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Chitauri

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He has an army, called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth.

—Thor[source]

History

The Chitauri are a distinct alien species from the Skrulls, unlike their Earth-1610 counterpart. Instead they were a reptilian/insectoid race that beared striking resemblance to their Earth-199999 variant, and originated from the harsh planet of Chitauri Prime.[4] Most of them are simple-minded dogged creatures, similar to insects, to the point of following a queen.[5] The Chitauri spread throughout the universe, earning them a reputation of warmongering butchers that caused destruction for millennia,[3] and even founded their own intergalactic empire.[6]

A group of Chitauri attacked the Nova Corps' Supernovas and during the battle Supernova Jesse Alexander abandoned his team to go back to Earth. Another Supernova, Titus, gave his Chitauri captors a Rigellian Recorder the team had stolen to have his life spared. Going through the Recorder's data the Chitauri found the schematics to construct a new Ultimate Nullifier.[7] Working with Titus, the Chitauri decided to use the cosmic weapon on Earth, only to be confronted by Jesse's son Sam Alexander who had inherited his Nova Helmet. Sam was able to defeat the entire Chitauri armada and Titus near Jupiter with the Ultimate Nullifier that he stole from them in the first place.[8]

The Chitauri were holding Jesse captive as one of the numerous slaves forced to fight in their gladiatorial games on their homeworld.[8] Wanting to get hold of the Supernova Helmet, the Chitauri created a clone of Jesse to get close to Sam.[9] This clone of Alexander was able to successfully rally a slave uprising and escape the planet in a captured Chitauri ship.[10] This was all a set-up to trick Sam,[11] but the clone would later betray them as he developed genuine love for the young boy, leaving the Chitauri to send a second clone to complete the job.[9]

Chitauri Prime

Chitauri Prime

At some point in time, several Chitauri fought against the team of Mutant Skrulls named Cadre K.[12]

Kindun, the king of the planet of the same name, hired the Chitauri and Nebula to bring him Gamora to enact revenge against Thanos after the Mad Titan attempted to conquer his planet.[13] Nebula led the Chitauri to Earth where they tracked the Guardians of the Galaxy, but during the ensuing battle the Avengers also joined in. Despite this, the aliens were able to win the fight thanks to Nebula activating a genetic disruptor that paralyzed everyone, allowing them to capture Gamora.[14] They successfully delivered Gamora to Kindun, though the Guardians and the Avengers soon arrived and rescued her after another battle.[13]

Still determined to kill her, Kindun transported his planet to the Spartax System where he sent the Chitauri to attack the planet Spartax and capture Gamora. While the Guardians fought the Chitauri on Spartax, Gamora fought her way through the Chitauri forces to Kindun himself and forced him to leave the planet, else she'd take his life. Kindun relented, and soon departed along with his Chitauri army.[15]

When the Inhuman Royal Family went through space to uncover the secrets of the Terrigen Mist, they were attacked by the Chitauri past Pluto, but managed to fight through them.[16] The Chitauri attempted to invade an unidentified planet, forcing the planet's king to use the Tactigon to create a black hole that would consume his planet, deeming this a better alternative than let it be conquered.[17]

A couple of Chitauri overheard Gamora talking to the pilot D'Clan about a Phoenix Force bomb, and after she departed they got hold of him, demanding to know where she went. D'Clan told them she went to Maveth, and with him in their grasp traveled to the planet. They claimed Maveth for themselves and confronted Gamora and her companion Star-Lord who had just found the Phoenix Force bomb. The two Guardians fought the Chitauri, but as they escaped on D'Clan's ship the bomb activated, prompting Star-Lord to toss it at their attackers, killing them and destroying the entire planet.[18]

Some Chitauri were hired alongside Titus and Death's Head to steal the Nova Helmets of not only Sam, but also of the recently returned Richard Rider. While Titus, Death's Head and a few Chitauri ambushed the two Novas at Starlin's Bar, the rest of the Chitauri planted a bomb at Knowhere's Continuum Cortex to threaten the heroes with killing everyone in the station. The Novas outmaneuvered them, with Richard engaging with Titus and Death's Head, buying Cosmo enough time to guide Sam to the bomb's location. Unfortunately, the bomb was already set off by the time he arrived, but thankfully the two Novas used their power to contain the explosion and prevent it from harming anyone.[19]

Based on a rejected plan created by the Red Ghost for his Soviet superiors,[5] the Red Skull ordered Captain America (whose past had been rewritten by the sentient Cosmic Cube Kobik to become a Hydra double agent) to lure swarms of Chitauri using queen eggs he kept hidden on Earth. The Chitauri would be driven into an instinctive frenzy to find them, and would destroy anything in their path. The Red Skull planned to have one of the Chitauri fleets raze the Earth.[20]

The amount of Chitauri swarms that attempted to enter the Earth began to grow in both number and frequency. At one point, the Alpha Flight space initiative had to fend off the planet from four Chitauri waves in a single month.[5] After a gigantic Chitauri fleet was destroyed by Quasar, it was expected that the next Chitauri fleet would be the largest single alien army to ever come to the Earth, and even bigger than the Annihilation Wave.[21]

Another Chitauri fleet was approaching the Earth as the Hydra-loyalist Captain America was putting into motion a plan of conquest. While Alpha Flight and numerous other heavy-hitter heroes were deployed in orbit to fight the aliens, Captain America activated the Planetary Defense Shield, sealing the heroes off from Earth. The Chitauri Wave continued mobilizing despite not being able to enter Earth, wearing off Alpha Flight and the heroes that were left stranded.[22] The Planetary Defense Shield was eventually destroyed by Quasar, and Captain Marvel destroyed the Chitauri queen eggs, whose location had previously been pinpointed, putting an end to the Chitauri's invasion attempt.[23]

For a brief time, the Chitauri were subjugated by Thanos after the Mad Titan decided to conquer Chitauri Prime on a whim.[3] Warbringer opposed his rule and attempted to exterminate his own people rather than have them serve Thanos.[24] His reign lasted until his death at the hands of Requiem. This caused the Chitauri to see her as their new ruler, only for her to then proceed with killing the present Chitauri as well by releasing a toxic gas.[6]

Several Chitauri were part of Nebula's mercenary horde alongside some Badoon, Kronans and Trolls, and accompanied her to the Planet of Temples, Draeketh, where she got hold of the Naglfar Beacon. The Asgardians of the Galaxy also arrived to the planet in search of the beacon, and a battle soon ensued. Nebula left her army behind with the beacon in hand, and the mercenaries were defeated by the Asgardians shortly after.[25] Some Chitauri still served Nebula, though the Asgardians took them down as well.[26]

Possessed by Dormammu

Possessed by Dormammu

Some time later, Chitauri Prime became one of five planets targeted by Dormammu during an invasion from the Dark Dimension. Each world he targeted was the birthplace of a star-spanning race, and he intended to connect them to form a galaxy-sized pentagram to merge the Dark Dimension with Earthspace. Due to the simplicity of the Chitauran mind, Dormammu managed to take control of every single Chitauri by possessing their hive queen.[27] When the Guardians of the Galaxy arrived at Chitauri Prime, their new ally Doctor Doom carried out a ritual to siphon the power of Dormammu's possession into himself, weakening the Faltine and making the opening for his defeat. In the aftermath, Doctor Doom handed over the Chitauri to his ally, the Skrull Sister Talionis. Becoming the new Chitauri queen, she intended to amass enough power to separate the Skrull from the Kree/Skrull Alliance.[28]

A few Chitauri members were kidnapped by the anti-mutant hating organisation known as Orchis. They were taken to an underground lab under an Empire State University campus attended by Ms. Marvel. In this lab, the Chitauri were experimented upon and one of them was turned into a bomb. This Chitauri escaped topside, on the grounds of the university. Enraged, the Chitauri attacked a nearby school bus full of students, forcing Ms. Marvel to intervene. Ms. Marvel fought the Chitauri, who cried out to her, warning her of the hidden lab before it exploded. This explosion caused all of the students at the university to witness Ms. Marvel as a mutant and begin to hate her.[29]

Talionis' reign was short-lived as the Symbiote Hive, under the control of the Asgardian goddess of death Hela, arrived to conquer Chitauri Prime. Talionis was completely overtaken by the symbiotes, causing the Chitauri to see them as their new governors and began serving the Symbiote Hive. With the Symbiote Hive as their new leaders, each Chitauri was given one by one a newborn symbiote to bond to and join their cult. Kree/Skrull Alliance's Captain R'gars was takes to infiltrate the Chitauri society to gather intel on Talionis, only to discover that they had been overtaken by the symbiotes. Before the Chitauri could notice him, R'gars quickly made his escape in a futile attempt to warn the other civilizations of the symbiote invasion.[30]

Alternate Reality Versions[]

See Alternate Realities Chitauri History.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

The Chitauri lacked any form of shapeshifting, instead relying on technological weaponry.[19] The majority of the Chitauri were simple minded drones mentally connected through a hive mind,[31] with a queen being in charge of it.[5] This made the Chitauri unable to disobey their ruler, being forced to obey their every order even if it meant their total extinction. Powerful individuals like Warbringer could resist the rulership and command their groups of Chitauri.[32] Some Chitauri possessed wings to fly through space and additional muscle mass, and appeared to able to survive in the vacuum of space.[5][16] Mutated Chitauri could be hatched from cocoons that resembled those of Inhumans undergoing Terrigenesis.[33][34]

On Earth-1610 they have shapeshifting powers made possible by first consuming the being they will then turn themselves into.[1] Some were also shown to possess superhuman strength capable of demolishing solid metal doors with ease and throwing vehicles as weapons.[35] They were also shown to be highly resistant to damage[36] and to possess some form of healing factor that causes their injuries to very quickly regenerate which may also extend their lifespan as one Chitauri, Herr Kleiser, had not appeared to age in a time period exceeding fifty years.[37][1][36] as well as having thermal vision and being able to survive a shot to the head with no difficulty.[36] These extra powers did not appear to be prevalent in the average Chitauri drone as they died as easily as a normal human would and were only able to shapeshift.[38][36]

Weaknesses

  • The Chitauri of Earth-199999 could be affected by a virus that didn't spread through pathogens, but instead through electrostatic shock. This virus caused the infected to suffer from painful headaches before causing their bodies to release electrostatic fields that levitated magnetic objects near them. This sickness was usual for the Chitauri as they developed a natural immunity to it, but it was deadly to humans who would die from having their brains electrostatically imploded. Thankfully, Jemma Simmons managed to create a cure for the virus.[39]

Habitat

Habitat

Extremely cold environment[3]

Miscellaneous

Type of Government

Hive Matriarchy: All Chitauri served a queen who was in charge of their hive mind, and if she were to be taken away from them, they would do anything in their power to get back to her without a second thought.[40] Besides the queen, the Chitauri were also lead by kings. The position of the king could be usurped by individuals not part of the race, as shown with Thanos, Sam Alexander and the Cult of Knull who after defeating the previous governors, one of which was Warbringer, came to be mindlessly served by the Chitauri.[3][41] Their society were separated in ranks, with the lower ranks possessing no actual independent mind, while the higher ranks could mostly think for themselves. The worker class had a bit of a mind of their own but not enough to stand out.[30]

Level of Technology

The Chitauri used technology they stole from other races, such as warships which they repurposed for their own use. These ships, and their Leviathans were equipped with sentient devourer-class burrowing torpedoes and lightweight eclipse-drive attack skiffs which outmaneuvered the Shi'ar corvettes.[3] They were the only species that had starships which could instantly warp, allowing for faster-than-light travel.[14] The Chitauri had in their possession cloning technology, allowing them to create clones of members from other species, which not only perfectly replicated the original but had enhanced physiology that allowed the clones to survive attacks that would normally kill their genetic donor.[42] They could also develop bombs that grew inside their bodies.[31]

Cultural Traits

The Chitauri were for the most part a mindless, savage race living in a hive-mind with the queen at the center.[5] The Chitauri Drones didn't have a mind of their own, instead were forced to obey any order given from their queen, regardless of the galactic distance between them, and were willing to engage in large kamikaze attacks just to achieve their goals.[43] The Chitauri lived for war and started wars against other races, having a special hatred towards those that were single-minded and didn't have a hive-mind.[31]

The Chitauri took countless prisoners as slaves who they forced to fight in bloody gladiatorial battles that were often broadcasted at the Oblitus station.[44] Because of the cold environment, the blood that erupted from the gladiators would freeze in the air and create beautiful red snow flakes. These blood snow flakes were called by the Chitauri "war flakes", and would be given to Chitauri children as the first step into becoming a butcher warrior.[45] They also organized circuses where some of the exhibitions involved animals fighting to death.[46]

The Chitauri had their own bank reserve where they stored their credits.[47]

The Chitauri's language has one hundred ninety-two ways to say the word "hate."[48]

Representatives

Earth-616: Warbringer, Chitauri Queen, No One, Peacebringer
Earth-1610: Califa, Gunther, Herr Kleiser, Kalxor, Rester, Siegfried, Wigbert
Earth-199999: Other

Notes

  • When creating the Chitauri, Mark Millar was inspired by David Icke's conspiracy theory about the world being overrun by the Illuminati comprised of shapeshifting reptiles.[49][50]
  • The Chitauri were originally a race exclusive to the Ultimate Universe where they were meant to be an analogue to the classic Skrulls. The writer of Marvel's The Avengers, Joss Whedon, chose to use the Chitauri over Skrulls or Kree, since this particular race didn't have any wide background story and they could be used even for a small part,[51] and their shapeshifting power was purposely omitted.[52] Because of their popularity that came from the movie, this version of the Chitauri were later incorporated in the Prime Marvel Universe, replacing their original depiction.
  • The design for Earth-199999's Chitauri (later used as the definitive design for the Chitauri across the Multiverse, except Earth-3488) were created by Phil Saunders and Justin Sweet, Ryan Meinerding developed the final look.[53]
  • The appearance of the Chitauri in Earth-1610 was shown only years later after their introduction, in the mini-series Hunger, drawn to be similar to their Earth-199999 counterpart's.

Trivia

  • On Earth-1610, this alien race was named "Chitauri" by the African tribes they had visited.[1] This coincides with the claims of Zulu Shaman and historian, Credo Mutwa who aligned with Icke, referring to the aliens as Chitauri which meant "talker" in the Shona language.[54]
  • Chitauri is seemingly the plural form, the singular form being "Chitauran."[48]
  • Although non-canon, the Marvel Cinematic Universe-based book Thanos: Titan Consumed explains that Thanos had found and studied the Chitauri, who were struggling on their dying homeworld, and convinced them to appoint him as their governor which led them into an age of prosperity.

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Ultimates #11
  2. ↑ Ultimate Fantastic Four #27–28
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Thanos (Vol. 2) #13
  4. ↑ Nova (Vol. 5) #20
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Captain America: Steve Rogers #8
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Infinity Wars Prime #1
  7. ↑ Nova (Vol. 5) #4
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Nova (Vol. 5) #5
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Nova (Vol. 6) #5
  10. ↑ Nova (Vol. 5) #21
  11. ↑ Nova (Vol. 6) #1
  12. ↑ A + X #13
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Guardians Team-Up #2
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Guardians Team-Up #1
  15. ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 3) #27
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Royals #2
  17. ↑ Thor vs. Hulk: Champions of the Universe #5
  18. ↑ Guardians of Infinity #6
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Nova (Vol. 7) #2–3
  20. ↑ Captain America: Steve Rogers #10
  21. ↑ Civil War II: The Oath #1
  22. ↑ Secret Empire #0
  23. ↑ Secret Empire #8
  24. ↑ Infinity Countdown: Champions #1
  25. ↑ Asgardians of the Galaxy #1
  26. ↑ Asgardians of the Galaxy #5
  27. ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 7) #17
  28. ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 7) #18
  29. ↑ Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant #1
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Venom (Vol. 6) #250
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 7) #8
  32. ↑ Infinity Countdown: Champions #1–2
  33. ↑ Thunderbolts (Vol. 4) #1–2
  34. ↑ Deadpool (Vol. 5) #31
  35. ↑ Ultimates #11–13
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 36.3 Ultimates #12
  37. ↑ Ultimates #10
  38. ↑ Ultimates #8
  39. ↑ Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S1E06
  40. ↑ Captain America: Steve Rogers #8
  41. ↑ Infinity Countdown: Champions #2
  42. ↑ Nova (Vol. 6) #5–6
  43. ↑ Ultimates 2 (Vol. 2) #7
  44. ↑ Nova (Vol. 5) #3–21
  45. ↑ Thanos (Vol. 2) #14
  46. ↑ Totally Awesome Hulk #1.MU
  47. ↑ Nova (Vol. 5) #29
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 All-New, All-Different Avengers #1
  49. ↑ Godfrey, Alex (August 8, 2013) Kick-Ass 2: Mark Millar's superhero powers The Guardian.
  50. ↑ Tappin Coelho, Janet (December 21, 2006) So was David Icke right?.
  51. ↑ Radish, Christina (April 25th, 2012) Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders and Joss Whedon Talk THE AVENGERS Collider. Archived from the original on April 27th, 2012. Originally retrieved on December 23rd, 2025.
  52. ↑ Vary, Adam B. (March 10th, 2012) 'Avengers' villains NOT Skrulls or the Kree, says Joss Whedon Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on December 23rd 2025.
  53. ↑ Phil Saunders' Random Stuff: Avengers Aliens
  54. ↑ (2020-02-17) Dr Credo Mutwa On Africa's Chitauri Aliens Interesting History Facts Afrikaiswoke.com (Podcast).
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