Starting with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in theaters and ending with Ironheart on Disney+, the last two and a half years have given us Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While Phase Four was about setting up the multiverse and introducing the next generation of heroes, Phase Give continued by alerting us to multiversal peril while all the remaining heroes gravitate into their own little cliques.
Unlike the other phases, this fifth batch of movies and shows have no completely fresh protagonists. They are all led by characters introduced in prior projects. That said, Marvel is always building to the next thing, and many new characters have shown up in Phase Five to make an impact. Here is a look at the best of them.
Of course, this does come with an asterisk when it comes to variants. Technically, the Wolverine from Deadpool & Wolverine is a brand-new character to us, even if he is played by Hugh Jackman. That can be a slippery slope, because why not include Red Guardian as “Bob Toledo” from What If … ? or the current animated Peter Parker? Certain characters on the list might be a bit borderline, so it will be a case-by-case basis on how reminiscent they are to their multiversal counterparts.
Also, honorable mention to Ruben Rabasa (the “a good steering wheel that doesn’t fly off when you’re driving” guy from I Think You Should Leave) for his brief appearance in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. He just didn’t get enough screentime to make the cut. Honestly, the same goes for Prince Yan (Park Seo-joon) from The Marvels.
High Evolutionary
Marvel villains had been more miss than hit since Thanos turned to dust, but holy hell did Chukwudi Iwuji kill it as the High Evolutionary. Somehow the villain from the worst Spider-Man cartoon series ever (Spider-Man Unlimited, if you were wondering) was reimagined as the most vile and sadistic antagonist we’ve seen in a while. Animal cruelty, body horror, over-the-top grandstanding, and a solid armor of smug made him someone you wanted to see torn apart. And boy, did he get his!
Not only is the performance great, but High Evolutionary also ties things together for the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. Rocket’s backstory had only been hinted at in previous movies with minor explanations for his physical and mental scarring. High Evolutionary gives closure to that, while also tying it into the existence of the Sovereign and their ultimate weapon Adam Warlock.
Ouroboros
The casting was perhaps too on the nose. After Ke Huy Quan turned a lot of heads by coming out of retirement to do Everything Everywhere All at Once, he was cast in the second season of Loki to play a character with a lot of parallels. OB was also a lovable nerd with a strained marriage who was tangled up in a confusing sci-fi premise centered around a threat to the multiverse as we know it.
Loki had so many characters from the first season who needed extra attention, such as Casey and Brad, so adding another name to the pile was going to be no easy feat. Luckily, Ouroboros added the right balance of upbeat and weird to mix with so much exposition and sci-fi mumbo jumbo to move the plot forward.
Cassandra Nova
Deadpool doesn’t really have many notable villains in the comics. Even Ajax from the first movie was only around for one storyline before being killed off. Considering Deadpool & Wolverine was all about celebrating the Fox X-Men movies while exploring multiversal concepts, Cassandra Nova was a perfect choice for the two healing Canadians to fight. Created by Grant Morrison (who will be writing Deadpool for the first time later this year), Cassandra is familiar enough to the X-Men franchise as Charles Xavier’s twin sister, but unique and weird enough to feel right at home in a Deadpool movie that swims through TVA lore. Hell, even if they went with the comics origin that she was strangled in the womb and still somehow survived, it still wouldn’t have been too out there for this movie.
Emma Corrin plays manic and psychotic well for the character, a pure sadist who laughs about how she doesn’t know why she is the way she is, but there’s no more explanation needed. She spent most of her existence as the victim of sci-fi bureaucrats who doomed her to a life as queen of a desolate death factory wasteland at the end of time. No wonder she wore Doctor Strange’s skin for several days.
Gambit
As Deadpool & Wolverine became inundated with cameos, the special appearances of heroes from cinema past were starting to run the risk of wearing out their welcome. Elektra was a decent novelty, but where could you go after Blade stepped into frame with the growl of his theme music? The answer was to bring in the hero who almost was. Channing Tatum, playing into rumors and behind-the-scenes fumbling that the average viewer would not be aware of, showed up as Remy LeBeau, looking like one of those Photoshopped fan-made posters you’d see on social media or Deviantart.
Tatum had been waiting a long, long time to play this role and he made every second count. What helped make his goofball, yet comic-accurate performance work was how Deadpool ended up the straight man in their interactions while at times seeing eye-to-eye with him. Had things gone different, Wade, Remy, and that foulmouthed Johnny Storm could have been best bros.
Rio Vidal
When they announced Aubrey Plaza was going to be on a show about witches, it felt too perfect. Then when she showed up all mysteriously in the first episode, it was apparent that she was someone comic fans would know, to the point that she likely mentioned having a “black heart” for the sake of a red herring suggestion that she was Mephisto’s offspring. As things went on, it became a bit more obvious that she was literal Death, though with enough extra pieces of enigmatic context sprinkled in that made such a reveal more compelling. Then when they pulled the trigger and revealed her true identity, it had some serious impact, from her creepy skull lower face to the cutaway of her cackling during the Ouija séance while Lilia turned her head in horrified realization.
Rio being Death was neat enough, but it was the added details that really took it home. Her relationship with Agatha. Her favor for Agatha, and the pain of knowing that it was the best she could do for her. She went from being perceived as a sinister threat to a neutral force of nature with a sense of duty and a soft side. Still, it is so weird that Starfox, Adam Warlock, and Death showed up in the MCU after Thanos was dead and gone.
Lilia Calderu
Agatha Harkness’ coven had some great characters on their faux quest for power, but none stood out nearly as much as Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone). Throughout the show, Lilia was overall helpful but constantly came off as wispy and/or kooky in the presence of the other witches as she was constantly saying non sequiturs and randomly name-dropping tarot card names. We knew she was a mystery to solve, but in the first six episodes, her behavior came off as perhaps magic and old age affecting her brain.
It wasn’t until the seventh episode, “Death’s Hand in Mine,” that everything came full circle and we realized the truth of Lilia’s behavior. Seeing all the puzzle pieces fall into place was badass, cathartic, and emotional. The whole climax to her role in Agatha All Along hits hard and it alone is one of the true highlights of Marvel Phase Five.
Byrdie the Duck
Despite being based on tangent timelines, every now and then, the What If…? animated series would throw out an original character. In this case, in a sequel to an episode from season 1, Howard the Duck and his bride Darcy Lewis had an egg. Try… try not to think too hard about how that worked. Due to this going down during this reality’s Convergence (the big cosmic event from Thor: The Dark World), this egg was prophesied to house great power. Eventually, Byrdie was hatched, and laid waste to the many who would have stolen and exploited her.
Fast-forward several decades, and Byrdie the Duck is now part of Uatu the Watcher’s ever-dwindling Exiles. Voiced by Natasha Lyonne, Byrdie’s ‘80s rocker style seems based on Lea Thompson’s Beverly Switzler from the 1986 Howard the Duck movie. Once the season got into its usual lore-accumulated finale episodes, it was Byrdie’s bombastic personality that kept things fun.
Curiously, Natasha Lyonne is supposed to have some kind of role in Fantastic Four: First Steps, and considering the whole multiverse connection, it’s very possible that we haven’t seen the last of Howard and Darcy’s cosmic daughter.
Muse
Daredevil: Born Again had a rough mission statement of trying to merge the Netflix Marvel style with the overarching MCU approach. A lot of it was scattershot, what with the reshoots and attempts to polish the earlier footage of the show by streamlining it to the Daredevil seasons that came before. Muse (Hunter Doohan) seems to be the ingredient that really bridges the two and helps make Born Again work. It’s a relief, since they were really running out of notable Daredevil villains.
While only around for a few episodes, Muse was the perfect mid-level threat for Daredevil to be dealing with amongst all the Mayor Kingpin hoopla. As a serial killer who could take a punch, Muse felt at home with the Netflix corner of Marvel. But more than that, they were able to commit to the comics by pulling off his masked look and over-the-top goals. The Netflix stuff liked to treat comic accuracy as a joke, throwing in the occasional costume reference here and there for the sake of an Easter egg, but seeing Muse in all his glory just felt right.
Yes, I’m still bitter that Nuke never had the American flag tattooed over his face on Jessica Jones. No, I don’t care if it would not have made sense.
Bob Reynolds
First off, I don’t even understand why Sentry qualifies for this list. My editor kept insisting to put him on here even though I keep explaining that he’s been around since the first Sentry movie that started the MCU back in 2007. Apparently, I’m the only one who remembers this! Ah, well.
Bob/Sentry/Void was always going to be a hard concept to make work, especially as we’re in an era where “Superman but dark” has been run into the ground so hard that it’s right under the Vault. In Thunderbolts*, they really made the character pop by not only integrating him into the movie’s themes, but also through Lewis Pullman’s fidgety and awkward depiction, where he comes off as likeable and kind, but there’s an angry and suicidal persona bubbling from underneath.
Seeing it through to the other side, Sentry is now a unique type of superhero powerhouse. He’s the New Avengers’ nuclear option, but only in the biggest emergency, or else things might go wrong on an apocalyptic level. He’s their new Hulk, but more of a threat to everyone and everything.
Mephisto
Here it is, Milhouse. We finally got to the fireworks factory.
Consider this one a joint entry with the Hood (Anthony Ramos) as the dealmaker, the dealtaker, and the wardrobe are all tied together. Parker Robbins is almost like the final form of Marvel’s villain criticism. After bad guys like Killmonger, Flagsmasher, and Leader being seen as having a great point, only to become cartoonishly evil to make up for it, we get the Hood. Yes, there’s an almost Robin Hood-like charm to how he takes down his corporate victims in the name of the little man, but in the end, he’s self-serving to the point that he’s literally selling his soul to the Devil.
Mephisto (Sasha Baron Cohen) adds the right combination of charm and menace as he plays Parker – and later Riri – like a fiddle. So far, he’s fulfilling the potential of what Marvel Satan could be while they have been careful of having him show too much too soon. Waiting until the end of Phase 5 for this red shoe to drop works out well, as with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars looming in the distance, the heroes of the MCU may have to realize that good intentions and a pure heart aren’t always enough to save the day. Like with the third eyeball on Dr. Strange’s forehead, sometimes you can only get by via damnation.
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