Marvel Studios’ Disney+ shows have introduced some great new characters to the MCU. One of the biggest complaints about the MCU post-Endgame is that it doesn’t feel like a unified story anymore. The Infinity Saga brought together the core Avengers and told a single overarching story that they all had a key role in.
But in the Multiverse Saga, with an oversaturation of movies and TV shows, it’s unclear who the core Avengers are. Still, this era of the MCU has given us some great new characters, and some of the best new additions made their debut on the small screen in one of the Disney+ shows.
Madisynn King
Patty Guggenheim’s scene-stealing turn as Madisynn in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is definitive proof that there are no small parts; only small actors. Madisynn should’ve been a throwaway character, but Guggenheim’s hilarious performance (and her unexpectedly endearing dynamic with “Wongers”) made her one of the most memorable parts of the series.
Lonnie Lincoln
Lonnie Lincoln was the breakout star of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. One of the best things about the show is that it didn’t blindly depict the villains as straightforward evildoers; it explored the circumstances that pushed them into villainy. Lonnie’s story is a perfect example of that. He only joins the 110th Street gang to protect his brother.
Mephisto
After he was theorized to appear in just about every Marvel project, Mephisto finally made his MCU debut in the most unlikely place: the Ironheart finale. Sacha Baron Cohen’s performance is sinister and eccentric enough to live up to the hype, and talking Riri Williams into making a deal with the Devil was the perfect way to introduce Marvel Satan.
Captain Carter
Although it was set up as an anthology series, What If…? ended up telling a pretty unifying story, and the central character of that story was Captain Carter. It was interesting to see the MCU’s history rewritten with Peggy in Steve Rogers’ place and vice versa, and she proved to be an awesome hero in her own right.
Ouroboros
Ke Huy Quan is delightful in everything he appears in. It’s what made him an icon after Indiana Jones and The Goonies, and it’s what earned him an Oscar for Everything Everywhere All at Once. He brought his wholesome charms to the MCU in Loki’s second season, where he played a hilariously eccentric TVA technician who’s been working alone for centuries.
Jorani
When Iron Fist made his debut on Netflix, it was a crushing disappointment. Now, nearly a decade later, the Iron Fist name has been redeemed with the introduction of Jorani. The third episode of Eyes of Wakanda gave us a better Iron Fist story in a single half-hour episode than Netflix did with an entire series.
He Who Remains
Loki’s season 1 finale introduced MCU fans to the next Thanos-level big bad (or, at least, the guy who was supposed to be the next big bad). Kang the Conqueror’s first on-screen variant, He Who Remains, perfectly introduced the grave existential threat posed by Kang and his powers — not to mention Jonathan Majors’ chilling performance.
The Hood
The Hood, played brilliantly by Anthony Ramos, was an interesting choice for the villain of Ironheart. In the Iron Man movies, Tony Stark often fought rival tech bros and countered their scientific innovations with his own scientific innovations. But in Ironheart, the Hood brought a mystical, fantastical element. Riri has to fight magic with science.
Kate Bishop
In Hawkeye’s Disney+ series, he took a young ward under his wing. Kate Bishop is perhaps the only person on Earth whose favorite Avenger is the one with the bow and arrow, and her blossoming mentor-mentee relationship with Clint Barton provided both a comedic back-and-forth and an emotional undercurrent to this Die Hard-style Christmas action thriller.
Hailee Steinfeld shares great chemistry with Jeremy Renner, and she’s a charismatic action hero in her own right. I can’t wait to see her come into her own as a member of the Young Avengers.
Moon Knight
Marvel tried its hand at a Fight Club-style psychological thriller with Moon Knight. Moon Knight is unlike any other superhero out there, because he has dissociative identity disorder, so he flits back and forth between a mild-mannered gift shop employee and a ruthless mercenary. Oscar Isaac gives an incredible performance in the role, seamlessly switching between two completely different personalities.
