Ebony Maw

Hear me and rejoice! You have the privilege of reading an OAFEnet review. Be thankful that your meaningless life is now complete! The dangerous assassin Ebony Maw puts his powers of persuasion to sinister use in service of the evil Thanos. That may be true, but moreso in the comics than in the movie. MCU Ebony Maw seems to have some kind of telekinesis, being able to fly through the air and throw things around with a simple wave of his hand - sort of the same ill-defined powers as Scarlet Witch. In the comics, he has none of that. His power is basically just talking people to death. Like Hannibal Lecter or (the X-Files') Robert Patrick Modell. There's a reason the word for "mouth" is in his name. He can talk anyone into doing his bidding, then talk them into forgetting he was ever there. For example, while the Avengers were busy fighting the rest of his team, Ebony Maw got to Dr. Strange and convinced him to summon Shuma Gorath to the streets of New York. Whoopsie! The Black Order in the movie really stick close to their comic designs: Proxima Midnight's horns, Corvus Glaive's vampireness, Cull Obsidian's... existence? It's all very close. Maw is slightly more bald here than on the printed, page, but that's it. His gray skin and lack of a nose make this figure close enough to the 616 version that you could use him in either collection. One thing that is different, however, is his fashion sense. Comic Maw dresses like a member of the Sinestro Corps, all blacks and yellows. That's honored a little bit here by the gold trim on his vestments, but for the most part he's just wearing various shades of gray. The sculptural detailing on the clothes is quite impressive, though, from the sunken lines and inset panels to the tiny, tiny texture on his pants and sleeves. His body is long and lean and lanky, so much so that clothes that would probably be form-fitting on anyone else are slightly baggy on him. His boots and the wraps on his forearms bring that under control. Between the style of cloth on his limbs and the trailing edges on his smock, he looks like a martial artist. Moves like one, too. Like most Marvel Legends, he has swivel/hinge ankles, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, balljointed hips, swivel/hinge wrists, double-hinged elbows, swivel biceps, swivel/hinge shoulders, a balljointed chest, hinged neck, and balljointed head. All that, despite the fact his method of attack is to stand perfectly still. They gave a nice gesture to his left hand, while his right just hangs relaxed. He do have to say it's a bit of a missed opportunity to not include a hand with a single "shhh" finger extended to hold up to his lips. He has no accessories or extra parts at all. He does have a piece of the BAF, though: Warrior Thanos' left leg. In the initial push of Infinity War figures, it was just Proxima Midnight all by herself; later, Cull Obsidian was revealed as the Series 2 BAF, but it still seemed like we weren't going to be getting the entire Black Order. Then Corvus Glaive turned up in a two-pack, and now we've got Ebony Maw, too! Short of them inventing a movieverse Supergiant, that completes the whole evil team, and they all work as 616 stand-ins too. -- 06/08/19

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