Avengers: Infinity War is a story of triumph in the face of great adversity; it just so happens that the hero of this saga is an intergalactic despot whose mission is to eradicate half of the population from the universe. But while the Mad Titan proves to be a formidable opponent to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, he also gets a fair amount of help in accomplishing his genocidal goal from his own deadly and dedicated team known as the Children of Thanos.
Among this line-up of extra-terrestrial lieutenants is one Ebony Maw, a sinister figure who played a key role in the capture of Doctor Strange. Unlike his employer though, Maw ultimately doesn’t fare so well in conflict, eventually getting thrown into the vacuum of space in a fatal homage to that really old movie Aliens. But while things aren’t looking too good for the Black Order henchman, actor Tom Vaughan-Lawlor certainly seems game for a return.
“I think he’s a great character and fun to play,” Vaughan-Lawlor told Red Carpet News TV. “It’s a brilliantly written character, some of the language and the dialogue that I got to say was just so much fun. Those parts are kind of gifts to actors. Also the physicality, it’s a very playful character. And yeah, it was wonderful to do, and given the opportunity I’d love to revisit it if possible.”
In order to land this major gig in the first place, Vaughan-Lawlor goes on to recall how he went the extra mile.
“I have an American agent who sent me the details that it was an audition for [Marvel] and I sent off a tape,” Vaughan-Lawlor said. “I filmed it in my house, and feeling very silly dressed up as something resembling the character, and you feel very silly when you do it, so you send it off. I had to do a couple of tapes for them. And then they, a few months [later], they said they liked what I did, so they’d like me to be involved.”
While Avengers: Infinity War is full of deaths that we’re not expecting to stick in the long run, Ebony Maw is one of the few fatalities in the film that most viewers assume to be permanent. That being said, even if we take his fate to be genuine and irreversible, there’s always the chance that we’ll be seeing more of this character when the MCU explores earlier points in the series timeline.
Captain Marvel, for one thing, will be doing just that, and with the recent suggestion that Ebony’s colleague Cull Obsidian might have a part to play in next year’s movie, perhaps Vaughan-Lawlor isn’t out of the franchise quite yet.