The Marvel Cinematic Universe has made a habit in recent projects of bringing back characters fans haven’t seen in a long, long time. Sometimes this works well (e.g. with Ghost in Thunderbolts*) and sometimes it doesn’t quite hit the mark (e.g. Samuel Sterns in Captain America: Brave New World). But what about other characters we haven’t seen in a while? Characters who seemed like they had more in their future. Those are the characters that follow. This means characters who served their purpose in a single narrative and saw their arc conclude (see: Liz Allan in Spider-Man: Homecoming) need not apply. Unless Adrian Toomes, aka Vulture, comes back, Liz wouldn’t have any reason to return, and in spite of that tag scene in Morbius, there’s been no hint that Vulture is coming back.
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Furthermore, characters from Marvel One-Shots and TV shows like Agents of SHIELD were excluded. Here, we’re looking at big screen characters who showed up once (sometimes twice) and were clearly forgotten.
1) Scorpion From Spider-Man: Homecoming
Mac Gargan is one of two seemingly big characters introduced in Spider-Man: Homecoming who ultimately were neither seen nor heard from (and not so much as mentioned) in Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home. It definitely seems as if he was supposed to.
We only see him twice in Homecoming. First is when Spider-Man busts up his deal with Vulture on the Staten Island Ferry. Second is his big moment, when he confronts Vulture in the film’s credit sequence. He knows that Vulture knows who Spider-Man is, making it seem very much like he’ll get that information one way or another, break out of prison, finally dress up as Scorpion, and seek his revenge. But even when Spider-Man’s identity is revealed at the tail end of Far Way Home, neither Spider-Man nor the audience hears word one from Scorpion in No Way Home.
2) Justin Hammer From Iron Man 2
It’s been 15 years and Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer is still an MCU one-off. It’s a great shame, because even the people who don’t like Iron Man 2 have to admit he steals every last one of his scenes. Rockwell is one of the best in the business, and having him play a cocky weapons manufacturer without a single decent weapon to sell was comedy gold.
There was finally some hope for a Hammer return in Armor Wars. But, after that project went from developing miniseries to developing film, it was ultimately put on the backburner. That happened back in 2022 and outside of confirmation that it’s no longer a priority, there’s been no word on its progress. That’s about as bad a sign as a sign can get, so now it seems as though Hammer’s (and, by extension, Rockwell’s) time in the MCU is truly over. While that is unfortunate, it’s also true that the best part of Hammer as a character was his competitive nature with Tony Stark. Now that Stark is dead, one wonders what Marvel would do with Mr. Hammer even if they did bring him back.
3) Madame B. From Avengers: Age of Ultron
Julie Delpy’s Madame B., supervisor for the Red Room program, wasn’t in much of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Specifically, she was just in the vivid recollection experienced by Natasha Romanoff set in motion by Wanda Maximoff.
So, on one hand, there’s a degree of logic in her having never coming back. That is, until one thinks of the Black Widow movie. Given how that movie also had a chunk set in the past, not to mention a few flashback sequences, it’s outright bizarre Madame B. didn’t pop her head back into the Red Room.
4) Black Knight From Eternals
Kit Harington is pushed to the sidelines even in the few Eternals scenes of which he’s a part. His Dane Whitman is basically a nonentity. It’s only in the tag scene that we learn he has a higher purpose in the MCU. Specifically, as the Black Knight.
The hope to see Whitman wield the Ebony Blade and officially became the Black Knight hinged on the production of what was at the time a very likely project. Not a second Eternals film, but rather, an MCU Blade film. However, as we’ve come to learn, an MCU Blade film looks just as unlikely as an Eternals follow-up.
5) Rhomann Dey From Guardians of the Galaxy
John C. Reilly’s Rhomann Dey, member of the Nova Corps on Xandar, was essentially a comedic side character in the original Guardians of the Galaxy. He’s not specifically set up to return, but it would have been nice.
In Avengers: Infinity War it’s revealed that Thanos and the Black Order went to Xandar, killed half of the planet, and got the Power Stone. Was Rhomann Dey one of the many killed? If so, it wasn’t like when Thanos snapped his fingers. Dey wouldn’t have come back after the events of Avengers: Endgame.
6) W’Kabi From Black Panther
Daniel Kaluuya is a busy actor, and to a degree his absence from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever makes sense. His W’Kabi betrayed the people of Wakanda, including T’Challa, which naturally led to his ouster from the Border Tribe. But he still could have received some sort of redemption arc, especially when it comes to his wife, Okoye.
W’Kabi is mentioned by Queen Ramonda in Wakanda Forever, when she takes away Okoye’s title as the leader of the Dora Milaje. It’s confirmed that he is in fact banished for his betrayal, but he’s also still within Wakanda’s borders. So, given that, it’s almost weird there wasn’t a scene with Okoye visiting him after she had her title removed. Perhaps he’ll return in the third Black Panther film.
7) Karl Mordo From Doctor Strange
Yes, we saw a variation of Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Baron Karl Mordo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but it still wasn’t the Mordo of the original Doctor Strange. So, while the MCU hasn’t forgotten Ejiofor, it has forgotten 2016 Mordo.
It’s odd because the end of the first Doctor Strange very clearly sets him up as a disgruntled villain. He finds Benjamin Bratt’s Jonathan Pangborn and removes his magic, stating that his purpose is to cleanse the world of its rogue sorcerers. He’s mentioned briefly in Multiverse of Madness, but that’s all that has come of the Mordo we first met, and it seems like there should be more.
8) Starfox From Eternals
Eros, aka Starfox, aka Thanos’ adoptive brother, has thus far only been in the tag scene of Eternals. And, even considering the star power of Harry Styles, it’s starting to seem like that’s where he’s going to remain.
There would be no dynamic with Thanos at this point, which leaves his status as an Eternal the only thing that would be explored. But people didn’t like Eternals and, to this day, there’s next to no clamoring for a sequel, even one with Starfox bumped a bit more to the forefront. None of the cast members of Eternals have been speculated to be a part of Avengers: Doomsday, much less confirmed for it, so it seems the best bet for their return (and Starfox’s return) is in Avengers: Secret Wars.
9) Aaron Davis From Spider-Man: Homecoming
Spider-Man: Homecoming‘s Aaron Davis (Donald Glover) is a low-level criminal who tries to buy Chitauri weapons from the gang led by Vulture. Later, he’s interrogated by Spider-Man in a parking garage, where he tells Peter Parker about the upcoming deal between Toomes and the aforementioned Mac Gargan.
The reason he reveals this information is because he has a nephew in the area who could be killed should these weapons be put on the streets. And, as far as official MCU installments go, that’s it. We’re never told that Davis is also called the Prowler, we’re never told that his nephew is Miles Morales, we never see him again. But, when it comes to movies just outside the MCU, we do see (what is likely) this version of the Prowler again, suited up and incarcerated in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Should there ever be a live-action Spider-Man film with Morales as the protagonist, it would be a great idea to bring Glover back.
10) Hercules From Thor: Love and Thunder
Thanks to his work on Ted Lasso, Brett Goldstein is very much a fan-favorite performer. However, Thor: Love and Thunder is not a fan-favorite film.
This means it’s pretty iffy whether we’ll see the promise of Love and Thunder‘s tag scene ever pan out. At the end of the day, it really comes down to what is in store for Thor in Avengers: Doomsday and, ostensibly, Avengers: Secret Wars. It’s hard to imagine Goldstein’s Hercules working in an MCU project outside a Thor film.
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Image courtesy of Focus Features.
