Ebony Maw first appears in a one-panel cameo inNew Avengers #8 (September 2013) and was created byJonathan Hickman andJerome Opeña.[1] His second one-panel appearance came later that month inInfinity #1 (October 2013).
Ebony Maw is a member ofThanos'Black Order. He is not a fighter, but a dangerous thinker of the Black Order.[2] When Thanos targeted Earth as the next planet he would raze during theInfinity storyline, Ebony Maw was dispatched to deal withDoctor Strange.[3]
Ebony Maw used his abilities to control Doctor Strange and force him to summonShuma-Gorath.[4] When the Illuminati travel around the world to find Thanos' sonThane, Strange finds him in a hiddenInhuman city of Orollan inGreenland before freeing himself from Maw's control.[5]
WhenBlack Bolt detonates a Terrigen Bomb, spreading Terrigen Mist across Earth, Thane undergoes Terrigenesis and gains the ability to kill anyone with a touch.[6] However, he is unable to control his powers, so Ebony Maw gives him a containment suit.[7] When theAvengers arrive in Orollan to battle Thanos, Maw convinces Thane to assist the latter and becomes his mentor.[8]
Ebony Maw has genius-level intellect. He mostly demonstrates his intelligence with his highly skilled abilities of manipulation being described as a "black tongue that spreads mischief and evil wherever he goes."[10] Maw's skills at manipulation are a result of his superhumanly persuasive voice, which allows him to control even the strongest minds such as Doctor Strange.[11] Maw's other abilities include telekinesis andpyrokinesis.[12][13]
He also uses technology that provides for teleportation and force field generation.[14][15]
Ebony Maw appears in media set in theMarvel Cinematic Universe, voiced and motion-captured byTom Vaughan-Lawlor.[16][17][18][19] This version has telekinetic abilities and serves asThanos' herald, perversely evangelizing to the inhabitants of worlds that Thanos attacks that they are actually being saved and the ones who are dead or dying should "rejoice" in their deaths bringing balance to the universe.
An alternate timeline version of Maw appears inAvengers: Endgame.[20] He joins his timeline's Thanos in time traveling to the prime timeline to stop theAvengers, only to be disintegrated along with them by Stark via theInfinity Stones.[21]
Alternate timeline versions of Maw appear inWhat If...?. In the episode "What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?", Maw serves theCollector instead of Thanos, who reformed years prior.[22] In the episode "What If... Zombies?!", Maw and Obsidian travel to Earth to obtain the Time Stone, only to be killed and zombified by a zombified Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Wong.[23]
^abcd"Ebony Maw Voices (Marvel Universe)".Behind the Voice Actors (A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information). RetrievedApril 28, 2018.
