Random Characters You Didn't Know Appeared In The Marvel Cinematic Universe (31 items)

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  (#1) Alpha Primitives

  The Inhumans trace their history back before ordinary humans had figured out farming and permanent settlements. But even with all that societal experience, they aren’t above mistakes. Case in point: The Inhumans created their own slave race. The Alpha Primitives were bred to be strong and docile, but in recent years they’ve yearned for freedom and their own place in Inhuman culture.

  This unfortunate aspect of Inhuman society made it into the MCU with the Agents of SHIELD Season 3 episode “Emancipation,” when an Inhuman leader forced scientist Holden Radcliffe to experiment on humans as part of his “Alpha Test.” The end result were powerful but mindlessly obedient “Primitives.” Oh and the episode’s title? Horribly ironic.
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  (#2) Angar The Screamer

  Angar the Screamer is a product of his time. Dressed like a dirty old hippy, Angar first appeared in 1973, and hasn't changed much visually over the years. He has the ability to manipulate sound, and his mastery is such that he can create illusions and even cause physical damage. 

  After he “died” he became a being of living sound, called simply, “Scream.” This oddball appeared in the Agents of SHIELD Season 2 episode “One of Us” as one of Mr. Hyde’s lackeys.
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  (#3) Iron Man

  • Iron Man (vol. 4), Iron Man: Extremis Motion Comic, Civil War

  Okay, while technically the MCU already has Whiplash in the form of Iron Man 2 villain Anton Vanko, it also has the original Whiplash, who also used the unfortunate sobriquet “Blacklash” for a while. In the comics, Mark Scarlotti was an inventor and disgruntled Stark employee who went to work for the Maggia crime family before becoming one of Iron Man’s longest running villains.

  When Iron Man’s armor came to life (because comics!), it expressed its “love” for Tony Stark by killing Scarlotti once and for all. In the MCU, Marcus Scarlotti was the whip-using Hydra assassin introduced in Agents of SHIELD Season 2 episode “A Fractured House.” Unlike his comic counterpart, he’s still alive.
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  (#4) Peggy Carter

  Joseph Manfredi, part of the infamous Maggia crime family, decided to do his part for the clan by becoming the totally original supervillain, Blackwing! Wearing a bat-themed costume, riding on a giant wing in the shape of a bat, throwing bladed weapons, and using sonic signals to “control” local bat populations, Blackwing has been a copyright-skirting thorn in the side of Marvel’s heroes for years now.

  The only similarity he shares with his MCU version is the mafia connection. A Maggia member in the 1940s, the unhinged Manfredi aligned himself with the evil Whitney Frost in Agent Carter Season 2 episode “Atomic Job.”
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  (#5) Blizzard (Donnie Gill)

  Long-time Iron Man villain and life-long loser, Donnie Gil has impressive powers as the Blizzard, but he doesn’t have the guts or ambition to do much with them. He did try the hero racket for a while as a member of the Thunderbolts, but it didn’t last.

  He appeared in the MCU as a hapless college student, accidentally granted powers in the Agents of SHIELD Season 1 episode “Seeds.” He returned as a Hydra tool in the second season episode “Making Friends and Influencing People,” making him a regular threat for the good guys. He still hasn’t worn a costume yet.
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  (#6) Celestials

  Unfathomable space gods from the mind of artist Jack Kirby, the Celestials were influential in creating life, intelligence, and superpowers throughout the Marvel Universe. Little is known about this race of giants except what their creations believe about them, and the fact that other cosmic beings fear and respect them.

  While the Fox movie, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, was afraid to show the giant Galactus, the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy film depicted a dead Celestial’s head as Knowhere, the space station where the Collector kept his collection. They also mention a living Celestial called Eson the Searcher, establishing him (it?) as a previous possessor of the Infinity Stone of Power.
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  (#7) Amadeus Cho

  Teenager Amadeus Cho is the eighth (or ninth) smartest human on Earth, and his intelligence has led him to be a substitute Ant-Man, substitute Hercules, and most recently, the Totally Awesome Hulk. Cho has become more-and-more popular since he first appeared in 2006’s Amazing Fantasy #15, so you’d think he’d be a major part of the MCU, right? Wrong.

  According to the credits and novelization, the dweeby computer guy who mooched a pizza off Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk was Amadeus Cho. Admittedly, this was only the second film in the MCU, and if Marvel realized how long they’d keep the franchise going, they probably would have saved him for later. Avengers: The Age of Ultron featured scientist Helen Cho, named for Amadeus’s mother in comics, so maybe we’ll get another version of Amadeus later on.
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  (#8) Chthon

  The Elder Demon Chthon is one of the most ancient and powerful evil forces in the Marvel Universe. He existed before most other gods, and created the first magic in the world. Chthon created the indestructible Darkhold book to tempt humans, and anyone who reads from it can be blessed and cursed in frightening ways.

  Despite being previously grounded in science, the MCU has introduced more mystical elements since welcoming Doctor Strange into the fold. In the fourth season Agents of SHIELD episode “Meet the New Boss,” they officially introduced Chthon’s Book of Sins, the Darkhold, to the live-action universe. 
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  (#9) Coldblood

  In the comics, Eric Savin was your typical '90s action hero. An elite soldier, he died and was brought back to life as the cyborg Coldblood-7, with his memories removed and new orders implanted in his upgraded brain.

  Like other characters of his ilk, Coldblood-7 broke free of his creators and eventually became a mercenary (often working for the evil Roxxon corporation) despite being a "good guy." When the comic book version of Civil War began, Savin wanted nothing to do with the government again, and he was arrested for his troubles.

  In the MCU, Savin was still a soldier-turned-cyborg, though this time he was an evil agent of AIM empowered by the Extremis technology in Iron Man 3, where he died while attacking the president.
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  (#10) Cosmo

  Despite speaking fluent Russian (and broken English) and possessing tremendous psychic powers, Cosmo seems like a perfectly ordinary dog dressed as a Soviet cosmonaut. Cosmo has long been chief of security at Knowhere (the space station built into the head of a dead Celestial on the edge of the universe) and has occasionally served as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

  In the MCU he cameoed for a few seconds of Guardians of the Galaxy, first growling at Rocket Raccoon, then chilling with the Collector. Good boy!
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  (#11) Eternals

  The Eternals are basically as close to gods as terrestrial beings come, as far above mutants or Inhumans as those groups are to normal human beings. Despite this awesome power, the Eternals exist in the otherwise grounded MCU, even if they’ve never been mentioned by name.

  The Celestials (who appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy) created the Eternals when mankind was still evolving opposable thumbs. The Inhumans (established in Agents of SHIELD) were created by the alien Kree as an attempt to imitate the Eternals’ powers, and Thanos (who grinned his way into The Avengers) is an Eternal himself, albeit born mutated and deformed by their standards.

  In fact, Drax was originally empowered by the Eternals to kill Thanos. Basically, the Eternals exist in the MCU because everything around them exists in the MCU.
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  (#12) Doctor Faustus

  One of Captain America’s most terrifying enemies cuts a fairly unassuming figure. On the surface, Doctor Faustus is just a tall, overweight man with a bushy red beard. The evil psychologist, however, has repeatedly engineered tremendous tragedies for Cap, from (temporarily) driving Peggy Carter insane to convincing Cap’s modern-day love Sharon Carter to assassinate him.

  In the MCU, Faustus, aka Johann Fennhoff, was recruited into Hydra after battling Peggy Carter in the first season of Agent Carter, and his “Faustus Method” of memory manipulation, post-hypnotic suggestion, and mind control was used by Hydra to maintain operatives, plant sleeper agents, and even manipulate Captain America's childhood friend Bucky Barnes (AKA the Winter Soldier). 
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  (#13) Graviton

  One of most powerful villains on Earth (who you still probably haven't heard of), Graviton has complete control over gravity. This astounding ability has enabled him to easily defeat all of Earth’s mightiest heroes. Unfortunately for him, his emotional baggage keeps him down.

  Much was made of Graviton’s intro into the MCU, when his alter-ego Franklin Hall was introduced in “The Asset,” the third episode of Agents of SHIELD. Much like his comic book counterpart, Hall was exposed to experimental particles and became one with the force of gravity, and then… and then nothing. He just disappeared before becoming a villain. He was referenced a few more times during the first season, but has yet to become a major threat in the MCU. Still though, he's out there. Lurking. 
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  (#14) H.A.M.M.E.R.

  When SHIELD failed to detect and stop the alien Skrulls from infiltrating and (nearly) conquering Earth, the agency was shut down. Norman “Green Goblin” Osborn, was credited as one of the “heroes” who stopped the alien menace (he actually took at cheap shot at the Skrull leader while cameras rolled), and thus was given the opportunity to create SHIELD’s replacement. Then, he brought down the H.A.M.M.E.R.

  Unlike SHIELD, the H.A.M.M.E.R. agency didn’t stand for anything (literally, the on-going gag was that no acronym was created for the organization), and Osborn put some of the worst government agents into his company. It was basically and excuse to legally bring superheroes down.

  Eventually, Osborn was outted for the criminal he is, and H.A.M.M.E.R. was replaced by a new iteration of SHIELD. Oddly enough in the MCU, H.A.M.M.E.R. is apparently part of SHIELD, or was before the Hydra take-over. In the background of the Agents of SHIELD first season episode “The Hub,” signs for SHIELD’s H.A.M.M.E.R. division are clearly visible.
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  (#15) Hellcow

  In the Marvel Universe, there exists a vampire cow that was empowered by Dracula himself. Yes, Hellcow, terror of the dairy industry, has encountered both Howard the Duck and Deadpool, and actually exists in the MCU! In the Season 2 Agents of SHIELD episode “A Hen in the Wolf House,” Hydra is studying “carmine milk” from something called a “Hellcow.”

  That red-tinged milk clearly came from Bessie, confirming not only her existence, but by extension vampires as well! Does that prove Dracula specifically exists in the MCU? Not necessarily, as origins can be different between the two continuities. Still, though, this means that we could totally see Spider-Man web up Michael Morbius in the future. 
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  (#16) Human Torch

  You think Captain America was the only Marvel hero in World War II? Wrong, you filthy casual! The 1940s are known as the Golden Age to comic book fans because comics sold millions of issues, and publishers had dozens of superheroes test the waters to see which would be the next Superman or Batman.

  Marvel’s first attempt, fittingly titled Marvel Comics #1 in 1939, featured the android creation of Carl Burgos, the original Human Torch. Predating Captain America by two years (and the more famous Fantastic Four member Human Torch by two decades), the synthetic man (called a Synthozoid in Marvel parlance) was one of the most successful heroes of the '40s.

  In the comics, he was first exhibited to the public as a science exhibit in a glass tube by Professor Phineas Horton. In the MCU, young and scrawny Steve Rogers walks right by “The Synthetic Man” at the Stark Expo before becoming the hero of Captain America: The First Avenger. Too bad they didn’t activate him, he probably could have melted hella Nazis. 
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  (#17) Kid Colt

  Marvel’s heroes go back a lot further than Captain America in World War II. In fact, there are a whole slew of costumed heroes in the Old West of the Marvel Universe. Kid Cold, Outlaw, was one of the most skilled heroes in Marvel’s Wild West, teaming up with other heroes like the Two-Gun Kid. He's even been on time-travel adventures with the Avengers.

  Agent Carter’s season two episode “Better Angels” established Marvel’s western heroes as part of the MCU, and specifically mentioned Kid Colt. They even had Iron Man’s dad Howard Stark produce a western film featuring the cowboy hero. 
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  (#18) Leader

  The Leader has long been the antithesis to the Hulk. While Bruce Banner was a genius who was turned into a strong-but-simple-minded monster, Sam Sterns was a high school dropout turned into a supergenius. Both, of course, were transformed through the miracle of gamma radiation.

  In the MCU, Sam Sterns was already a genius before exposure to gamma radiation. At the end of The Incredible Hulk, audiences saw Sterns forehead turn green and begin to pulsate and grow. And that was... kind of it for the big screen.

  According to the cinematic comic tie-in, Marvel’s The Avengers Prelude: Fury’s Big Week #4, Black Widow captured Sterns as his head was still mutating and he was shuffled off to SHIELD’s Project: Mr. Blue. Of course, the Agents of SHIELD TV show established that the Abomination was in an Alaskan SHIELD prison prior to the Hydra kerfuffle, so where either gamma guy went after that is anyone’s guess.
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  (#19) Living Tribunal

  Here’s a weird one. Although he hasn’t appeared on screen yet, the Living Tribunal was confirmed in Doctor Strange when Mordo declared his artifact was “The Staff of the Living Tribunal.” See, in Marvel, items are named for cosmic beings because those cosmic beings directly empowered those items. Interestingly, the Living Tribunal exists in all Marvel realities simultaneously.

  That means the same Living Tribunal who empowered Mordo’s staff could cast judgement on characters in Marvel’s comic book universe. Even stranger, the Living Tribunal is one of the most powerful cosmic beings ever (way more powerful than the Infinity Gauntlet everyone’s always talking about). If he blessed that staff, then it must be one heck of a staff!
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  (#20) Madame Masque

  Crime family heiress Whitney Frost has gone by a lot of names in her life, but she’s best known as Iron Man’s femme fatale, Madame Masque. In the MCU, Frost was a super-genius in the 1940s, driven insane by her own lust for power.

  She never technically became Madame Masque, but she remained a threat when last we saw her in Agent Carter Season 2.
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  (#21) Man-Thing

  For the uninitiated, Man-Thing is not the Swamp Thing. They're, like, totally not the same, Mom. Although the two characters appeared within a month of each other in 1971 (Man-Thing was first), the creators claim neither character was inspired by the other.

  Unlike his counterpart from the Distinguished Competition, Man-Thing has no human thoughts or emotions. A creature of pure instinct, Man-Thing responds to the emotions of others (wanting to meet the curious, and react violently to the aggressive, etc.). 

  Despite never appearing on in the movies (his own made-for-TV film doesn’t count), Man-Thing has two connections to the MCU: his ex-wife (and murderer) Ellen Brandt was an Extremis-powered villain in Iron Man 3, and he was name-dropped by Agent Maria Hill in the Agents of SHIELD first season episode “Nothing Personal.” 
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  (#22) Mandarin

  The Mandarin is a product of a (thankfully) by-gone era. As a world-conquering Chinese mystical genius with long sharp nails, a long mustache, and a penchant for wearing outdated robes, the Mandarin fits perfectly into the “yellow peril” mold. As a result, it was understandable that the filmmakers changed the Mandarin dramatically for Iron Man 3. 

  Interestingly, however, with the Marvel One-Shot “Hail to the King,” Marvel laid the ground work for the “real” Mandarin to exist in the MCU. Let's hope they at least get an Asian actor to play the part. 
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  (#23) Manifold

  Eden Fesi was Nick Fury’s ace in the hole. While the Fury spent decades deceiving his enemies, he also secretly monitored and trained his own superhuman agents in case anything should go wrong. His elite agents were the Secret Warriors, and his most secretest warrior was Eden, codename: Manifold.

  With the ability to fold space and open portals to anywhere in the universe, Manifold became a key part of Fury’s War, and a vital member of the Avengers. He exists in the MCU as well, as the third season Agents of SHIELD episode “The Inside Man” established him as “Subject SW4-7-2009” (a reference to his first appearance, Secret Warriors #4, July 2009). He was captured by anti-Inhuman forces and freed by SHIELD. 
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  (#24) Phantom Rider

  Here’s one of those “because X exists, then Y must exist” situations. Phantom Rider was the original "Ghost Rider" of comics, but the white-clad hero of the Old West was rechristened when a flaming skull dude on a motorcycle became the more famous Ghost Rider.

  There have been more than a few Phantom Riders over the years (including an evil one) but descended from that line is James T. James, AKA Hellfire, who was recruited into Nick Fury’s Secret Warriors. James was killed by Fury when the old spy realized James was a double agent for Hydra.

  James was introduced into the MCU through the Agents of SHIELD season three episode, “Paradise Lost.” Unlike his comic counterpart, this James is Australian. Like his inspiration, however, he did betray SHIELD (although he was captured, not killed). Between James's existence, the presence of Ghost Rider in the MCU, and confirmation that Marvel’s Old West heroes existed in Agent Carter, some variation of Phantom Rider exists in the MCU as well.
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  (#25) Ultimo

  One of Iron Man’s oldest villains is Ultimo, the Living Holocaust. That unfortunate epithet aside, Ultimo is a giant alien robot of destruction that never goes down without doing millions in property damage first. This towering engine of death exists in the MCU – but only in the tie-in comic book.

  That’s right, Ultimo premiered in the comic inspired by the movie based on the comic book. In Captain America: Road to War #1 (which takes place right before the start of Captain America: Civil War) readers see Cap training the new Avengers team while Tony Stark builds his watch/glove thing we see him use in the film against Winter Soldier.

  As this takes place after Avengers: The Age of Ultron, there are Hydra remnants (presumably working for Grant Ward, given what was happening in Agents of SHIELD at the time) who repurpose Ultron drones for their Project: Ultimo. The subsequent giant robot is the first test for Cap’s kooky sextet. Sadly, Iron Man does not actually fight his comic book nemesis. Too busy with combat horology, apparently. 
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  (#26) Union Jack

  A cross between Captain America and Batman (which, holy sh*t, so cool), the British superhero Union Jack is generally agreed to have one of the coolest costumes in comics. It makes sense, then, that the costume has been passed down from generation to generation.

  In World War I, Union Jack was James Montgomery Falsworth (Lord Falsworth), and he fought bravely alongside other European heroes in the Freedom’s Five against the Central Powers. His son, Brian Falsworth, fought in WWII alongside his boyfriend Roger Aubrey.

  In the MCU, James Falsworth fought alongside Cap in Second World War as part of the Howling Commandos in Captain America: The First Avenger. Interestingly, aside from filling in for Brian, the movie version of James bears a striking resemblance to comic book Howling Commando Percy “Pinky” Pinkerton, who later showed up in the MCU through the Agent Carter series.
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  (#27) X-Men

  • Uncanny X-Men

  Considering Wolverine and the X-Men are part of Fox’s film franchise and nowhere near the MCU, it’s funny that Wolverine’s engineers have been referenced more than once. Wolverine was created as part of the Weapon X program, which itself is part of the larger Weapon Plus program. 

  This includes such diverse programs as Weapon I, which created Captain America, and Weapon VII, which created the psychotic drug-fueled Nuke. Cap appeared in Captain America: The First Avenger and Nuke appeared as Officer Simpson on Neflix’s Jessica Jones, but neither had explicit references to Weapon Plus.

  For that, see The Incredible Hulk, which had General Thaddeus Ross using “Weapon Plus” equipment from Captain America’s creation to empower the Abomination. Additionally, the first season Agents of SHIELD episode “End of the Beginning” referenced Wolverine’s military bosses, Department H, the government agency that runs Canadian superteam Alpha Flight.
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  (#28) Zodiac

  The Zodiac Cartel may look silly with their astrology-themed names and powers, but they mean serious business. Various Zodiac groups have legitimately threatened the Avengers time and again, and a few members, like Scorpio and Libra, have gone on to make major impacts on the Marvel Universe.

  In the MCU, the Zodiac was first hinted at in the Marvel One-Shot Agent Carter, in which the titular Agent Carter tracked down the mysterious Zodiac, a chemical marked with the symbol of the Zodiac Key. In Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier Infinite Comic #1, Captain America, Black Widow, and Brock “Crossbones” Rumlow find out terrorists have stolen Zodiac from SHIELD’s storehouse, and go to take it back. The key itself seemed to be in the Broker’s collection in Guardians of the Glaxay. Zodiac member Van Lunt was also referenced in Dardevil season one, though he didn’t appear.
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  (#29) The Weird Slug Things From Slither

  Okay, first off, really? Like, for real, y'all? Director James Gunn’s 2006 gross-out creature feature Slither is part of the MCU? Well, sorta. As the movie predates the first official MCU film (Iron Man) by two years, that claim may be a bit dubious, but the meteor-borne parasitic worms from Slither certainly are in the MCU. Gunn made sure to include them in the Collector’s collection in Guardians of the Galaxy.

  You can see the brain slugs behind the Collector while he’s pontificating. 
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  (#30) Ursa Major

  Minutes before making a jailbreak in Black Widow, Alexei Shostakov breaks the arm of a fellow inmate who poked holes in his questionable tale of fighting Captain America. The inmate is a figurative bear of a man with the rather appropriate moniker of “Ursa.”

  This is a plain tip of the cap to Ursa Major, a Red Room recruit and one of the Red Guardian’s teammates on the comic book roster of the Winter Guard, Russia’s premiere super-team. Unlike his cinematic counterpart, there’s nothing metaphorical about the comic book Ursa, since he's a mutant with the ability to transform into a seven-foot-tall grizzly bear at will. Curiously enough, Black Widow labels the character as Ursa and not Mikhail Ursus, his actual name, which could be a hint that his unique powers exist within the MCU, as well.

  Contrary to his combative onscreen debut, Ursa Major would eventually prove to be one of the Winter Guard’s more humane members - even as he began to spend more and more time in his furry form. 
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