There is almost no end to the Marvel Comics characters, which have been created since the beginning of the comics giant almost ninety years ago when it was still Timely Comics. A lot of things about the company have changed since then, most notably the name and the mediums they work in.
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However, of the many characters created, some get left by the wayside as others, and newer characters take center stage,as happens in the MCU. Some are abandoned entirely as writers and artists find there is simply nothing for them to do anymore in the landscape of the larger Marvel Universe.
6Blonde Phantom
There are some comic book characters that know they’re in a comic book,for example, Deadpool. As a character, Deadpool has always worked very well, his tongue-in-cheek breaking of the fourth wall often works brilliantly. It never quite worked as well for the Blonde Phantom, who was a character in the 1980s Sensational She-Hulk series.
Since She-Hulk in that series wasoften seen fourth-wall breaking, like her MCU counterpart has been doing more recently, Blonde Phantom was also turned into a fourth-wall-breaking character by John Byrne. After this series was canceled, Blonde Phantom was never plucked from the obscurity of characters in the Marvel repertoire again for anything.
5The Whizzer
Marvel isn’t as well-known for their speedster characters as DC is due toThe Flashand his various counterparts. However, back in the Golden Age of Superheroes, Marvel came up with the Whizzer. Not a name that has aged particularly well, the Whizzer came back again in the 1970s.
However, he has been almost entirely dormant since then. Appearing in a couple ofSpider-Mancartoon shows but not getting an appearance in a comic book in many years, The Whizzer gained his super-speed powers due to an injection of mongoose blood. It may not be the most scientific way to gain superpowers, but it certainly passed for a backstory in the 1940s. Still, there may be some better superhero andsupervillain origin stories out there.
4Bird-Brain
There are plenty of bird-themed characters in both Marvel and DC Comics. Some of the more popular characters that have made it into the MCU include Vulture,The Falcon minus some of his bird-themed powers, and Howard the Duck. The biggest problem with Bird Brain wasn’t that he was bird-themed, it was that he was just a big bird.
Bird-Brain was one of the Ani-Mates, which were creations of a crazed geneticist trying to merge human and animal characteristics into new creations. Bird-Brain escaped and was helped by the New Mutants. Despite constantly trying to find ways to include him in society, Bird-Brain was a failed experiment in more ways than one. It was particularly difficult to give him any character at all since his language is so basic even Cypher couldn’t figure it out and communicate with him. Bird-Brain has, unsurprisingly, been gone for some time.
3Asbestos Lady
It would be easy to say you can’t write these characters, except that somebody actually did. Asbestos Lady is a former enemy of the Human Torch, primarily hating him because he was made of fire, and she was a chemist gone crazy who created fireproof clothing using asbestos. Strangely, there is no known connection between Asbestos Lady and the 1960s character Asbestos Man.
Related:Most Iconic Female Villains In Marvel ComicsWhile mentioned and shown in a flashback more recently, Asbestos Lady hasn’t actually had a proper appearance in Marvel Comics for many decades now. Her death was brought up in a Marvel Universe Handbook in 2006, mentioning that she died at age 45 from a type of cancer. It is unlikely that there are future appearances in the offing.
2Hindsight Lad
It’s difficult to accept that Marvel really created a hero with the power of hindsight. He frequently came out with lines that reprimanded others for not choosing to do things his way. While it might have been able to work in a comedic setting, Hindsight Lad usually just ended up being terribly annoying instead.
While he was seen older and retired in the lead-up to the Civil War storyline, Hindsight Lad hasn’t appeared in his superhero persona since the 1990s New Warriors series. It doesn’t appear like his power or character has been missed at Marvel. Ironically, with the gift of hindsight, they probably just wouldn’t have created him.
13-D Man
There have been two characters that use the moniker 3-D Man, and while the second has appeared more recently, it is the ridiculous original incarnation of 3-D Man who has been totally, and rightfully, abandoned by Marvel. Compared to the gods and monsters fighting in the MCU today, it might be best to leave out a man who simply has three times the strength and speed of a regular man.
Add to that the unique costume and look of 3-D Man, and fans can begin to understand why he hasn’t been brought back. Originally 3-D Man was created when a test pilot was exposed to Skrull radiation and temporarily became a 2-D image in the glasses of his brother. When he returned to a 3-D shape, he had his powers and began to fight crime. It doesn’t get much more explanation than that, really, but the elaboration of the backstory most certainly wasn’t the only problem fans had with 3-D Man.Skrulls will be making a returninSecret Invasion, but 3-D Man is unlikely to follow.
