Since the Marvel Cinematic Universe kicked off in 2008, comic book fans and moviegoers have watched as this shared world has given us an impressive number of unique superheroes to see in action on the big screen. From Iron Man and Captain America to Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel has proven that they can take A-list or D-list characters and create an exciting adventure for them to partake in. When you think about it, four years ago, no one could have imagined that the Guardians would ever get their own movie, leave alone a franchise. While some have gotten proper TV adaptations, other characters have been totally wasted and their absence would not have affected the movie as much. The thing is, the MCU, for how expansive it is, is only scratching the surface of the catalog of characters that are available for a film adaptation. Marvel has been around for decades, and with the MCU showing no signs of stopping right now, there are many great heroes that have yet to be introduced, and with comic book movies sitting pretty as the latest big cinematic craze, it means that at some point Marvel is going to have to give us new players.
Fortunately, Marvel's comic books provide decades of content and hundreds of potential characters to play with: classic Avengers like She-Hulk and Wonder Man; New Avengers like Spider-Woman and The Sentry; powerful supporting players like Namor and Silver Surfer; and villains who could cause problems for the entire MCU after Thanos is dealt with, like Doctor Doom. Here, are 15 characters that the Marvel universe could have done without, and 10 whom we think is about time got their big break on the silver screen:
25 THE PROWLER - DONE WITHOUT
The internet loves Donald Glover, perhaps the most beloved role of his among comic fans was on the Ultimate Spider-Man TV series. On the show, he is the voice of Miles Morales, who is a fan favorite character, and one who has yet to be seen within the MCU.
Donald Glover was cast in a role for Spider-Man: Homecoming and in the movie, he is trying to buy some alien weapons. He references his nephew, and fans pieced together that the character he was playing was a Spider-Man character called the Prowler. Unless they actually develop the character in the future, though, this cameo is nothing but disappointing.
24 WAR MACHINE - DONE WITHOUT
War machine or Colonel James Rhodes, has been around for as long as Tony Stark has; the role first being played by Terrence Howard and then Don Cheadle. He has grown to become a very integral part of the Iron Man and Avengers movies.
However, nobody really knows what he does. Apart from the savvy conversation, photo ops and brief fight scenes, he does not hold such a critical part of the storyline. In fact, we bet that if he were to be removed, that it would not gravely affect the movie in any way.
23 THE MANDARIN - SHOULD BE ADDED
While the Iron Man 3 character Trevor Slattery looked like the Mandarin that fans were familiar with, he was ultimately just used for the movie’s twist. The Marvel movie, Hail to The King tried to salvage the situation by stating that the real mandarin had actually not appeared in the movie and was upset at the misuse of his name by Killian and Slattery.
That the character was introduced as a red herring in Iron Man 3 just makes the fact that he hasn’t really appeared all the more painful; and even the more because Ben Kingsley made a really great version of the character.
22 KORG - DONE WITHOUT
Korg, as portrayed by Taika Waititi, brought the laughs in Thor: Ragnarok. The quips and awkward one-liners added a little gloss to the show, even if the character himself could’ve been entirely removed from the story and it wouldn’t have changed a single thing. This has us wondering if we will see Korg again and if it will be in a bigger capacity or will reappear as a cameo or purely for the purpose of comic relief.
As much as we loved him, he did not contribute in any way to the overall story of Ragnarok and his absence would have been engulfed by Thor and Loki’s bromance.
21 SHARON CARTER - DONE WITHOUT
The introduction of Sharon Carter in the MCU could’ve been handled differently. Yes, we all know she’s related to Peggy Carter and this makes her relationship with Steve Rogers a little weird just even thinking about it. However, it was made to be even creepier. There’s something just borderline wrong with seeing her and Cap share a kiss.
Additionally, Sharon hasn’t done much in the movies, either. She slinks around, but does anyone actually remember her adding any value to a specific arc in the movie?
20 WONDER MAN - SHOULD BE ADDED
With Captain Marvel joining the MCU in February, fans expect that Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man, won’t be too far behind. After all, the two characters shared a romance in the comics while Captain Marvel was the leader of the Avengers.
It would make a lot of sense to see the character very soon. He can fly, has super strength, has heat vision, and even teleportation — basically, he’s Superman, and then some. His powers could give the MCU’s heroes the edge they need to fix the universe and revive those that were lost in Thanos’ snap.
19 AMADEUS CHO - DONE WITHOUT
Amadeus Cho is a fantastic comic character — he is the Totally Awesome Hulk, a newer, more modern character who has gained a Hulk side. Though the character appeared in Incredible Hulk, he was completely underused. He was given no lines and simply held pizza and nodded at Bruce Banner.
Martin Starr, the actor who played the character, also isn’t Asian, and the character is. Fortunately, he wasn’t identified by name in the movie, so hopefully, the MCU can smoothly recast the character and reintroduce him to the MCU in Phase Four.
18 BLADE - SHOULD BE ADDED
Blade was really the first successful Marvel movie back in the 1990s, even though most people hadn’t realized that the movie was based on a Marvel property. The series was dark, violent, and full of awesome action, led by the entertaining Wesley Snipes as the title character.
We believe it’s time that the character is brought to the MCU. There are rumors that Sony may be developing a Morbius movie, focusing on Spider-Man’s vampire friend and such a movie would be the perfect place to introduce Blade, the vampire hunter.
17 BARON ZEMO - DONE WITHOUT
Baron Zemo is a name that actually belongs to two different generations of a villain, and both have been adversaries of Captain America in the comic books. Both have been among Cap’s greatest enemies, the elder being directly responsible for the explosion that led to Cap’s freezing and Bucky’s eventual path to becoming the Winter Soldier.
In Captain America: Civil War, Zemo is instead a former soldier from Sokovia who gets revenge on the Avengers by pitting them against each other through a series of manipulated events. That he’s not involved in Hydra, like his comic counterparts makes the villain feel extremely disconnected.
16 MILES MORALES - SHOULD BE ADDED
This is another character that is sort of in the MCU but hasn’t really shown up yet. Miles Morales was referenced in Spider-Man: Homecoming, and he has an upcoming animated movie that looks like it’ll be pretty awesome, but there’s no word yet of Miles showing up in a live-action movie.
The MCU could easily introduce the character and develop a movie for him down the line. Miles Morales is a fan favorite, especially in the PS4 game, and if they weren’t thinking of making a movie featuring him, they ought to start.
15 DORMAMMU - DONE WITHOUT
Dormammu is one of the most powerful interdimensional beings in the Marvel multiverse. He is older than the known multiverse and is as mythic as the forces that rule over it. As the leader of the dark dimension, he is essentially omnipotent within his own domain. Which is why he should not have been introduced that quickly.
For a being that is so extremely powerful, Marvel used him way too quick. Unless they have him come back at some later point to get revenge, it seems that Marvel could have been better served by setting him up over time as Doctor Strange’s main villain behind the scenes, as they did with Thanos.
14 RED HULK - SHOULD BE ADDED
General Ross is already in the MCU. He first appeared in Incredible Hulk and then showed back up years later in Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. But in the comics, Ross eventually intakes some Hulk-serum of his own and emerges as the Red Hulk. He leads a team of supervillains-turned-heroes known as the Thunderbolts for some time and proves to be a pretty powerful adversary to the Hulk.
A Thunderbolts movie would be awesome, and a final showdown between Ross and Banner’s stronger alter egos would be epic indeed – if the Russo brothers agree to rehire Mark Ruffalo.
13 VULTURE - DONE WITHOUT
Vulture is the villain of Spider-Man: Homecoming. To be honest, he’s one of the better villains in the MCU, but that’s because of Michael Keaton’s acting, not because the villain is a worthy opponent to Peter Parker. That’s why the MCU’s version is so different from his comic book counterpart.
In the comics, Vulture is an elderly scientist who develops a suit that allows him to fly, and a serum that allows him to de-age. In the movie, Vulture is a middle-aged father who is running an illegal alien tech business. The only similarity between the two is the flying suit — and even that looks different.
12 MALEKITH - DONE WITHOUT
Malekith is a pretty decent villain in the comics but is far from being one of Thor’s most memorable or most dangerous opponents. All the same, he was chosen to be the main antagonist of Thor: The Dark World. The villain was underdeveloped and the conflict felt like a flimsy reason to introduce the next Infinity Stone.
It does not matter how the movie would have turned out, but Thor has plenty of other villains who could have been used. The Wrecking Crew is one group that fans have been hoping to see in the movies, and the movie would have been a lot more enjoyable with them instead of Malekith, the Dark Elf.
11 WHIPLASH - DONE WITHOUT
Iron Man 2 featured Whiplash, but the villain bore little resemblance to the comic book source material. The movie version of the character was something of an amalgamation of Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash. Honestly, Whiplash isn’t that great of a villain in the first place.
The only reason they combined him with Crimson Dynamo for the movie is so that we weren’t forced to watch Iron Man fight a copy of himself. Whiplash’s whips were something new, but Iron Man had plenty of other, better villains, so there was no need for Marvel to choose Whiplash in the first place.
10 MS. MARVEL - SHOULD BE ADDED
Ms. Marvel is a comic’s character whose appearance hasn’t been referenced or teased in the MCU, and yet, the popularity of her character and the demand for diversity in films in this day and age make her future MCU status almost guaranteed.
Since Captain Marvel is coming in 2019, and Ms. Marvel takes her name after her idol, it’s possible that we could see some tease of this character in the upcoming movie. Kamala’s power set is one that the MCU hasn’t seen yet, and Ms. Marvel should absolutely be a part of the upcoming generation and beyond.
9 AVENGER’S QUICKSILVER - DONE WITHOUT
When you see what Evan Peters’ Quicksilver has achieved in Fox’s X-Men films, it’s almost tragic to think about what Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s speedster was relegated to in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Peters’ version of the character steals the show in each scene he’s in, while the MCU’s Quicksilver might only be remembered as Hawkeye’s human shield.
In Marvel Comics, the silver speed demon plays an important part in several mutant teams. He’s way past being remembered strictly as Magneto’s son and Scarlet Witch’s brother as he’s been involved in numerous major storylines. In the MCU, though, he is probably not that important.
8 AMERICA CHAVEZ - SHOULD BE ADDED
America Chavez comes from an alternate reality and goes by the name Miss America. She is a Latin-American female superhero and has already become something of an icon. With a history of teaming up with a number of popular characters (including Ms. Marvel), America is a shoo-in for the next generation of MCU heroes.
She’s super strong, super-fast, and can jump between dimensions and realities. With all the new layers of reality being introduced and explored in the Doctor Strange and Ant-Man movies, America could be just the character needed to make sense of all this.
7 ALDRICH KILLIAN - DONE WITHOUT
In Iron Man 3, the big bad villain of the movie ends up being Aldrich Killian. Sporting a Chinese-dragon tattoo and the powers of the Extremis virus, Killian returns from Tony’s past to get revenge for having once been ditched at a New Year’s Eve party, and ultimately gets taken down by Pepper Potts.
Honestly, he shouldn’t have been in the movie, let alone in the MCU. In the comics, Killian is a character who’s confined to a few pages only. Had the actual Mandarin gotten his hands on the Extremis virus, the movie would have been better, and Killian wouldn’t have even been a character.
6 MEPHISTO - SHOULD BE ADDED
Mephisto is essentially the Marvel equivalent of the Devil. As such, he’s obviously quite evil, and therefore ends up being responsible for some of the worst acts in the Marvel Comics Universe. He’s faced off against many heroes and villains over the years, including the Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, and Ghost Rider. He would function well as a villain for Doctor Strange to encounter in an upcoming movie.
Fans may recall a storyline where he and Dr. Doom went to hell to reclaim Dr. Doom’ mother’s soul. While Doom has not been introduced yet, Loki has and he has lost his mother. Maybe they could swing it in that direction.