You’ve seen her. Towering, lethal, with that distinctive blue-grey skin and a three-pronged spear that could give Captain America a run for his money. Proxima Midnight is, without a doubt, the most menacing member of Thanos's Black Order. But if you walked past the actress who played her on the street, you probably wouldn't even blink.
That’s because Carrie Coon played Proxima Midnight, and she did it under a mountain of digital wizardry.
Most people recognize Carrie Coon from The Leftovers or The Gilded Age. She’s a prestige TV powerhouse. She's the kind of actor who wins Emmys and Critics' Choice Awards for her nuanced, deeply human performances. So, seeing her pop up as a galactic warlord in Avengers: Infinity War was a bit of a curveball for the cinephiles among us. It wasn't just a voice-over gig, either. This was a full-blown motion capture performance, though the logistics of it were kind of a mess.
The Performance Behind the Pixels
Honestly, the way Marvel handled the Black Order was a bit unconventional. While Josh Brolin was on set for almost every frame of Thanos, the actors playing his "children" had a different experience. Carrie Coon was actually pregnant during the filming of Infinity War. Because of that, she didn't do much of the physical on-set stunt work in Atlanta.
The physical movements for Proxima Midnight—the way she fights, the way she stalks across the battlefield in Wakanda—were primarily handled by stuntwoman Monique Ganderton.
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Ganderton is a legend in the industry. She’s worked on everything from Atomic Blonde to X-Men: Apocalypse. She provided the athletic foundation for the character. Then, Carrie Coon came in later to do the facial motion capture and the voice work. It was a "best of both worlds" situation. You get the world-class physicality of a seasoned stunt performer and the elite acting chops of Coon to bring the character's cold, arrogant personality to life.
Why Proxima Midnight Still Matters
Villains in the MCU are a dime a dozen. Seriously. Half of them are just "evil versions" of the hero. Proxima Midnight felt different. She wasn't trying to prove a point or settle a grudge. She was a true believer in Thanos’s cause.
When you look at who played Proxima Midnight, you see why the character landed so well. Carrie Coon has this incredible ability to sound authoritative without ever raising her voice. Her delivery of lines like, "He'll have it... and your life along with it," is chilling. It's not cartoonish. It's professional. She plays Proxima like a high-level corporate executive who just happens to be a genocidal alien.
The character's design helped too. Unlike her husband, Corvus Glaive, who looked a bit like a desiccated prune, Proxima had a regal, terrifying elegance. The horns, the white hair, the gold armor—it all signaled that she was the elite of the elite.
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The Complexity of Motion Capture
People think mo-cap is just wearing a gray suit with ping-pong balls. It’s way harder.
- Facial tracking: Thousands of tiny dots are painted on the actor's face.
- Head-mounted cameras: Actors have a rig literally inches from their eyes.
- No props: You have to imagine a spear that isn't there and a battlefield that is actually a green room.
Coon has mentioned in interviews that the process was "isolating" but fascinating. She had to convey Proxima’s entire history through just her eyes and the set of her jaw. If you watch the scene where she confronts Scarlet Witch and Black Widow in Scotland, you can see Coon’s specific facial tics. The sneer. The slight tilt of the head. It's all her.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Black Order
There’s a common misconception that the Black Order were just "CGI monsters." That’s a disservice to the actors involved. Alongside Carrie Coon, you had Tom Vaughan-Lawlor playing Ebony Maw. He’s a brilliant Irish stage actor. You had Michael James Shaw as Corvus Glaive and Terry Notary (a world-renowned movement coach) as Cull Obsidian.
Marvel intentionally sought out high-caliber actors for these roles because they knew the audience needed to feel a sense of dread. If they were just mindless drones, the stakes in Infinity War would have plummeted. By casting someone like Coon, they ensured that every time Proxima Midnight was on screen, she felt like a legitimate threat to the Avengers.
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The Legacy of the Character
Proxima Midnight met her end in Infinity War during that epic "girl power" moment in Wakanda, crushed by the gears of a Thresher after being tossed by Scarlet Witch. She returned briefly in Endgame via the 2014 timeline, only to be dusted by Tony Stark’s snap.
Her screen time was limited, but her impact was massive. She remains a fan favorite in the comics, where she was created by Jonathan Hickman. In the books, she’s even more powerful, with a spear forged from a sun trapped in distorted space-time. While the movie version was slightly powered down, Carrie Coon’s performance captured that "god-like" arrogance perfectly.
If you’re looking to dive deeper into the work of the people who brought this character to life, your next steps are clear.
How to Explore More
- Watch The Leftovers on Max: If you want to see why Carrie Coon is considered one of the best actors of her generation, this is the place to start. Her performance as Nora Durst is the polar opposite of Proxima Midnight—vulnerable, grieving, and raw.
- Check out Monique Ganderton’s filmography: Stunt performers are the unsung heroes of Hollywood. Ganderton has directed second units and coordinated stunts for some of the biggest action movies of the last decade.
- Read the Infinity event by Jonathan Hickman: This is where Proxima Midnight and the Black Order were introduced. The comic version is even more terrifying, and the lore behind her weapon is genuinely mind-bending.
- Re-watch the Scotland fight in Infinity War: Now that you know Carrie Coon provided the face and voice while Monique Ganderton did the stunts, try to spot where the performance transitions. It’s a masterclass in collaborative filmmaking.
Proxima Midnight wasn't just a digital asset; she was the result of two incredibly talented women working in tandem to create a villain that actually felt dangerous. Whether she’s threatening a synth-human or fighting a Wakandan king, she remains one of the high points of the MCU’s villain roster.