Originally known as Timely Publications, Marvel Comics has been publishing the adventures of superheroes since the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner first graced the four-color page in Marvel Comics #1. In time, their stable of character would grow to include even more iconic heroes like Captain America, Spider-Man, and the X-Men.

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But not every hero can become an icon. For every Miles Morales, there are a dozen heroes who never get their comic series, animated movies, or video games. Even some of the B-list heroes like Wasp have had better luck than these characters. These are the heroes who have all but vanished not only from the four-color page but from the collective memory of pop culture. Still, each one of these characters, for a moment, shone just as bright as any hero.

10 Prime Only Had Few Appearances Since Marvel Bought Up Malibu Comics

Prime with Kevin Green from Malibu Comics' Ultraverse posing

Originally a part of Malibu Comics' Ultraverse, Prime became a part of the Marvel family when Marvel bought up Malibu. The hero, something of a modern take on Shazam, may have looked like a big muscled adult, but he was really thirteen-year-old Kevin Green.

As a young teen, Kevin was highly impressionable, and as Prime, he would take on the characteristics of heroes he looked up to. That included Spider-Man, who he met in a crossover. While Prime was pretty popular in the 1990s, he has only made a few appearances since Marvel got the rights to the character, most recently having a brief cameo in Spider-Verse #2.

9 Rocket Racer Was Overshadowed By Night Thrasher

Rocket Racer fights Spider-Man

Introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #172, Rocket Racer had all the signs of a character designed to chase a fad, traveling on a jet-powered skateboard and wearing large headphones. A high school dropout, Rocket Racer started his career as a villain but became a hero when Spider-Man helped him get into college.

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Rocket Racer worked with Silver Sable for a time, but the spotlight was already moving to another skateboarding hero, the much better named Night Thrasher. Rocket Racer enrolled at the Avengers Academy but ended up retiring from the superhero life to become an engineer.

8 Kevin Masterson Hasn't Been Heard From Since Joining The Avengers Academy

Kevin Masterson Thunderstrike

The son of Eric Masterson, the first Thunderstrike, Kevin picked up his father's mantle and became the new Thunderstrike when Captain America gave him the Thunderstrike Mace. Marvel introduced Kevin as the new Thunderstrike in his own five-issue limited series, showing a good amount of confidence in the character.

Kevin later played a role in the Fear Itself event, teaming up with Spider-Girl, Victor Alvarez, Amadeus Cho, and X-23 to fight the Shark Men and stop the Hell-Carrier from crashing into Honolulu. After that, Kevin joined the Avengers Academy and hasn't been heard from since.

7 Nightwatch Vanished After The 90s

Nightwatch was the heroic cover for Nighteater

Making his debut in 1993's Web of Spider-Man #97, Nightwatch has a shockingly similar design to Todd McFarlane's Spawn, who had made his debut just a year earlier. Nightwatch became a popular character for a time, even getting his own series for a time and playing an important role in the Spider-Man event, Maximum Carnage. But as the 1990s came to an end, Nightwatch seemed to leave with the decade.

After a brief return in She-Hulk in 2015, Nightwatch once again vanished from the comics, but in 2018 it was announced that a Nightwatch movie was in the works and Variety reported that Spike Lee was in talks to direct. Lee denied that he was involved with the movie in any way.

6 Shamrock Has Not Been Seen Since 2014

shamrock marvel

The daughter of a militant Irish nationalist, Shamrock gained her powers when her father brought her and her brother to the Northern Ireland mountainsides and asked the Celtic gods to give his son powers to keep the Irish people safe. The gods apparently listened but chose the man's daughter to be Ireland's protector. Now, whenever Shamrock needs help in a battle, the spirit of a dead Irish soldier appears and grants her good luck, ensuring her victory.

Shamrock retired from the superhero life and became a hairdresser and a pub owner before becoming a member of SHIELD. While she only made a few brief appearances since her debut in 1982, Shamrock has not been seen since 2014.

5 Silverclaw Has Not Been Shown Since Joining Iron Man's Side During Civil War

silverclaw marvel

With a name right out of the 1990s, Silverclaw is a shapeshifting hero from the South American nation of Costa Verde. The daughter of the volcano goddess Peliali, Silverclaw's powers appeared when she was a child. After the death of her father, Silverclaw was sent to an orphanage where she became the beneficiary of Edwin Jarvis, the butler to Iron Man.

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When she was old enough, Silverclaw traveled to the United States and joined the Avengers, fighting alongside Marvel's greatest heroes during the Maximum Security crisis and the Kang War. During Civil War, Silverclaw joined Iron Man's side, but she has not been seen since then.

4 Aquarian Was Bitten By A Zombified Deadpool & Placed In Stasis

Marvel Comics Aquarian

If Silverclaw's name is straight out of the 1990s, Aquarian's make it very clear that he was created in the 1970s. Born on the planet Dakkam, Aquarian was sent to Earth as a baby when his parents believed that their planet's sun was going to explode. The sun didn't explode, but Aquarian's parents were killed by Dakkam's ruler for creating panic.

Aquarian had adventures with a number of Marvel heroes, including Man-Thing, Quasar, and Namorita before he joined The Command, a government-sponsored superhero team created as part of the 50-State Initiative. As seen in 2008's Marvel Zombies 3, Aquarian was bitten by a zombified Deadpool and placed in stasis, where he has remained for the last 14 years.

3 Dorma Died In Namor's Arms

Namor holds Dorma's hand at their wedding in Marvel Comics

One of Marvel's first superheroes, Dorma made her debut in 1939's Marvel Comics #1 alongside Namor the Sub-Mariner. A member of the aristocracy of Atlantis, Dorma was Namor's cousin who would sometimes join him in his battle against the surface world. Dorma secretly loved Namor, which would lead to her betraying him when he rejected her advances.

In time, Dorma and Namor reunited and fell in love. On their wedding day in Atlantis, Dorma was replaced with a disguised Llyra, who planned to use the ceremony to make her claim as the queen of Atlantis. When Llyra's plan was discovered, a battle broke out, and the real Dorma tragically died in Namor's arms. Unlike other Marvel characters, Dorma has never come back to life.

2 The Fourth Musketeer Vanished Forever After Battling Bank Robbers & Pro German Americans

fourth musketeer marvel

When Nazi Germany invaded France, the Fourth Musketeer rose from the dead as a ghost to fight for his nation. Realizing that a single ghost isn't powerful enough to defeat Hitler and his army, the Fourth Musketeer jumped on his horse and rode across the ocean to the United States where he hoped to convince the American government to come to his country's aide.

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Arriving in Washington DC, the Fourth Musketeer battled some bank robbers and pro-German Americans. And then he vanished from the comics forever. Whether or not the Fourth Musketeer was the famous D'Artagnan remains unknown.

1 Jeff Dix's Last Appearance Was Back In 1944

Marvel Comics Jeff Dix

Making his debut in 1942's U.S.A. Comics #4, Jeff Dix was a Corporal in the United States Army during the Second World War. Visiting home while on leave, Jeff learned that his brother had fallen in with a local gang that was planning to rob the USO. After stopping that, Dix was promoted to Sergeant and, along with his pal Fish Face Friday, battled the Japanese on an aircraft carrier and Nazis on an American military base and even gained himself an arch-enemy known as the Voice of Doom. Jeff Dix made his last appearance in 1944's Amazing Comics #1.

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