10 Characters the MCU Clearly Forgot About

The MCU is easily the most successful and widely regarded extended universe of all time, with a wide variety of iconic and successful IPs all coming together into a singular overarching story. The series has introduced and popularized several comic book characters to mainstream appeal, but its continued success has been off the back of frequent callbacks and continued storylines across a decade of films.

However, especially with over 15 years worth of stories and characters over the years, not every branching storyline and character is going to be referenced and relevant to the major overarching story. Even characters that were set up with cliffhangers or were seemingly massively important to the story’s future have been seemingly forgotten. Whether the character was largely forgettable or ended up being replaced by someone else, the MCU has a large variety of forgotten characters lost to the sands of time.

10 Madame B (Julie Delpy)

Last Seen In: ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ (2015)

Played by two-time Oscar nominee Julie Delpy, Madame B is introduced in a series of flashbacks in Avengers: Age of Ultron as a pivotal member of Black Widow’s past as a supervisor for the Red Room program. Madame B is the woman who trained the Widow as a child into the powerful, cold-blooded killer that she would become. Age of Ultron was filled with these universe-building side stories and flashbacks that were setting up for later films, and it seemed that Madame B would play a core part in Black Widow’s story.

While Black Widow would eventually get a solo movie delving into her past and the history of the Red Room, Madame B was surprisingly nowhere to be seen. Her role was largely replaced by the film’s villain, Dreykov, all but assuredly removing any chance of the character returning to the MCU. It makes these sequences in Age of Ultron all the more confusing, as the originally planned Black Widow origin doesn’t line up with where they actually ended up going with the character at all.

9 Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor)

Last Seen In: ‘Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness’ (2022)

Played by the brilliant Academy Award nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karl Mordo is a key ally in the training of Stephen Strange during the original Doctor Strange. However, after Strange’s tapping into the dark arts to defeat Dormammu, he becomes mortified by this betrayal, choosing to walk away from his allies and dedicate his life to restoring the balance by stripping sorcerers of their powers.

Mordo was certainly set up to be a major player and villain for Strange, similar to how his comic book counterpart is Strange’s nemesis. Alas, the original Earth-616 Mordo hasn’t appeared since his end credits tease. An alternate version of the character appears in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as Sorcerer Supreme and a member of his universe’s Illuminati. Still, considering just how often both Doctor Strange and Wong have appeared in films since their debut, it’s a shame Mordo and his cliffhanger have been largely ignored.

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8 White Vision (Paul Bettany)

Last Seen In: ‘WandaVision’ (2021)

Introduced near the end of WandaVision, White Vision is a rebuilt version of Vision created in the wake of his death in Avengers: Infinity War, with the mission to destroy Wanda and her recreated Vision. However, after a duel facing off against his replicated self, White Vision receives the original’s memories. Declaring himself the one true Vision, he leaves Westview and disappears.

Over 3 years after WandaVision ended, fans still have little to no idea where White Vision went or why he mysteriously left after regaining all of his memories. Even as the Scarlet Witch has reappeared in films like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, there’s zero mention of where White Vision is and what he could be doing. It certainly seems like such a massive misstep to abandon one of Marvel’s strongest and longest-running characters, and one can only hope that fans will get answers in the upcoming Agatha series.

7 Corpsman Rhomann Dey (John C. Reilly)

Last Seen In: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ (2014)

A character who only appears in the first Guardians of the Galaxy film, Corpsman Rhomann Dey is played by Oscar nominee John C. Reilly. A member of the Nova Corps, Dey plays a pivotal role in the film as the officer who arrested Star-Lord. However, after they escape from prison, Dey acts as their contact and primary member of the Nova Corps during the counterattack leading up to the Battle of Xandar. He later receives a promotion thanks to his actions.

It initially seemed like the Nova Corps would play a much larger role in the MCU’s universe-building as it expanded out into the cosmos. However, the Corps and Xandar are destroyed in Avengers: Infinity War, as they are the keepers of the Power Stone. Even still, having no on-screen confirmation of the death toll and whereabouts of such a massive galaxy-defending military is strange, especially with the MCU’s recent ventures to the cosmos. Rhomann Dey is the perfect surrogate and person to possibly take up the mantle and bring the Nova Corps back to the MCU. Alas, the chances of seeing him again are slim to none.

6 Dr. Helen Cho (Claudia Kim)

Last Seen In: ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ (2015)

Dr. Helen Cho (Claudia Kim) initially cures an injured Hawkeye after the opening battle in Age of Ultron. Eventually, she becomes a hostage and gets brainwashed by Ultron into creating a new, powerful body for him using a combination of her regenerating technology and Vibranium. After her brainwashing is undone and she is saved by the Avengers, Cho is last seen now working with the team at the Avengers Compound.

Non-superhero human characters and their fates are always up in the air in the MCU; sadly, Dr. Cho is largely ignored after her pivotal part in the second Avengers movie. There was certainly potential to expand her character, being a scientist working for the Avengers with extensive knowledge and experience working with Vibranium, most known for its role in the Black Panther films. Marvel must have seen too many similarities between Cho and other heroic scientist characters and felt she didn’t serve a purpose for the larger narrative.

5 Tiamut

Last Seen In: ‘Eternals’ (2021)

While it’s still relatively up in the air as to whether any of the characters from Eternals will reappear in the MCU, the most egregious facet of the film that has been largely ignored was the revelation of the Celestial Tiamut. As revealed in Eternals, Tiamut’s seed was placed within the Earth since its inception, growing thanks to the energy of humans and other lifeforms. While the Celestial emerged from the Earth’s core in a process that would destroy the planet, the Eternals prevented his awakening, turning his half-emerged remains to stone and forming a marble statue in the middle of the ocean.

Tiamut’s very existence became the butt of many a joke within the Marvel fanbase, as no other film has even come close to mentioning the time a giant emerged from the earth. It’s still widely assumed that the remains of the Celestial are on the ocean, completely ignored by every other character in the MCU as something not worth investigating. In another world, this revelation could be as much of a world news event as the snap, but thanks to the lackluster enthusiasm surrounding Eternals, Tiamut’s failed emergence will stay largely forgotten and undiscussed.

4 Aaron Davis (Donald Glover)

Last Seen In: ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ (2017)

Easily, one of the biggest cases of missed potential within the MCU is Donal Glover‘s bizarre cameo in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Aaron Davis is a criminal working in New York City who has multiple run-ins with Spider-Man. Davis agrees to help Spider-Man by using his influence on the black market to get the Vulture’s alien guns off the streets, but their partnership amounts to nothing as he never returns.

Hardcore Marvel fans and those who saw the incredible Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse will quickly recognize Davis, more commonly known as the powerful villain Prowler, as Miles Morales’ uncle. Many people may not have even realized he is already in the MCU, thanks to Marvel’s failure to capitalize on furthering the character’s story at the height of his popularity. Ironically, Glover would get another shot at the character with a cameo in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, but it’s unconfirmed if this is the same Prowler from the MCU.

3 Betty Ross (Liv Tyler)

Last Seen In: ‘The Incredible Hulk’ (2009)

One of the most important and longest-running characters in the comic book world is Betty Ross; alas, she has very little impact on the MCU, only appearing in The Incredible Hulk. Played by Liv Tyler, she acts as the confidant and love interest to Bruce Banner, fulfilling a similar role as other MCU love interests like Pepper Potts and Peggy Carter. However, Betty Ross is much more than just a love interest, with a long and varied history throughout the comics.

Unsurprisingly, in Marvel’s attempts to carry on after The Incredible Hulk, the majority of characters have been forgotten. It certainly hasn’t helped that Marvel can’t greenlight a solo Hulk movie, relegating the character to larger crossover Avengers films. However, characters like Thunderbolt Ross and the Abomination have found their way into modern MCU projects, such as She-Hulk and the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World, so there’s no reason why Betty couldn’t follow suit.

2 Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell)

Last Seen In: ‘Iron Man 2’ (2010)

The often-forgotten comedic side villain from Iron Man 2, Justin Hammer is Tony Stark’s rival and a powerful military contractor. For a role that is usually uninteresting, Sam Rockwell does wonders, elevating him to become one of the best parts of one of Marvel’s most underwhelming sequels. By the end of Iron Man 2, Hammer is in prison following his involvement with Whiplash’s villainous plans.

The concept of a rival company to Stark Industries overflows with potential for differing stories, not just for Iron Man but the entire MCU, so it’s a shame that they never fully explored this concept. While the character made a singular cameo from prison in the one-shot short film, All Hail the King, this was nearly a decade ago. Rockwell is now an Oscar winner, and it’s about time Marvel brought back the villainous tech contractor in the wake of Tony Stark’s death.

1 Scorpion (Michael Mando)

Last Seen In: ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ (2017)

The Scorpion tease at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming is easily the most egregious end-credits scene that amounted to nothing. After spending the majority of the film as a henchman working under Vulture, he returns in the end credits scene, talking to Vulture about getting revenge on Spider-Man and asking him if he knew the hero’s true identity.

Considering that Spider-Man has gone into much more crossover and larger-scope storylines, it isn’t particularly surprising that the MCU forgot about the Scorpion tease. The villain’s potential return is even more questionable due to the complicated nature of Vulture’s place in the MCU; he has his own end-credits scene debacle, being transported from the MCU into the Sony Spider-Man Universe in Morbius. There’s a good chance that Scorpion will never be brought back up again in the MCU, which is a shame, as the character has still never seen a true glorious turn as the big bad in a live-action adaptation.

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