- "The Tesseract has awakened. It is on a little world, a human world. They would wield its power, but our ally knows its workings as they never will. He is ready to lead, and our force, our Chitauri, will follow. The world will be his, the universe, yours. And the humans, what can they do, but burn?"
- ―The Other to Thanos
The Other was Thanos' personal servant. He provided Loki with the Chitauri army in an attempt to conquer the Earth and claim the Tesseract. In the wake of the failed Chitauri Invasion, the Other continued to serve Thanos and held frequent arguments with his new warrior, Ronan the Accuser until, in a fit of rage, Ronan killed the Other with his Cosmi-Rod by snapping his neck.
Biography
Serving Thanos
Chitauri Invasion
![The Other Avengers](/static/T0XII/static/picture/250-20170404084513.jpg?d=f63094e4c&m=T0XII)
The Other served Thanos while he was helping Loki to achieve his goal of becoming the ruler of Earth and gain revenge in the wake of his defeat at the hands of Thor. The Other gave Loki the Scepter, which would give him complete control over Thanos' Chitauri army, allowing him to steal the Tesseract and conquer Earth so Thanos could progress in his crusade with the Tesseract's power. The Other updated Thanos, promising that all the humans could do was burn.
![TheAvengers-1205](/static/T0XII/static/picture/250-20140728181244.jpg?d=5d07b127b&m=T0XII)
The Other personally threatening Loki
After Loki arrived on Earth and used the Scepter's power to build a small army of human soldiers, including Erik Selvig and Hawkeye, he went to a flashback where he was speaking to Thanos, with the Other being the one who was speaking with him on behalf of Thanos. There, Loki assured the Other that the upcoming battle against Earth's forces would be glorious but not long as he was confident he would gain his victory, although he questioned the abilities of Thanos' army. The Other threatened the God of Mischief, declaring that if he failed in defeating the humans, Thanos would make him know a new kind of horrific suffering.[1]
Battle of New York
![Chitauri Space2](/static/T0XII/static/picture/250-20170404091251.jpg?d=8c65d30af&m=T0XII)
Despite their forces, the Battle of New York was a failure and, when Loki was eventually defeated by the Avengers and taken back to Asgard along with the Tesseract, that meant that two of the Infinity Stones were now lost to Thanos. The Other complained to Thanos that the Earth's inhabitants were not as weak as they were supposed to be. When Thanos stood up from his throne, the Other dropped his head and bowed to his ruler, showing his respect. He declared that challenging the Earth's heroes would be to court Death itself. To this, Thanos simply smiled at the prospect.[3]
Quest for the Orb
![The Other Hologram](/static/T0XII/static/picture/250-20141126092451.jpg?d=26fa824d2&m=T0XII)
The Other contacting Ronan the Accuser
- "You are the one, here, with nothing to show for him!"
"Your sources say she was meant to betray us the whole time."
"Lower your tone! I may be your—" - ―The Other and Ronan the Accuser
Thanos made a deal with Ronan the Accuser to obtain the Power Stone from the Orb. When it was learned that Gamora had betrayed them, stolen the Orb for herself and escaped, Thanos demanded their presence. The Other then contacted Ronan onboard his ship, the Dark Aster, through a holographic screen and furiously told them to visit the Sanctuary to discuss Gamora's betrayal and the loss of the Orb in person.
![Ronan and the Other](/static/T0XII/static/picture/250-20140809154109.jpg?d=2e12c48bb&m=T0XII)
When Ronan and Nebula arrived at the Sanctuary, Thanos remained seated on his Space Throne while Ronan began arguing aggressively with The Other, who had lectured the pair on their failure and ordered them to show respect within Thanos' presence. However, Ronan had insisted that it was Thanos who had brought Gamora to them, furiously noting that his sources within the Kyln, where Gamora was now being held by the Nova Corps, claimed she had meant to betray them and steal the Orb for herself the whole time.
![The Other face](/static/T0XII/static/picture/250-20141125231501.jpg?d=428255b59&m=T0XII)
The Other is killed by Ronan the Accuser
Refusing to allow Ronan to speak to Thanos in such a manner, the Other shouted at him to lower his voice, to which Ronan, growing impatient with him, chose instead to kill the Other mid-sentence, twisting his head 180 degrees with the power of his Cosmi-Rod. As the Other's corpse dropped to the ground, Ronan and Thanos continued their conversation, with Thanos showing little regard for his servant's death, wishing only to gain the Orb.[4]
Personality
The Other was extremely loyal to Thanos, as well as a powerful and intimidating individual. Additionally, he used his hideous looks and comparison of Thanos' mighty power to something god-like in order to cause Thanos' other allies and servants such as Loki and Ronan the Accuser to respect him, to varying degrees of success. The Other would do anything he possibly could to serve and please Thanos, to the point of becoming intensely angry with anyone who disrespected his master. The Other was sharp-tongued and pompous and had a tendency to emulate the behavior of his interlocutors.
For instance, in the presence of Loki who showed mocking contempt for him, the Other attempted to bite back his fury and match Loki's cool disdain. The hot-headed Ronan by contrast largely ignored the Other's presence and angrily ranted at Thanos himself, causing the Other to become increasingly angry and blustery until he finally lost his temper and screamed in fury at Ronan, showing his extreme loyalty to the Mad Titan yet resulting in his own immediate demise at the hands of the Accuser.
The Other underestimated humans, calling them "cowering wretches" and scornfully cites "the meager might of Earth", claiming that Loki supported this outlook and may have encouraged it. He was extremely confident that the humans would be completely helpless against the Chitauri Invasion force. However, as only five of them stood a chance against them, dozens more wielded far more primitive weapons against the aliens to no effect, and everyone else fled in a panicked frenzy, the Other's viewpoint may not be entirely illegitimate. He does change his mind after Loki's defeat, however, as he goes so far as to claim that humans cannot be governed and challenging them will only court death.
Powers
The full power of the Other is not known. However, he was clearly a being to be feared as he often demanded respect from powerful individuals such as Loki and Ronan the Accuser, although in the latter's case he overused his authority, leading to his abrupt death.
- Superhuman Speed: The Other is known to be capable of superhuman speed, as he lunges at Loki from about fifteen feet away in a blur.
- Pain Inducement: The Other seemed to be able to cause Loki great pain just by touching his head, although Loki was communicating metaphysically so he may not be able to perform such an act to someone who was actually in his presence.
Facilities
![RonanTheOtherArguing-GOTG](/static/T0XII/static/picture/250-20141126221759.jpg?d=ad1251fa7&m=T0XII)
The Other speaks to Ronan the Accuser
- Sanctuary: Sanctuary is a name given to an asteroid field inhabited by the Chitauri. It is the domain of Thanos where the Other would serve him. When Loki was captured there, the Other tortured him in order to ensure his compliance and submission for their invasion of Earth. After Gamora’s betrayal, Ronan the Accuser traveled to Sanctuary where he met with Thanos in person and angrily berated him for not taking the betrayal seriously. The Other tried to keep Ronan from disrespecting Thanos, but in his rage, Ronan killed the Other instead.
Relationships
Allies
| Enemies
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Trivia
- In the comics, "The Other" was an alias of Chthon the Elder God.
Behind the Scenes
- Alexis Denisof's casting as the Other in The Avengers was partly due his previous collaborations with Joss Whedon on his television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Dollhouse.[5]
- In The Avengers, Alexis Denisof's voice was heavily modified and masked to hide most of Denisof's actual voice, but in Guardians of the Galaxy and the deleted scenes of The Avengers, little modification was done to Denisof's voice.
- James Gunn has said that the Other was killed off so that Ronan the Accuser would not look weak in comparison to Thanos: "You don’t want to belittle the actual antagonist of the film, which is Ronan. You don’t want him to seem like a big wussy. We’ve had the Other, who’s obviously very powerful even in comparison to Loki, and then we see Ronan wipe his ass with him".[6]
- An earlier draft of the script reveals that during his death scene, The Other was about to say "I may be your worst enemy."
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Avengers
- ↑ The Marvel Cinematic Universe follows a general real-time policy in most of Phase Two - set when the media is released when suitable.
- ↑ The Avengers Mid-credits Scene
- ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy
- ↑ The Avengers - Audio Commentary
- ↑ The Problem With Bringing Thanos Into 'Guardians of the Galaxy'