A new pair of concept art images for Avengers: Infinity War reveals that Ebony Maw - a member of Thanos' Black Order - almost looked quite different. Marvel Studios' MCU has long received criticism for featuring forgettable villains, but in the last year, things seem to have taken a turn for the better. Thor: Ragnarok's Hela (Cate Blanchett) earned raves for being powerful, charismatic, and cunning, while Black Panther's Erik "Killmonger" Stevens was a villain many fans could empathize with, despite his harsh methods.

Avengers: Infinity War followed Hela and Killmonger up with Thanos, the now near-unanimous pick for greatest villain in MCU history. Josh Brolin's mad Titan's genocidal aspirations were truly diabolical, but he wasn't just some one-dimensional villain, lending real emotional pathos to the determined being that would eventually snap half the universe out of existence. Backing Thanos up was the Black Order, alternately known in the film as the Children of Thanos, a group comprised of formidable foes Ebony Maw (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor), Cull Obsidian (Terry Notary), Proxima Midnight (Carrie Coon), and Corvus Glaive (Michael Shaw).

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Unfortunately for Thanos - but fortunately for Earth's mightiest heroes - the Black Order quartet didn't emerge from Avengers: Infinity War alive, much to Thanos' visible disappointment. They may not have been his biological children, but he still cared for them in his own way. Ebony Maw gets probably the most memorable death of the four when he's expelled out into space as the result of a team effort by Iron Man and Spider-Man, after having brutally tortured Doctor Strange. Thanks to concept artist Jerad S. Merantz, fans can now get a glimpse of an alternate design for Ebony Maw that didn't make the final film. Check it out below.

As can be seen in the art above, Merantz's design for Ebony Maw was quite different, sporting a completely different facial look and a mohawk hair style. One assumes this Ebony Maw would've been much less likely to earn Squidward taunts from Tony Stark, although with this more aerodynamic ensemble, he might've earned a reference to 1980s Arnold Schwarzenegger hit The Running Man. Of course, Tony would've had to explain such a reference to Peter Parker, who would no doubt consider The Running Man a really old movie.

Despite the sad loss of his "children" in the Black Order, Thanos did ultimately accomplish his goal of "balancing" the universe at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. As Thanos himself confirms though, it truly did cost him everything. One wonders what mental state Thanos will be in by the time Avengers: Endgame arrives next spring. By then he may have gotten tired of watching the sun rise on a grateful universe.

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Source: Jerad S. Merantz