FAN Speculation On Who is "The Other" And What Impact He May Have On The Marvel Cinematic Universe

FAN Speculation On Who is "The Other" And What Impact  He May Have On The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Why I think the hooded second-in-command of the alien invaders have a more substantial role in later films, and which films, specifically, he'll impact. (MINOR SPOILERS)

Editorial Opinion
By contrast - May 10, 2012 12:05 AM EST
Filed Under: Avengers

This past weekend, Marvel's The Avengers opened Stateside, and raked another heap of cash onto it's already large pile from the worldwide release. Fan reaction was outstanding, and the future is looking brighter than ever for Marvel and for fans such as myself.

Now, in light of recent news, it's a given that not only are Iron Man III, Thor II, and Captain America II on their way, but also The Avengers II, an as-of-yet unrevealed project which has already been filmed, and another unrevealed feature-length theatrical release are down the pipeline.

Some say that this unrevealed feature film must be Ant-Man or Guardians of the Galaxy, or maybe even a Black Panther flick... And while all of these movies would certainly be great, I'm currently inclined to side with those still, who say that Doctor Strange is the next big thing headed our way from Marvel.

Why? Well, that brings us right back to The Avengers, specifically the character known as "the Other".

the Marvel Database Wiki states that the Other, played by Alexis Denisof, is "an envoy between his master and Loki, arranging a vast army of Chitauri for Loki as part of their deal." In the film, he only appears a handful of times, but we do get a few semi-good looks at him. I couldn't scrounge up a picture of him, so I'll rely primarily on description to get my point across.

The Other is a grey-skinned figure in a hood, who has ridges on his face, and an extra thumb on each hand. He also has the ability to communicate with people across dimensions (as seen when he does so with Loki at one point).

Many people have speculated that The Other is Annihilus, but I find this unlikely because of said character's ties to the Fantastic Four. I initially thought that he might be a Skrull, as that's what his facial features reminded me of, but again, Marvel has been rather adamant about keeping the Movie-verse Chitauri separate from the Skrulls. Regardless, I think it much more likely that The Other is Doctor Strange baddie Chthon.

In the comics, Chthon is a prime evil, an elder god, a demon of incredible power. He created a cursed book known as The Darkhold (which tied into many Marvel works, my favorite of which would be Werewolf by Night), and was banished from Earth ages ago. Chthon is usually depicted as a being with grey, ridged skin, wearing a hood. He doesn't have six fingers per hand, but (and this is admittedly a stretch), he's a Marvel Universe demon, and one of the most notable group of demons in the MU is called... you guessed it, The Six-Fingered Hand.

Also, probably the most solid evidence, Chthon was only officially named "Chthon" during his second appearance (which was in a 1979 issue of Avengers). During his first appearance (in an '75 issue of Marvel Chillers), he was simply called "The Other."

So there you have it... My two cents.

He's probably just a generic Chitauri higher-up, but the parallels were interesting enough I figured I'd share.

Excelsior!

-Contrast

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BANE5000
BANE5000 - 5/10/2012, 2:10 AM
U make a great point, it could be Chthon, even on Wikipedia listed under his notable aliases, the first is " The Other "
Jock2012
Jock2012 - 5/10/2012, 2:49 AM
good point, hopefully this is correct and we are one step closer to a Doctor Strange movie (or at least a short)
BANE5000
BANE5000 - 5/10/2012, 3:30 AM
Jock2012

Remember how they said they shot a scene or something the night of The Avengers premier in the U.S

Imagine if the scene is a Marvel Short thats gonna be included on The Avengers dvd that shows The Other somehow right after he talks to Thanos and saying that not only are the humans gonna be a problem to invade Earth, but theyre are some mystical elements growing that are gonna make it even more difficult and have to dealt with swiftly...then its shows a quick shot and our first hint at Dr Strange, maybe even revealing who the actor is thats gonna play him...how awesome would that be :D
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 5/10/2012, 3:36 AM
I cant stand the theory that he is Annihilus. It makes absolutely no sense.

First, he looks nothing like Annihilus, NOTHING! Not even close. The Other was humanoid in appearance, Annihilus is a giant insect.

Second, Annihilus has too much pride and believes himself to be too powerfil to bow down to anyone. In fact, Thanos has bowed down to Annjhilus in the comics. Sure it was because he had his own agenda, but still, Annihilus bows to no one. Annihilus is on the same power level as Thanos, he would not be groveling at his feet.

This theorh is no different than when people were so stubborn thay they kept saying the imvasion army was goin to be the annihilation wave even though they looked nothing like giant bugs. Sorry to offend anyone, but its ridiculous fanboy speculations thay make no sense at all.

And honestly, why is it so hard to believe that The Other is just some lacky?
CraptainAmerica
CraptainAmerica - 5/10/2012, 3:42 AM
To be honest I just thought that 'the other' was a brilliant way of having Thanos' right hand man be of no significance to the MCU.

However, if this theory has any bearing it would have been a clever way of including a, already present, comics character. Especially without (until now) anybody noticing.

Some seriously great detective work sir! Imagine having a Doctor Strange easter egg right under our noses!

If Marvel didn't consider this when they placed the character their, they should now!
contrast
contrast - 5/10/2012, 3:54 AM
@CorbdogBurglar-- I did say, there at the end, that he was likely only a higher-ranking Chitauri and nothing more. The only reason I posted this was because he does look quite a bit like Chthon, and share a few recognizable powers with him... as well as the two characters having the same alias.

I do, in all honesty, doubt that they're leading into Doctor Strange with this, but it would be cool if it all tied together on down the road.

And, further, Joss is a comic-savvy guy. He knows his stuff. I highly doubt he named a character "The Other", and made him look decidedly Chthon-like completely by accident... even if the decision was more along the lines of "Hey, concept art guys... I named this character 'The Other', then discovered that there was this semi-obscure Doctor Strange villain with the same name. Why don't you incorporate some of his design elements into the look of our 'The Other'."
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 5/10/2012, 5:51 AM
@ Contrast

I know, i read your article, I know you ended it by saying he was probably a nobody. I was directing that more toward the people that HAVEN'T said what you said. :)

And to be honest, your theory makes a lot more sense than the Annihilus.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 5/10/2012, 5:54 AM
@ Contrast

oh my bad, I see now. When I said this, "This theorh is no different than when people were so stubborn..." I was talking about the Annihilus theory, not yours.
Benjamitesandwich
Benjamitesandwich - 5/10/2012, 6:41 AM
Great points! I think Marvel just took some serious creative liberties with Mephisto (since Fox owns the rights to him) and just gave him a new name. I think the Chthon theory is good too.
95
95 - 5/10/2012, 6:46 AM
Very interesting. Awesome dig @contrast! Could be true-- or he's (like you said) a generic liaison for the story.
BIGBMH
BIGBMH - 5/10/2012, 6:50 AM
Very good points. I'm not familiar with Chthon, but if The Other is intended to play a more significant role, this would make sense.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 5/10/2012, 7:39 AM
Mephisto is owned by Fox or Sony, which ever one ha Ghost Rider.
TheOverlord
TheOverlord - 5/10/2012, 9:01 AM
Ghost Rider will probably revert back to Marcel soon given the failure if the latest movie. (I think it's Lionsgate that holds the rights right now.)
GreyJon
GreyJon - 5/10/2012, 9:14 AM
Your theory is a very good one. For all we know it could be Cthon. But it should be made clear that it was said that their plans for Thanos would come to fruition with a guardians of the Galaxy film and That suggests that that could be the next one after Cap 2.
tonedawg217
tonedawg217 - 5/10/2012, 11:42 AM
@Contrast

You're a genius, given the information you've provided (Six Fingered Hand/grey skinned/ability to converse with others over distances), I'd honestly be surprised if The Other is not Chthon at this point. Kudos to you!
TheActionAce
TheActionAce - 5/10/2012, 12:03 PM
wow, never thought about him

nice theory I would be surprised if it didn't turn out to be him, at first I was thinking his just s redesigned Herr Kleiser, who marvel has turned into a servant of Thanos

but everything you said, just points to him being chthon
badmojo0777
badmojo0777 - 5/10/2012, 12:49 PM
does anyone remember The Avengers storyline with Chthon possessing Scarlett Witch. great story pencilled by John Byrne. Maybe this is a potential Tie in, to bring in Quicsilver and Scarlet witch.
SkinnyOne
SkinnyOne - 5/10/2012, 2:19 PM
@BANE5000
I'm pretty sure the scene they shot after the premier was the one where they're all sitting down eating
theomegasanction
theomegasanction - 5/10/2012, 2:42 PM
good theory. i would like to see dr strange introduced more than antman or black panther
NightForce
NightForce - 5/10/2012, 3:20 PM
@contrast Wow that is a pretty awesome theory! With all the connections you made I would be surprised if you were wrong! At first I assumed he was just a Chitauri of higher power.
OdinsBeard
OdinsBeard - 5/10/2012, 4:41 PM
soo... why didn't Thanos go grab the cube for himself? all three of them were on that rock in the opening scene (i assume) so why even use a middle man? why risk it? Why trust the god of lies to bring you ultimate power? how could they even access it's power from where they were? from accross the universe you can open a portal to apear within ten feet of the cube but you can't quickly snatch it up and jet right back through the very same portal in 5 seconds? this better be explained in either a deleted scene or Avengers 2 or Thor 2. NERD RAGE!!

ps love the movie, seen it three times.
OdinsBeard
OdinsBeard - 5/10/2012, 4:42 PM
oh and good job Contrast. i would also like to see a doctor strange movie soon..
BANE5000
BANE5000 - 5/10/2012, 6:07 PM
@SkinnyOne

True but at the premier Evans was sportng a beard and a short cut hair, in the group scene he was the usual clean cut, blonde Cap. Would suck if Marvel told him " hey were gonna shoot a quick end credits scene, so Evans shave that beard off, put this wig on and suit up " lol
OdinsBeard
OdinsBeard - 5/10/2012, 7:54 PM
Bane@ he wore a piece over his beard. If you watch that scene again you'll notice he is leaning on his fist with his elbow on the table covering up the bottom half of his face. MOVIE MAGIC!
BANE5000
BANE5000 - 5/10/2012, 8:20 PM
@OdinsBeard

LoL, what a coincidence u said that, cuz i just read the exact same thing on IMDB about the scene, here's what they wrote

When they filmed the extra post credits scene after the premier, 'Chris Evans (v)' had to wear a prosthetic face to cover up the facial hair he had on his face that he needed for a film he was filming at the time. They also had him cover his face partially with his hands.
OdinsBeard
OdinsBeard - 5/10/2012, 11:44 PM
Bane@ lol yeah its funny now knowing that.

Thepowercosmic@ I like it! Good call dude I hope you're right!
BANE5000
BANE5000 - 5/11/2012, 1:54 AM
ThePowerCosmic

That would be how clever Thanos would be, use Loki to get the Tesseract back into Odins Vault so he can claim his main prize...the Mad Titan is a Mad Genius :D
dopemaster
dopemaster - 5/11/2012, 5:57 AM
I don't understand why all the Chitauri died when the nuke went off.
sikwon
sikwon - 5/11/2012, 2:54 PM
dopemaster... they died when the mothership blew up because at that point,,, why not? the nuke took out what i assume to be their forward operating base and all of their reinforcements or whatever they had left in their own dimension. the stragglers left on the ground would have been short work for the avengers, police and army. so with the main host threat being destroyed, the portal about to be closed, why not put a nice tidy end to the battle.
Tainted87
Tainted87 - 5/11/2012, 9:26 PM
@sikwon
I think there's even more (or even less) to it. Loki could have deceived "the Other" and closed the portal with the Tesseract still on Earth - and the Chitauri at his disposal. When home-base gets attacked, all bets are off - time to pull the plug.
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