7 Most Inconsistently Written Marvel Characters

Marvel Comics has created some of the best characters in the comic industry. A huge part of their success was continuity. Marvel books were the first to actually take place in a shared universe and creators would do their best to keep the character consistent once they were given their books. However, when you have a universe created by thousands of people, all with different ideas and interpretations of characters, inconsistencies are going to happen and there’s really not much that can be done. In recent years, it’s gotten worse, as continuity has become less important at the House of Ideas since Joe Quesada was editor in chief.

Sometimes, these inconsistencies can anger readers, taking away what they like about the characters. Other times, they’ve basically been folded into the character’s personality to the extent that they are no longer inconsistent. These are the seven most inconsistently written Marvel characters, heroes and villains that writers constantly change for no good reason.

7) Mister Fantastic

Mister Fantastic is Marvel’s greatest genius (sorry, Iron Man fans), leading the Fantastic Four through some of the most harrowing adventures ever. Reed Richards is constantly written differently. Sometimes, he’s the neglectful father obsessed with his work, other times he’s the perfect family man (who is also obsessed with his work). Sometimes, he’s an exemplary hero like Captain America, other time he’s a pragmatist who will do anything to win. Some people write him like he’s autistic. Stan Lee wrote him as the king of misogyny. You never know what kind of Reed you’ll get when you pick a Fantastic Four comic.

6) Norman Osborn

Green Goblin is Spider-Man’s greatest villain and has played a massive role in his life. However, good ol’Norman Osborn has been so many different things over the years it’s not funny. Some people write him as a psychopath, some people write him as an eccentric genius who can snap at any time. He’s been both someone who wanted to become the greatest crime boss and a corporate villain who works at a higher level than the streets. Sometimes, he’s rather heroic and others he’s the worst person you’ve ever met. He yo-yo’ed back and forth for so long that it’s hard to know exactly what his character is. Is he the insane Goblin? The evil businessman? Spider-Man’s best friend? Everyone has a different view of Norman since his return to life and you’ll meet a different version nearly every time he shows up.

5) Cyclops

Cyclops is the X-Men’s greatest leader (I like Storm and Wolverine more, but I can’t deny reality) but calling him consistent is a bridge too far. Scott was introduced as the straight-laced hero type and this has been his main characterization for most of his existence. However, recent years have seen him become more and more different, which has been a problem because some writers just write the old school version of him. It makes sense; he’s only been a rebel firebrand/quasi-terrorist since the ’10s; he was boring for decades (sorry, ‘Clops fans, but he was; it’s why Wolverine became the star of the book so quickly). The Krakoa Era was where it was most egregious; he just reverted back to old school Cyclops and it was such a disappointment. Currently, he’s a mixture of his two main conceptions, swinging wildly between them depending on the story.

4) MODOK

The Avengers battle some weird villains, with MODOK being one of the strangest. MODOK stands for “Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing”, so you would assume that even though he looks funny, he’s a serious character. However, this is definitely not the case. The silly look of the character has taken a very dangerous, very powerful villain and made him into a comedy character. As with a lot of characters on this list, it all depends on the story but it’s always a bit disheartening when you get a comedy MODOK story.

3) Spider-Man

Spider-Man is Marvel’s most popular hero and the publisher has done their best to enforce some kind of consistency on him. Usually, they do this by not allowing him to grow as a character but that doesn’t really stop creators from getting him wrong. The best example of this is his fights. We’ve seen Spidey battle against the toughest villains ever and win, but, for example, in the recent Zeb Wells run, he was written to get thrashed by Vulture and Tombstone. I’m sure most of you have seen the various “Spider-Man holds back” memes, which is usually used to make his inconsistent powers make sense, but it’s honestly annoying. All of that is before we get to stuff like how sometimes he’s a practical joker and other times he’s all broody.

2) Wolverine

Wolverine is the best there is at what he does, but creators apparently can’t agree on what that is. Logan has grown a lot in the 21st century but he was the mouthy, violent loner for so long that creators usually just write him that way. His current run by Saladin Ahmed is basically just early ’90s Wolvie (and not in a good way), while Uncanny X-Men’s Wolverine is quite different (in a good way), and that’s before we get to the Wolvie who makes guest appearances, who is different everywhere he shows up. His fighting ability is also inconsistent. Sometimes, he can whup heavy hitters like the Hulk and others he’s getting thrashed by scrubs. A lot of creators also forget that he’s mastered numerous martial arts, just writing him in battle as a berserker who just jumps around and slashes. As a Wolverine superfan, the inconsistency of the character’s writer has hurt my appreciation of a lot of his appearances lately.

1) Hank Pym

I have a question for you – who is Hank Pym? Is he the stalwart superhero scientist? The bipolar genius who makes loads of mistakes? Is he the insane Yellowjacket? The guy who hit his wife? Is he the leader of Avengers teams or the guy who constantly fails? The only thing consistent about him is that the Wasp is his superior. He’s so inconsistent, that creators can’t even agree if he should be Ant-Man, Giant-Man/Goliath, Yellowjacket, Wasp, or just plain ol’Hank.

What Marvel characters do you think are inconsistent? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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