The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is packed with incredible characters who have become icons in their own right, but after so many The Avengers movies, there are a few characters who fade into the background. When the MCU first started in 2008 with Iron Man, it was widely celebrated for highlighting characters who were slightly more obscure. In general, Spider-Man and Hulk were household names from the Marvel lineup, but the MCU launched several more heroes to obtain the same status.
This was clearly seen with characters like the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Shang-Chi, but it also extends to non-super characters too. For example, Michael Peña’s Luis in Ant-Man, Madisynn in She-Hulk, and Phil Coulson from the Iron Man movies and The Avengers. However, there are several more characters who are introduced as being fairly significant in The Avengers movies, only to be forgotten as soon as the credits roll.
10
Helen Cho
Avengers: Age Of Ultron
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner build the menacing AI, Ultron, that would go on to try and kill the Avengers. However, early in the film, a scientist named Helen Cho is introduced when her incredible research provides a way to help Clint Barton recover. This sets her up as a central part of the story that plays out, especially when she is spared by an early Ultron machine.
Ultron later uses the mind stone in Loki’s scepter to control Cho’s mind and have her build him a body. Fortunately, Wanda Maximoff learns Ultron’s intentions to kill all humans, and frees Cho, which leads to her breaking the link between Ultron and the body, and paves the wave for Vision to be born. Despite all of this, and Cho surviving the movie and being invited to work with the Avengers on their compound, the character appears to be completely forgotten after this single film.
9
Holt
Thunderbolts*/The New Avengers
Thunderbolts* is one of the most recent films to come out of the MCU, so it’s difficult to fully predict who will return and who will be left behind, but one character who has a significant role in the film is Holt. Holt worked with Valentina Allegra de Fontaine for the O.X.E. Group. However, in the movie, he is called in to help take down the rogue ᴀssᴀssins who survived being incinerated in their storage facility, and not much else.
His actions and his men firing on Bob Reynolds are pivotal to the story.
As a high-ranking military official, it would make sense to have this character pop up at other points in the film, and to build his connection with Valentina, but instead, he appears to be forgotten after the first half of the film. Regardless, his actions and his men firing on Bob Reynolds are pivotal to the story, as it reveals Bob’s true power, and showcases how Valentina is hunting down her former mercenaries.
8
The Other
The Avengers
The Other shows up in two Marvel movies, but you’d be forgiven for not knowing who they are. In The Avengers, The Other is revealed to be the personal servant of Thanos, and a middleman for people like Loki. The Other is the one who helped supply Loki with Chitauri for the invasion on New York, and he would go on to recruit Ronan the Accuser to appease his master and wreak destruction on the universe.
However, The Other was ultimately killed in his second and final appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy. Regardless, their role in setting up the events of the Infinity Saga is essential to how the story panned out, but they get no recognition or acknowledgment for their part. Thanos’ Black Order stands out in Avengers: Infinity War, but The Other has faded from memory by the end of the scenes that they appear in.
7
Peter Parker’s Classmates
Avengers: Infinity War
Speaking of Avengers: Infinity War, when Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian land in New York, two members of the Black Order, Peter Parker swings into action. He spots the trouble while on a school bus filled with his peers, before climbing out the window and suiting up. And while the bus has familiar faces like Ned Leeds and Michelle Jones, there are a handful of other students who appeared in movies like Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Despite appearing in the movie in this brief scene, these characters are not seen again in the film, and their fate at the end of the movie, and whether they were snapped in the blip, is left ambiguous. Infinity War had a lot going on, and there were numerous threads to follow, so it makes sense they didn’t return to a bus full of school kids, making them the most forgettable part of the movie.
6
Akihiko
Avengers: Endgame
Moving on to the concluding chapter of the Infinity Saga, Avengers: Endgame outlines the aftermath of the snap, five years later. In the shattered world that was left behind, the heroes have split off into their own paths, with Clint Barton becoming the relentless ᴀssᴀssin, Ronin, as a way to deal with the loss of his entire family.
As the Ronin, Clint hunts down people he believes did not deserve to survive the snap, like Akihiko, a leader of the Yakuza. Akihiko is clearly a criminal and a bad guy, but the way that Clint brutally attacks and kills him does set up his character’s motives for the rest of the movie. Meanwhile, Akihiko was little more than a set piece to establish Clint’s despair and anger.
5
Georgi Luchkov
The Avengers
Speaking about characters who appear only to set up the heroes’ stories, Georgi Luchkov appears in a brief scene in The Avengers when he has captured Natasha Romanoff. Luchkov attempts to intimidate and extract information from Nat, but when she gets a call from Coulson asking her to go get the “big guy,” aka Hulk, Nat easily breaks free of her restraints and makes short work of her captors.
Thankfully, he doesn’t seem all that deserving of being remembered.
Despite being introduced as a powerful and imposing figure, Luchkov is also reduced to being a pawn in the story. It makes perfect sense for the story, and helps to set up Natasha’s incredible skill, but he is immediately forgettable by the time the next scene comes on. Thankfully, he doesn’t seem all that deserving of being remembered.
4
Jack Rollins
Avengers: Endgame
Avengers: Endgame features a time-travel plot that puts some of the heroes back into pivotal moments from earlier in the MCU. One such moment occurs with Captain America when he revisits an earlier point in SHIELD’s history and comes face to face with some of the other agents who turned out to be undercover HYDRA operatives. The most notable of which is Brock Rumlow, aka, Crossbones.
However, Brock was not alone in his work, and he was often seen accompanied by another agent who was equally ruthless and hungry to prove his strength against Captain America, Jack Rollins. Jack appears in both Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Avengers: Endgame, but in both cases, he is overshadowed by characters like Brock Rumlow.
3
Houston
Thunderbolts*/The New Avengers
Houston appears in the opening scenes of Thunderbolts*, though he is swiftly forgotten almost as quickly as he appears. When Yelena is ᴀssigned to blow up an O.X.E. lab in Kuala Lumpur, she manages to quickly constrain one employee there and go about her mission destroying evidence, but Houston is a doctor working at the lab who tries to warn her about the results of the experiment.
As an efficient ᴀssᴀssin who has no interest in what Houston had to say, Yelena gets on with her mission, and she blows up the lab. However, had she heeded Houston’s advice, she could have connected with Bob Reynolds much earlier, under less dangerous circumstances, and helped him to avoid Valentina. Instead, Yelena learned the hard way, and Houston was an unfortunate casualty.
2
Maria Hill
Avengers: Infinity War
In Avengers: Infinity War, a lot of people fell victim to the blip. In fact, half of all life across the universe disappeared into dust. While the Avengers were fighting Thanos, and trying to contain the damage, they were largely cut off from their old allies and friends in government thanks to the fall of SHIELD, and the comprehensive Sokovia Accords.
This meant that people like Maria Hill, who previously worked with Nick Fury to bring the Avengers together and guide them towards taking down mᴀssive threats, was caught completely off guard by the time the blip began to happen. Teaming up with Fury, they try to get answers, but before they could get very far, Hill disappears. As memorable as she was in other Avengers films, this was her most brief, and ultimately, most forgettable appearance.
1
Hulk’s Fans
Avengers: Endgame
Returning to Avengers: Endgame, Bruce Banner found a way in the five years since the blip to combine his mind with Hulk’s mᴀssive body. This led to the super-genius Smart Hulk, who gained a degree of notoriety among locals. This is most clearly seen when Hulk goes to a local diner, and is approached by a group of kids who ask for a selfie.
As much as this is a light-hearted, comedic scene, it goes by very quickly, and the kids who approach Hulk are never seen again. This ultimately makes the moment a lot more forgettable, although it helps to establish the new reality that people are living in. It’s clear that most characters in the Avengers movies play major roles, and even the small parts end up pushing the narrative forward, despite featuring forgettable characters.
Upcoming MCU Movies
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Thunderbolts*
- Release Date
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May 2, 2025
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The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Release Date
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July 25, 2025
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Avengers: Doomsday
- Release Date
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December 18, 2026
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Spider-Man: Brand New Day
- Release Date
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July 31, 2026
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Avengers: Secret Wars
- Release Date
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December 17, 2027
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