10 Worst MCU Characters Introduced Since Avengers: Endgame

Not every new character introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Avengers: Endgame has been well-received. Endgame marked the end of an era for the MCU as some of the franchise’s most notable heroes, including Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), and Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) were removed. These departures created voids in the MCU that Marvel scrambled to fill with many new characters, and while some new heroes and villains have become fast favorites among audiences, others haven’t been so great to watch.

Marvel has come under fire in the years since Avengers: Endgame for focusing too much on quantity over quality. While this is now reverting to normal and Marvel is regaining its stellar reputation, this drop in quality came with the debut of some disappointing, poorly written, underdeveloped, and unnecessary characters. This includes heroes, villains, and even god-like characters that had a huge amount of potential when joining the MCU, but were ultimately wasted and under-utilized. Hopefully, Marvel will still offer some of these characters redemption.

10) NATALIE

Marvel Television’s recent Ironheart series is considered one of the MCU’s strongest instalments in recent years, developing Riri Williams’ (Dominique Thorne) story after her 2022 debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Ironheart also introduced Riri’s late best friend, Natalie (Lyric Ross), who became an artificial intelligence after Riri scanned her own brainwaves. As an AI, NATALIE made Riri’s grounded story too light-hearted, and there was never a justification as to why she was at the heart of the series. NATALIE was fun, but this didn’t really fit the tone of Ironheart, so Marvel could have made a stronger choice.

9) Darren Cross’ MODOK

Marvel completely altered MODOK’s story for his live-action debut in the MCU, as he was no longer George Tarleton, who first appeared in 1967’s Tales of Suspense #94, but he is now Darren Cross (Corey Stoll). This evolution actually made sense for Cross, who became the Yellowjacket in 2015’s Ant-Man and was thrust into the Quantum Realm and deformed after a battle with Scott Lang’s Ant-Man (Paul Rudd). However, MODOK’s design in 2023’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and the character was turned into comic relief, which rendered him laughable and pointless.

In Marvel Comics, MODOK’s history connected directly to Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM), which could have also been the case in the MCU. This would have legitimized AIM over a decade since its debut in 2013’s Iron Man 3, but any semblance of his comic backstory was removed in Quantumania. MODOK’s obscure design in the comics meant he was always going to be hard to pull off in the live-action MCU, and the uncanny valley was quite distracting and uncomfortable in the Phase 5 movie, so the character perhaps would have been better off avoiding live-action altogether.

8) Zeus

Russell Crowe finally joined the MCU in 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder as the Greek god Zeus, but his interpretation of the formidable character was hugely controversial. Crowe hammed-up Zeus’ Greek origins by depicting him as a stereotypically-Greek man, but this made him seem weak and not very commanding or powerful. Zeus is insanely powerful in Marvel Comics, but was easily taken down by Thor (Chris Hemsworth), his allies, and his own Thunderbolt weapon, but the door is open for Marvel to make him much stronger in the MCU’s future, if he returns alongside his son, Hercules (Brett Goldstein).

7) Kro

2021’s Eternals became one of the MCU’s most polarizing movies after its release in, and its depiction of Deviants was a major point of criticism. Marvel changed the histories of the Eternals and Deviants in the MCU – they’re still creations of the Celestials, but are no longer connected to each other, humanity, or mutants. Bill Skarsgård made his MCU debut as Kro, the leader of the Deviants, though you’d be forgiven for forgetting the IT and Nosferatu actor appeared in the franchise. Kro was lifeless, boring, and uninteresting, leaving us wanting a lot more from the power-absorbing villain.

6) Clandestines

While Ms. Marvel introduced us to fan-favorite Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) as a formidable new superhero in the MCU, the Disney+ series failed to match her with an effective villain. Instead, we got the Clandestines, Djinn-like beings from the Noor Dimension, which is where Kamala draws her energy from. Led by Najma (Nimra Bucha), the Clandestines had undetermined powers and a confusing mission, lending itself to some poor writing and lack of real development. The Clandestines were killed off as quickly and meaninglessly as they appeared, which made them seriously disappointing.

5) Ruth Bat-Seraph’s Sabra

Controversies and criticisms concerning the introduction of Israeli superhero Ruth Bat-Seraph, who had connections to the Mossad, and Shira Haas’ casting in 2025’s Captain America: Brave New World could have been put to rest in the Phase 5 movie, had the character actually been useful. Unfortunately, Bat-Seraph was a completely pointless addition to Brave New World’s cast. Most notably, Marvel Studios confusingly removed her mutant backstory from Marvel Comics, and instead made her a former Black Widow assassin, but then didn’t give her any real action sequences.

Ruth Bat-Seraph’s role in Captain America: Brave New World could have easily been filled by Xosha Roquemore’s Leila Taylor, a Secret Service agent working for President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford). Sabra’s inclusion meant less focus was put on Taylor, so neither were developed as much as they should have been. It was a shame to see Sabra’s mutant history omitted from the MCU, especially just as Marvel Studios is planning to introduce a slew of new mutant characters. It wouldn’t be surprising if we never see Sabra again in the MCU, and, honestly, this isn’t a problem.

4) Todd Phelps’ HulkKing

2022’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was a huge risk for Marvel Studios, especially since introducing an almost-fully CGI character during a time when VFX teams were stretched so thin was surely a recipe for trouble. Jennifer Walters’ She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany) wasn’t the only Hulk character seen in the Phase 4 series, either, as Todd Phelps (Jon Bass) also enhanced himself into HulkKing by exposing himself to Walters’ gamma-irradiated blood. This storyline was overdone and boring, and HulkKing himself was poorly written with awkward and undefined motivations. Thankfully, Walters rewrote this storyline, but it’s still hard to forget this disappointing introduction.

3) President James Ritson

President Ritson made his first and only MCU appearance in 2023’s Secret Invasion, introduced as the President of the United States during the Skrull’s quiet invasion of the Earth. Dermot Mulroney had little to do as Ritson, and he became one of the most controversial MCU characters after declaring war on all extraterrestrial species in Secret Invasion’s finale. Secret Invasion is one of Marvel’s most-hated projects, which mars Ritson’s time in office even further, leading to him being replaced by Thaddeus Ross in Captain America: Brave New World.

2) Antonia Dreykov’s Taskmaster

First seen in 2021’s Black Widow, Taskmaster was another MCU character who was completely different to their Marvel Comics counterpart. In the comics, Taskmaster was Tony Masters, a man who harbors the ability to perfectly mimic the movements of anyone he sees, including Marvel’s superheroes. The changes made to the character for the live-action MCU were controversial, as Taskmaster became Antonia Dreykov (Olga Kurylenko), an elite Black Widow assassin and the long-thought-dead brainwashed daughter of the Red Room’s sinister leader General Dreykov (Ray Winstone).

Despite these controversial changes, the fact that Natasha Romanoff freed Antonia from her father’s mind control in Black Widow meant that she could have had a bright future in the MCU. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen. She was originally billed as a core member of the cast of Thunderbolts*, but Antonia Dreykov was shot and killed by Ava Starr’s Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) towards the beginning of the 2025 crossover movie. This meant that Taskmaster never got the chance to become a New Avenger, and will go down in history as one of the MCU’s most wasted characters.

1) Kang

After the Avengers defeated Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Avengers: Endgame, Marvel Studios needed a new powerful villain to become the primary antagonist of the Multiverse Saga. Kang the Conqueror and his villainous variants could have been the perfect candidates, but Marvel and actor Jonathan Majors made some remarkable mistakes with the character and behind the scenes that makes Kang a black mark on the MCU. Most notably, Majors’ 2023 arrest, trial, and conviction on two misdemeanour counts of harassment and assault forced Marvel to fire him, removing Kang before he’d done any real damage to the MCU.

Aside from Majors’ controversies, Kang and his variants also had problems on-screen. These apparently powerful villains were easily killed by surprising characters. He Who Remains was swiftly killed by Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) in Loki season 1, and Kang the Conqueror himself was taken down by Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne (Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly) in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Kang never seemed like an actual threat, so perhaps it’s a good thing Marvel Studios has now replaced him with Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom ahead of Phase 6’s Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

Which MCU characters do you think have been the worst since Avengers: Endgame? Let us know in the comments!

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