Avengers: Infinity War introduced quite a few characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe — and it sounds like two of them had a surprising connection.
Videos by ComicBook.com
In the Infinity War directors’ commentary track, co-director Joe Russo revealed that Proxima Midnight (Carrie Coon) and Corvus Glaive (Michael James Shaw), two members of Thanos’ Black Order, were actually married to each other. According to Russo, the initial goal was to explore the Black Order’s various histories, but those plot threads were ultimately cut for time.
“There were earlier drafts of the script with the Black Order, in a more stylized draft where we did backstories for each of them.” Russo explained. “Ultimately the movie was getting too crowded, too hard to follow. In the books, there’s a backstory between Proxima and Corvus, that they’re married. Only hinted at in the slightest way here by the fact that they are paired up to retrieve a stone and the way that she responds when Corvus gets stabbed by Natasha.”
For those who are familiar with the comic incarnations of the Black Order, this is probably a pleasant surprise, as the pair were also married within the comics. Granted, Infinity War may not have strongly suggested that bond outright, but it sounds like the Russos definitely meant for the subtext to be there.
Even though Infinity War introduced the Black Order to a whole new legion of fans, a few had their gripes about how little the team factored into the film. But according to Russo, there was ultimately a good reason for those changes.
“I think people have been waiting 10 years to have the Marvel heroes together in a 2-and-a-half hour film,” Russo explained back in May. “So if I started to go into the history of them — that’s a whole other movie all together. I felt like they did their jobs in the film. And the audience got enough of them in the film — as much as they needed them in the film. As much as I like those characters, and as much as I like the comic books, I feel that if I started delving into their backstory it would become unwatchable. [There are] only so many characters you can keep in your head.”
“The Black Order, in particular, we worked hard to adjust them to the Marvel Cinematic Universe,” Russo later explained in the commentary track. “In the [Jonathan] Hickman run, I thought the characters were too powerful. And nobody wants the sub-villain to outshine the villain. And we adjusted their power sets so that they lined up in a way that was more interesting with our heroes. Which is why Maw’s a ‘wizard.’”
Do you wish that Proxima and Corvus’ relationship had factored more into Infinity War? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Avengers: Infinity War is now available on Digital HD. Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, and Avengers 4 on May 3, 2019, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019.
