Arnold Scheibel

Colonel Miles Quaritch is the primary antagonist of the American science fiction film series Avatar (franchise). The character is portrayed by Stephen Lang. Lang will be reprising his role in Avatar 2 and Avatar 3.
==Fictional character biography==
===Early life===
Before joining the Resources Development Administration (RDA) Security Operations branch, Colonel Miles Quaritch served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps. He saw combat in numerous Earth military engagements without injury, most notably three tours in Nigeria with Marines' First Reconnaissance Battalion.
On his first day on Pandora, an encounter with the wildlife dealt him a trio of trademark scars to the right side of his head and face. Given the option to return home to Earth for reconstructive surgery he opted to stay on Pandora. With his impressive record, he was eventually chosen as the chief of security operations on Pandora.
===Events of Avatar (2009 film)===
At the time of the film's events, Quaritch had been the RDA's chief of security for at least two years. He was responsible for the security of the RDA operation and its personnel, which necessitated keeping the Na'vi in check.
Tensions between the humans and the indigenous Na'vi had been rising, making it harder for the RDA to mine for unobtanium, a highly valuable mineral found on the moon Pandora used for energy generation. When Jake Sully arrived on Pandora, Quaritch used this as an opportunity to his advantage by offering Jake reconstructive leg surgery in exchange for information about the Na'vi. While Jake did as Quaritch asked, specifically providing information about Omaticaya Clan's Hometree and the Tree of Souls (the most sacred Na'vi site), the deal was revoked after Jake changed allegiances and sided with the Na'vi, thus making Jake his enemy.
Using the information that Jake provided, Quaritch led a successful assault on the Hometree, in the process taking several Na'vi casualties. He then attempted a similar assault on the Tree of Souls. However, Jake had rallied several Na'vi clans together and they were prepared to fight back. A long battle ensued, with mass casualties on both sides of the opposition. Eventually, it was clear that the RDA had lost.
However, Quaritch refused to give up and boarded into his AMP Suit as he evacuated from the ship he was on (which was about to explode) and began marching towards the Tree of Souls as a one man army. Eventually, he approached the bunker where Jake's human body was stationed inside a pod. He attempted to destroy it but was stopped by Neytiri, who was riding a thanator. While she managed to damage his suit, he ultimately prevailed when he killed the thanator and pinned her against a rock. As he was about to kill Neytiri, Jake intervened and a fight began. After Jake destroyed Quaritch's airlink, forcing him to use an exo pack to breath, Quaritch in turn destroys part of the bunker, thus exposing Jake's human body to the Pandoran atmosphere. As he was about to slit Jake's avatar body's throat, Neytiri freed herself and shot two arrows into Quaritch's chest, killing him.
==Casting==
James Cameron initially met with Michael Biehn for the role of Quaritch, having previously collaborated on The Terminator, Aliens (film), The Abyss, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and even showed him multiple drafts of the script and some of the 3D test footage. Ultimately, Biehn was not cast in the role, as Sigourney Weaver had been cast to play Dr. Grace Augustine in the film and Cameron did not want audiences to draw comparisons to Aliens. Although Cameron confirms he met with Biehn for a part in the film, he disputes the claim that it was for Quaritch.
Having remembered Stephen Lang from when he auditioned for the parts of Dwayne Hicks and Carter Burke in Aliens, Cameron decided to cast Lang in the role of Quaritch. Lang said of his casting in Avatar (2009 film), 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.
==Accolades==
For his performance in Avatar (2009 film), Lang won Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 36th Saturn Awards.
Category:Avatar (franchise)
Category:Fictional United States Marine Corps personnel
Category:Film characters introduced in 2009