The Marvel Cinematic Universe shines with an abundance of beloved individuals. Just like “The Golden Girls” theme song, you want to thank them for being a friend. Then there are the MCU’s annoying characters. These toads rile you up to the point that you want to sign them up to every email subscription service under the sun just to inflict an iota of the irritation they cause you.
That might sound dramatically over the top, but there’s little denying the traumatizing effects they have on their respective projects, making you want to fast forward at best—or even refuse to rewatch them altogether. If you know, you know. Some of them give you the ick whenever they open their mouths; others through their questionable actions or unrepentant whininess (think of a certain “hero” with a glowing fist and terrible martial arts technique). Whichever way, these peeps bring raging thunderstorms on a bright sunny day.
Having said that, let’s take a look at the most annoying Marvel Cinematic Universe characters, ranked by how much they infuriate us. Apologies in advance for the irritation you’ll feel by the mere mention of these names in the future.
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### 1. Mr. Paradox – *Deadpool & Wolverine*
Blending nostalgia with the ultimate madcap adventure featuring the Merc with the Mouth (Ryan Reynolds) and Logan (Hugh Jackman), *Deadpool & Wolverine* hits all the right spots except in one key area: supporting antagonist Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen).
Paradox wants to use the Time Ripper device to finish off Earth-10005, aka the Fox movie universe, in a hasty manner. He hopes the results get him a sweet promotion and likely a shoutout in the company newsletter. Sure, he’s defying direct orders, but he wants to be noticed—he’s a paradox, see?
In other words, Paradox is like Carl from accounts, the first person to “like” the boss’s Slack message so everyone notices him. A likely LinkedIn lunatic, Paradox irks as a boardroom villain. Everyone knows someone like him in real life—an absolutely useless co-worker who mastered the dark arts of workplace politics.
Let’s be fair: Macfadyen nails the role. Having played the sniveling and sycophantic Tom Wambsgans in *Succession*, he brings the same energy to Paradox, the MCU’s version of Tom complete with all the shadiness and suck-up tendencies. At least Paradox got his comeuppance in *Deadpool & Wolverine*—unlike Tom, who reaped the rewards of bootlicking.
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### 2. Pepper Potts – *Iron Man* Series and Beyond
Here’s the sad part about Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow): as time has gone on, the character has grown progressively more irritating to stomach. It’s ironic, though. The whole will-they/won’t-they dance between her and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) was one of the best parts of the early MCU, while still affording Pepper the chance to be a fully fledged character in her own right.
Yet, after they couple up, it’s meh all the way, relegating Pepper to serving as a minor element of Tony’s story arc rather than an important narrative of her own. While she suits up in iron armor a few times, this feels more shoehorned than earned.
Perhaps the biggest issue is Paltrow herself, who seems to have lost interest in both the character and the MCU. Her *Avengers: Endgame* confession broke the hearts of Marvel fans—she admitted to not having seen *Endgame*, nor other movies before it, and didn’t even remember Pepper’s part in *Spider-Man: Homecoming*. Hopefully, she made sure that the paycheck cleared.
Paltrow claims the movies haven’t been the same since the original *Iron Man*, and maybe she’s right. That disinterest is evident in her later performances. How can anyone care about Pepper when the actor clearly doesn’t?
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### 3. Trevor Slattery – *Iron Man 3* and *Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings*
When Shane Black’s *Iron Man 3* teased Sir Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin, the casting gods rejoiced. Kingsley is one of the greatest actors ever to grace our screens, so having him as Iron Man’s ultimate nemesis seemed like blockbuster business.
It was a sleight of hand, though. Kingsley actually plays Trevor Slattery, an actor used as a distraction from the real Mandarin, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce). This twist turns out to be a deflatable moment, especially as Slattery devolves into a comedic, bumbling character.
Is this really the best the MCU could do with Kingsley? Slattery returned in *Shang-Chi*, serving as an imprisoned jester for the real Ten Rings leader, Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung). His role remains little more than a running punchline. At this point, he’s just another Korg—fun at first, but tiresome quickly.
What annoys the most about Slattery is how different it could have been. While some praised the bait-and-switch in *Iron Man 3*, it’s hard to argue Slattery is interesting or memorable. He’s pure comic relief, which feels like a waste of Kingsley’s talents—you might as well have cast Jack Black for the role.
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### 4. Todd Phelps – *She-Hulk: Attorney at Law*
Maybe the world is so jaded by real-life billionaire tech bros and their race to see who destroys humanity first that fictional ones aren’t amusing anymore. In the case of Todd Phelps (Jon Bass), he grinds your gears from the moment he appears in *She-Hulk*.
This internet troll-turned-incel website owner feels entitled to She-Hulk’s (Tatiana Maslany) blood and launches a concentrated smear campaign against her. He succeeds, transforming into a green beast—until the lame ending of *She-Hulk* rewrites the story and renders all events useless.
All hail K. E. V. I. N., right?
Despite the flat conclusion, Todd is an exasperating character who makes you want to stop watching. He’s exactly like every other online grifter: misogynistic, toxic, and delusional. Perhaps he’s too well-written, behaving just like his billionaire brethren on social media, but Phelps elicits sighs every time he’s on screen.
It’s almost criminal that She-Hulk didn’t sort this muppet out with a ragdoll beatdown, like her cousin Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) did to Loki years earlier.
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### 5. Danny Rand – *Iron Fist* (Netflix Series)
In Marvel Comics, Danny Rand is an awesome and powerful character. Sadly, that’s not the case with the version played by the horribly miscast Finn Jones in the short-lived Netflix *Iron Fist* series.
As a whole, the show is a mess—a rushed, cobbled-together project that did no favors to its actors. Jones’s martial arts skills leave much to be desired; he moves like he’s in slow motion. Plus, this dude’s whiny.
Oh, my Celestial, he just never stops. He’s either moping as if someone ate his last box of Cheerios or delivering lines as though promising vengeance while sitting on a gargoyle. It never ends, and you find yourself rooting for the villains to kick his butt because he’s insufferable.
It doesn’t help that Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick) is far more compelling than Danny, arguably more fitting to carry the Iron Fist title.
Ultimately, Netflix was right to cancel *Iron Fist*—fans deserve better than a hero who needs a block of cheese to go with all his whine.
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### 6. Flash Thompson – *Spider-Man* (MCU)
In Sam Raimi’s *Spider-Man*, Joe Manganiello’s Flash Thompson is a proper high school bully. Yet, MCU’s Flash, played by Tony Revolori, feels like he belongs in *Gossip Girl*.
He’s the kind of dude who uses Sora to turn his classmates into goats in an unfunny video for his amusement. Revolori described his version of Flash as “a social media bully,” and that’s his biggest problem.
This isn’t the actor’s fault—he’s playing the character as written. But MCU’s Flash is never a real threat to Tom Holland’s Peter or anyone else. In the comics, Flash causes significant angst for Peter, making school life harder (though Revolori’s Flash does follow canon by being a major Spider-Man fanboy).
When all’s said and done, MCU’s Flash is just a gnat—buzzing around, making noise, but nobody cares when he leaves. Maybe the spell Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) cast to make everyone forget Peter’s identity can also erase Flash.
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### 7. Justin Hammer – *Iron Man 2*
Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer tries to position himself as a major rival to Tony Stark, but he’s nothing more than a pretentious wannabe—a Temu Tony, if you will.
While Tony can command a room effortlessly, Hammer comes off as a try-hard. Consider his harebrained scheme in *Iron Man 2*: after Tony insults him, Hammer breaks Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) out of prison to work for him.
Expectedly, Vanko betrays him. Yet, what was Hammer thinking? When Vanko attacks at the Monaco Grand Prix, he nearly kills innocents while trying to murder Tony.
Did Hammer think Vanko would be loyal? He’s not smart or threatening—just a minor league enemy you don’t even need to defeat to meet the real big bad.
Unsurprisingly, *Iron Man 2* nearly derailed the MCU, in no small part due to vexing characters like Hammer.
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### 8. Ralph Bohner – *WandaVision*
*WandaVision* teases the multiverse extensively. When Pietro Maximoff is first mentioned, viewers perked up—is Aaron Taylor-Johnson reprising his role after serving as a human shield in *Avengers: Age of Ultron*? Nope.
Instead, Evan Peters arrives on Wanda’s doorstep. This was the crossover fans dreamed of—or maybe not. Peters isn’t Pietro. He’s Ralph Bohner, an actor who Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) uses to manipulate Wanda.
Yes, his surname is a wink-worthy joke the writers must be proud of.
Ralph is a nobody inserted for a wink-wink moment. It’s disappointing because Peters’ version of Quicksilver is arguably better, with his comedic slow-mo scenes standing out in every *X-Men* movie.
Rather than integrate Peters properly, the MCU gave us a doofus called Ralph Bohner. Honestly, repeating it doesn’t make it funnier.
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### 9. Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross – *Multiple MCU Films*
Trace back the MCU’s most devastating moments and you’ll find a common denominator: Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt/Harrison Ford).
From Abomination (Tim Roth) wrecking Harlem to the Avengers’ civil war, Ross has been a catalyst for disaster. And in typical fashion, he isn’t punished. Instead, he fails upwards, becoming the President of the United States by the time *Captain America: Brave New World* rolls around.
He doesn’t learn his lesson, wreaking havoc again as the Red Hulk. Thankfully, this time he’s locked away in the Raft, where he should have been long ago.
Ross is frustrating because he believes he’s doing the right thing while causing chaos. No wonder his daughter, Betty (Liv Tyler), distanced herself for so long.
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### 10. Peter Quill / Star-Lord – *Guardians of the Galaxy* and Beyond
When fans first met Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), aka Star-Lord, he wasn’t too annoying. A little goofy, sure, but endearing.
By *Avengers: Infinity War*, though, get the mosquito swatter out—he becomes a pest everyone wants to swat.
Not to sugarcoat it: the Avengers died and Earth’s people lost five years because of Peter.
While battling Thanos (Josh Brolin), Peter becomes emotional upon learning what Thanos did to Gamora (Zoe Saldaña). Tony begs him to keep it in check as they nearly have the gauntlet off Thanos’s arm.
Instead, Peter loses control, jeopardizing everything. Also, remember how reluctant Peter was to have Thor (Chris Hemsworth) join the Guardians? He couldn’t start the ship fast enough once Thor left.
If you’re leader of an intergalactic superhero team with the literal God of Thunder available, wouldn’t you want to keep that talent?
Hands down, Star-Lord wins the dishonorable award for being the most annoying character in the MCU.
In retrospect, we should have seen it coming—never trust anyone who chooses tape over vinyl.
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Whether you love or love to hate these characters, they’ve all left their mark on the MCU—sometimes for better, but often for worse. Here’s hoping future projects bring fewer headaches and more heroes we genuinely root for!
https://www.looper.com/2011668/marvel-cinematic-universe-characters-annoying-ranked/