Throughout the past few decades, Marvel has continued to introduce new and different characters into the Marvel Universe. While most of these characters received a lot of love right off the bat, some of them were disliked by a lot of fans. Despite the negative reception, a good deal of them would later receive a lot of appreciation from audiences.
So, we decided to take a look at ten different Marvel characters that fans hated at first but slowly grew to love. Whether they were introduced in the '90s era of comics or in more recent times or they took over for another hero or not, these characters were given a second chance by many.
10 Sentry
Bob Reynolds was once an average young man before he drunk a professor's secret formula and became Sentry, the man with the power of 10 million exploding suns. However, despite gaining immense power and using his abilities for good, the serum began to warp his mind as he continued using it. Over the years, Sentry has received a polarizing response from readers. Some see him as a dull, irredeemable person, a poor Superman clone, or one of the most underappreciated characters Marvel has ever created. He may not be as well known as other Marvel Characters, but he certainly has a lot of fans talking.
9 Nova (Sam Alexander)
While Richard Rider isn't well known by non-comic book fans, he still has a decent-sized fanbase. After the characters supposed death, Marvel introduced a new Nova in Sam Alexander. He was a teenager whose father was a member of the Nova Corp and used his dad's helmet to become a superhero.
Fans were divided on their feelings towards Sam, thinking that he wasn't impressive enough or didn't deserve to replace Richard Rider. However, over the years, Sam has gained a lot of love from people, especially those who grew up watching the Ultimate Spider-Man series(He was a prominent character in the first few seasons). Since his appearance, Sam has become a member of the Champions and even saved Richard Rider.
8 Miss America
Miss America was first introduced during Marvel's "All-New, All-Different" relaunch. America Chavez was a super-powered teen from an alternate dimension who travel to Earth 616 to "find her place in the world." Her powers come from the magic of a sacred amulet, giving her super strength and flight. She's also a Latina character that identifies as a Lesbian, making her the first Latin-American Superhero from Marvel to be a member of the LGBTQ community. While there have been some honest critiques of her solo series, most were annoyed that she was another character that "was pandering to de SJWs." However, she seems to have gained a lot of fans, as she has been a supporting role in the Marvel Rising series.
7 Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers)
When Carol Danvers was introduced, she was nothing more than a damsel in distress for the original Captain Marvel to save. However, after being experimented on by the Kree, she gains superpowers and turned into the first Ms. Marvel. As the years passed and the original Captain Marvel died, she eventually took up the mantle of Captain Marvel. While not getting the same amount of backlash as her MCU counterpart has sadly received, a lot of the same people complained about her as Captain Marvel for the same reasons. She has received a much more positive reception over the years since she became Captain Marvel, thanks to the Kelly Sue Deconnick run on the character.
6 Ben Reilly
While Ben Reilly was introduced during the Clone Conspiracy storyline in 1975, it wasn't until the much-maligned Clone Saga that he was given the role of Spider-Man. During that era of Spider-Man comics, fans were told that Peter Parker was not a human, but a clone and that Ben was the real Peter Parker. Fans despised that decision, as Marvel essentially was saying that the beloved hero that they were reading for years was a fraud. It was so bad that Marvel retconned it.
After his death, the character wasn't seen until 2010's Death No More storyline and received a much more positive response from readers. He even got a new series, where he now lives in Las Vegas, fighting criminals as the Scarlet Spider.
5 Thor (Jane Foster)
After Thor's supposed death in Fear Itself, Marvel announced that they would be introducing a new female Thor to take the reins of the deceased male character, and it was none other than his on-and-off girlfriend, Jane Foster. With Thor just receiving his first movie, many saw this as a betrayal by the publishing company. It was later shown that Thor was alive and became unworthy of using the mighty Mjolnir, and Jane Foster would carry on the title of Thor while the original Thor was just Odinson. This also didn't go over with fans, as many saw it as a publicity stunt to boost readership and force diversity.
However, Jane had gained a lot of fans (both male and female), and she eventually lost the title of Thor and the original Thor regained his old title. Jane, in the meantime, would become the new Valkyrie.
4 Cable
Rob Liefeld has become the poster child of everything wrong with '90s comics. From his lackluster writing style to his despised artwork, there's plenty of criticism. Because of this reputation, people weren't that fond of his X-Men creation, Cable.
However, for a time, he became a large part of the X-Men universe. He even had an appearance on the X-Men cartoon series. He's since been seen as Deadpool's BFF, as the two have starred in their comic series, Cable and Deadpool, and appeared together in Deadpool 2.
3 Ironheart
Similar to what he did with Spider-Man, Brian Micheal Bendis killed off Iron Man during 2016's Civil War II and had replaced him with a Black teenager. Riri Williams was first introduced as a 15-year-old genius who caught the attention of Tony Stark before the events of Civil War II. She was later approached by Pepper Potts and an A.I of Tony Stark and becomes the hero Ironheart. She was a divisive character since she was replacing another beloved hero. That didn't stop her from gaining a fan base and, just like Miss America, becoming a part of the Marvel Rising Initiative.
2 Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan)
When Kamala Khan was first introduced, many saw her as yet another example of Marvel pandering to those on the left side of the political spectrum. Despite the naysayers, Ms. Marvel has proven them wrong with Kamala's fangirl love of all things superheroes and the series' positive portrayal of Muslim and Palestinian culture. Since her introduction, she's gained a large following of younger and old readers and received a Hugo Award for the best new series of 2014.
Ms. Marvel is not only the leader of the Champions, but she's also the face of Marvel Rising, will star in her own Disney+ series, and will be the main character of the upcoming Avengers game.
1 Miles Morales
In 2010, Peter Parker had died... in the Ultimate Universe. Ultimate Spider-Man is often seen as one of the best incarnations of Peter Parker, and fans of the book were saddened and angered to learn that a half-Black/half-Hispanic kid would be taking over as that universe's Spider-Man. Miles Morales was one of the first times that many fans had accused Marvel of pandering. Despite this backlash, Miles has become a fan favorite in the eyes of Spider-Man fans. His stories and relationships were seen as different and compelling enough to become a worthy successor to Peter Parker of the Ultimate Universe(who would later come back).
After the events of 2015's Secret Wars, Miles and his family officially became part of the mainline Marvel Universe and has starred in numerous shows and games, including 2018's Academy Award Winning film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, for which he was cast as the main protagonist. He may have had a rough start, but he's become one of Marvel's finest characters.