Not Every Superhero is Cool
Marvel has created a lot of characters over the years. While many of them have been hot, powerful, franchisable hits, not all can be winners. They've also made many surprisingly awful choices over the decades. Here are some of the coolest and some of the lamest Marvel superheroes.
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1. Spider-Man
Perhaps the most iconic Marvel character ever, Spider-Man first appeared in the 1960s. He’s unique among superheroes because of his many insecurities and flaws which have always made him relatable to young readers.
2. Black Widow
This Russian spy-turned-superhero was first introduced in the 1960s as an enemy of Iron Man before getting her own series in the 90s. She doesn’t have any supernatural powers, but that doesn’t mean she’s not awesome: she’s trained in combat, and espionage, and has a neat USSR-era backstory.
3. Doctor Strange
The weird and wonderful Doctor Strange is a neurosurgeon who becomes a sorcerer and travels to different dimensions to fight evil forces. Conceptualized in 1967, the character became a symbol of the hippie movement, with his interdimensional journeys likened to psychedelic trips.
4. Iron Man
The superhero persona of Tony Stark, a billionaire genius, was created from an injection that saved his life after a battle injury and gave him inhuman healing abilities. His suit has endless possibilities, all powered by this superhero's remarkable mind.
5. Storm
Storm is a role model for other X-Men with her strength, bravery, and kindness. She can control weather systems and is one of the most powerful mutants. However, she must control her emotions–otherwise, she could cause immeasurable damage.
6. Deadpool
Created in the 90s, Deadpool is a wisecracking anti-hero. He has superhuman regenerative healing abilities and agility, but the real reason people love him is his hilarious lack of filter.
7. Blade
Blade has supernatural strength, stamina, healing abilities, and senses. He’s unaffected by vampire bites and is skilled in combat, making him the perfect vampire hunter. His series is the ideal mesh of horror and action genres.
8. Wolverine
Wolverine is one of the most notable X-Men and definitely the coolest. He has animal senses, healing abilities, reinforced bones, and of course, those iconic blades coming out of his knuckles. He’s a complex character–at once a gruff loner and a super-intelligent tactician.
9. Black Panther
The first Black superhero in mainstream comic books, Black Panther was conceptualized during the height of the Civil Rights movement and did a lot for toppling African-American stereotypes. He has inhuman strength, endurance, senses, speed, and intelligence.
10. Mystique
Mystique is a blue, shapeshifting mutant from the X-Men series with superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and healing abilities. Her goal is to support mutants and destroy humanity but she sometimes sides with the X-Men, making her an ambiguous and intriguing anti-heroine.
Now that we’ve covered the coolest superhero creations, let’s discuss the more laughable ones.
1. Captain Ultra
Captain Ultra first showed up in Fantastic Four in 1976. He has many of the classic superhero traits like strength, speed, stamina, and flight, but he’s deathly afraid of fire and passes out at the first hint of a flame which is a pretty dramatic flaw that renders him useless in many situations.
2. Captain Marvel
This is probably controversial, but we don’t like Captain Marvel. She has all the big powers including speed, flight, and strength making her seem like she should be an extremely formidable character, but she never made a big impact and her personality has much to be desired.
3. Gorgilla
First appearing in 1960, Gorgilla is a giant ape. He’s super strong and friendly but has a pea brain which gets him into silly misunderstandings.
4. Squirrel Girl
Squirrel Girl is exactly what she sounds like–a girl with the abilities of a squirrel. Although her powers are silly, she often beats fearsome villains.
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5. Tarot
Tarot’s power is the ability to bring tarot cards to life. She’s an odd character who we can only guess was the product of the growing popularity of divination in pop culture.
6. Dazzler
The dazzler is a pop star who can turn light into sound, create light beams, and destroy opponents by dazzling them, whatever that means. She dons a silver onesie and is clearly the product of disco fever.
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7. Frog-Man
Yes, there’s a Marvel superhero with frog abilities. He inherited his abilities from his villainous father but decided to use them for good deeds. However, his lack of agility or knowledge of combat resulted in a pretty lame hero.
8. Bird-Brain
First appearing in The New Mutants comic in 1987, Bird-Brain was created as an experiment by an evil scientist. He can fly, but unfortunately, that’s about it. He can’t even speak properly due to his small brain.
9. Jazz
Jazz is perhaps the most bizarre mutant in the Marvel universe. He’s a wannabe rapper whose only supernatural quality is that he’s blue. Despite his lameness, he appeared in 32 issues before getting sacked.
10. Beak
Beak is a mutant humanoid with bulbous eyes, a large beak, and the ability to not quite fly, but glide clumsily. Ashamed of his appearance, he fled from society before going to the Xavier Institute and became much more useful without his powers.
