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Miles Quaritch

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Miles Quaritch
Avatar character
Stephen Lang as Miles Quaritch's Recombinant (L) and human (R) forms in Avatar: The Way of Water (2022).
First appearanceAvatar (2009)
Created byJames Cameron
Portrayed byStephen Lang
In-universe information
SpeciesHuman (genetical origin)
Na'vi Recombinant
GenderMale
TitleColonel
OccupationSoldier, mercenary
AffiliationU.S. Marine Corps 1st Recon Bn (formerly)
Resources Development Administration (RDA)
SpousePaz Socorro (deceased)
ChildrenMiles "Spider" Socorro (son)
HomeworldEarth (formerly)
Pandora

Colonel Miles Quaritch is a fictional character in the American science fiction franchise Avatar created by Canadian filmmaker James Cameron. He serves as the main antagonist of the 2009 film Avatar and its 2022 sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, and will appear in its upcoming sequels, including the third and currently untitled fourth films. In all his appearances, including in the 2009 film's tie-in video game Avatar: The Game, the character is portrayed by American actor Stephen Lang, who won Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Quaritch in the first film at the 36th Saturn Awards.[1]

After serving in the United States Marine Corps with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, Quaritch became a senior officer in the security forces of the Resources Development Administration (RDA), a megacorporation, and was deployed to the exomoon of Pandora, where he served as their chief of security. Leading the RDA in their conflict against the indigenous Na'vi, Quaritch enlists the help of new arrival Jake Sully to spy on the Na'vi and help him defeat them. Sully eventually turns on the RDA, and defeats an attempt by an RDA force led by Quaritch to destroy the Tree of Souls. During the battle, Quaritch is killed by Sully’s Na'vi lover Neytiri. A copy of his consciousness is subsequently transferred by the RDA into a genetically grown Na'vi body, known as a Recombinant, which returns to Pandora to track down Sully alongside other Recombinants. However, he is unsuccessful in this attempt but survives the second confrontation with Sully.

Production history

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Casting

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James Cameron was initially reported to have met with Michael Biehn for the role of Quaritch in Avatar, having previously collaborated on The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and apparently even showed him multiple drafts of the script and some of the 3D test footage. Ultimately, Biehn was not cast in any role, as Sigourney Weaver had been cast to play Dr. Grace Augustine in the film and Cameron seemingly did not want audiences to draw comparisons to Aliens. Although Cameron confirms he met with Biehn for a part in the film, he disputed the claim that it was for Quaritch.[2]

Having remembered Stephen Lang from auditioning for the roles of Dwayne Hicks and Carter Burke in Aliens, Cameron decided to cast Lang as Quaritch.[3] Lang said of his casting:[3]

I'd auditioned for Aliens about 20+ years ago, and he talked about that in our conversation, so, y'know, I've kind of gone on record as saying that this was the world's longest callback.[3]

Characterization

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Despite the character's death at the end of Avatar, Cameron confirmed in 2010 that Lang would return in the film's sequels, stating, "I'm not going to say exactly how we're bringing him back, but it's a science fiction story, after all. His character will evolve into really unexpected places across the arc of our new three-film saga".[4] In October 2019, Lang revealed that his character was always meant to return in the sequels, stating:[5]

Jim indicated to me years ago, before filming on Avatar was completed, that Quaritch had a future. I might have taken that with a grain of salt at the time because we'd had a few beers. Shortly after Avatar opened, Jim mentioned again that the Colonel was coming back, and by then I knew Jim well enough to know that he means what he says and he says what he means.[5]

Cameron later confirmed that Quaritch would act as the main antagonist across all four sequels.[6] Lang later confirmed that Quaritch would return as a Recombinant, a Na'vi Avatar embedded with the memories of a soldier, which meant that, like the other actors portraying Na'vi characters, Lang's performance in the sequels involved motion capture, which included the new underwater performance capture Cameron developed for the films, which Lang initially found "challenging".[7][8][9] Described as "avatars embedded with the memories of human[s]",[10] Quaritch's Recombinant would seek revenge for his human self's death,[11] while seeking to retrieve his son, Miles Quaritch "Spider" Socorro, who was rescued and adopted by Jake and Neytiri after being abandoned on Pandora after his father's initial death.[12][13][14]

Appearances

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Films

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Avatar (2009)

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Main article: Avatar (2009 film)
Miles Quaritch in his human form, as seen in Avatar (2009)

On the moon Pandora, tensions between humans and its indigenous Na'vi had been rising, making it harder for the RDA to mine for unobtanium, a highly valuable mineral used for energy generation which sits under the Omaticaya Clan's Hometree. When paraplegic ex-Marine Jake Sully arrives on Pandora to replace his brother Tom in the Avatar Program, Quaritch offers to pay for his reconstructive leg surgery in exchange for information about the Na'vi, the Omaticaya Clan, their Hometree, and the Tree of Souls. But Jake falls in love with a Na'vi named Neytiri, and begins to sympathize with them and their culture. After Quaritch shows him video logs of Jake lamenting the hopelessness of convincing the Na'vi to leave Hometree, along with reports that the Na'vi had begun burning bulldozers and killing RDA troopers, the RDA's Administrator Parker Selfridge comes to the conclusion that the Omaticaya Clan are a threat to their operation and could not be convinced to leave their Hometree, orders the destruction of the Omaticaya's Hometree, but gives Jake and Dr. Grace Augustine one hour to convince the Na'vi to evacuate Hometree before commencing the attack.

The Na'vi refuse to listen, and after the hour is up, Quaritch and his men destroy Hometree, killing multiple Na'vi. He also separates Jake and Grace from their avatars and imprisons them. Disgusted by Quaritch's brutality, pilot Trudy Chacon returns to base and frees Jake and Grace, airlifting them out of the base. Quaritch shoots Grace during the escape, but fails to stop them from escaping Hell's Gate. Quaritch then begins an assault on the Tree of Souls, quickly dispatching the bewildered Na'vi until Pandora's wildlife, seemingly at the direction of Eywa herself, attacks RDA's forces in mass. With all escorts either distracted or destroyed, Quaritch pursues Jake in his gunship, but he attacks it, causing it to crash. Quaritch escapes from his gunship in an AMP suit and advances to the Tree of Souls. Neytiri arrives on a Thanator to protect the Tree, but Quaritch stabs the thanator with his AMP suit's knife, trapping Neytiri beneath it. Jake arrives and fights Quaritch, but he finds and breaks open the module containing Jake's human body, exposing it to Pandora's poisonous atmosphere, interrupting Jake's link with his Avatar. Quaritch then attempts to slit Jake's throat, but Neytiri fires two arrows into his body, killing him.

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

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Main article: Avatar: The Way of Water

More than a decade later, the RDA return to Pandora, erecting a new main operating base named Bridgehead City to prepare Pandora for colonization. The RDA transfers the consciousness of Quaritch and other deceased RDA soldiers into Na'vi Avatars called Recombinants. After Jake initiates a guerilla campaign against the RDA supply lines, Quaritch and his recombinants capture his children. Jake and Neytiri arrive and free most of them, but Spider is taken by Quaritch, who recognizes him as his son, Miles Quaritch Socorro, who was born on Pandora and was unable to be transported to Earth due to his young age. Quaritch spends time with Spider in order to draw him to the RDA's side, and Spider teaches him more about the Na'vi. Aware of the danger Spider's knowledge of his whereabouts poses to their safety, Jake and his family exile themselves from the Omaticaya and join the Metkayina reef people clan at Pandora's oceans to hide from the RDA. Later, Jake's adoptive daughter Kiri suffers a violent seizure after trying to link with the Metkayina's Spirit Tree, Jake calls Norm Spellman and Max Patel for help, which allows the RDA to track them down. Quaritch brings Spider with him and commandeers a whaling vessel and orders them to kill tulkuns to draw Jake and the Metkayina out.

Learning of the tulkun killings, Jake's youngest son Lo'ak takes off with his siblings to warn Payakan, a tulkun being chased by the whalers. Quaritch captures Lo'ak, along with Jake's youngest daughter Tuk, and Tsireya, the daughter of the Metkayina's chief, Tonowari, and aggressively demands Jake to surrender in exchange for their safe return, but Payakan attacks the whalers, triggering a fight that kills most of the crew and damages the vessel, causing it to sink. Jake's oldest son Neteyam rescues Lo'ak, Tsireya and Spider, but is fatally shot. Jake faces Quaritch, who uses Kiri as a hostage, but desists when Neytiri does the same with Spider. Jake strangles Quaritch into unconsciousness, and escapes the sinking vessel with his family. Spider rescues Quaritch, but renounces him for his cruelty and rejoins Jake's family as Quaritch leaves on his banshee.

Video games

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James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (2009)

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Main article: James Cameron's Avatar: The Game

Lang reprises his role as Quaritch in the game, which is set two years before the events of Avatar. If the player chooses to side with the RDA, Quaritch will appear at the end, taking over the operation from the Central Command in Plains of Goliath from Commander Karl Falco. He will then give Able Ryder a Dragon Ship to go to Tantalus for some charges to blow up a stone wall to access the Well of Souls, where Ryder will find Falco. After killing Falco and activating the Emulator which cuts off the Na'vi's connection with Eywa, Quaritch congratulates Ryder and orders them to return to base.

Comics

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Avatar: The Next Shadow (2021)

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An illusionary Quaritch briefly appears in a nightmare Jake has while in a coma, tormenting him alongside the deceased Tsu'tey.[15]

Merchandise

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Mattel made an action figure of Quaritch as part of their range of Avatar action figures.[16] Lego has produced Minifigures of Quaritch for its Lego Avatar theme based on the first two films, his human form comes in set 75571 Neytiri & Thanator vs. AMP Suit Quaritch, and his Recombinant form comes in set 75577 Mako Submarine.[17][18]

In other media

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Reception

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Critical response

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Writing for Reelviews, James Berardinelli praised Lang's performance in the first film, writing, "Quartich is never CGI animated but he always seems bigger than life. If there's a human star of Avatar, it's Lang.".[21] Similarly, Chris Hewitt, writing for Empire, described Lang's performance as "excellent" and claimed the character was "a scenery-chewing bad guy so badass that he can breathe the Pandoran air without a mask."[22] Elsewhere, A. O. Scott and Manohla Dargis of The New York Times both singled out Lang's performance in the original film as one of the five best male supporting performances of 2009.[23]

Conversely, Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times criticized the "flat dialogue" and "obvious characterization" of Quaritch and the other antagonists in the first film.[24] Russell D. Moore of The Christian Post concluded that "propaganda exists in the film" and stated "If you can get a theater full of people in Kentucky to stand and applaud the defeat of their country [as represented by Quaritch and his men] in war, then you've got some amazing special effects."[25]

Accolades

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Lang's performance as Quaritch in the first film received nominations for Best Villain and Best Fight (with Sam Worthington) at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards and the 2010 MTV Movie Awards,[a] he won Best Supporting Actor at the 36th Saturn Awards.[1] For his motion capture performance in Avatar: The Way of Water, Lang was nominated for Best Voice Acting/Animated/Digital Performance at the Austin Film Critics Association Awards 2022.[30][31]

Notes

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  1. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[26][27][28][29]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Saturn Awards open Pandora's box". Variety. 25 June 2010. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  2. ^ Couch, Aaron (2 August 2019). "'Everything Had to Go Right': What Happened to 'Terminator' Star Michael Biehn". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Harris, Will. "A Preview of Bullz-Eye's Chat with Stephen Lang of 'Avatar'". Premium Hollywood. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  4. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (October 22, 2013). "James Cameron Has Found Avatar's Darth Vader: It's Stephen Lang". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 26, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Bernaschina, Michael (December 22, 2019). "Avatar 2: Stephen Lang's Character Was Always Supposed to Return". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on December 31, 2019. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  6. ^ Evry, Max (August 8, 2017). "Colonel Quaritch Will be the Main Villain in the Avatar Sequels". ComingSoon.net. Archived from the original on September 24, 2017. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  7. ^ Travis, Ben (July 3, 2022). "Stephen Lang's Quaritch Is 'Bigger, Bluer, And Pissed Off' In Avatar 2 – Exclusive Image". Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  8. ^ Boucher, Geoff (November 14, 2018). "James Cameron: The 'Avatar' Sequels Have Wrapped Production". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 14, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  9. ^ Barnett, Brian (February 6, 2019). "Avatar 2: Stephen Lang Talks Underwater Performance Capture, Playing the Villain". IGN. Archived from the original on December 26, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  10. ^ Travis, Ben (July 3, 2022). "Stephen Lang's Quaritch Is 'Bigger, Bluer, And Pissed Off' In Avatar 2 – Exclusive Image". Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  11. ^ Boucher, Geoff (November 14, 2018). "James Cameron: The 'Avatar' Sequels Have Wrapped Production". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 14, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  12. ^ Goldberg, Matt (September 27, 2017). "'Avatar' Sequels Reveal First Look at the Young Cast". Collider. Archived from the original on September 28, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  13. ^ Hibberd, James (September 27, 2017). "Avatar 2: First look at sequel's next generation cast". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on September 27, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  14. ^ "New 'Avatar 2' Photo Introduces Spider, a Human Adopted by Jake and Neytiri". Collider. December 20, 2021. Archived from the original on December 20, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  15. ^ Barlow, Jeremy; Hood, Josh; Dzioba, Wes; Balbi, Guilherme (14 April 2021). "Avatar: The Next Shadow #4". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  16. ^ "Col. Miles Quaritch". Figure Realm. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  17. ^ Lego Group (20 July 2022). "THE LEGO GROUP UNVEILS FOUR NEW SETS INSPIRED BY AVATAR AT SAN DIEGO COMIC CON 2022". Lego. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  18. ^ "Avatar: The Way of Water range revealed!". Brickset. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  19. ^ Warren, Peter (March 23, 2010). "Hustler Taps Axel Braun to Direct 'Avatar'". AVN. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
  20. ^ Potts, Kimberly (October 28, 2011). "'The Simpsons' Halloween: Al Jean on Farting Homer, a 'Dexter' Spoof and Aron Ralston". Reuters. The Wrap. Retrieved October 31, 2011.
  21. ^ Berardinelli, James. "Avatar". Reelviews. James Berardinelli. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  22. ^ Hewitt, Chris. "Avatar Review". Empire. Empire Magazine. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  23. ^ Dargis, Manohla; Holden, Stephen; Scott, A.O. "And the Nominees Should Be..."
  24. ^ Turan, Kenneth (December 17, 2009). "Movie Review: 'Avatar'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 20, 2009. Retrieved December 30, 2009.
  25. ^ Moore, Russell D. (December 21, 2009). "Avatar: Rambo in Reverse". The Christian Post. Retrieved December 21, 2009.
  26. ^ "Teen Choice Awards 2010: Winners and Nominees". The Morning Call. July 11, 2010. Archived from the original on July 13, 2021. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  27. ^ Stransky, Tanner (August 9, 2010). "2010 Teen Choice Awards winners announced". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on October 8, 2015. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  28. ^ Finke, Nikki (May 12, 2010). "2010 MTV Movie Awards: Avatar vs The Hangover vs Twilight Saga: New Moon". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 27, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  29. ^ "2010 MTV Movie Awards Winners". CBS News. June 7, 2010. Archived from the original on July 15, 2020. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  30. ^ Whittaker, Richard (January 4, 2023). "Austin Film Critics Association Announces 2022 Awards Short Lists". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on January 5, 2023. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
  31. ^ Whittaker, Richard (January 11, 2023). "Everything Everywhere All At Once Wins Everything at the Austin Film Critics Association Award". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on January 11, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
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