The Marvel Cinematic Universe is perhaps the most popular media franchise in the world, and no aspect lends itself more to this distinction than its characters; each film seems to have more cameos and crossovers than can be reasonably kept track of, and it seems as though a brand new hero or villain makes a splash every other month.
The serialized nature of the franchise lends itself well to all of these characters, but even Marvel Studios can’t help but mishandle a hero or two with so many different arcs to manage. Knowing this, one redditor took to r/marvelstudios to discuss which character in the MCU was done the dirtiest.
The original poster kicked off the conversation with a shot of Pietro Maximoff (aka Quicksilver), the brother of Wanda Maximoff (aka Scarlet Witch) who was killed off in Avengers: Age of Ultron after he sacrificed himself to save the lives of Hawkeye and a young boy. His is an interesting case, as his death played an immense role in the character arc that Wanda would end up having, but it seems that many fans weren’t on board with his death, and expressed their desire to seem him brought back by way of the multiverse.
Sticking with Age of Ultron, the way in which the titular villain was handled didn’t sit well with many people, mainly due to how Ultron, who has a storied history as a big bad in the comics, was used as a “one-movie villain,” . The character did see some resurgence in the What If…? series, serving as the antagonist, and we were further treated to glimpses of his likeness in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but it seems like fans won’t be satisfied until the ever-evolving automaton is treated as the multi-movie threat he deserves.
Other characters perceived as wasted by fans of the MCU included Black Panther villain Ulysses Klaue, who was murdered by Killmonger, and Black Widow villain Taskmaster, the MCU version of which fans don’t seem especially fond of right now, despite the character still being alive in the canon.