Colonel Miles Quaritch is a fictional character in the American
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
franchise ''
Avatar
Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...
'' created by Canadian filmmaker
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...
. He serves as the main
antagonist
An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.[Avatar
Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...](_b ...<br></span></div> of the 2009 film ''<div class=)
'' and its 2022 sequel ''
Avatar: The Way of Water'', and will appear in its upcoming sequels, including the
third
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system
Places
* 3rd Street (di ...
and currently untitled
fourth films. In all his appearances, including in the 2009 film's
tie-in
A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, website, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original proper ...
video game ''
Avatar: The Game'', the character is portrayed by American actor
Stephen Lang
Stephen Lang (born July 11, 1952) is an American stage and screen actor. He gained fame for his role as main antagonist Miles Quaritch, Colonel Miles Quaritch in James Cameron's ''Avatar (2009 film), Avatar'' (2009), for which he won the Saturn ...
, who won
Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Quaritch in the first film at the
36th Saturn Awards.
After serving in the
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...
with the
1st Reconnaissance Battalion, Quaritch became a senior officer in the
security forces
Security forces are statutory organizations with internal security mandates. In the legal context of several countries, the term has variously denoted police and military units working in concert, or the role of irregular military and paramilitar ...
of the
Resources Development Administration (RDA), a
megacorporation, and was deployed to the
exomoon of
Pandora
In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground '' ky ...
, 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
Casting
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...
was initially reported to have met with
Michael Biehn
Michael Biehn ( or ; born July 31, 1956) is an American actor, primarily known for his roles in science fiction films directed by James Cameron; as Sgt. Kyle Reese in ''The Terminator'' (1984), Cpl. Dwayne Hicks in ''Aliens (film), Aliens'' (1 ...
for the role of Quaritch in ''
Avatar
Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...
'', having previously collaborated on ''
The Terminator
''The Terminator'' is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, written by Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd and produced by Hurd. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cybernetic assassin sent back in t ...
'', ''
Aliens'', ''
The Abyss
''The Abyss'' is a 1989 American science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron and starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn. When an American submarine sinks in the Caribbean, a US search and recovery tea ...
'', 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
Susan Alexandra ( ; born October 8, 1949), better known by her stage name Sigourney Weaver, is an American actress. Prolific in film since the late 1970s, she is known for her pioneering portrayals of action heroines in Blockbuster (entertainme ...
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.
Having remembered
Stephen Lang
Stephen Lang (born July 11, 1952) is an American stage and screen actor. He gained fame for his role as main antagonist Miles Quaritch, Colonel Miles Quaritch in James Cameron's ''Avatar (2009 film), Avatar'' (2009), for which he won the Saturn ...
from auditioning for the roles of
Dwayne Hicks and Carter Burke in ''Aliens'', Cameron decided to cast Lang as Quaritch.
Lang said of his casting:
Characterization
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".
In October 2019, Lang revealed that his character was always meant to return in the sequels, stating:
Cameron later confirmed that Quaritch would act as the main antagonist across all four sequels.
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".
Described as "avatars embedded with the memories of human
,
Quaritch's Recombinant would seek revenge for his human self's death, 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.
Appearances
Films
''Avatar'' (2009)
On the moon
Pandora
In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground '' ky ...
, 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 Hells Gate, Hell's Gate, Hell Gate or Hells Gates may refer to:
Places
Africa
* Hell's Gate National Park, Kenya
Antarctica
* Hells Gate (Antarctica), Victoria Land
* Hells Gate Moraine, Victoria Land
Asia
* Nyalam Town, Tibet
* A location in N ...
. 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)
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
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
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
''Avatar: The Game'' (2009)
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
''Avatar: The Next Shadow'' (2021)
An illusionary Quaritch briefly appears in a nightmare Jake has while in a coma, tormenting him alongside the deceased Tsu'tey.
Merchandise
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...
made an action figure of Quaritch as part of their range of ''Avatar'' action figures.
Lego
Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...
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.
In other media
* Quaritch appears in the 2010
porn parody
A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...
/
spiritual sequel film ''
This Ain't Avatar'', portrayed by
Evan Stone. He is depicted as having survived his injuries in ''
Avatar
Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...
'' (2009).
* In the 2011 ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
''
"Treehouse of Horror XXII" segment "In the Na'vi", a
parody
A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...
of ''Avatar'', Quaritch's role is filled by
Colonel Gary Chalmers, voiced by
Hank Azaria
Henry Albert Azaria ( ; born April 25, 1964) is an American actor and producer. He is known for voicing many characters in the long-running animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'' since 1989, including Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Superintendent Chalmer ...
, in command of military commando forces sent to Rigel 7 by
Krusty the Clown
Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky (; ), better known by his stage name Krusty the Clown (sometimes spelled as Krusty the Klown), is a recurring character on the List of animated television series, animated television series ''The S ...
to find and steal the sacred extract Hilarrium from the native people. After
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew Jo-Jo "Bart" Simpson is a character in the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' who is part of the titular family. Bart made his television debut in the short " Good Night" on '' The Tracey Ullman Show'' on Apri ...
(filling the role of Jake Sully) betrays the military, Chalmers prepares to enter into combat with a
bulldozer
A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large tractor equipped with a metal #Blade, blade at the front for pushing material (soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock) during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous tracks, ...
-like animal (operating a larger animal, much like he operates his own armour within armour), only to be tricked into knocking himself off a cliff by Bart, his armour exploding around him as he hits the forest floor.
* In the 2022
The Asylum parody
A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...
film ''Battle for Pandora'', Quaritch's role is filled by Colonel William Bradly, portrayed by Michael Scovotti.
Reception
Critical response
Writing for ''Reelviews'',
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of reviews of movies on ...
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.". Similarly, Chris Hewitt, writing for ''
Empire
An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
'', 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." Elsewhere,
A. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic, known for his film and literary criticism. After starting his career at ''The New York Review of Books'', '' Variety'', and ''Slate'', he began writing film ...
and
Manohla Dargis
Manohla June Dargis ( ) is an American film critic. She is the chief film critic for ''The New York Times''. She is a five-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
Career
Before being a film critic for ''The New York Times'', Dargis ...
of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' both singled out Lang's performance in the original film as one of the five best male supporting performances of 2009.
Conversely,
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan (; born October 27, 1946) is an American retired film critic, author, and lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He was a film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1991 ...
of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' criticized the "flat dialogue" and "obvious characterization" of Quaritch and the other antagonists in the first film.
Russell D. Moore
Russell D. Moore (born 9 October 1971) is an American Theology, theologian, Christian ethics, ethicist, and preacher. In June 2021, he became the director of the Public Theology Project at ''Christianity Today'', and on August 4, 2022, was announ ...
of ''
The Christian Post
''The Christian Post'' is an American non-denominational, conservative, evangelical Christian online newspaper. Based in Washington, D.C., it was founded in March 2004.
News topics include the Church, ministries, missions, education, Christi ...
'' concluded that "propaganda exists in the film" and stated "If you can get a theater full of people in
Kentucky
Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
to stand and applaud the defeat of their country
s represented by Quaritch and his menin war, then you've got some amazing special effects."
Accolades
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, he won
Best Supporting Actor at the
36th Saturn Awards.
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.
Notes
References
* Text was copied fro
Miles Quaritchat Avatar Wiki, which is released under
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA 3.0) license
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quaritch, Miles
Avatar (franchise) characters
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