Chitauri

"The Chitauri grow restless." "Let them gird themselves. I will lead them into glorious battle." "Battle? Against the meager might of Earth?" "Glorious, not lengthy. If your force is as formidable as you claim."

- The Other and Loki

The Chitauri are a cybernetic alien race subservient to the overlord Thanos. They were led by the Asgardian Loki during the War for Earth but were defeated by the Avengers.

History
When the warlord Thanos allied himself with the exiled Loki, the Chitauri were granted to him as his personal army to conquer Earth and gain the Tesseract.



Once having gained the Tesseract from S.H.I.E.L.D., Loki was able to open a portal to the Chitauri fleet standing by, thanks to the help of a brainwashed Erik Selvig. The Chitauri immediately started to wreck havoc on New York City, destroying buildings and gunning down civilians in the streets. The National Guard could not deploy enough troops quickly enough to counter the invasion. Luckily, the Avengers arrived, having fought Loki repeatedly in an attempt to hinder his efforts at summoning the Chitauri. Soon after their arrival, a major battle ensued between them and the Chitauri.

Not expecting such a resistance, the Chitauri were initially overwhelmed, but soon their numbers increased so much that the superheroes found some difficulties in containing them. Captain America took command of the Avengers as well as the police forces, and thanks to his command, the Avengers' powers were properly used while they fought the menace. Eventually, the World Security Council attempted to destroy Manhattan with a nuclear bomb in order to contain the Chitauri invasion, but Iron Man intercepted the bomb and disposed of it into the portal, where it impacted and obliterated the Chitauri mother ship, instantaneously disabling all Chitauri forces on Earth, thus ending the invasion.

After their defeat, pieces of Chitauri technology were recovered by both S.H.I.E.L.D. and various other parties.

Characteristic traits
The Chitauri are a powerful warrior race, a hybrid between organic beings and machines. They're controlled by a Mother Ship which never shows on the battlefield, and acts as one during war. They have superhuman physical attributes, superior strategy, energy-based rifles and flying vehicles, but their main strength is their almost infinite number of soldiers in combat.

Relationships

 * Thanos - Master
 * Loki - Leader
 * Leviathan - Allies
 * The Avengers - Enemies

Behind the scenes

 * Joss Whedon revealed that he chose to include the Chitauri over Skrulls or Kree because this particular race didn't have any wide background story and they could be used even for a small part.

Trivia

 * In the comics, Chitauri are one of the first threats faced by the Ultimates, just as in the movie, but their background story reveals that they were present on Earth even during World War II.
 * In the comics, they are a shapeshifting race kin to the Skrulls, while in the movie they appear more like cyborg-like creatures.