledge like Tony Stark, then Ebony is among their tribe. He is the rightful second to Thanos because he possesses an incredible mind. We get a moment in Avengers: Infinity War where Thanos realizes that Maw is dead and he looks very disappointed and almost sad about it. Thanos knows how great Maw is and how important to his quest he was.