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Avengers
- Iron Man is the biggest firestorm of the MCU. At first he was incredibly well-received due to Robert Downey Jr.'s snarky and often ad-libbed performance to the point that the actor underwent a Career Resurrection, and it revived the character's flagging reputation in the comics as he had been in the middle of an Audience-Alienating Era. But over time the same traits that made him so popular also earned him a lot of Hype Backlash, and now the mere mention of him is an easy way to start passionate arguments.
- The first lynchpin of debate revolves around his Byronic Hero characterization and subsequent perception as a Jerkass Woobie. His fans find his snark and ego awesome and believe that his Woobie side dominates. They point to his sad backstory, his genuine desire to do good, and the fact that nobody else is a greater critic of him than his own self. They believe that his detractors are too harsh on him, and that the other characters don't give him enough respect, noting that whatever wrongdoings he's guilty of, he always tries to do the right thing in the end (and sometimes pointing out that a lot of them may not necessarily even be his fault). Critics find his snark and ego insufferable and believe that his Jerkass side dominates. They point to his selfish and arrogant Tech Bro personality, how all the conflicts of the movies he appears are in some way tied back to him or his company, and that other characters who are guilty of subjectively less wrongdoing are punished more harshly than him. They believe that his defenders tend to downplay these aspects or blame others for them, and note that even if he's not entirely responsible for the conflicts he starts, that he nevertheless has a frustrating tendency to exacerbate them with his actions (or in some cases, inaction.)
- The second lynchpin of debate deals with his Spotlight-Stealing Squad treatment and the MCU's tendency to subject him to Wolverine Publicity to the point that he overshadows Captain America as the main or lead Avenger. His fans love his expanded prominence and believe that he's such a fun character that it's justified (movies where he appears are big box-office draws), and that the MCU's tendency to use him for Adaptation Origin Connection streamlines continuity. Others see his increased screentime as favoritism that parasitizes off other characters' roles and contributions* . In addition other MCU characters were seen to be increasingly snarky like him (or Spider-Man), giving them and the movies something of a "same-y" feel according to these detractors. The ending of Avengers: Endgame in which he sacrifices his life to stop Thanos for good, becoming the ultimate savior of the universe, and receives a grandiose funeral at the end, ensured these debates would never end even after his death, as one side believes that it's poetic justice for the character who helped kickstart the MCU, while others view it as the franchise enshrining his Character Shilling and making it so that the universe continues to revolve around him posthumously, particularly since Black Widow, another founding Avenger, also sacrificed herself and didn't receive a fraction of the acknowledgement, with the in-universe justification being seen as a Hand Wave double standard.
- A common criticism of the MCU-Spidey movies is that Peter is to depended of Tony and that Tony is directly or indirectly responsible for the villains' Start of Darkness, like with the Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Mysterio in his backstory established in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Detractors also accuse Tony of taking on Uncle Ben's role as Parental Substitute as well as being only forced into the marketing of the Spidey-movies to sell tickets despite not having a large role. Fans like that Tony's role as The Mentor helps to cement Peter's role in the MCU as a logical consequence of Captain America: Civil War and also point out that Tony's role in the movie isn't that big and that Peter and Toomes have a more personal connection than Toomes and Stark.
- Thor Odinson, or, more accurately, how he's been characterized from Phase 3 onwards.note Thor: Ragnarok gave substantial tweaks to Thor's characterization as a result of Chris Hemsworth being dissatisfied with how his character was being written. Consequently, Thor has transform from The Comically Serious Proud Warrior Race Guy to a Boisterous Bruiser Manchild constantly cracking quips. Some fans approve of this change, feeling it turns Thor from a Flat Character into somebody far more engaging. Others argue that Hemsworth was trying to fix something that wasn't broken, resulting in Thor feeling less distinct in a World of Snark like the MCU. There's also complaints that the changes in Thor's characterization regressed his Character Development from the first two phases and turned him into a joke.
- Steve Rogers. Opinions on the other base-breakers, Tony and Wanda, affect opinions of Steve, with Tony fans despising Steve and vice versa (especially from Phase 3 onward), while Wanda fans and Steve fans tend to go hand-in-hand.
- Initially Steve was moderately divisive in the first two phases due to an acute case of Depending on the Writer. The Captain America films characterized him as firmly on the "Good" side of To Be Lawful or Good, frequently challenging authority and standing up against oppressive rules to do the right thing. Meanwhile, his portrayal in the first two Avengers movies is the complete opposite, earning him a large camp of detractors who see him as a stodgy Lawful Stupid Jerkass. As a result, fans of Steve's solo films tended to view him the most sympathetically while fans who only knew him from the first two Avengers films tended to be his most vocal critics.
- Civil War, which was deliberately meant to show Steve's more complicated side, opened the floodgates due to Steve choosing to side with his childhood friend Bucky Barnes over his current friend Tony, as well as the revelation that he kept the truth of Bucky having assassinated Tony's parents under mind control from him, leading to the dissolution of the Avengers. Haters consider Steve's behavior to Tony a betrayal of their friendship and unforgivably hypocritical for resisting the Accords after criticizing SHIELD's lack of oversight in The Winter Soldier. Defenders argue that Steve's opposition to the Accords is logically consistent given the events of The Winter Soldier justified his cynicism about regulation being extremely dangerous in the hands of evil men like Ross, and that pinning the blame entirely on Steve for splitting the Avengers is ridiculous considering he wasn't even sure about Bucky's involvement, validated when Infinity War establishes that Tony is equally culpable for refusing to reconcile after Steve gave him the option to.
- Avengers: Endgame and onward brought Steve back into base-breaking territory for good, with portions of the Peggy, Bucky, Sam, and Sharon fandoms also out for his blood after his extremely controversial ending there, elaborated in more detail on the work's own page. Ironically, opinions on Steve's ending in Endgame tend to run in the opposite direction as expected, with it being one of the few things Tony fans who otherwise hate the character approve of, and conversely, many of Steve's supporters do not defend it, instead treating his depiction in that film as a form of derailment and the kind of exception that proves the rule regarding his previous actions.
- Black Widow is beloved by part of the fandom for being a Badass Normal Action Girl capable of outsmarting even Loki, and for being the only non-White Male Lead on the team. On the other hand others find her boring or have questioned her inclusion, due to her lacking superpowers and the reason for her choice over other more prominent female Avengers like the Wasp or Ms. Marvel. She is criticized by others for only being there as Ms. Fanservice, which is an ironic accusation considering Joss Whedon's claim to fame is in averting or subverting this trope.
- In Iron Man 2 she was easily the most understated major character in the film when it comes to personality tics. Some fans liked this, finding her icy and enigmatic while others found her bland and lacking in personality. This is difficult to gauge considering Natasha spends the majority of her time undercover so she doesn't have much time to display her true personality. An interview with the director revealed that the more flirtatious scenes between Natasha and Tony were cut to preserve the Tony/Pepper relationship. A scene from the first trailer even features Natasha smiling.
- Wanda Maximoff. Her detractors see her as an unhinged psycho who gets away with frightening amounts of damage, such as deliberately unleashing the Hulk on a rampage and being indirectly responsible for Tony creating Ultron and thus all the people who later died (including her own brother and Zemo's family). They argue that her reasons for trying to kill Tony are spurious and that she never took responsibility for Ultron, thus her membership in the New Avengers makes her a galling Karma Houdini when characters like Tony and Loki get more flak in-universe for less. Her defenders consider her a deeply sympathetic Jerkass Woobie whose troubled and traumatic upbringing makes it difficult to ascertain just how fully conscious she was of the consequences for her actions, that the death of her beloved brother at Ultron's hands was her karmic punishment, and that her Heel–Face Turn and subsequent work for the Avengers was her way of doing redemption for her past crimes. Given Tony's own base-breaking status and the ties between his backstory and Wanda's, opinions on the two are often heavily intertwined, with fans of one character usually loathing the other, and vice versa.
- The fandom's conflicting thoughts on Wanda only got worse with the release of WandaVision, which has her creating an entire sitcom dream-world for her and a copy of Vision to inhabit while also mind raping the citizens of the town of Westview to act like side characters in "the show world". Some believe that the agonizing grief and delirium Wanda was going through make those actions understandable and her leaving Westview to study the Darkhold will help her understand her powers better. Others believe that Wanda knew exactly what she was doing, was given far too much sympathy for committing such heinous acts, and she deserves to be imprisoned or given some sort of comeuppance for essentially brainwashing and holdings an entire town captive for selfish reasons.
- Fans of the character are sympathetic to all the pain and grief she’s gone through for much of her life and believe that she is deserving of the path of redemption she plans to go down after leaving Westview. Her detractors on the other hand see her as an insane, sociopathic Karma Houdini who should've been thrown in prison or received some kind of punishment for committing Mind Rape on an entire town instead of living a relatively peaceful life of solitude by the series’ end.
- And then Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness pushed the debates to new heights when Wanda goes off the deep end and becomes a straight-up villain. Fans are incredibly conflicted over whether her Face–Heel Turn was natural given her prior actions and the events of WandaVision, or if it was Aesop Amnesia after everything Wanda went through in WandaVision. The hasty reveal that she was corrupted by the Darkhold made things even worse. Even those who like the idea of Wanda as a villain are conflicted on whether it should've happened like this.
- While Spider-Man's introduction to the MCU had been something long anticipated, its portrayal of Peter Parker proved to be very controversial. Fans adore Tom Holland's portrayal for bringing in the youthful energy and High School-based dilemmas that had been mostly absent from the previous iterations of the character in film, and appreciate his father/son relationship with Tony Stark as a unique take on the hero. Detractors, however, feel Spider-Man was turned into a supporting character for Iron Man as even following Tony's death much of Peter's first two solo films are overshadowed by Iron Man; in both films, Spider-Man's arc is dominated by having to live up to Iron Man, the villains are motivated by grudges against Tony Stark and much of Peter's gear was handed down from Tony. The absence of Uncle Ben only fueled accusations that Tony was replacing Ben as Peter's mentor and inspiration, leading to some detractors calling this incarnation of Peter Parker "Iron Boy Jr.". Spider-Man: No Way Home made great strides to address these complaints by having Peter work alongside both of his Live-Action predecessors and ultimately sacrifice everything he had to ensure the multiverse's safety. While that film alleviated criticisms that Peter was too much of a passive supporting character, others feel that having Peter lose all his friends, family, and belongings is far too much of an overcorrection, or simply feel these corrections arrived too little too late.
- There's a lot of discussing among fans in the social media about Smart Hulk. Some find him simply hilarious, others think it is a logical conclusion for Banner's character arc throughout the MCU to finally make peace with the Hulk and merging. Than there are fans who were disappointed as it robs Hulk of his own personality and makes a lot of Hulk's iconic comic arcs hard to adapt in the future. Some also feel like Smart Hulk hasn't enough to do in the final battle and are disappointed that he never got to have a rematch fight against Thanos (then again, the fact that his arm was injured after doing the Snap means the fight would have likely been pretty one-sided anyway). There are also fans that don't mind the new direction for the character, but feel [ that not showing Bruce's transformation into the Smart Hulk feels cheap.
Other Superheroes
- Pietro in comparison to his Fox X-Men version. Some like his relationship with his sister and how without Magneto being involved in the franchise at the time of the film's release, it allowed him to develop into his own character and be a somewhat truer version of his comic book counterpart without any baggage to the X-Men he didn't really have in comparison to other versions in other media. Others felt that he was underdeveloped as a character in comparison to the other Avengers and not as cool as the Fox X-Men version. While fans universally want him to return to the franchise one day, it's been hotly debated whether the MCU original (or a variant with Aaron Taylor-Johnson playing him) or Evan Peters version should be the one returning and the Casting Gag in WandaVision does not help at all.
- Well, less "character" and more concept here, but the point still stands with regard to Baby Groot. He's either a refreshing way of handling the character after the first movie or a cynical move by Marvel to sell merchandise of the character. Teen Groot gets this same treatment.
- Either you like the inclusion of Mantis as a funny, endearing, Pragmatic Adaptation for a new Token Good Teammate who bucks stereotypes by avoiding the Asian and Nerdy trope and being a surprisingly effective Non-Action Guy, or she's yet another demure female Asian-coded stereotype that doesn't get a shred of her comic counterpart's badassery.
- Drax was universally beloved in the first Guardians of the Galaxy but starting from his second appearence he was written being Denser and Wackier as opposed to being The Comically Serious, which to many fans either made him more iconic or more obnoxious.
- Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel herself. Some people love her, finding her personality funny and amusing, enjoying her dynamics with Maria and Fury, and being a female superhero with her own solo movie that didn't suck. Others absolutely loathe her, finding her personality boring, or the fact that she is the first female superhero in the MCU with her own movie instead of a more established character like Black Widow. Her 'emotional' personality is highly contested, as many critics called her dull and unemotive, but others found her highly expressive and entertaining. Some even directly compared her to other Marvel leads and pointed to her being less interesting than the norm, while others found her more interesting, or at least as interesting. It also doesn't help that she'd already been one for years in the comics.
- John Walker. Many people believe that he’s a troubled, confused man who is ultimately heroic at heart despite having big shoes to fill as Captain America and see his brutal murder of Nico in Latvia as part of an emotional breakdown after losing his best friend. Others see him as an unsympathetic Idiot Hero whose initial clinginess to the title of Captain America, and his attempts to justify his aforementioned killing of Nico while being stripped of his army rank makes him an Entitled Bastard.
- While most of the audience fell in love with Yelena thanks to her being Badass Adorable and having a great relationship with Natasha, with many fans and critics expressing the wish for Florence Pugh to play the role long-term, there are some who feel that she steals the focus from Natasha and that with her debut movie probably being Scarlett Johansson's last time playing the character it should be her movie instead of setting up Yelena as a potential successor.
- Eternals:
- Sprite. She is either a complex and tragic character, whose inability to age and unrequited love for Ikaris makes her interesting to watch. Or she's a whiny, immature brat who abandons her team for selfish reasons.
- Kingo is seen as either the most entertaining member of the Eternals or an unfunny douchebag whose non-involvement in the third act makes him a pointless character in the film.
- Kingo's valet Karun Patel also is a very contentious character. Either he's a genuinely humorous and sweet person whose presence gives a much-needed human perspective for the Eternals as a whole, or he's an annoying, unfunny character who has no story-relevant reason to tag along with the group after Kingo officially joins the group.
- In contrast to her Ensemble Dark Horse status in her previous appearances, Cassie Lang's characterization in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has left viewers divided. There are some who enjoyed her Rebellious Spirit and her getting to become a superhero alongside her father, while there are others who found her attitude self-righteous and insufferable, particularly towards Scott over his decision to retire from heroics. Kathryn Newton's performance contributed to the divide, with some either arguing that it's a step down from Abby Ryder Fortson and Emma Fuhrmann's while others believe she gave a strong performance that was only undermined by the writing.
Villains
- Like Tony, Loki was once extremely popular and considered one of the best, if not the best villain the MCU had to offer prior to Phase Three, but has since become extremely divisive and for similar reasons. His defenders highlight his charisma, complexity, and sympathetic backstory, believing the increased focus on him in later works is a justified response to a Breakout Character that expands on his character. He is also broadly known even to MCU outsiders for having a sizeable and particularly intense Estrogen Brigade of devotees, who whether rightly or wrongly are frequently regarded as engaging in Draco in Leather Pants interpretations of the character. Meanwhile his detractors consider him a highly overrated Spotlight-Stealing Squad whose screentime and development is Pandering to the Base at the expense of characters who needed it more, or believe his backstory doesn't justify his villainous actions and that that the MCU's focus on him is Pandering to the Base and validating of Draco in Leather Pants interpretations that gives him an easy pass for crimes less popular characters wouldn't get. Unsurprisingly a fair number of Loki fans are also huge fans of fellow base breakers Tony or Wanda.
- Aldrich Killian is perhaps one of the most divisive characters, let alone villains, in the entire MCU. Some consider him a boring and derivative villain with an incredibly weak motivation, plus how he infamously reveals that the Trevor Slattery "Mandarin" is a figment, and Killian himself is the Big Bad. Inversely, there's some who believe he's one of the smartest, suavest takes on the "Corrupt Corporate Executive" type of villain that appears throughout the MCU, love The Reveal about the Mandarin and his role in it, and appreciate Guy Pearce's performance.
- Ronan the Accuser. Either he was an entertaining Large Ham with a clear motivation and a clear goal in comparison to Malekith or he was a boring villain who is dragged down by having none of the Anti-Villainous traits carried by his comic book counterpart and making him a Hate Sink. Or alternatively, that he works because he's so generic and he takes himself so seriously, causing a contrast between him and the wacky main characters.
- Ultron. Defenders of his titular film praise James Spader's performance and argue Whedon did a good job of handling the character, giving him more depth than he usually receives, while detractors usually say that his habit of constantly making jokes made it impossible to take him seriously as a threat, and that his motivations were muddled and nonsensical.
- Darren Cross is somewhat divisive amongst the MCU's stack of usually mediocre villains. Those who dislike him see him as a painfully generic Corrupt Corporate Executive whose type is a dime-a-dozen in superhero media, as well as blatant rip-off of Obadiah Stane, a much better regarded villain. Meanwhile, those who like him, or at least consider him to be a little better than the average MCU villain, cite his awesome suit and Corey Stoll's entertaining performance as points in his favor.
- Zemo. Some say he's another generic, forgettable Marvel villain with a convoluted, nonsensical plan, some say he's one of the best in the franchise with more sympathetic motivations than other villains in the series. The differences from the comics version as well is also a point of contention.
- Some have argued Kaecilius is a decent antagonist due to an understandable/well-defined motivation and a menacing performance by Mads Mikkelsen, while many others have contested that he and his backstory simply aren't given enough screen-time for him to fully make an impact, and that he's further marginalized when it turns out he's merely a pawn of Dormammu.
- While Hela received lots of praise for being Marvel's first female Big Bad, a great example of Evil Is Cool and Cate Blanchett cutting loose to give an exciting performance, there are a number of detractors who hate that she spends most of the movie separated from both Thor and Loki - preventing her from having any meaningful interaction with the major characters. Additionally, many fans have called her out for having rather thin and generic characterization. A second camp agrees that the writing falls flat but Cate Blanchett's performance makes up for it.
- Killmonger is generally seen as a well-done Tragic Villain with a lot more depth than usual for an MCU film, but this isn't a universal sentiment. Some viewers felt that he legitimately made better points compared to T'Challa, and ended up rooting for him, while still others saw him as an irredeemable sociopath due to his Kick the Dog moments and felt the film tries to wring out more sympathy for him than he deserves.
- WandaVision:
- Director Tyler Hayward. While most viewers and the show itself paint him as being an arrogant jerkass who’s willing to abuse his own power and position to commit horrible crimes and pin the blame for them on others, quite a few people see him as a Reasonable Authority Figure whose actions against Wanda are wholly justified because of her past crimes and the actions she’s taking to keep her fantasy world in Westview intact. There are also others who simply found him a bland and forgettable antagonist, especially in comparison to the more entertaining Agatha.
- Agatha Harkness herself. While she's received a large number of fans for her Laughably Evil performance by Kathryn Hahn and catchy Villain Song, she's had her share of detractors who felt her inclusion into the story felt like a cheap way to absolve Wanda of her actions by adding an antagonist for her to defeat.
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier:
- Sharon Carter became this after the last episode being revealed her to be the Power Broker. Some think that her being given a case of Adaptational Villainy makes her interesting and more relevant going forward after being mostly sidelined as a hero in the Captain America films. Others believe that her performing a Face–Heel Turn completely goes against her characterization.
- Karli Morgenthau. Some saw her as a sympathetic villain, with some even justifying her actions. Others, on the other hand, saw her as a terrorist willing to endanger the lives of civilians who happen to be in the way of her goals (something that even her fellow Flag-Smashers were against). There are others who simply found her an annoying or boring character and wished for the antagonist role to be filled by the much more complex John Walker. A third camp admits to not liking her much as a character, but still broadly sympathizes with her motives, backstory, and goals in spite of it, considering her characterization a casualty of the fairly obvious changes the show made after COVID and feeling that the Jumping Off the Slippery Slope moments the story uses to argue against her viewpoints don't feel organic to make her properly villainous.
- Loki (2021)
- Sylvie has quickly become one of the most controversial characters in the MCU as the first season went on. Some fans see her as a sympathetic and endearing character due to her horrid life on the run from the TVA in addition to being a formidable force in battle, while others loathe her for taking away a lot of focus from Loki himself on his own show, and for being a static character with barely any development. Sylvie's choice in the finale is viewed either as a justified action taken to destroy a restrictive system, or as Revenge Before Reason against a lesser evil that only made things worse. Her romance with Loki in the show has led to a Ship-to-Ship Combat with fans of the Loki\Mobius pairing, with both sides promoting extreme interpretations of Sylvie's character (either good or bad) to prove that their pairing is more "moral".
- Viewer reactions to the eccentric behavior of He Who Remains when he finally appeared on screen fall largely into two camps: Those who were transfixed the entire time, and those who couldn't wait for it to be over.
- Harrow, with the fandom neatly split between those who think he's a fantastic villain who has a surprising amount of depth and nuance due to the heavy amount of improvisation from Ethan Hawke, with a lot of praise given to the Dr. Harrow version in particular, and those who consider him to be a bland, shallow, and insufferably Smug Snake who actively drags the show down with his presence and takes screentime away from the far more interesting drama of the main protagonist(s).
- Zeus. Either he's hilariously dick-ish due to Russell Crowe's performance and is a surprisingly accurate portrayal of him by modern day standards, or he's so extremely annoying that the writers should have just gone with the usual Everybody Loves Zeus portrayal of him instead. A third group is fine with him being portrayed as a Jerkass hedonist, but just wish that either his jerkassery wasn't too over-the-top to the point of annoyance or was given a few more redeeming qualities to balance his dick-ishness out.
- Val was divisively received in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever due to being a major part of said extraneous subplot, and many accused Marvel of forcing the character into the film as build-up for future MCU installments such as Thunderbolts (this, at least, has since been disproven by the release of older script treatments and director Ryan Coogler's statements). Even if one didn't think she was just sequel bait, Val's detractors found her to be an obnoxious, overbearing addition to the film (a sentiment they already had about her past MCU appearances). Val's defenders generally still found her funny and enjoyed her scene wherein she sheds any notion of moral ambiguity by revealing she's a greedy imperialist who longs for America to bring Wakanda and the rest of the world under its foot with the power of vibranium.
Secondary Characters
- Justin Hammer from Iron Man 2. It depends on whether you find him hilarious or just annoying.
- Depending on who you ask, Darcy is either a funny Ensemble Dark Horse or an irritating Scrappy.
- While WandaVision has increased her popularity and even won over some viewers who were not a fan of the character in the Thor movies, there are many who find her just as, if not more, annoying as her previous appearances in the MCU. Especially given her significant involvement in the S.W.O.R.D. subplot.
- Harley from Iron Man 3. Either he's an Ensemble Dark Horse whose chemistry with Tony Stark compliments the movie or is only there to pander to the kids. Though Tony's own apathetic and non-stereotypical treatment of him does make him more well-liked than most Tag Along Kid characters, and he received (judging from audience reaction videos) instant recognition and a warm response at Tony Stark's funeral years later despite Ty Simpkins having aged to the point where he barely looks like himself.
- Trevor Slattery also gets this treatment after his introduction in the polarizing Iron Man 3 — he's either one of the funniest characters in the franchise, or a disgrace to the Mandarin's character. Or both. With All Hail the King, fans are a bit kinder to Trevor, knowing that there actually is a real Mandarin, and he's not happy.
- Trevor's return in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings helped win over a few fans that were still on the fence about him, but just as many still hate him for being the reason behind the real Mandarin's Rogues' Gallery Transplant from Iron Man.
- Laura Barton and her children. One part of the fandom loves them for adding more depth to Clint and not dying at the end, another resents them because their existence invalidates Fan-Preferred Couple Clint/Natasha unless they get Killed Off for Real. Also, prior to the release of Hawkeye, some comic fans disliked how they made it difficult for Clint to then pick up his current comic Status Quo of living in Brooklyn and training with Kate Bishop.
- Spider-Man: Homecoming Trilogy:
- Flash Thompson. Outside of the controversy resulting from the race change and casting, the character's Adaptation Personality Change from a Jerk Jock bully to a Rich Bitch academic rival to Peter has been controversial. Some feel that it is an interesting change that reflects the social hierarchy seen in today's high schools and that the character remains true to the spirit of the comic version. Others are annoyed that the creators changed so many of his traits and removed his redeeming qualities such as his admiration of Spider-Man and feel that it makes him an In Name Only character with no depth. It probably doesn't help that the Flash seen in the The Amazing Spider-Man Series is much closer to the comics and considered an Ensemble Dark Horse with both fans and detractors of that series.
- Michelle. Many fans liked Zendaya's performance and found her commentary hilarious. Others dislike the character because she was an Advertised Extra featured so prominently in promotional materials, but her actual role in the film consists of popping up in a few scenes with a Holier Than Thou attitude to make a parting snarky comment that doesn't feel too dissimilar to Flash's bullying. Also there's the issue as to whether she's MJ or will take on the role of MJ which mostly longtime fans of the comics dislike considering she has very little in common with the canonical character. For fans of the original character, who feel she was never properly portrayed in previous films, they feel this was a wasted opportunity from Marvel.
- Karen, the spider suit's A.I. is either considered a neat addition or an unnecessary one. Numerous people dislike the fact that the suit has its own A.I. since to them it basically makes him "Iron Man 2.0". However, other people began to like Karen for her human-like behavior, particularly during her and Peter's bonding while stuck in Damage Control's Vault and her encouragement toward Peter to make a move on Liz.
- Ralph Bohner. He’s either a nice tongue-in-cheek subversion of expectations or a repeat of the infamous Mandarin twist from Iron Man 3 whose reveal is just as abhorred.
- Dr. Raynor the therapist. One portion of the fandom likes her for being a former soldier who doesn't take crap from two Avengers, while another finds her woefully incompetent and a poor match for Bucky.
- Thor: Love and Thunder:
- Though he became a celebrated Ensemble Dark Horse in Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Endgame, Korg very quickly became a lot more polarizing in this film. Due to his increased screentime, Korg's witty remarks, Cloudcuckoolander personality and tendency to make fun of rather serious situations went from being charming and interesting to obnoxious and grating for many fans. Others still found Korg's antics amusing (particularly since he was already a comic-relief character to begin with) and appreciated him getting more screentime.
- Many fans shared the Guardians' feelings on Toothgrinder and Toothgnasher, as they do little to justify their incessant and obnoxious screaming throughout the movie, not helped by the fact their screams were taken from a viral video that was over a decade old by that point. However, there are some defenders who thought they were hilarious, mostly because they were supposed to be annoying and get on the other characters' nerves.
