Ten years in, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is absolutely heaving with characters: it was tough enough to keep up with everyone who appeared in Infinity War, let alone the millions of movies that led up to it.
It’s so hard to keep track that you probably didn’t even notice these awesome heroes and villains from the comic books popping up alongside the likes of Thor, Iron Man and Cap.
1. The Living Tribunal
This is a fairly huge one. When Baron Mordo tells Doctor Strange that his weapon is the staff of the Living Tribunal, it might have seemed like just another made-up name to most people watching the movie. But it was one of the most shocking lines for die-hard comic readers.
The name-drop means the most powerful comic character exists in the MCU – the Living Tribunal is essentially the God of Marvel (sorry, Stan Lee), a cosmic being that oversees every single reality in Marvel’s multiverse… and judges them accordingly.
He’s appeared in the Doctor Strange comics, asking Stephen Strange to prove that Earth is worthy of existence. So, we could end up seeing The Living Tribunal in Doctor Strange 2 – his introduction would be a good way of upping the stakes, since he’s officially more powerful than the Infinity Gauntlet…
2. Red Hulk
One of the most bad-ass characters in the MCU could definitely be coming to the big screen, because his alter ego already has.
Yep, General Thaddeus E. ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross (William Hurt), who first appeared in The Incredible Hulk, turns into a bright red version of the Hulk in the comics, called – imaginatively – the Red Hulk. Red Hulk uses Ross’ military training to be a meaner, more aggressive version of the big green guy.
Unless Marvel pulls a similar trick to Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy – where it sets up the Lizard without actually delivering the Lizard – we’ll see the Red Hulk at some point. And it’ll make Ross’ Civil War “behave yourself, superheroes!” moans even more ridiculous.
3. Amadeus Cho
A 19-year-old Korean American genius who is one of the eight smartest people on Earth, Amadeus Cho is a fan-favourite character who leads the brilliantly-titled Totally Awesome Hulk comic series.
Bizarrely, Cho appears in The Incredible Hulk (according to the novelisation, which names the character), played by Martin Starr.
As one of the first Asian characters to lead his own Marvel title, it seems weird that he’d be played by a white dude in the movies – let’s hope that Cho is recast before he eventually returns to the MCU. (After all, the Hulk in that movie was played by Ed Norton, so anything can happen.)
4. The Tinkerer
You’d be forgiven for not realising that this minor Spider-Man villain made his cinematic debut in Homecoming, as he looks absolutely nothing like his comic-book counterpart and he doesn’t use his supervillain sobriquet.
But, yes, Orange Is the New Black‘s Michael Chernus really did play Phineas Mason, as a kind of sidekick to Michael Keaton’s Vulture.
5. Union Jack
Basically a British version of Captain America (with elements of The Punisher), Union Jack first appeared in the comics in the 1970s and has popped up in various books ever since.
He also featured in Captain America: The First Avenger, believe it or not. Union Jack’s alter ego, James Montgomery Falsworth, appears as a British POW held captive by HYDRA.
Falsworth’s played by JJ Field in the film, so let’s hope the actor gets the chance to suit-up in a future spin-off. If anyone can fix Brexit, it’s Union Jack!
6. Hellcow
One of the craziest Marvel characters since Howard The Duck, Hellcow is basically a vampire cow created by Dracula. We promise we’re not making this up.
In season two of Agents of SHIELD (which is part of the MCU), in the episode ‘A Hen in the Wolf House’, Hydra is studying “carmine milk” from a ‘Hellcow’.
We can only assume it’s the same character (it’s pretty unlikely this is a coincidence), so the campaign to get Hellcow into the next Deadpool movie (now that Disney’s bought Fox) starts here!
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