The Top Ten BEST MCU Characters Introduced in 2021
It would be very fair to say that 2021 may well go down as one of the most important years in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s history. With no less than NINE projects released that year, we were introduced to a wide, wide variety of characters that will go down as fan favorites. But which ones are the best? Well, here’s MY countdown!
10- Strange Supreme from “What If…?”
Strange Supreme: the good man who went down the wrong path for the right reasons. Stephen Strange was just your typical super-genius surgeon who had it all: a fantastic career, wealth, fame, and a gorgeous girlfriend. A single accident, sadly, took her life and sent Stephen on a downward spiral. Through the wildest of circumstances, Strange became a powerful sorcerer, but his heart could never heal…
I’ll be honest: I might rag on “What If…?” but godDAMN did this episode ROCK! Strange Supreme really was one of the most tragic characters in the MCU’s history, and the scene of him begging The Watcher to save the world is one I watch over and over again! AWESOME!!!
9- Thena from “Eternals”
Two rules of thumb when it comes to Hollywood. Number one: You can’t go wrong with casting Angelina Jolie. Number two: When you’ve got Angelina Jolie in an action movie, give her the most kick-ass role you can muster. Eternals did both, and I’ll be honest when I say, Angelina Jolie stole the show for me. Yes I know Gemma Chen’s Cersi was the main heroine, but it was Thena that I was watching the most! In fact, if I have to point out one critical flaw in Eternals, it’s that Thena isn’t in it enough. Give me a Thena movie!!!
8- Kingo from “Eternals”
Honestly, Kingo is a comedy relief done right. He’s funny, he’s charming, but he can (and will) kick ass if he needs to. And his power? The ability to shoot balls of energy, like a Kamehameha Wave? Dude, that’s tight! Loved this character, and I’d LOVE for a Kingo show on Disney+!
7- Kate Bishop from “Hawkeye”
Hollywood has gotten way too comfortable with giving its female leads insane skills and abilities right off the bat, to the point that their victories feel hollow and unearned. (Rey Skywalker and Carol Danvers, I’m looking at the two of you!) But that ain’t Kate! Kate Bishop starts off as an Olympic level archer and a black belt in martial arts, and we’re made aware from the first moment we see these skills that they come from years and YEARS of practice. But when she’s up against professional criminals? She’s NOTHING!
That’s why it’s such a joy to see her train with Clint Barton himself, seeing her improve by the episode. By the time the series finale aired, all that ass kicking she was doing? It felt EARNED! This is why I absolutely LOVE Kate Bishop, and am eagerly awaiting her return! If there’s a Kate Bishop movie, I’m watching it!
6- Mobius M. Mobius from “Loki”
Right from his very first scene, Mobius was playing around with Loki, humiliating him and teaching the Trickster God just how OUT OF HIS LEAGUE he was with the Time Variance Authority. Then we got to know more of Mobius, and we saw that he’s the perfect blend of cool, professional, endearingly dorky, and legitimately funny. You start rooting for Mobius right from his first scene, and you never really stop!
5- Xu Wenwu from “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”
It is often said that a story is only as good as its villain; well, Xu Wenwu was no slouch in that department. A former warlord who is trying to reclaim the soul of his dead wife and will stop at NOTHING to do so, Xu Wenwu is the kind of villain comic book writers DREAM of creating. The man is also a classic case study of how a sympathetic backstory doesn’t, at all, make one sympathetic. Xu Wenwu is STILL that same warlord, and he’s STILL bringing death and destruction wherever he goes. THAT is what makes him so compelling!
4- He Who Remains from “Loki”
When you’ve got a character who’s only gonna be on screen for ten minutes, you damn well better make them count. Jonathan Majors, as He Who Remains, made EVERY SECOND COUNT. The moment he pops up on screen he DEMANDS your attention, and with every word that flies out of his mouth you are enraptured by what he’s saying. Then, in the last few moments of his screen time, you realize: this guy is the new Thanos of the MCU. And you then accept that Phase Four is not gonna be the disaster that people have been calling it before it even began…
3- John Walker from “Falcon and the Winter Soldier”
John Walker is precisely the type of guy who proves why Steve Rogers deserved to be Captain America. Walker was given the Shield by people who didn’t understand, or care, that what made Steve Rogers worthy of being Cap was already within him when he was a scrawny, asthmatic dork from Brooklyn. Walker himself, though a highly decorated soldier, was morally flawed and prone to anger.
Walker was the type of guy that the US Armed Forces could parade around and proclaim to be their top agent. And that’s what he was: an agent for the government, a tool for politicians to use and discard whenever they saw fit. When Walker made them look bad by killing a downed opponent, he was discarded without a second thought. He did their dirty work, and all he got out of it was humiliation.
Of all the MCU characters from 2021, and indeed of ALL the MCU characters, I’d say Walker is one of the most fascinating because he’s this very subtle indictment towards the USA as a whole. I gotta write more about him in the future.
2- Agatha Harkness from “WandaVision”
Who’s been messing up everything?
It’s been Agatha all along
Who’s been pulling every evil string?
It’s been Agatha all along
She’s insidious
So perfidious
That you haven’t even noticed
And the pity is (the pity is)
Pity, pity, pity, pity
It’s too late to fix anything
Now that everything has gone wrong
Thanks to Agatha
Naughty Agatha
It’s been Agatha all along!
And she killed Sparky, too!!!
Before we get to Number 1, here’s the Honorable Mentions:
The Spider-Men from the Multiverse. Yeah, it’s GREAT to see Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire don the suits one more time, but they don’t actually COUNT as 2021 MCU debuts because we’ve already seen them before.
The BEST- Yelena Belova from “Black Widow”
It takes a LOT of talent, skill, and cleverness to steal the show from frickin’ Scarlett Johanson, of all actresses. Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova does precisely that in her debut film, Black Widow. At the start of Black Widow, I had no idea who Yelena was; at the end, my soul needed a frickin’ Yelena Belova movie TRILOGY!!!
