10 Marvel Characters We Still Can’t Believe The MCU Introduced

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has never been one to be afraid of introducing some totally unexpected characters into their movies, much to the delight of comic book fans. It can be hard to keep track of the hordes of characters introduced by the MCU movies, from gallant heroes to shallow supervillains and every shade of morality in between. The franchise is no stranger to unleashing some weird new cast members In various movies, with some still hard to believe even years later.

Unlike more gritty and grounded superhero properties like Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, the MCU doesn’t shy away from the inherent stupidity of many comic book characters. Still, it can be shocking when the series pulls some bold names from the comics, Let audiences get to know even the strangest of superheroes. In other cases, the MCU has also demonstrated a boldness when it comes to bringing back fan-favorites or popular variants of popular characters, such as Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man.

Wonder characters and the movies they appeared

10

Channing Tatum’s Gambit

Deadpool & Wolverine

The entire list can be filled with the ranks of Deadpool & WolverineIt’s many cameos alone, with familiar faces from long-forgotten Marvel properties reappearing in the film for the first time in years. That said, there is one standout cast member whose presence is particularly unbelievable, none other than Channing Tatum’s Gambit. The card-slinging Cajun mutant made an impression with its slick action scenes, hilarious meme-worthy dialogue and faithful costume.

Gambit’s inclusion in Deadpool & Wolverine is important for so many reasons. Consider how hard Tatum fought for his Solo Gambit film To get made only for the deal to fall through after being stuck in production limbo, it was kind of the MCU to at least give the enthusiastic actor a level of closure with an official appearance as the character. For the fans, it was cathartic to finally see a comically accurate gambit being represented in live-action to some degree.

9

MODOK

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

If there was one character the MCU could be forgiven for never including, it’s the cybernetic supervillain MODOK Essentially a giant head on a floating chair with tiny vestigial limbs, MODOK is one of those villains that seems impossible to adapt to live-action, with his joyous proportions simply failing to translate to a truly believable design. Unfortunately, his introduction in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania seemed to prove this sentiment, making it all the more baffling that he was included in the first place.

Instead of his usual origin, MODOK in the MCU is actually the evolution of Darren Cross, The supervillain formerly known as Yellowjacket. Deformed and sent to the Quantum Realm by his unstable shrinking, Cross was found by Kang and used as a cybernetic enforcer with which he could terrorize the entire dimension. It’s still hard to believe that MODOK made his way into a live-action movie in any capacity, let alone one that also gave audiences an unnecessary glimpse of his bare behind.

8

Tom Hardy’s Venom

Spider-Man: No Way Home

The X-Men are far from the only Marvel property to be wrapped up in the MCU, despite originating in a separate timeline. Go in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Many were expecting both Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire to end up making cameos after their villains publicly made the jump from their own films to the MCU. however, One cameo in the film that few expected to appear was none other than Tom Hardy’s Venom from the Sony universe of films.

Briefly revealed after Doctor Strange’s spell summoned everyone who knew Spider-Man was Peter Parker to the MCU’s main timeline, Tom Hardy expresses confusion about where he is, which Venom agrees with. Seeing nothing better to do, the parasitic pair get drunk at a tiki-themed bar, only to be unceremoniously warped back to their home dimension, leaving a chunk of symbiote in the process. It’s safe to say that Venom’s presence in the already packed crossover film was expected, however Thanks to the short scene, Tom Hardy could be returning to the MCU soon.

7

Hulking

She-Hulk: Lawyer

The standalone season of She-Hulk: Lawyer Managed to introduce a surprising variety of Marvel characters from the comics, both returning from previous MCU projects and entirely new adaptations. However, it is the more-or-less original overarching villain HulkKing who stands out as the most memorable, Being one of the most smarmy, easily hateable villains that Marvel Studios has ever conceived. At first only a shadowy background figure, HulkKing is revealed to be Todd Phelps, the misogynistic creator of the Intelligentsia online forum.

It’s quite unbelievable that the MCU was willing to let She-Hulk’s big bad be a completely original character. This goes double for Todd Phelps, who is a very modern character rooted in Incel and Blackpill ideology especially for the digital age. Of course, his recognition as one of the most “realistic” Marvel villains soon goes out the window When he gets his Hulk form, that makes for an even more shocking choice for the series.

6

KEVIN

She-Hulk: Lawyer

Before Deadpool had the chance to weave his way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, She-Hulk served as the franchise’s only self-aware character. She-Hulk: Lawyer adapted Jen’s signature awareness of her own status as a comic character in the source material into a similar fourth-wall-breaking sense of humor for the series, with She-Hulk occasionally speaking directly to the camera and audience in House of cards– style apart. It is only when nature comes to a head that KEVIN is introduced.

She-Hulk, who wants to re-write her own story, literally breaks the boundaries of her series, diving into Disney +’s menu herself in order to confront her showrunners. Standing in for the real president of the MCU, Kevin Feige is KEVIN, an artificial intelligence that plots the story of the MCU in the universe. It was amazing for She-Hulk: Lawyer To introduce an all-powerful creator behind the scenes of the franchise, let alone a robot based on the real-world leadership of Marvel Studios.

5

Game Pip the Troll

Eternal

Eternal Introduced a lot of characters that, while unlikely to be seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe again, are hard to believe as technically canon for the franchise. Of the film’s list, the briefly-introduced Pip the Troll is easily the most hilariously out-of-left-field inclusion. In the comics, Pip is a satyr-like alien who starts his career serving as Adam Warlock’s sidekick, Gallavanting across the Marvel cosmos with his ability to teleport at will.

Eternal Briefly introduces Pip as a CGI character voiced by Patton Oswalt. Instead of Adam Warlock, Pip the Troll is instead the sidekick of Starfox, aka Eros, who is played by Harry Styles. Pip gives Eros a long, meandering introduction meant to hype up his accomplishments, implying they have some history together. The tonal whiplash of seeing Harry Styles in a Marvel movie after Pip’s appearance is hard to swallow, making it hard to accept that the MCU now canonically includes this whimsical creature.

4

Howard the Duck

Guardians of the Galaxy

It may be hard to believe, but long before the MCU dominated pop culture, the first major theater-released film based on a Marvel Comic released in 1986 with one of the most thick and weird characters of the franchise. Enter howard the duck A box-office bomb that informed decades of superhero filming about what not to do. Amazingly, James Gunn would re-introduce the movie Killing Waterfowl as a background character in Guardians of the Galaxy.

Howard the Duck went on to appear in several more Guardians of the Galaxy projects, Get more and more screentime each subsequent season. He even played Avengers: Endgame, Fighting Thanos’ forces in the battle of Earth with a submachine gun. Considering the characters’ cinematic failure and inherent weirdness, it’s surprising that the MCU was willing to go even this far with the cartoonish superhero.

3

Black bolt

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Black Bolt’s only live-action appearance before Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was in the abyss Inhuman TV series. Coming out at a time when Marvel was testing the waters of replacing the X-Men with the Inhumans, the series failed to impress potential audiences, and soon lost its original purpose with Disney’s acquisition of Fox Studios. Considering how poor the experience of most audiences was with Black Bolt, it’s a shock that he was in the cast of the second Doctor Strange solo film.

This is especially true considering Black Bolt’s prominent peers in the Illuminati, Such as John Krazinski’s Reed Richards or Patrick Stewart’s Professor X. Compared to them, Black Bolt is a relatively obscure character who doesn’t exactly have the most personality, being unable to speak most of the time because of his destructive sonic voice. It’s truly amazing that the MCU was willing to take another shot at the Inhuman leader in live-action, albeit briefly.

2

Freak

What if…?

One of the most highly-anticipated episodes of What if…? Season 2 was the Niel Gaiman adaptation Marvel 1602A comic series that reimagines the classic characters of the universe in a dark age setting. Unfortunately, this episode deviated quite heavily from the original comic, but at least introduced some unique characters like Happy Hogan’s Freak. in the comics, The normal version of Happy eventually turns into this purple monstrosity, similar to the Hulk in powers and execution.

While the main MCU wouldn’t see fit to turn Jon Favreau’s beloved staple character into a Hulk-like monster, What if…? Has no such compunctions. Frick came and went in the animated series, serving as a terrifying villain to the time-displaced Carter. Thanks to Happy Hogan’s unexpected appearance as Freak, The 1602 episode became one of the best episodes of What if…? Season 2.

1

man-bull

She-Hulk: Lawyer

clearly, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Has a taste for impossible-to-predict characters, both originally and from the comics. During She-Hulk’s visit to Abomination’s support group, she runs into all manner of D-List villains from the comics, including Wrecker from her earlier battle. However, one face stands out even among the crowd of eccentric supervillains, being the one and only Man-Bull.

A relatively unknown comic book character, Man-Bull is originally a common criminal who became a guinea pig for an experimental serum, Turning him into a hulking half-man, half-bull hybrid. in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, He summarizes the situation by offhandedly mentioning “It was a weird lab experiment. Don’t ask.” The hilariously unpredictable inclusion of a relatively hard-to-depict character was one of the series’ most absurd elements, and sits among one of the series’ most unbelievable character appearances. MCU.