10 Major Marvel Characters Still Not in the MCU

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is growing ever bigger in Phase 4, with iconic and obscure characters alike being introduced and embraced by fans who otherwise might not have seen them if they didn’t read the comics.  It’s proving to be a potent gateway for casual moviegoers and long-standing Marvel fans to see great characters rendered on the screen, although there are certainly still tons of key and interesting figures yet to be introduced or even mentioned.  Here’s our list of 10 Major Marvel Characters Still Not in the MCU!

10 Major Marvel Characters Still Not in the MCU

For the sake of clarification, this list will not include characters who are confirmed to have an upcoming movie release, as readers will likely know, for instance, that the Human Torch will appear in the recently confirmed Fantastic Four film, or Kang the Conquerer in the next Ant-Man film.  This list strictly highlights well-known Marvel heroes who, despite perhaps not being known by the mainstream, are important figures in the comics who have not had any confirmation to appear in the MCU yet.  Here’s the list as follows:

Captain Britain

If you think this is Marvel’s carbon copy of Captain America, or mix them up with Captain Carter, you’d be understandably mistaken.  Captain Britain’s origins are magic-based, with a greater focus on English legends as its background, most notably due to Brian Braddock and later, his sister, Betsy, receiving their powers from Merlyn, the legendary Arthurian sorcerer.

The name is shared by an entire Captain Britain corps who guards the Omniverse, which is a collective of all universes, multiverses, and dimensions, which were recently also distinguished in the Ms. Marvel Disney+ series.  While many powers and abilities are shared in common with Captain America, Captain Britain also is capable of much more, including flight and reaching the speed of sound, and their abilities are governed by their confidence levels.  While this could certainly be a more outlandish outing for the MCU, characters like Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch have paved the way for more magic-based characters, and this would certainly play into the multiverse angle Phase 4 has been taking.

Quasar

Originally introduced in 1977 as Marvel Boy, Wendell Vaughn has been known as Quasar since 1979.  Quasar’s powers are largely granted by the Quantum Bands they wear, permanently affixed to his wrists.  In some ways, Quasar is similar to a Green Lantern from DC with abilities of interstellar flight or to make energy constructs, but makes distinctions such as being able to alter his entire body, manipulate energies across the electromagnetic spectrum, and even protect himself from telepathic intrusion.  Alongside this, Quasar has other, more common abilities like teleportation, enhanced strength, and durability.

Quasar could make for an interesting spacefaring character to go along with others such as Captain Marvel or the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Related: The Top 10 Marvel Post-Credit Scenes on The Mary Sue 

Galactus

While the Fantastic Four movie has been announced, it’s unconfirmed whether Galactus will be the villain or not, and it seems likely that Doctor Doom will feature as their first villain, given his status in their archnemesis.  Galactus is one of the most imposing, incredibly powerful cosmic threats in all Marvel comics, and could stand to get a proper adaptation given his disappointing cloud-like rendition in the 2007 Fantastic Four sequel.  His massive list of abilities makes for him to be an existential threat, but likely not to be used until Phase 5 or later.

Be sure to read our profile on Galactus here, he’s truly a fearsome character, with abilities including but not limited to the consumption of planets.

Tigra

Greer Nelson originally fought crime under the alias of The Cat, after being subjected to experimentation by Dr. Joanne Tumolo to add superhuman physical abilities and heightened senses.  Unbeknownst to Nelson, Tumolo belongs to a race known as the Cat People magically evolved from cats in the Middle Ages, who among other feats, engineered the Black Death.  Wishing to gain the secrets of this, the infamously pernicious evil syndicate Hydra attempted to abduct Tumolo, and Nelson, who defends Tumolo, is injured in the attack.  Tumolo then has Nelson transformed into the half-human, half-cat is known as Tigra.

While this character is certainly far more out-there than many current MCU superheroes, she is an iconic character who joins the Avengers.  She is also given the option to reverse her transformation using the Cat’s Head Amulet, but often refuses the choice and embraces her altered form in a similar way to She-Hulk.  The abilities she has while in her Tigra form include enhanced strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility, reflexes, senses, and powerful enough fangs and claws to potentially rent metals.  She would also make for another take on the half-human half-cat concept after the godawful treatment DC’s Cheetah got in 2020.

Red Wolf

Following the animal themes of the last entry, Red Wolf would make for an awesome MCU addition.  Linked to Owayodata, God of the Hunt among the Anasazi (Native American gods), William Talltrees donned the Red Wolf identity and heroically avenged his family’s murder by Taurus, and has worked with heroes such as Tigra to fight against greater threats such as the Super-Skrull.

Featuring powers much like Tigra’s, but also an indomitable will powerful enough to ward off telepathy entirely, Red Wolf would make for an interesting, grounded action hero in the MCU, while also tapping into aspects of Aboriginal North American culture that haven’t been explored.  Given his interactions with the Skrull and involvement in the Secret Invasion arc, it could be interesting to see if his character features in the Secret Invasion miniseries or similar projects.

Mister Sinister

Mister Sinister was set up to appear in future projects following the New Mutants film, but it appeared that was a failure.  However, Dr. Nathaniel Essex is a vital villain in the X-Men rogues’ gallery, a Victorian-era scientist who predicted the evolutionary trajectory of humankind as well as the emergence of mutants.  His status as an intrepid geneticist with ethically bankrupt methods makes for him to be a naturally excellent X-Men villain, and his research caught the eye of Apocalypse, the mutant who embodied everything Essex predicted.  As a reward, Apocalypse granted Essex powers and a new identity as his new prelate, Mister Sinister.

Mister Sinister would spend years getting out from under Apocalypse’s influence, using his skills in the field of genetics to modify his DNA, among other things.  As a result of his exploits, he has amassed a terrifying array of powers ranging from regeneration to telepathy, telekinesis, immortality, and many others.  As a villain, he could make for a terrifying and compelling new foe for an MCU iteration of the X-Men, whenever that happens.  Given the original plans for him to appear in New Mutants, and even before that, the Gambit movie that never took off, Sinister fans have been left longing for many years.

Darkhawk

Christopher Powell, also known as Darkhawk, would be an interesting character to see rendered in the MCU.  Despite the new Captain America also possessing wings, Darkhawk’s edge is that Chris and his Darkhawk suit are essentially 2 consciousnesses, allowing them to operate in tandem or unified.  He can also swap places between himself and the suit using the Darkhawk Amulet (more costume-change MacGuffins).  Among his abilities include incredible feats of strength, a protective forcefield, the ability to summon weapons and ammunition, and concussive energy blasts.

While this character might be difficult to sell in a solo film, he has worked as a supporting player for Spider-Man, fighting many of his iconic villains, including being able to take on Venom and having characters like the Hobgoblin come after him for his amulet, which enables his abilities and transfer of consciousness.

Brother Voodoo

Jericho Drumm is a master of Voodoo magic, thus the name Brother Voodoo.  While Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch have operated on incredibly high levels with diverse applications of magic, Brother Voodoo wields a similarly vast array while specializing in necromancy, biomolecular manipulation, and even control over the souls of others.  But his mastery is also a bit of a limitation, he is a specialist in Voodoo magic but has far less exposure to other forms, which grounds him and allows greater focus on how he can uniquely address a situation with his skillset.

But even with his limitations, Drumm was able to make a big splash in the Marvel comics.  Along with working with characters like Blade, Black Panther, Morbius, and even Deadpool, he has been able to use his talents for feats such as summoning a zombie army to fight vampires and has fought villains such as Doctor Doom.  One of his greatest achievements was becoming a successor to Steven Strange as the Sorcerer Supreme, and he would make for an interesting, mature, magic-based MCU hero.  Shockingly, he didn’t cut Multiverse of Madness.  However, his brother, Daniel Drumm, appeared in the first Doctor Strange movie before being ultimately killed, setting the stage for Jericho.

Sleepwalker

When describing Sleepwalker, think along the lines of a benevolent police force of Freddy Krueger’s, but with the color scheme of Sentinels from X-Men.  One particular Sleepwalker, through an unfortunate encounter with Rick Sheridan, became inseparably bound to this human host while invading his dreams.  When the two were bound, Sleepwalker had to communicate with Rick that he was a force for good, and eventually Rick was able to settle enough to trust this intrusive force.  The result is a hero who can fight villains when his human host is asleep.

Sleepwalker is a more absurd concept, but incredibly fun.  They’ve proven to be incredibly durable fighters, even taking on Hercules, and can alter reality Inception-style to outsmart or imprison their opponents.  The result could be a fascinating take, where instead of the Mirror Dimension, Sleepwalker could just alter reality right on Earth-616.  Sleepwalker is also able to amplify mental powers, including those of Marvel’s greatest telepaths such as Professor X or Jean Grey.  Sleepwalker would make for a very cool supporting character, although Marvel would have to put in the time with VFX to make those scenes pop.

The Hood

Parker Robbins needs to enter the MCU conversation.  While this list is littered with compelling characters with fascinating backstories and powers, Robbins, better known as his Hood alter ego, is fully self-actualized as an unrepentant villain.  His motivations were originally inspired by desperation to provide for his family, but as he grew bolder in his actions, he knew crime and later, villainy, would be his life for him.  This is a character who, when witnessing Daredevil fighting Electro, found Electro to be somebody he should emulate.  During his exploits, however, he was attacked by a demon, and being the bold person he was, he shot the demon, stealing its cloak afterward; the cloak, as it turned out, belonged to Dormammu.

EDIT: Thanks to the recent update from the 2022 D23 Showcase, it appears this character will make his MCU debut in the Disney Plus TV series adaptation of Ironheart.

Robbins’ new cloak turned out to give him abilities, which he used to his advantage.  But his exploits went beyond petty larceny and felonies to provide health care for his mother.  As he got bigger tastes of better scores, he would go on to cooperate with characters such as Namor, Norman Osborn (Green Goblin), and Loki, and would later be groomed by Dormammu to try and usurp the role of Sorcerer Supreme.

Along with the cloak bestowing an array of powers to the Hood, Robbins has wielded the Norn Stones and even some Infinity Stones at one point.  Unlike many villains seen in the MCU, this character would have a worthy, crazy arc in which he demonstrates his ambition and leadership as somebody who embraces being the bad guy because that’s just who he is.

This concludes our list of 10 Major Marvel Characters Still Not in the MCU!  There are numerous honorable mentions, such as for Man-Thing, or Killraven, and some like Hulkling seem all but confirmed for projects either following Secret Invasion or taking place in it.  But did your favorite, more obscure, Marvel characters make the list?  Be sure to read more on Attack of the Fanboy for more projects from Marvel!