Characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

For a list of characters from the comics, see Lists of Marvel Comics characters.

Blu-ray artwork displaying various Infinity Saga protagonists with Thanos in the background

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe that involves productions of superhero films and television series. These productions star various titular superheroes; they are independently produced by Marvel Studios and are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The shared universe, much like the original Marvel Universe in comic books, was established by crossing over common plots, settings, casts, and characters.

## Marvel Studios

[edit]

* Characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: A–L
* Characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: M–Z

## Marvel Television

[edit]

* Characters of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
* Characters of Agent Carter
* Characters of Inhumans
* Characters of Daredevil
* Characters of Jessica Jones
* Characters of Luke Cage
* Characters of Iron Fist
* Characters of The Defenders
* Characters of The Punisher
* Characters of Runaways
* Characters of Cloak & Dagger
* Characters of Helstrom

## Overview of central characters

[edit]

The film and television series of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) feature numerous central characters across its phases. The first three phases are collectively known as "The Infinity Saga", and are followed by Phase Four which begins "The Multiverse Saga".

Phase One is centered on six individuals who become the Avengers—Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Thor, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff, and Clint Barton. Other central characters include Nick Fury, leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. and creator of the Avengers; Phil Coulson, a high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent; and Loki, Thor's adopted brother whose plans to achieve world domination prompt Fury to assemble the Avengers.[1]

Phase Two centers on the six original Avengers and Fury once again, though this time along with new members James Rhodes (introduced in Phase One), Sam Wilson, Wanda Maximoff, and the Vision. This phase also introduces Scott Lang and the Guardians of the Galaxy, which include Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, Groot, and Rocket.[1]

Phase Three brings back every central character of Phase One and Phase Two. It begins with a civil war between the Avengers caused by the ideological differences between Rogers and Stark; they are joined by Bucky Barnes (introduced in Phase One), Lang, T'Challa, and Peter Parker. Fury's origin is revealed while Loki's antagonistic role shifts to a more heroic one, with Thanos (introduced in Phase One) becoming this phase's main antagonist. Hope van Dyne (introduced in Phase Two) joins Lang as his superhero partner, Stephen Strange and Wong are introduced as members of the Masters of the Mystic Arts, and Nebula (introduced in Phase Two) and Mantis join the Guardians of the Galaxy. Female characters are given more screen time, with the Phase introducing Carol Danvers and giving heroic roles to Pepper Potts (introduced in Phase One), Okoye, Shuri, and Valkyrie.[1][2] Meanwhile, Rogers returns to the past and reunites with Peggy Carter (introduced in Phase One). This phase concludes the story arcs of Stark, Rogers, Romanoff, Loki, Gamora, and Thanos. Alternate and past versions of those characters return in later phases to varying degrees.

Phase Four deals with the fallout of the Infinity Saga on the lives of the remaining Avengers, while introducing new heroes such as Yelena Belova, Shang-Chi, Marc Spector and Steven Grant, Kamala Khan, Jennifer Walters, Jack Russell, and the Eternals (including Sersi and Ikaris). Romanoff's backstory and Parker facing the consequences of his superhero secret identity being publicly revealed are explored, Maximoff learns to unlock her full power as the Scarlet Witch which eventually leads her into conflict with Strange, Wilson grapples with the difficulties of becoming the next Captain America, Barton passes the mantle of Hawkeye on to a young protégé named Kate Bishop, Jane Foster (introduced in Phase One) becomes the Mighty Thor, Sharon Carter (introduced in Phase Two) is revealed to have become the villainous Power Broker, and Shuri becomes the new Black Panther after T'Challa's sudden passing. A 2012 version of Loki (introduced in Phase Three) is arrested by the Time Variance Authority (TVA) and begins his own journey, exploring the concept of the multiverse, which is also overseen by the Watcher.

Phase Five continues to expand the multiverse further, giving a larger role to Kang the Conqueror and his alternate variants (introduced in Phase Four), while the Guardians of the Galaxy gain new members such as Kraglin Obfonteri and Cosmo the Spacedog (both introduced in Phase Two) as some of the old ones (Quill, Drax, Nebula, and Mantis) decide to leave the team, and Earth faces civil unrest due to the integration of the shapeshifting alien Skrulls (introduced in Phase Three) into human society. Danvers, Khan, and Monica Rambeau (introduced in Phase Three) team up as the Marvels, which inspires Khan to assemble a superhero team of her own, starting with Bishop. Maya Lopez (introduced in Phase Four) learns to unlock her Choctaw powers after confronting her past trauma, Wade Wilson and Logan (both introduced in 20th Century Fox's X-Men film series) embark on a journey of their own through the multiverse, and Agatha Harkness (introduced in Phase Four) forms a witch coven in order to face a magical set of trials.

## Reception

[edit]

The depiction of adapted and original characters in the MCU has been generally positively received,[3] with the portrayal of superhero protagonists mostly positive. IGN opined, "With heroes ranging from super-spies to super-soldiers to space raccoons, the MCU has gifted us with some of the most memorable champions in movie history."[4] Meanwhile, reception of the MCU's depiction of its villains has been more mixed, with some media outlets coining the term "villain problem" to describe this shortcoming.[5][6][7] Collider described the villains as "Achilles' heel" of the shared universe,[8] with Phase One and Phase Two most commonly criticized for having weak or unmemorable villains.[9] The villains of Phase Three were hailed as an improvement over the villains of the previous two Phases,[10][11] while villains of Phase Four have also been praised.[12]

In an analysis of the MCU's villains, Michael Burgin of Paste opined that it was "probably still fair to say their track record has been less consistent with the bad guys than with the good", believing that this was due to "a reluctance to embrace the established look and character of the villain" and the differences from their source material.[5] Angelo Delos Trinos of Comic Book Resources further elaborated on this, opining that "the MCU has been widely praised for its characters and storylines" but has "mistreated some villains and wasted the potential they have in comics", remarking on the wasted potential of some of the supervillains within the franchise in comparison to their comic book counterparts.[13] Alternatively, Looper described the MCU's villains as "fairly compelling criminals",[6][14] while Eric Diaz of Nerdist described them as being unappreciated despite being the weakest part of the franchise.[14]

Some villains were more well received than others, with Screen Rant elaborating on which villains were "loved" and "hated" from the fans of the franchise.[15] Carolina Darney of SB Nation explained, "Some of the villains — hello, Vulture — are fantastic. They're well-rounded, they have depth, and there seems to be a method to their madness. Then there are the other villains. Their backgrounds aren't particularly explained, you're not entirely sure what they're doing — looking intently at you, Malekith — and motivations seem weak at best."[16]

## See also

[edit]

* Teams and organizations of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
* Species of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
* Lists of Marvel Cinematic Universe cast members

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Marvel Cinematic Universe recap: What happens in every MCU film up until Avengers: Endgame". The Independent. April 28, 2019. Archived from the original on March 4, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
2. ^ Rao, Sonia; Tan, Shelly. "Everything that's happened leading up to 'Avengers: Endgame'". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
3. ^ Langmann, Brady; Miller, Matt (May 20, 2021). "The Best Characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ranked". Esquire. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
4. ^ Fowler, Matt (November 1, 2021). "The 25 Best Marvel Heroes in the MCU". IGN. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
5. ^ a b Burgin, Michael (May 19, 2019). "From Strucker to Infinity: Ranking the Villains of the MCU". pastemagazine.com. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
6. ^ a b Moore, Trent (July 26, 2017). "Every MCU movie villain ranked worst to best". Looper.com. Archived from the original on December 13, 2019. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
7. ^ Abad-Santos, Alex (November 8, 2017). "Marvel has a villain problem. Thor: Ragnarok is a textbook example". Vox. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
8. ^ Chitwood, Adam (July 9, 2020). "Every MCU Movie Villain Ranked from Worst to Best". Collider. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
9. ^ Outlaw, Kofi (May 13, 2015). "The Marvel Cinematic Universe's Movie Villain Problem". Screen Rant. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
10. ^ Caswell, Tom (March 8, 2018). "How Phase 3 fixed Marvel's cinematic villain problem". SyFy Wire. Archived from the original on May 20, 2021. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
11. ^ Nedd, Alexis (October 4, 2018). "Marvel had a huge villain problem. Then Phase 3 happened". Mashable. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
12. ^ Robinson, Tasha (April 29, 2021). "Marvel Studios' TV shows are fixing the MCU's biggest flaw". Polygon. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
13. ^ Trinos, Angelo Delos (May 14, 2021). "10 MCU Villains Who Are Just Better In The Comics". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
14. ^ a b Diaz, Eric. "Every MCU Villain Ranked from Worst to Best". www.yahoo.com. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
15. ^ Jain, Tushar (February 17, 2021). "5 MCU Villains Fans Loved (& 5 Fans Hated)". Screen Rant. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
16. ^ Darney, Caroline (May 5, 2020). "Every Marvel Cinematic Universe villain, ranked from forgettable to iconic". SB Nation. Retrieved May 20, 2021.

* v
* t
* e

Marvel Cinematic Universe

* List of feature films
* accolades
* List of television series
* accolades
* Television specials
* Timeline

Marvel Studios

| Infinity Saga|

| Phase One|

* Iron Man
* The Incredible Hulk
* Iron Man 2
* Thor
* Captain America: The First Avenger
* The Avengers
* accolades

|

Phase Two|

* Iron Man 3
* Thor: The Dark World
* Captain America: The Winter Soldier
* Guardians of the Galaxy
* accolades
* Avengers: Age of Ultron
* Ant-Man

Phase Three|

* Captain America: Civil War
* Doctor Strange
* Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
* Spider-Man: Homecoming
* Thor: Ragnarok
* Black Panther
* accolades
* Avengers: Infinity War
* production
* box office
* accolades
* Ant-Man and the Wasp
* Captain Marvel
* Avengers: Endgame
* production
* box office
* accolades
* "Avengers assemble" scene
* Spider-Man: Far From Home

Multiverse Saga|

| Phase Four|

| Films|

* Black Widow
* Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
* Eternals
* Spider-Man: No Way Home
* accolades
* Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
* Thor: Love and Thunder
* Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
* accolades

|

TV series|

* WandaVision
* accolades
* The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
* Loki
* accolades
* season 1
* What If...?
* season 1
* Hawkeye
* Moon Knight
* Ms. Marvel
* She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

TV specials|

* Werewolf by Night
* The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

Phase Five|

| Films|

* Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
* Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
* The Marvels
* Deadpool & Wolverine
* Captain America: Brave New World
* Thunderbolts*

|

TV series|

* Secret Invasion
* Loki season 2
* What If...? season 2
* Echo
* Agatha All Along
* What If...? season 3
* Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
* Daredevil: Born Again
* Ironheart

Phase Six|

| Films|

* The Fantastic Four: First Steps

|

TV series|

* Eyes of Wakanda
* Marvel Zombies
* Wonder Man

Other|

* Marvel Studios Animation
* Mid-credits and post-credits scenes
* Reception

Key people|

* Kevin Feige (president)
* Avi Arad (founder)
* David Maisel (Founding Chairman)
* Victoria Alonso

Related|

* Captain America in film
* Spider-Man in film
* X-Men (film series)
* X-Men '97
* Fantastic Four in film
* Blade (franchise)

Marvel Television

| ABC series|

* Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
* episodes
* season 1
* 2
* 3
* 4
* 5
* 6
* 7
* characters
* Agent Carter
* season 1
* 2
* characters
* Inhumans
* premiere
* Most Wanted (unaired)

|

Netflix series|

* Daredevil
* season 1
* 2
* 3
* characters
* Jessica Jones
* season 1
* 2
* 3
* characters
* Luke Cage
* season 1
* 2
* characters
* Iron Fist
* season 1
* 2
* characters
* The Defenders
* The Punisher
* season 1
* 2

Young adult series|

* Runaways
* "Reunion"
* Cloak & Dagger
* season 1
* 2
* New Warriors (unaired)

Adventure into Fear|

* Helstrom

Other media

| Short films|

| Marvel One-Shots|

* Item 47
* Agent Carter
* All Hail the King
* Team Thor

|

* I Am Groot

Digital series|

* WHIH Newsfront
* Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. web series
* Slingshot
* The Daily Bugle

Tie-in comics|

* Fury's Big Week

Cast and characters

| Cast|

* Film cast
* The Infinity Saga
* Television series cast
* Marvel Television series
* Marvel Studios series

|

Characters|

| Introduced in
Marvel Studios media|

| A–L|

* Bruce Banner
* Bucky Barnes
* Clint Barton
* Kate Bishop
* Peggy Carter
* Sharon Carter
* Phil Coulson
* Carol Danvers
* Drax
* Jane Foster
* Nick Fury
* Gamora
* Groot
* Agatha Harkness
* J.A.R.V.I.S.
* MJ
* Kamala Khan
* Scott Lang
* Loki

|

M–Z|

* Mantis
* Wanda Maximoff
* Nebula
* Peter Parker
* Peter Quill
* James Rhodes
* Rocket
* Steve Rogers
* Natasha Romanoff
* Erik Selvig
* Shang-Chi
* Shuri
* Trevor Slattery
* Marc Spector
* Tony Stark
* Stephen Strange
* Sylvie
* T'Challa
* Thanos
* Thor
* Hope van Dyne
* Vision
* Sam Wilson
* Wong

Introduced in
Marvel Television media|

* Tandy Bowen
* Frank Castle
* Leo Fitz
* Daisy Johnson
* Tyrone Johnson
* Melinda May
* Matt Murdock
* Jemma Simmons
* Daniel Sousa
* Claire Temple
* Grant Ward

Introduced in
other Marvel franchises|

* Blade
* Otto Octavius
* Norman Osborn
* Peter Parker (Sam Raimi film series)
* Peter Parker (The Amazing Spider-Man)
* Wade Wilson

Other|

* Teams and organizations
* Avengers
* Ten Rings
* Species

Features

* The Blip
* Infinity Stones
* Iron Man's armor
* Mjolnir and Stormbreaker
* Multiverse
* Rogers: The Musical

Music

| Soundtracks|

| Phase One|

* Iron Man
* The Incredible Hulk
* Iron Man 2
* Thor
* Captain America: The First Avenger
* The Avengers

|

Phase Two|

* Iron Man 3
* Thor: The Dark World
* Captain America: The Winter Soldier
* Guardians of the Galaxy
* Avengers: Age of Ultron
* Ant-Man
* Luke Cage

Phase Three|

* Captain America: Civil War
* Doctor Strange
* Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
* Spider-Man: Homecoming
* Thor: Ragnarok
* Black Panther
* Avengers: Infinity War
* Ant-Man and the Wasp
* Captain Marvel
* Avengers: Endgame
* Spider-Man: Far From Home

Phase Four|

* Black Widow
* Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
* Eternals
* Spider-Man: No Way Home
* Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
* Thor: Love and Thunder
* Werewolf by Night
* Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
* The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

Phase Five|

* Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
* Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
* The Marvels
* Deadpool & Wolverine
* Captain America: Brave New World

Songs|

* "Live to Rise"
* "All the Stars"
* "King's Dead"
* "Pray for Me"
* "Agatha All Along"
* "Run It"
* "Lift Me Up"
* "Slash"
* "The Ballad of the Witches' Road"

Inspired media

| Docuseries|

* Marvel Studios: Legends
* Marvel Studios: Assembled

|

Shorts|

* The Good, the Bart, and the Loki
* Deadpool and Korg React

Video games|

* Iron Man
* The Incredible Hulk
* Nintendo DS
* Iron Man 2
* Thor: God of Thunder
* Captain America: Super Soldier
* Iron Man 3: The Official Game
* Lego Marvel's Avengers

Disney attractions
and experiences|

* Avengers Campus
* Iron Man Experience
* Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout!
* Ant-Man and The Wasp: Nano Battle!
* Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure
* Avengers: Quantum Encounter
* Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

* Category
* Outline

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template