Despite being largely based on the lore of Marvel Comics, the MCU doesn’t always stick to what’s found in the pages of its source material. Drawing inspiration for the characters from the comics is an easier route, but sometimes it’s necessary to get a little creative and add an original spark when adapting the stories for the big screen.
As fate would have it, the MCU’s original characters have turned out to be some of our personal favorites. So much so, we simply can’t imagine the MCU without them. Let’s look at the best characters created originally for the MCU (and not based on Marvel Comics).
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8 Sylvie
Marvel Studios / Disney
As it turns out, Sylvie Laufeydottir, born Loki Laufeydottir, is a completely different character in the comics, one that is related to the Asgardian Frost Giants. The first time we see Sylvie in the MCU is in the miniseries Loki, where she plays a Loki variant who’s hunted by the TVA for breaking the Nexus event as a small child. As many other characters in Phase Four, Sylvie is yet another who completely messed up the Multiverse by killing He Who Remains, causing Kang the Conquerer to gain power over it. Her character is driven by revenge and determination to end the TVA, but just like other Lokis, she’s always been lonely and desperate for love and attention that has been forcefully taken away from her. By the look of the season 2 set images of Loki, we can expect Sylvie to be working a new bizarre job.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
7 Trevor Slattery
Marvel Studios
Changes have been made to the original Marvel Comics character even with Trevor Slattery. We’re first introduced to the character in Iron Man 3, where he acts as the terrorist Mandarin. As it later turns out, Trevor’s just a mere ploy, a struggling British actor who was hired to cover up Doctor Aldrich Killian’s wrong-doings. The character has become a dear favorite for the audience and was eventually brought back for Shang-Chi. The real Mandarin, Shangi-Chi’s father Wenwu, breaks him out of prison to kill him for the impersonations, but decides to keep him around because he’s funny. Whether you’re a fan or not, you have to admit that Trevor provides great comic relief in a perpetually life-threatening universe.
6 Xu Xialing
The current leader of the Ten Rings, Shang-Chi’s dear younger sister and Wenwu’s only daughter is actually based on Shang-Chi’s five sisters in Marvel Comics. It was such a great decision on the MCU’s part to make her into one strong Asian woman character! Never shown love from her father and always denied the resources she needed because of her gender, Xu Xialing decided to take matters into her own hands, training herself and starting an underground fight-club empire. As a strong independent woman, he helps her brother defeat Wenwu, and as a rightful heir, decides to take his throne and start her own empire. What a wonderful creative decision to add her as a supporting character. Per CBR, rumors have swirled since Shang-Chi’s release of a possible Disney+ series following Xu Xialing.
5 Luis
Believe it or not, Scott Lang’s best friend and former cellmate is also an original character solely created for the MCU. First and foremost, can we talk about the fact that Luis served two years in prison for stealing a smoothie machine, while his buddy Scott, who stole millions from a corporation, broke into mansions, and stole jewels, only served three? Yeah, justice. Luis has become a fan favorite and definitely one of the best sidekicks that you could asked for. Who wouldn’t want to hear a recap of events told by the man, only to be entertained? You’d be lying if the “truth serum” scenes aren’t one of your favorite from the Ant-Man movies.
4 Katy Chen
Yes, yet another Shang-Chi character who doesn’t have a comic counterpart, but was specifically created for the MCU: Katy Chen. As Shang-Chi’s best friend and partner in crime, she was naturally sucked into the mayhem and chaos of the superhero kind and did her best to fit in. She is always dedicated to her best buddy and supports him through everything. It’s one of the first times in the MCU that we have a platonic relationship between a man and a woman, and it should honestly stay that way. Really, we would prefer to see her get together with Xu Xialing — is that just us? All in all, she is the kind of character that you’d just love have as your best friend.
3 Phil Coulson
Walt Disney Studios
Phil Coulson also didn’t originate from the comics, but was created solely to fulfill a role in the MCU. He serves as an important member of S.H.I.E.L.D. as he was the former Director of the organization and a highly decorated agent. Later on, he played a major role as Nick Fury’s right-hand man and helped deal with Skrull Invasion, the Destroyer incident involving Thor, and also investigated Stark Industries due to the new Iron Man technology. Although he was eventually killed by Loki in The Avengers, he was brought back to life and had to deal with the consequences of his own death. He dealt with many battles against Hydra and all the other threats arose.
2 Ralph Bohner
As the resident of Westview and taken into the clutches of Agatha Harkness, Ralph Bohner appeared in the WandaVision miniseries as an original character. Agatha used him to pose as Wanda’s dead brother Pietro Maximoff to gain her trust and find out how she was able to harness so much energy and magic. When his character first showed up at Wanda’s doorstep, everyone thought the X-Men and MCU universes were finally clashing, given how Evan Peters plays the role of Quicksilver in the X-Men franchise. A lot of fans were expecting him to show up in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but were faced with disappointment. Let’s see if we’ll ever see him again.
1 Darcy Lewis
Last but not least, even Darcy Lewis doesn’t exist in the comics and was purely created as a comic relief character for the first Thor movie. As a former student of political science, she became an intern for Jane Foster and Eric Selvig, which eventually brought her to the center of the Multiverse chaos. After her interest sparking with the Bifrost Bridge and assisting in the war against the Dark Elves, Darcy returned to university to get her astrophysics degree. The character was brought back by S.H.I.E.L.D. to investigate the lost town of Westview, which involved her in the fight against the Scarlet Witch. She has undergone quite the evolution, and we hope to see her in future MCU projects as well (preferably with Agent Woo).
