Rob Liefeld is well-known amongst comic fans for being a controversial figure in the industry. Regardless of people’s opinions on Liefeld, he is a giant in the industry, and his name will always garner a response.
He has created countless characters, both for Marvel Comics and other publishers, like the comic book publisher he partially founded, Image Comics. His work has garnered both compliments and criticism. Either way, his portfolio is prolific and widespread, and he’s illustrated several important characters, both created by him and preexisting.
10 Captain America
In his career, Rob Liefeld has gotten quite a bit of attention for the way he draws Captain America. Not only that, but he’s gotten in trouble with Marvel Comics for his illustrations, as well. When his Captain America series was poorly received, Marvel Comics ended up canceling it, so Rob Liefeld decided to create a new character, Agent America. Joe Simon threatened to sue Liefeld over Agent America; Marvel Comics actually did sue him, but they ended up allowing him to use the character, but he can’t draw him doing things like throwing his shield, as that is too clearly a rip-off of Captain America. Liefeld’s experiences with Captain America have been deeply varied; it’s clear.
9 Rikki Barnes
Rikki Barnes was introduced to Marvel Comics in the “Heroes Reborn” storyline as Bucky Barnes's granddaughter, a staple in Marvel Comics. Created by Rob Liefeld and Jeph Loeb, Rikki Barnes is supposed to be the Counter-Earth incarnation of Bucky Barnes, and so she has a very similar appearance to her grandfather’s. Her costume is even directly modeled after Bucky’s. Steve Rogers trained her, and so she has similar skills to both her grandfather and her teacher, once friends.
8 Spider-Man
In September of 1989, Marvel Comics published The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #23, the first assignment Rob Liefeld received from Marvel. He worked as a penciler on this issue, which featured writers Gerry Conway and David Michelinie. From there, Rob Liefeld would continue to draw the character of Spider-Man in several incarnations.
Spider-Man is often in many flexible and acrobatic poses. Critics of Liefeld’s drawing style tend to dislike Spider-Man’s anatomical appearance in Liefeld’s work. However, Liefeld has contributed to the Spider-Man canon for Marvel Comics either way.
7 The Human Torch
Rob Liefeld has drawn all of the Fantastic Four members before, including Reed Richards as Mr. Fantastic, Sue Storm as the Invisible Woman, and Ben Grimm as the Thing. He famously has also drawn Johnny Storm, also known as the Human Torch. As Johnny Storm flies in his tight uniform and bursts into flame, his anatomy is a vital part of his appearance, and Liefeld’s anatomical choices are often met with mixed reviews. Liefeld draws the Human Torch magnificently ablaze, fire glowing, which is impressive artwork nonetheless.
6 Deadpool
Not only has Rob Liefeld drawn Deadpool, but he’s responsible for Deadpool’s existence. Along with writer Fabian Nicieza, Rob Liefeld created Deadpool for Marvel Comics, first appearing in The New Mutants #98. Liefeld had invented a character he showed to Nicieza, who commented that the character seemed exactly like Slade Wilson, also known as Deathstroke, from DC Comics. Because of that realization, Nicieza named their new character Wade Wilson, and so Deadpool was born. Though many artists have now drawn Deadpool, Liefeld is his creator and will always be the one who drew him first.
5 Cable
Along with writer Louise Simonson, similar to Deadpool, Rob Liefeld was the illustrator behind Cable's creation for Marvel Comics. Though the character of Nathan Summers, the child of Scott Summers, also known as Cyclops, and Madelyne Pryor, a clone of Jean Grey, was created originally by Chris Claremont, Simonson Liefeld made him into the character of Cable.
The time-traveling character has become popular since his first appearance at the end of The New Mutants #86 in the preview for the next issue. Like Deadpool, many artists have since drawn Cable, but Liefeld remains the first and the original.
4 Juggernaut
Rob Liefeld illustrates a lot of characters across the various X-Men properties for Marvel Comics. He often draws, too, for series like X-Force. Characters like Juggernaut make frequent appearances in his work; fans often name Juggernaut covers by Liefeld as some of their favorites that he’s created in his time. Once a human named Cain Marko, Juggernaut is the stepbrother of Charles Xavier, also known as Professor X. He’s literally a human juggernaut, possessing incredible strength invulnerability, as well as being just generally huge.
3 Domino
Like Deadpool, the character of Domino was created by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza. First appearing in a full cover story in March of 1992, Domino is shown to be a member of Cable’s Wild Pack in X-Force #8. Domino appears throughout Marvel Comics and even made the transition with Deadpool and Cable to the silver screen. Domino appears in the movie Deadpool 2 (2018) as portrayed by Zazie Beetz.
When she’s introduced, Wade Wilson (Deadpool), as played by Ryan Reynolds, makes fun of her entire character concept. Because Domino is powered by luck, Deadpool comments that “a guy who can’t draw feet” probably came up with her, along with other disparaging remarks that are clearly about Liefeld. The criticism that Liefeld can't draw feet and often avoids doing so crops up in reviews of his work.
2 Shatterstar
Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld struck again with Shatterstar, who first appeared in March of 1991 in The New Mutants #99. Shatterstar was genetically engineered on the planet Mojoworld to be a slave and an arena gladiator, thus developing the skills — and the honor — of a warrior. Shatterstar, together with Cable and other X-Men characters, is one of the X-Force team's founding members. Like Domino, Shatterstar appears in Deadpool 2, a movie that introduced several more of Liefeld’s characters to the silver screen beyond just the original Deadpool, Wade Wilson.
1 Stryfe
The creators of Cable, Louise Simonson and Rob Liefeld, teamed up once again to create Stryfe, a Cable clone. He first appears in The New Mutants #86 in February of 1990 and has appeared consistently ever since. In fact, Stryfe was even the main villain of the recent run of X-Force that Marvel Comics published from 2018 until 2019. Stryfe was originally cloned from the infant Cable, still a baby Nathan Summers, in case Nathan passed away while things were looking dicey. From that point, Stryfe was instead raised by Apocalypse, resulting in a drastically different child in some ways — and a very similar child in others.