10 Marvel Characters We Still Can"t Believe The MCU Introduced

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe has never been one to be afraid of introducing some totally unexpected characters into their movies, much to the delight of comic book fans. It can be difficult to keep track of the hordes of characters introduced by the movies of the MCU, from gallant heroes to devious supervillains and every shade of morality in between. The franchise is no stranger to unleashing some bizarre new cast members in various movies, with several still hard to believe even years later.
Unlike more gritty and grounded superhero properties like the Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, the MCU doesn't shy away from the inherent silliness of many comic book characters. Still, it can be shocking when the series pulls some obscure names from the comics, letting audiences get familiar with even the most oddball of superheroes. In other cases, the MCU has also demonstrated a boldness when it comes to bringing back fan-favorite or waylaid variants of popular characters, such as Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man.
10 Channing Tatum's Gambit Deadpool & Wolverine

This entire list could be filled out with the ranks of Deadpool & Wolverine's many cameos alone, with familiar faces from long-forgotten Marvel properties showing up again in the film for the first time in years. That being said, there's one standout cast member whose presence is particularly unbelievable, none other than Channing Tatum's Gambit. The card-slinging Cajun mutant made an impression with his slick fight scenes, hilariously meme-worthy dialogue, and faithful costume.
Gambit's inclusion in Deadpool & Wolverine is significant for so many reasons. Considering how hard Tatum fought for his solo Gambit film to get made only for the deal to fall through after being stuck in production limbo, it was kind of the MCU to at least give the enthusiastic actor some level of closure with an official appearance as the character. For the fans, it was cathartic to finally see a comic-accurate Gambit be represented in live-action to some degree.
9 M.O.D.O.K. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

If there was one character that the MCU could easily be forgiven for never including, it's the cybernetic supervillain M.O.D.O.K. Essentially a giant head on a floating chair with tiny vestigial limbs, M.O.D.O.K. is one of those villains that seems impossible to adapt in live-action, with his freakish proportions simply failing to translate to a genuinely believable design. Sadly, his introduction in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania seemed to prove this sentiment, making it all the more baffling that he was included in the first place.
In lieu of his usual origin, M.O.D.O.K. in the MCU is actually the evolution of Darren Cross, the supervillain formerly known as Yellowjacket. Deformed and sent to the Quantum Realm by his unstable shrinking, Cross was found by Kang and used as a cybernetic enforcer with which he could terrorize the entire dimension. It's still hard to believe that M.O.D.O.K. made his way into a live-action movie in any capacity, let alone one that also gave audiences an unnecessary glimpse of his bare backside.
8 Tom Hardy's Venom Spider-Man: No Way Home

The X-Men are far from the only Marvel property to be roped into the MCU despite originating in a separate timeline entirely. Going into Spider-Man: No Way Home, many were expectant that both Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire would end up appearing as cameos after their villains publicly made the jump from their own films to the MCU. However, one cameo in the film few ever expected to manifest was none other than Tom Hardy's Venom from the Sony universe of films.
Briefly appearing after Doctor Strange' spell summoned everyone who knew that Spider-Man was Peter Parker to the main timeline of the MCU, Tom Hardy expresses confusion over where he is, which Venom agrees with. Seeing nothing better to do, the parasitic pair get drunk at a tiki-themed bar, only to be unceremoniously warped back to their home dimension, leaving behind a piece of symbiote in the process. It's safe to say Venom's presence in the already-packed crossover film was expected, but thanks to the brief scene, Tom Hardy could very well return to the MCU soon.
7 HulkKing She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

The stand-alone season of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law managed to introduce a surprising variety of Marvel characters from the comics, both returning from earlier MCU projects and completely new adaptations. However, it's the more-or-less original overarching villain HulkKing that stands out as particularly memorable, being one of the most smarmy, easily hateable villains Marvel Studios have ever conceived. At first only a shadowy background figure, HulkKing is revealed to be Todd Phelps, the misogynist creator of the Intelligencia online forum.
It's pretty unbelievable that the MCU was willing to let She-Hulk's big bad be a completely original character. That goes double for Todd Phelps, who is a very modern character rooted in Incel and Blackpill ideology particular to the digital age. Of course, his recognition as one of the most "realistic" Marvel villains soon goes out the window when he gets his Hulk form, making for an even more shocking choice for the series.
6 K.E.V.I.N. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

Before Deadpool ever had the chance to quip his way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, She-Hulk served as the franchise's only self-aware character. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law adapted Jen's signature awareness of her own status as a comic character in the source material into a similar fourth-wall-breaking sense of humor for the series, with She-Hulk occasionally speaking directly to the camera and audience in House of Cards-style asides. It's only when this behavior comes to a head that K.E.V.I.N. is introduced.
Desiring to re-write her own story, She-Hulk literally breaks the boundaries of her series, diving into Disney+'s menu itself in order to confront her showrunners. Standing in for actual president of the MCU, Kevin Feige is K.E.V.I.N., an artificial intelligence who plots the narrative of the MCU in-universe. It was astonishing for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law to introduce an all-powerful creator behind the scenes of the franchise, let alone a robot based on Marvel Studios' real-world leadership.
5 Pip The Troll Eternals

Eternals introduced a lot of characters that, while unlikely to ever be seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe again, are hard to believe as technically canon to the franchise. Of the film's roster, the briefly-introduced Pip the Troll is easily the most hilariously out-of-left field inclusion. In the comics, Pip is a satyr-like alien who starts his career serving as Adam Warlock's sidekick, galavanting across the Marvel cosmos with his ability to teleport at-will.
Eternals briefly introduces Pip as a CGI character voiced by Patton Oswalt. Instead of Adam Warlock, Pip the Troll is instead the sidekick of Starfox, a.k.a. Eros, who is played by Harry Styles. Pip gives Eros a long, meandering introduction meant to hype up his accomplishments, implying they have some history together. The tonal whiplash of seeing Harry Styles in a Marvel movie following Pip's appearance is hard to swallow, making it difficult to accept that the MCU now canonically includes this whimsical creature.
4 Howard the Duck Guardians of the Galaxy

It might be hard to believe, but long before the MCU dominated pop culture, the very first major theatrically-released film based on a Marvel Comic released in 1986 starring one of the franchise's most obscure and bizarre characters. Enter Howard the Duck, a box-office bomb that informed decades of superhero filmmaking on what not to do. Amazingly, James Gunn would re-introduce the movie-killing water fowl as a background character in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Howard the Duck has gone on to appear in several more Guardians of the Galaxy projects, getting more and more screentime each subsequent time. He even featured in Avengers: Endgame, fighting Thanos' forces in the Battle of Earth with a submachine gun. Considering the characters past cinematic failure and inherent weirdness, it's surprising that the MCU was willing to go even this far with the cartoonish superhero.
3 Black Bolt Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

The only live-action appearance of Black Bolt prior to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was in the abysmally-received Inhumans television series. Appearing at a time in which Marvel was testing the waters of replacing the X-Men with the Inhumans, the series didn't impress potential audiences, and soon lost its original purpose with Disney's acquisition of Fox studios. Considering how poor most audiences' experience was with Black Bolt, it's a shock that he made it into the cast of the second Doctor Strange solo film.
This is especially true considering Black Bolt's well-known peers in the Illuminati, such as John Krazinski's Reed Richards or Patrick Stewart's Professor X. Compared to them, Black Bolt is a relatively obscure character who doesn't exactly have the most personality, being unable to speak most of the time because of his destructive sonic voice. It's truly amazing that the MCU was willing to take another swing at the Inhuman leader in live-action, albeit briefly.
2 Freak What If...?

One of the most highly-anticipated episodes of What If...? season 2 was the adaptation of Niel Gaiman's Marvel 1602, a comic series which re-imagined the classic characters of the universe in a dark age setting. Sadly, the episode deviated quite heavily from the original comic, but it at least introduced some unique characters like Happy Hogan's Freak. In the comics, the normal version of Happy eventually turns into this purple monstrosity, similar to the Hulk in powers and execution.
While the mainline MCU wouldn't see fit to turn Jon Favreau's beloved staple character into a Hulk-like monster, What If...? had no such compunctions. Freak came and went in the animated series, serving as a terrifying villain to the time-displaced Carter. Thanks to the unexpected appearance of Happy Hogan as Freak, the 1602 episode became one of the best episodes of What If...? season 2.
1 Man-Bull She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

Clearly, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law has a penchant for impossible-to-predict characters, both originally and from the comics. During She-Hulk's visit to Abomination's support group, she runs into all manner of D-List villain characters from the comics, including Wrecker from her earlier battle. However, one face stands out even among the crowd of eccentric supervillains, being the one and only Man-Bull.
A relatively unknown comics character, Man-Bull was originally a common criminal who became a guinea pig for an experimental serum, turning him into a hulking half-man, half-bull hybrid. In She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, he summarizes the situation by offhandedly mentioning "It was a weird lab experiment. Don't ask." This hilariously unpredictable inclusion of a relatively hard-to-depict character was one of the most absurd elements of the series, and sits among one of the most unbelievable character appearances in the MCU.
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