The Death Angels, also referred to as "Listeners" from survivors, are the main antagonists of the A Quiet Place franchise.
Death Angels arrived on Earth inside meteorites that hit the planet. They have incredible hearing, which they use to locate and attack anything that makes even the slightest sound. This, combined with their near-indestructible armor, allowed them to massacre most sapient life on the planet, including a sizable portion of humanity, subsequently causing society to collapse.
Biology[]
The trading card style of the Death Angels, depicted in A Quiet Place : The Road Ahead.
According to John Krasinski, the director of the first two movies, the creatures originated on a lightless planet in a faraway galaxy, a hellish world with harsher conditions and higher gravity than Earth. They adapted to this environment with features such as echolocation instead of sight, nearly impenetrable armor-like skin, and greater strength to compensate for the gravity, making them even stronger and more agile on earth. Their skin is so tough that it can resist many kinds of conventional weaponry, from small firearms such as a shotguns and rifles, to missiles or bombs. They can destroy steel barriers with no issue, and hurl heavy objects like cars with ease. They are, however, completely blind and their bodies are so dense that they can't swim in deep water which causes the creatures to quickly drown.
The creatures are slightly taller than a human, with overall proportions that are lithe and lean. Their body posture vaguely resembles a cross between a gorilla and a flightless bat; all four of their limbs are digitigrade, walking on their knuckles, with arms drastically larger than their legs — resulting in them usually running on all four limbs but capable of rearing up to attack or jump large distances. Due to their claws and great strength, they are very adept at climbing on even flat or glass surfaces, and are able to run extremely fast (Calculations say they can go up to or faster than meters per second) . Their claws consist of three fingers and are capable of killing and seriously injuring people with ease. A larger and more muscular variant of Death Angels is introduced in A Quiet Place: Day One, possibly meant to be an "alpha" of sorts, implying the creatures do have a hierarchy within their social structure.
Their head features a large jaw filled with sharp teeth, and no eyes. With no apparent nose, it is unclear if they possess any sense of smell. The entire head is composed of ears inside and multiple sections of armor-like plates outside that protected their ears and flesh from damage. Their armor plates can be held open if they want to listen closely for prey, unfolding like a hellish cabbage. Their delicate ears underneath the armor are able to detect deeper and smaller sounds, but their ears are vulnerable to conventional weapons, explaining why they only briefly lift their plates if they feel safe enough to do so when tracking prey, and they always close their armor to protect their ears when attacking the target.
Their extremely sensitive hearing can be turned into a weakness, as Regan discovered that their ears are so delicate that high-frequency sound waves, such as that from a hearing aid, will make them uncontrollably squeal in pain and spasm, accidentally opening up the armor plates on their ears and exposing the vulnerable skin underneath, which exposes their ears to attack. If the high-pitched noises are loud enough, they could cause a Death Angel to be temporarily disabled from the pain.
As confirmed by Krasinski, the aliens are not sapient, but vicious animals. Just how intelligent they are is unclear, as they mostly seem driven by pure instinct; they may be extremely paranoid or in a constant fight response, assuming anything they hear is a threat and simply act accordingly. The Abbotts' whiteboard speculates that they are capable of hunting in packs. Besides, when one of Death Angel was killed, another Death Angel came running to the location of its death, presumably because of the noise that easily attracted other Death Angels. However, they are shown communicating in A Quiet place: Day One through screeches to alert others when one has discovered a food source, which shows that they have the ability to communicate with one another, a sign of more advanced intelligence.
Perhaps most frustratingly, the creatures do not kill for food: the Abbotts' whiteboard includes the prominent note: "Why don't they eat their prey?" They are never seen eating any of the corpses they leave behind: all human corpses were seen mummified, but are otherwise intact. Furthermore, as shown in a A Quiet Place: Day One, the aliens appear to be eating alien plants that came with their asteroids, which suggests they are herbivorous, which explains how they've survived so long on Earth. They don't seem intelligent enough to kill for sadism; rather, it seems that they just instinctively lash out at anything that creates any kind of noise, potentially perceiving it as a threat. It's possible that they cannot eat their prey, because their biology is incompatible with terrestrial animals. Nonetheless, they are so robust that they survived a long interstellar journey on asteroids, possibly in a state of hibernation.
History[]
Pre-Series[]
At some point, the creatures' planet was destroyed for unknown reasons, but due to their durable nature and their indestructible armor, they survived on asteroid fragments, which eventually arrived on Earth in a meteor shower which landed in several places such as Millbrook, Mexico, New York and Shanghai.
A Quiet Place[]
Among many, many others, the Death Angels are responsible for Beau's death at the beginning of the film after he turned on a rocket toy by inserting the batteries. They are also seen hunting in the Abbott household when Evelyn's water breaks and she accidentally stabs her foot on a nail in the basement stairs. A Death Angel killed Raccoon in the night after he made a noise. A Death Angel slashed a Man in the Woods after he discovered that his wife was killed by a Death Angel earlier; he had attracted it by screaming as a form of suicide. A Death Angel was approaching Evelyn in the bathroom (when she was about to give birth to her son), but it was distracted away due to Marcus setting off a firework. Lee's death was at the claws of a Death Angel, sacrificing himself to protect Regan and Marcus as they helped Evelyn. In the finale, their weakness to high-pitched frequency waves was discovered, and the creature was killed by Evelyn. Two more came running to the farm after its death, implying that they were killed, too.
A Quiet Place Part II[]
In the opening scene, Death Angels are seen attacking Millbrook, New York, on the first day their meteor landed on Earth. At the start of the attack, only minutes after after the meteor landed at Walker's Farm near Millbrook, one attacked a local police car causing panic in the main street, another destroyed a station wagon just in front of Evelyn's car and also destroyed her windshield. One killed the driver of a bus, causing it to almost run over Evelyn, Marcus, and Beau. When Lee, Regan, and many others went to a nearby bar to take shelter, they hid under tables and tried to stay silent as possible. As Lee tried to silence a praying man, they witnessed one Death Angel enter slowly and open its armor to track the sound. Just as it was about to leave, a teenage couple's phone accidentally rings, alerting the creature outside to close its armor begin butchering the people in the bar. As Lee and Regan escaped, the Death Angel pursuing them, they reached the damaged police car where Evelyn, Beau, and Marcus are hiding. The Death Angel tries to kill them but Ronnie, a local police officer, saves them by firing his shotgun at the creature. Despite his best efforts, the shots are no match for the creature's impenetrable armor but the sound distracts it from the Abbotts and the officer decides to sacrifice himself to save the family.
In the present, a Death Angel chases the Abbott family and Emmett when Evelyn accidentally sets off Emmett's booby trap outside their base, an abandoned factory, and Marcus's foot is severely injured. Regan uses the speaker and high-frequency feedback to disorient the creature, opening its armor and so Evelyn kills it with a shotgun. Another Death Angel hunts Regan into an abandoned train, where it attempts to kill her. Regan uses the feedback to disorient the creature along with her own shotgun; it is only able to damage the creature's armor, but she was saved by Emmett. When Regan and Emmett are confronted by a group of feral humans lead by Marina Man while searching for a boat on the docks, Emmett makes attracts two Death Angels that slaughter the deranged inhabitants. Emmett then stabs the leader with a knife causing him to scream, allowing the creatures to kill him before jumping off to avoid being killed. The Death Angels boarded the boat, killing more humans but one drowned when it fell into the water. Yet another Death Angel got into Emmett's base, leading to Marcus and his brother accidentally trapping themselves in a furnace-turned-bunker, nearly suffocating them.
Next day, Emmett hears the sound of a boat crashing and discovered the Death Angel onboard had snuck onto the island. It attacks the island survivors before being lured by Henri, Emmett and Regan towards the radio station where it kills Henri and injure Emmett, before Regan uses her cochlear implant to broadcast a high pitch frequency across the local area to stun it. At the same time, Evelyn discovers that the creature is still nearby, trying to close the door but failed and the it managed to pull Marcus, Evelyn and the baby out, injuring Evelyn's leg. Regan tried to use her implant to bring the creature closer but it was ineffective, so she turned on the radio and, using her implant on the microphone, made the creatures opened their armor and reveal their vulnerable spot, allowing Regan to kill the creature on the island and also for Marcus to kill the creature in Emmett's base.
A Quiet Place: Day One[]
To be added
After one meteor landed in New York City not far from Sam, a Death Angel arrived and began attacking, slaughtering any bystanders that made noise and striking an ambulance, blowing it up which knocked Sam unconscious. Frodo later attracted a Death Angel when he accidentally rang a bell before Sam could grab him; the creature destroyed the door and began searching in the building for any sound. However, before it could get Rueben, a military helicopter flew overhead, announcing to survivors to keep silent and hide; the noisy engine and loudspeakers distracted many Death Angels which stampeded down the street to chase after it.
A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead[]
To be added'
Other characters[]
Characters killed[]
| # | Image | Character | Cause | Day | Media |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
|
Ronnie | Slashed after distracting his shotgun to Death Angel for saving Abbotts Family. | 1 | A Quiet Place Part II |
| 2 | About 5 old men and women in hospice care. | About 5 old men and women go to the back of a bus after seeing the meteors arriving, a meteor lands near the bus, shattering the window, likely killing the old men and women due to the fact that they are not shown later on. | 1 | A Quiet Place: Day One | |
| 3 | Unidentified soldier in New York | Ordered everyone to take cover. | 1 | A Quiet Place: Day One | |
| 4 | Unidentified Bystander in New York | Communicate to someone after witnessing the crashed fragments. | 1 | A Quiet Place: Day One | |
| 5 | Unidentified Old Man in New York | Turned off the generator's noise and sounding voice which then attracted Death Angel and slashed the old men.
However, the old men was replaced by Reuben in the release and was killed instead |
1 | A Quiet Place: Day One | |
| 6 | Unidentified Woman in New York. | Screaming the name "Johnathon" after a crowd of people was attacked by Death Angels in an attempt to evacuate but slashed by Death Angel presumably due to her screaming. | 1 | A Quiet Place: Day One | |
| 7 | Unidentified female first responder in New York. | After meeting Sam and telling her to stay calm, she turns on her walkie talkie to let her fellow first responders know, but the walkie talkie turn on sound attracts a Death Angel, which slashes her. | 1 | A Quiet Place: Day One | |
| 8 | Unidentified Woman in Millbrook | Escaping the chaos while screaming, slashed by Death Angel. | 1 | A Quiet Place Part II | |
| 9 | Reuben | Turned off the generator's noise, while leaving, his shirt rips, which attracts a Death Angel, which, presumably, mortally wounds him. | 1 | A Quiet Place: Day One | |
| 10 | 
|
Sam | While listening to music accepting death, she unplugged the earphones connected to the boombox attracting a Death Angel jumping right behind her presumably slashing her after. | 2 | A Quiet Place: Day One |
| 11 | 
|
Beau Abbott | Noise from a battery-powered toy drew a Death Angel to him. | 89 | A Quiet Place |
| 12 | 
|
Raccoon | Crushed to death after making noise. | 473 | A Quiet Place |
| 13 | 
|
Woman in the Woods | Unknown, presumably was caught by a Death Angel | 473 | A Quiet Place |
| 14 | 
|
Man in the Woods | Suicide; screamed to intentionally draw in a Death Angel. | 473 | A Quiet Place |
| 15 | 
|
Lee Abbott | Sacrificed himself to save Regan and Marcus Abbott from a Death Angel by screaming to intentionally draw it to him instead. | 473 | A Quiet Place |
| 16 | 
|
Marina Man | Stabbed by a knife in the leg by Emmett, causing him to scream and lure a Death Angel that killed him; Emmett escaped by jumping to the sea. | 476 | A Quiet Place Part II |
| 17 | Unknown Island's Survivor | Slashed after taking water from well and attracting noise with a bucket. | 477 | A Quiet Place Part II | |
| 18 | 
|
Henri | Dragged away and presumably killed. | 477 | A Quiet Place Part II |
Behind the Scenes[]
Trivia[]
- The approximate population of Death Angels on Earth is unknown.
- According to Lee's Whiteboard in the first film, there were approximately three Death Angels that crashed in Millbrook.
- In the A Quiet Place: Day One, there appear to be dozens of Death Angels in New York.
- The aliens don't have an official name; the name "Death Angels" comes from a headline that appears on the Abbott family's wall of newspaper clippings. In the A Quiet Place: Day One, the "Death Angels" were referred to as "Monsters" by a US Soldier.
- The Death Angels have two major weaknesses.
- The Death Angels are unable to swim and appear to quickly drown in deep water due of their heavy bodies; in the prequel, one Death Angel chases Sam then drowned in deep water almost instantly, unable to even pull itself up. These creatures may have evolved on a planet without liquid water as they do not have fins, webbed feet, or even a physical design conducive to effective swimming.
- Death Angels are very sensitive to high-frequency sounds. When such a sound is produced near to a Death Angel, its senses become overloaded and it forces the armor plates on their heads open, which exposes the vulnerable insides of their heads and allows them to be killed with trauma to that area.
- John Krasinski provided some motion capture for the Death Angels in the films.
- The Death Angels were designed by A Quiet Place's special effects supervisor Scott Farrar. The CGI for the Death Angels was done by Industrial Light and Magic (ILM).
- The design of the Death Angels was inspired by bog people (corpses who are buried in peat bogs).
- The exact physiology of Death Angels is unclear. Furthermore, they appear to violate several laws of thermodynamics and physics.
- Lee notes that they do not eat what they kill, raising questions as to how they are able to supply enough energy for locomotion. This is in conjunction with the fact that they possess incredibly heavy armor which would raise energy requirements tremendously. The prequel reveals however, that they do consume some type of fungal matter from the meteor they originated from.
- How they were able to survive intergalactic travel or the vacuum of space is a mystery, unless they can resort to some form of extreme hibernation or torpor.
- Their protective armor has demonstrated remarkable fortitude; it is able to withstand even high-powered kinetic weaponry (presumably also nuclear weapons). No such material of similar durability has ever been synthesized nor observed to exist in the real world.
- Even weaponry that cannot penetrate skin or armor would still be able to impart enough physical force to cause severe trauma to soft internal organs such as the brain or nervous system. An example is how a simple fall, even one that does not cause a fractured skull, can cause lasting or even fatal damage to the brain via a concussion.
- Death Angels have not been documented to reproduce, excrete, or sleep, and are somehow able to differentiate between members of their own species.
- They may be able to breathe as the prequel shows one seemingly panting.