10 Forgotten Marvel Characters Who Deserve a Comeback

Marvel has created some of the greatest superheroes and supervillains in the medium. With the dawn of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Marvel Universe got more popular than ever. The Marvel Universe is a rich place full of amazing characters, and that’s why fans have spent so many decades there. The most popular Marvel characters changed the way that superhero comics worked, and have become some of the most popular fictional characters of all time. Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, the Hulk, and many more have become household names over the decades, but they’re only the type of the iceberg when it comes to Marvel characters.

Over the years, characters have appeared that got famous for a little while, but have faded away. Other times, there have been characters that appeared once or twice, got fans to fall in love with them, and then got dropped. The history of Marvel is full of these kinds of characters, and these ten forgotten Marvel characters are prime for a comeback.

10. Caliban

Caliban was first introduced as a Morlock, with the power to track down other mutants. He was a slim, weird looking mutant, but Apocalypse took him and made him into a Horsemen, giving him superhuman strength and durability. Since then, Caliban has mostly been known as a member of X-Force, his childlike brain making him a powerful protector of his teammates. Caliban was never exactly popular, but he was cool. Eventually, he died and that was that. Caliban is a fun character when done right, and it would be great if Marvel brought him back and used him as the muscle of some X-team.

9. Whirlwind

The Avengers have many great forgotten villains, but one of my favorites has always been Whirlwind. Whirlwind isn’t some world beating villain; he’s basically just a cannon fodder villains who helps various villain teams fight the Avengers. He’s a mutant whose powers are allow him to spin really fast, and always has an awesome helmet. He’s not a super deep character, but that’s a big part of the fun of the character. He’s the kind of villain you don’t get anymore, and that’s unfair to him. I’ve always thought that it would be cool to bring him back and make him into a hero, with the Avengers doing their best to redeem him. Regardless of why he comes back, I think he should come back.

8. Zoe Culloden

Wolverine had a wild time in the ’90s, especially after his adamantium was torn off his skeleton. We were introduced to Zoe Culloden during this time. Culloden worked for the law firm of Landau, Luckman, and Lake, who worked with superhumans of all kinds. They had amazing technology, which allowed them to travel anywhere, even other dimensions, and they had a major interest in Wolverine and the X-Men. Zoe showed up several times between her first appearance in Wolverine (Vol. 2) #79 and the book’s 100th issues, but then she vanished. There seemed to be a plan for Wolverine and Landau, Luckman, and Lake, but nothing ever came of it. Zoe was super cool — she was always cool, calm, and collected — and it would be great if her and Landau, Luckman, and Lake would make a comeback.

7. Nomad

Steve Rogers became Nomad after losing faith in the US government, but I don’t think that Nomad should come back. Instead, I’m talking about Jack Monroe. Monroe was chosen to be Bucky for the William Burnside Captain America, in the ’50s. However, the super soldier serum given to him and Burnside drove them slightly crazy, and they were eventually put into suspended animation. Burnside became a villain, but Monroe didn’t, eventually taking up the mantle of Nomad in an early ’90s series (which was vastly underrated in my opinion; if you’re listening, Marvel, reprint it). He later became the villain-killer known as Scourge, and he’d be killed by the Winter Soldier to be used as a patsy. Nomad has been dead since then, but he’s had such an interesting life that it would be awesome if he came back, maybe for revenge, maybe just to show that his later in life in breakdown doesn’t define him.

6. Cannonball

The New Mutants don’t get the credit they deserve for introducing readers to amazing characters. There’s going to be two different New Mutants on the list, and the first is one of the most underrated X-Men of them all — Cannonball. Sam Guthrie has the powerful to “blast”, his body protected by a kinetic energy field that made him invulnerable while flying, as well as allowing him to absorb and redirect kinetic energy (which allowed him to one-shot the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard leader Gladiator in Uncanny X-Men #341; it’s one of the best comic fights ever). Cannonball has been a member of the New Mutants, X-Force, the X-Men, and the Avengers. He married Smasher (more on her next), and has since just hung out with her in the Shi’Ar Empire. He was killed at the third Hellfire Gala, has since come back, but he’s just off in the background somewhere with his wife and kid. It’s about time he made his comeback (and hung out with his platonic work husband Sunspot).

5. Smasher

Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers run was fantastic, and it introduced several new characters to the team, including Smasher. Readers had seen Smasher before; he was a member of the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard. However, this new Smasher was a woman and from Earth, having found the exo-specs that gave Smashers their powers after Cassandra Nova tried to destroy the Shi’Ar Empire and Smasher was sent to get the help of the X-Men. She joined the Avengers, and was made into a Superguardian in the Imperial Guard, eventually basing herself out of the Shi’Ar capital with her husband Cannonball and their daughter. I’ve loved Smasher since she first appeared, and would love to see her return to Earth. She’s an excellent character with a lot of potential that she never reached, and it’s about time she made her comeback.

4. Hyperion (Earth-13034)

There have been several different Hyperions over the years, but the best one is easily the one that first appeared in the Hickman Avengers run. This Hyperion was from Earth-13034, where he was taught to be a hero by his father. When the Incursions struck his homeworld, he tried to hold the two Earths apart to no avail and was pulled into Earth-616 by AIM. He’d end up joining the Avengers, becoming best friends with Thor, and the two of them would eventually go after the Beyonders, who had caused the Incursions, killing several of the godlike beings. This version of Hyperion hasn’t been since, and he should definitely come back. His relationship with Thor was so cool, and he’s such a fun character.

3. Dani Moonstar

Dani Moonstar is easily the coolest New Mutant. I know people like Magik more nowadays, but Dani was always better. As the mutant Mirage, Dani used her ability to manifest psionic weapons to battle alongside the New Mutants. She even became a Valkyrie for a time. She was always groomed as one of the most important members of the New Mutants, but when the New Mutants became X-Force, she wasn’t included. Some would argue that’s a good thing, as those early issues of X-Force were… something. She would join the team later, during the awesome John Francis Moore/Adam Pollina run on the book (Marvel, also reprint this, please) She’s made several comebacks over the years, but she’s never gotten her just desserts as an X-Man. Dani is a rich character with decades of history, with a link to the Asgardians that mutants don’t usually have, and it’s about time that she got her big comeback.

2. Howard the Duck

Howard the Duck has always been one of the weirdest characters in Marvel history. He’s not a superhero, per say; he’s a comedy character that has been used to talk about the United States in a satirical fashion. He came to prominence in the ’70s and ’80s, even running for president, but that was the height of his popularity. Since then, Howard the Duck will show up at weird times, do some stuff, and then disappear again. Howard the Duck is a character that is easy to get wrong, which I think has a lot to do with why he never for popular, but Marvel needs to find the right creator (Chip Zdarsky did a good job on a Howard mini, so Marvel has someone who can write him) and bring him back.

1. War Machine

War Machine has always been on the cusp of popularity, whether in the MCU or the comics. James Rhodes is one of the first major legacy characters, having taken over for Iron Man in the ’80s when he was working as Tony Stark’s pilot.bodyguard. Rhodey proved to be so popular with readers he was given the War Machine armor, equipped with military weapons that he worked with as a soldier, and has starred in several miniseries and ongoings over the years. War Machine is an awesome character, but Marvel doesn’t have plans for him. He hasn’t been seen in a long time, and it’s about time he came back. War Machine is something of a Marvel icon, and it’s about time that he got another chance in the sun.

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