| “ | Spider-Man: So, what is this guy's problem, Mr. Stark? Iron Man: He's from space, and he came here to steal a necklace from a wizard. |
„ |
| ~ Spider-Man and Iron Man talking about Cull Obsidian. |
Cull Obsidian is a supporting antagonist of the Infinity Saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He is a high-ranking member of the Black Order and, physically, the strongest one of them all. He assists Thanos in his quest to collect the Infinity Stones.
He was portrayed by Terry Notary, who also played Spitz in the 2020 The Call of the Wild adaptation and Gordy in Nope.
History[]
Before becoming a servant of Thanos[]
Cull Obsidian was a member of a world destroyed by Thanos in his quest to wipe out half the universe. Thanos took the orphaned Obsidian and raised him as his own child, training him to be a deadly member of the Black Order. Obsidian, along with the rest of the Order, was disliked by Gamora and Nebula.
Avengers: Infinity War[]
Cull Obsidian was first seen raiding the Asgardians's ship following the destruction of Asgard by the deceased Surtur. Along with his siblings, he slaughtered the Asgardians to their deaths just as Thanos fights against the raging Hulk.
Although Obsidian intends to help Thanos, Maw tells him to stand down, knowing that Thanos is too strong for the Hulk to defeat. When the defeated Hulk is sent back to Earth by Hemidall (who ends up being killed by Thanos), Obsidian helps his siblings in forcing Loki Laufeyson in surrendering the Space Stone (the Tesseract) to Thanos. It is also revealed that Obsidian was involved of his father's attack on the planet Xandar to gain possession of the Power Stone (the Orb), which he used to destroy Xandar. After Thanos kills Loki, Obsidian escaped with his family as Thanos uses the Orb to destroy the Asgardians' ship, leaving a helpless Thor to drift in space.
With two of the Infinity Stones in place, Thanos sends the Black Order to Earth to collect the Time Stone (the Eye of Agamotto) and the Mind Stone while he personally travels to Knowhere to collect the Reality Stone (the Aether) from the Collector and Vormir to collect the Soul Stone from the Red Skull. Assigned to collect the Eye of Agamotto, Maw and Obsidian tracked down its current location in New York City, where they laid down an attack in to draw Iron Man, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange (the current holder of the Eye) into the scene. Despite the heroes' efforts, Maw managed to capture Strange and flies away on his ship, intending to deliver the Eye to Thanos at the planet Titan while Obsidian meets up with Proxima and Glaive after their failed attempt to collect the Mind Stone.
After collecting the Aether, the Soul Stone and the Eye of Agamotto, Thanos sends Proxima, Glaive and Obsidian to Wakanda, ordering them to lead a massive army of Outriders to attack the country and obtain the Mind Stone at all costs. This forces several Avengers and Wakandan warriors to fight back against the massive army. During the battle, Obsidian engaged into a fight against Bruce Banner wearing a Hulkbuster suit. Though he managed to tear off one of Banner's arms, Banner set the arm flying by activating its thrusters, sending Obsidian into the forcefield protecting Wakanda until he exploded to his death. His siblings and the Outriders would later meet the same fate after being killed by the Avengers and Guardians. Despite the losses, an arriving Thanos didn't care about Obsidian's death and managed to collect the Mind Stone after killing Vision. Thanos then used all of the Infinity Stones to wipe out half of the universe's populace (including several Avengers and Guardians), much to the heroes's distraught.
Avengers: Endgame[]
He can be seen during the final battle, along with the rest of the Black Order. Cull began to fight Iron Man before being stepped on and subsequently killed by Giant Ant-Man.
Legacy[]
Cull Obsidian's severed forearm was recovered by the United States Department of Damage Control and kept in their custody. In an attempt to gain superhuman DNA in order to become Super-Skrulls, members of the Skrull Resistance infiltrated Damage Control and retrieved Obsidian's arm. Obsidian's severed limb was then studied by the Rosa Dalton Skrull, who used the Super Skrull Machine to transfer Obsidian's DNA to Gravik, granting him access to Obsidian's physiology and abilities.
Personality[]
Cull Obsidian was a savage brute that took great pleasure in fighting his enemies with the Black Order. He was eager to fight the Hulk on behalf of Thanos during the attack on the Statesman before being stopped by Ebony Maw. In contrast with his siblings, he was apparently the least intelligent of the Black Order, as he was only able to communicate in grunts and growls. He recklessly attacked his foes head-on, which would be a trait that would cost him his life as exemplified by how Bruce Banner was able to outsmart him and send him flying to a fiery death.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Superhuman Strength: As a result of his great size, Obsidian possessed an incredible level of superhuman strength and was seemingly able to match that of the Hulk, as indicated by Obsidian intending to fight the Hulk for his master Thanos when Hulk attacked the Mad Titan. Obsidian's strength indeed allowed him to fight Iron Man and Spider-Man simultaneously, throw half a taxi with great velocity, and fight on par with, and even overpower, the Hulkbuster, a weapon that was able to defeat the Hulk, though it should be noted that it had already taken damage from several Outriders. In fact, Obsidian was strong enough to easily rip the Hulkbuster's arm off.
- Superhuman Durability: Obsidian possessed tremendous levels of superhuman durability. He could take numerous blows from Iron Man's enhanced nanotech suit, as well as missiles, repulsor blasts and beams, blows from the Hulkbuster armor, and even a full blast of Black Panther's kinetic energy projection, all with absolutely no sign of harm. However, Obsidian's durability appears to have a maximum limit, since he was destroyed when Bruce Banner's detached Hulkbuster arm lifted and dragged Obsidian into the intense energy of Wakanda's barrier. Despite the event ending in his death, he lasted a considerable amount of time, dying due to the arm exploding.
- Superhuman Speed: Obsidian was extremely quick despite his size. He was able to go toe-to-toe with Bruce Banner in the also incredibly quick Hulkbuster Armor.
- Superhuman Stamina: Obsidian dueled Bruce Banner for a very long time without tiring.
- Regenerative Healing Factor: Obsidian could heal from his injuries at a heightened rate as was demonstrated by his skin repairing itself after it was damaged by Iron Man's repulsor beams. However, even though he can heal his injuries, he cannot regenerate parts of his body. Wong cut off his hand after closing the portal, and Obsidian's hand was replaced with a cybernetic one.
Gallery[]
).png "Black Dwarf (Cull Obsidian (Marvel's Avengers Infinity War)).png (761 KB)")
Trivia[]
- In the comics, Obsidian was named Black Dwarf. Interesting enough, in the comics Cull Obsidian was another name for the Black Order. This was changed to not confuse the names Black Panther, Black Widow, and Black Order, with Black Dwarf, despite the group being renamed "Children of Thanos".
- In concept art and according to the creators of the movie, Obsidian was originally supposed to have a different uniform, and is confirmed to be made up of pieces of his victims and those he defeated, including original plans to wear a belt of skulls.
