The MCU is a densely populated world full of villains, heroes, and more, and across the 37 movies and various TV shows, tons of characters have been introduced to the franchise. While the MCU originally started with a focus on Avengers characters, the series has stretched far beyond that, now containing icons from teams and worlds like the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Wakanda, the Defenders, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Eternals, and tons more.
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Because of all this variety, it makes sense that some MCU characters have fallen through the cracks. Continuing stories across decades is undoubtedly difficult, and the reality of the MCU is that not everything can go according to plan. Shifting schedules, rewrites, changing statuses of actors, and more can be reasons for a previously established character to disappear. The MCU is full of missing characters, but out of all of them, these five really need to come back.
5) Claire Temple
Claire Temple was the connective tissue of Netflix’s Defenders universe, with her appearing in Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Defenders. Now that this universe is back in the MCU with the release of Daredevil: Born Again, Claire really needs to come back. Her friendship with all of the Defenders makes her equivalent to a street-level Nick Fury. Plus, Claire can now act as the Night Nurse for a much larger roster of MCU superheroes.
4) Sharon Carter
Sharon Carter, the niece of Peggy Carter, was one of the main characters in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. She returned in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but at the very end of the series, it is revealed that she is the shadowy criminal known as the Power Broker. Behind the scenes, she had been stealing government secrets and smuggling weapons, setting her up as a major villain in a future project.
However, the Power Broker didn’t return as expected in Captain America: New World Order. It would be odd for her to appear in an MCU project that isn’t Captain America, and with no more on the horizon, it seems like she may be gone forever. With how big of a twist this was, though, it is bizarre that it hasn’t been paid off.
3) Baron Mordo
Baron Mordo was one of Strange’s allies in the first Doctor Strange, but after the Sorcerer Supreme messed with the balance of time, Mordo flipped. The post-credits scene set up that Mordo was hunting down and killing sorcerers, but when Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness came around, this tease was never paid off. A Mordo variant appeared in the film, but the planned appearance from the MCU’s main Baron Mordo was cut, leaving the character missing.
2) Aaron Davis
Donald Glover’s cameo as Aaron Davis in Spider-Man: Homecoming was one of the most exciting moments in the movie. However, he hasn’t reappeared since the 2017 film. In most Marvel media, Aaron Davis is the uncle of Miles Morales, but he is also the street-level villain known as the Prowler. Despite this set-up and three subsequent Spider-Man movies, the Prowler hasn’t appeared in the MCU at all.
The Spider-Verse movies have made Miles an even more popular character, so it is shocking that the MCU hasn’t done anything with Aaron yet. Glover did have a cameo as a Prowler variant in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, but since we don’t know what universe he came from, we still haven’t seen the MCU’s Aaron since Homecoming.
1) Nick Fury
Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury is inarguably the most notable character on this list. He is the man responsible for bringing the Avengers together, he ran SHIELD, and he has appeared in the most MCU projects of any character. So, it is shocking that he has been completely absent from the franchise since 2023.
2023 was a big year for Fury. He got his own show in the form of Secret Invasion, where we learn that he has a Skrull wife, has been leading SABER for a while, and helped stop a Skrull invasion of Earth. Only a few months later, Fury had a major role in The Marvels, where he is last seen investigating the multiversal disappearance of Monica Rambeau. Despite getting promoted to SABER in Spider-Man: Far From Home, this is the first time we’ve really seen him get active in space.
Unfortunately, Fury hasn’t been seen since The Marvels. Several MCU projects have come out since then, but he hasn’t been involved in them at all. While he is more focused on intergalactic threats, it seems like he should have been interested in threats like what happened in Thunderbolts*. Samuel L. Jackson hasn’t yet been confirmed to appear in Avengers: Doomsday, but he really needs to considering he is such a big part of the MCU.
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Image Courtesy of Sony
