Gunnar: I don't understand what you want?!
Noble: Oh, it's simple. I want everything.Noble's exchange with Gunnar after he kills Sindri.
Do you see that? That ship is named the Kings Gaze. It was named to honor our slain father. So... honor I understand. Charity, I do not. Our King showed charity to an off-worlder like yourself and was slaughtered for his charity. So, we named the ship to remind us of the power in that benevolent gaze that was lost to charity. And to remember that, if by God's will, that gaze should fall upon us and be held, for even the briefest of moments, it could change your life forever. Today, it falls upon you.Noble explaining his views on charity to King Levitica before killing him for harboring rebels.
Admiral Atticus Noble is the main antagonist of the 2023 Netflix epic space opera film Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire and its 2024 sequel Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver.
He is a sociopathic and ruthless galactic admiral in charge of the Imperium's armies to spread the Mother World's influence over the galaxy. Often accompanied by the dutiful Scribes, Noble is tasked by Regent Balisarius to hunt down and kill rebel insurgents that would threaten the Motherworld's rule in the outer reaches of the galaxy, hoping to gain a seat in the Senate and impress his father Dominic. However, his goals change upon discovering the presence of Arthelais the Scargiver (now going by Kora) hiding amongst the people of Veldt and becomes hellbent on capturing her to bring her to Balisarius and increase his standing in the Motherworld.
He was portrayed by Ed Skrein, who also played Ajax in Deadpool, Thomas Alexander Upton in TAU, Zapan in Alita: Battle Angel and Borra in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.
History
Part 1
When word of a rebel movement in the outer regions of the Imperium's domain spreads, Regent Balisarius sends Admiral Noble in his ship, the King's Gaze, to find the rebels and destroy them. Noble first appears after he arrives on the planet Veldt. Introducing him to the farming chief Sindri, he explains how he's been hunting the Bloodaxe insurgents, an army of rebels led by the Bloodaxe siblings, around these parts of the galaxy and has come to Veldt after learning that they were supposedly provided food and grain by the farmers (unknowingly by Gunnar). Due to his supplies being slowly running out because of the hunt, he asks for the farmers to provide their crops and harvest to feed his army. Sindri tries to deny having any harvest to provide, only for Gunnar to mess up and reveal that there is, in fact, harvest. Feeling threatened and annoyed by Sindri's deception, Noble responds by murdering him and his wife in front of all the farmers. He then orders the farmers to provide hospitality for his men and that he'll come back after ten weeks to take their remaining harvest, uncaring that the farmers will starve (although it is implied it is less out of wanting the harvest and more out of wanting to impose his authority over the farms for assisting the rebellion and trying to lie). As he is leaving, he notices Kora hiding amongst the people in the crowd. Despite seemingly recognizing her, he pays her no heed and leaves.
He is later seen while having sex with a tentacle-looking creature when his right-hand man Cassius intrudes upon them, revealing that they have been contacted by the Hawkshaws to exchange someone that has information on the rebel insurgents. Pleased by this information, he dismisses Cassius to continue his tryst. Meeting at the rendezvous, he learns from the source that Bloodaxes have been hiding on the planet of Sharaan, under the protection of King Levitica. Noble proceeds to cruelly sever the spinal cord of the source, rendering them alive but unable to move, as part of his deal to set him 'free' before setting his course for Sharaan.
Upon arriving on Sharaan, shortly after the Rebels have already left, he decimates the planet, killing its people before holding King Levitica at his mercy, interrogating him on his compassion towards the rebels. He tells Levitica in a monologue how he refuses feelings of compassion and charity due to the death of the former king stemming from providing mercy to people from different planets, leading to the King's Gaze getting its name as a reminder of the government's past mistake and the judgment that would come upon planets for actions against the Motherworld. Killing Levitica with his staff, he leaves and his forces proceed to destroy Sharaan.
Later on, he appears once again at Gondival, revealing that he and Kai have been secretly working the whole time to capture the rebels by gathering them all up. Identifying each of the rebels and their past, he reveals Kora's identity as Arthelais, the missing adopted daughter of Balisarius and the most wanted fugitive in the universe, and expresses glee at capturing her. He then orders to have Kora killed and has Kai force Gunnar to do it, as a way to twist in the knife over their past encounter on Veldt. However, Gunnar takes advantage of the moment to free Kora and kill Kai, freeing the rest of the rebels and setting off a major shootout between the two opposing forces, resulting in the death of Darius Bloodaxe. Noble and Kora engage in a vicious fight on top of one of the cranes, with Kora eventually emerging victorious by breaking Noble's arms. She then seemingly kills him after knocking him off the crane with his staff, sending him falling to the cold waters below.
However, the end of the film reveals the Scribes finding Noble's body and bringing him back on the ship, simultaneously reviving him and setting up a telepathic meeting between him and Balisarius. Awakening to find himself in a mental landscape of an ice lake, Noble interacts with Balisarius and informs him of having found Kora. However, he is coldly chided for letting all the rebels and fugitives gather together all at once, knowing how dangerous they would be as a team, before being threatened to bring in Kora alive for Balisarius to crucify her publicly, or else Noble will be killed and crucified in her place. The final scene of the film has Noble falling through the ice of the mental landscape before aggressively waking up in the ship, fully revived and hellbent on hunting Kora and the rebels down.
Part 2
Noble and his forces returning to Veldt, ready to fight against the Rebels and bring in Kora alive.
Returning to Veldt, Noble met with Kora once more. He knew they had a defense plan in motion, but was confident that his forces would end it without issue. Still, he agreed to cease the conflict if Kora would surrender herself into his custody, to which she agreed. Gunnar disagreed, signaling the attack. Noble's dropship was quickly destroyed and he worked his way through the Veldtian trenches to take out the attacking villagers before escaping on another dropship. Den attempted to stop him, but was no match for Noble's combat training. Noble returned to The King's Gaze to take command of his troops.
After regaining his position on his dreadnought, he was alerted to commotion in the engine room. A woman had reportedly boarded and taken down several of the ship's crew. Knowing this to be Kora, Noble commanded his second in command, Cassius, to fire on Veldt, knowing Kora's body wouldn't be destroyed in the blast. Meanwhile, Noble went to take her, himself. He tracked her movements through the reports his crew sent in and confronted her at the docking bay. While confident in his success, he didn't realize that she had already laid the groundwork to destroy the dreadnought. Her bombs blew away the Kali, sending shockwaves through the ship and tilting it toward the ground. Kora and Noble fought as they slid down the slanting bay, with Noble ultimately gaining the upper hand. Just before he could finish her off, Gunnar stabbed him with Kora's blade from behind. She took her sword back and decapitated the admiral once and for all.
Personality
Even amongst the cruel soldiers of the Imperium, Noble stands out as a particularly nasty individual. He has no sense of morality, having no issue with torturing or killing thousands of people. His own soldiers are expendable resources that can be wiped away at any time.
Noble also has twisted sexual desires, spending his free time with tentacled creatures in his room. Balisarius appears to be the one person Noble fears, as he's noticeably nervous to communicate with him.
Gallery
Trivia
- Rupert Friend was originally set to portray Admiral Atticus Noble before scheduling conflicts prevented him from playing the part and led him to be quickly recast with Ed Skrein. Interestingly, the reports initially claimed that Friend was going to play Regent Balisarius and that Skrein would play that role upon recasting him, but it wasn't until director Zack Snyder gave a first look to the film that it was revealed that Skrein was actually playing Noble and that Fra Fee would play Balisarius instead.
- Rebel Moon was at one point pitched as a Star Wars film that was considered by Lucasfilm to be made between the release of Revenge of the Sith in 2005 and the Disney buyout in 2012, but Zack Snyder didn't get to make it due to his project being a "more mature take" on the Star Wars universe that Disney's brand couldn't distribute, leading Snyder and producer Eric Newman to redevelop the project into an original film for Netflix. Had the film been produced as a Star Wars one, it's possible that Noble could have been part of the Galactic Empire's Imperial Navy.
- Amon Goeth from Schindler's List has been cited as one of the inspirations Ed Skrein had in mind to play Admiral Noble.
- Ahead of the release of Rebel Moon, Ed Skrein noted that whereas he mostly looks for some humanity in his villainous roles, such as Ajax from Deadpool or Borra from Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, to generate some empathy for his characters, he played Admiral Noble without any kind of humanity or moral limitations to see how the audience reacts to his role.
- His last name comes from the word "noble", which is highly ironic, as Atticus Noble is anything but noble given how he displays his loyalty and strength through sociopathy and indifference.
- Zack Snyder has described the story of Rebel Moon to be reminiscent of the Biblical one of David & Goliath, as a powerful army comes to a pacifistic community to oppress them, leading that community to send someone to stop the army's strongest warrior. If Kora is meant to represent David, then Noble likely represents Goliath.
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