6 of Ebony Maw’s Most Manipulative Moments

He’s a master orator and one sneaky son of a gun who considers Thanos to be his father. Ebony Maw is perhaps the smartest member of the Black Order, that malevolent cosmic cabal that answers only to the Mad Titan. Unlike Black Dwarf, Corvus Glaive, and Proxima Midnight, Maw relies on his intellect rather than his strength to get the job done.

In the upcoming BLACK ORDER #5 from Derek Landy and Carlos Magno – on sale Wednesday, March 6 – Maw a master of manipulation, may be getting his comeuppance.

To help soften the blow, we’ve decided to relive some of Maw’s best moments since he first came on the scene in 2013.

Maw makes his first appearance

He has no speaking lines in this issue, but our first-ever glimpse of Ebony Maw is him walking off a spaceship right outside of Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum in Greenwich Village. This juxtaposition of characters would later be recreated in live-action for Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Infinity War.”

Maw makes a withdrawal

Maw’s appearance outside the Sanctum is not coincidental. His amazing powers of persuasion and mind games are shown within the pages of INFINITY #2, where he is seen overtaking the great Sorcerer Supreme, asking him to fulfill Thanos’ wishes.

Maw drops some profound truth bombs

After Thane’s powers are unleashed and he kills everyone in the city of Orollan, Ebony Maw shows up to offer the boy, also Thanos’ son, a containment suit. Maw also drops a pretty epic truth bomb: “Thanos spent his whole life chasing death, it seems now that he has spawned it.”

Maw meets Tony Stark

For all his pomp and circumstance, Maw was no match for the arrogant wit of Tony Stark when he arrived on Earth with Cull Obsidian to collect the Time Stone from Doctor Strange. We can say with absolutely certainty that this was the first time that Maw had ever been called “Squidward.”

Maw manipulates Strange -- again

In the MIGHTY AVENGERS #2 tie-in issue to the 2013 INFINITY storyline, Maw takes control of Doctor Strange once again. This time, he forces the Master of the Mystic Arts to summon the eldritch horror known as Shuma-Gorath. There’s nothing like a one-eyed tentacle deity from beyond space and time to really make rush hour traffic even worse.

Maw betrays Thanos

Let’s be honest – Maw is a bit of an opportunist. He allies himself with the strongest bully on the playground. When he realized that Thane had much more power than Thanos, he pitted father against son. This resulted in Thanos being defeated by his very own child, something that Maw was hoping for the entire time.

BLACK ORDER #5, written by Derek Landy with art by Carlos Magno, goes on sale Wednesday, March 6. Pre-order your copy today or at your local comic shop!