The Black Order Had Bigger Origin Stories in Earlier ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Drafts

Avengers: Infinity War has so many characters to juggle that it’s not surprising that a few got short-changed in the process, but fans who aren’t that well versed in the “Infinity” stories from Marvel Comics were especially burned by the lack of information on some of the film’s popular new characters: The Black Order.

However, Avengers: Infinity War director Joe Russo reveals something interesting in the Blu-ray commentary, during the first battle between The Black Order and Captain America’s Secret Avengers squad in Paris: The Black Order was originally going to be explored in much greater detail in the film.

As Russo states:

“There were earlier drafts of the script with the Black Order, in a more stylized draft where we did backstories for each of them. 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.”

Thanos’ team of lieutenants were given a fearsome introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Infinity War, blowing into the scene on Earth to throwdown with Avengers, while trying to obtain two of the Infinity Stones held by Vision and Doctor Strange. The Black Order members were well designed and looked pretty awesome in their various action moments – but the film also neglected to even mention half of them by name! What ended up happening was that The Black Order were treated like so many MCU movie villain henchmen, getting dispatched as quickly as they were introduced.

For fans who got to know and love the members of the Black Order (Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw, and Cull Obsidian) during Marvel’s Infinity storyline and afterward, Infinity War was understandably something of a letdown, since the villains don’t seem to have much of a future in the MCU, after their brief time in this film. For viewers who never really read the comics: at least they got to see some pretty cool fights from some of the most powerful MCU villains we’ve seen so far.

Avengers: Infinity War is now available on Digital platforms and lands on DVD and Blu-ray on August 14. It can be pre-ordered here. Ant-Man and the Wasp is now in theaters. Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.