WARNING: There are unmarked spoilers on these sheets for all but the most recent comics.
Unsanctioned Teams Members | Infiltrators | Other Teams
Supporting Characters
Support Staff
Rogues Gallery
Masters of Evil | Lethal Legion | Other Enemies
Remember, except where the sheet states otherwise, this is only for characters and examples from the main Marvel Universe (referred to in-universe as Earth-616).
Please do not list characters or examples from shows, movies or alternate universe versions here. If you've thought of a trope that fits an alternate version of the characters, please take that example to its respective sheet.
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Edwin Jarvis
Edwin Jarvis
Notable Aliases: The Impeccable Jarvis, Crimson Cowl, Eddie, Ed
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense #59 (November, 1964)
Butler to the Stark family, Edwin Jarvis went on to be the caretaker of the Avengers Mansion and has laid his life on the line for them several times.
For tropes regarding Jarvis, see his entry on the Iron Man: Supporting Characters page.
Peggy Carter
Peggy Carter
Alter Ego: Dr. Margaret Alexandra "Peggy" Carter
Notable Aliases: The Dryad, Agent 13, Doc, Hera-2, Mademoiselle, Midge, Peggy-Poo
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense #77 (May, 1966) note ; Captain America (Vol. 9) #9 (April, 2019) note
An American agent with the French Resistance during World War II and Captain America's former girlfriend.
For tropes regarding Peggy, see her entry on the Captain America: Supporting Characters page.
Nuklo
Nuklo
Alter Ego: Robert Frank, Jr.
First Appearance: Giant-Size Avengers #1 (August, 1974)
Robert Frank Jr is the mutant son of the WWII superheroes the Whizzer and Miss America. After his mother was exposed to radiation during an accident, Nuklo was sealed away in a time capsule for 25 years, in an attempt to decrease his radiation levels.
Being unleashed from his prison, he battled the Avengers. Despite his lack of intelligence, Nuklo became a powerful threat and even joined the V-Battalion alongside other WWII Superheroes. Whether on his own or in a team, Nuklo is extremely dangerous.
- Heroic Lineage: Both his parents were superheroes in WWII.
- Monochromatic Eyes: His eyes are either red or completely white.
- Top-Heavy Guy: His torso and arms looks incredibly bulky when compared to the rest of his body.
John Jameson III
John Jameson III
Alter Ego: John Jonah Jameson III
Notable Aliases: Man-Wolf, Carnage, Colonel John Jameson, John Jameson, Johnny, Johnny Jameson, L'Homme-Loup, Mrs. She-Hulk, Skywolf, Stargod, Vanwolf
First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #1 (March, 1963) note ; Amazing Spider-Man #124 (September, 1973) note
John Jameson is an astronaut, a test pilot and for his father J. Jonah Jameson the archetype of a true hero unlike these “masked clowns” like Spider-man. John has also been transformed into a Werewolf-like creature called the Man-Wolf, and was once host to the Carnage Symbiote.
For tropes regarding John, see his entry on the Spider-Man: Supporting Characters page.
Dr. Keith Kincaid
Dr. Keith Kincaid
First Appearance: Thor #136 (January, 1967)
Dr. Keith Kincaid is the model Odin used for the Don Blake persona he created as a punishment Thor.
- Alliterative Name: Keith Kincaid
- Disposable Fiancé: Was married to Jane Foster whom they had a child together. In part because of Jane's long time feelings for Thor, they ultimately get divorced. Even more apparent when later Keith and his son are killed off in a accident caused when Keith went over a guardrail and crashed while driving. So far he's been Killed Off for Real.
- Killed Off for Real: Killed in a car accident and, as of 2022, still not resurrected.
- The Medic: Keith is a medical doctor, which puts him in the same field as Jane Foster and Donald Blake, Thor's secret identity.
- Satellite Character: Kincaid is only important as Jane Foster's ex and the Avengers' doctor.
Diane Arliss
Diane Arliss
Alter Ego: Diane Arliss-Newell
First Appearance: Sub-Mariner #5 (September, 1968)
Diane Arliss Newell is the sister of Todd Arliss, aka Tiger Shark, and the wife of Dr. Walter Newell, aka Stingray.
For tropes regarding Diane, see her entry on the Sub-Mariner page.
Guardsman
Guardsman
Alter Ego: Michael O'Brien
First Appearance: Iron Man (Vol. 1) #82 (January, 1976) note ; Iron Man (Vol. 1) #97 (April, 1977) note
Michael O'Brien was a police sergeant who believed Iron Man was responsible for his brother's death. After fighting Iron Man as the Guardsman, he discovered his mistake and became an ally to Iron Man and the Avengers. He acted as Iron Man briefly and fought Sunfire and the Mandarin.
For tropes regarding Michael, see his entry on the Iron Man: Supporting Characters page.
Mechnonaut
Mechnonaut
Alter Ego: Fabian Stankiewicz
Notable Aliases: Mechanaut, Mechano-Marauder, Mechno-Marauder
First Appearance: Avengers #217 (March, 1982)
Fabian Stankowicz is a technical whiz who tried to make a name for himself by attacking the Avengers as the Mechano-Marauder. He would eventually reform as Mechanaut and use his talents to assist the Avengers and Captain America.
- Drugs Are Bad: Was addicted to a drug called "Ice" and became a near vegetable because of it.
- Harmless Villain: When he was a villain, he was ineffective to the point that David Letterman managed to take him out. Seriously.
Inger Sullivan
Inger Sullivan
First Appearance: Captain America #332 (August, 1987)
When the Commission on Superhuman Activities claimed legal ownership of the title, costume, and shield of Captain America on behalf of the government, Steve Rogers consulted with Inger Sullivan about his legal options. Although Ms. Sullivan had several ideas about possible defenses, Rogers, ultimately chose not to bring the matter into court.
- One-Shot Character: Only appeared in one issue and has never returned.
Gilbert Vaughn
Gilbert Vaughn
First Appearance: Quasar #1 (October, 1989)
Gilbert Vaughn is the father of Quasar (Wendell Vaughn).
- The Confidant: Unlike most relatives of super heroes, Gilbert knew about his son's career as Quasar from the very beginning and was often taken into his son's confidence.
Henry Gyrich
Henry Gyrich
Alter Ego: Henry Peter Gyrich
Notable Aliases: Secretary Gyrich, Carrot Top, Bad News Pete, Petey, Pete, H.P.G.
First Appearance: Avengers #165 (November, 1977)
The Avengers's old government liason. Also a gigantic doucebag. Despises all superpowered humans, especially mutants, and aliens. Has often been associated with the Sentinels project.
- Asshole Victim: Abigail kills him and covers it up. When evidence is discovered that she was the culprit, she asks if it matters that she was the one that killed someone like him, no one present really argues.
- Badass Bureaucrat: Has his moments, but they're far and few between, and often outshined by his sheer doucheness.
- Bullying a Dragon:
- Taunting post-Civil War Iron Man about Cap's then-recent death was a particularly stupid move. Cut to Gyrich announcing his retirement from the Initiative.
- Going after the Hulk was not one of his best ideas, he only survives that encounter because Hulk had bigger problems than Gyrich's vendetta against him to deal with.
- In hindsight, going after S.W.O.R.D. was not his smartest move. Previously, Gyrich has been able to hide behind the fact he's the government, or is dealing with heroes who subscribe to Thou Shalt Not Kill. Abigail Brand cares not two bits for either, and she ends up spacing him.
- Face–Heel Turn: Though calling him a Face of any stripe would be extremely generous to begin with, come 2020 he seems to have delved right into straight-up villainy, sending the U-Foes to murder the Hulk, and joining up with ORCHIS. SWORD even treats the latter as him "turning".
- Control Freak: Gyrich insists on being the one in charge at all times, and throws screaming tantrums whenever someone doesn't do whatever he wants. He insists it's just for "the greater good", a motivation so blatantly crap sometimes even his own underlings don't believe it.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Gyrich has no grasp of proportional response. When Steve Rogers quit being Captain America, Gyrich proposed to the rest of the Commission for Superhuman Affairs that they call up the Avengers and have him kicked out immediately, and if he took up another identity, they should strip the Avengers of the license to operate on American soil. Even the rest of the CSA, all Obstructive Bureaucrats themselves, thought this was too much.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Subverted, when it seems like his plan would result in S.W.O.R.D.'s station getting dropped on Australia. He's momentarily appalled... then brushes it off as an acceptable casualty.
- Fantastic Racism: Is very biased against aliens, and whenever given the chance he tries to do something to drive them off Earth, regardless of them being heroes or not. He's also not very fond of mutants, or superhumans in general for that matter.
- Good Is Not Nice: Some of his actions have bordered on those of an Anti-Hero, and sometimes just flat-out villain proper, despite working with the heroic Avengers.
- Hanging Judge: In one Avengers storyline, the Avengers are accused of treason by a slightly insane and mind-controlled Quicksilver. Gyrich is only too happy to believe this, having them arrested, put on show trial (having already decided the outcome) and thrown in prison. He claims they'll be given a real trial eventually, but... well, you can understand why the Avengers don't believe that.
- Hates Everyone Equally: The closest Gyrich has to a redeeming quality is he's not racist or sexist. He seems to hate everyone who's not him (though he almost certainly is nationalist).
- Hate Sink: While he can be good... ish, and has shown the occasional moment of depth, by and large he's just there to be a supremely awful and unlikable smug bastard you want to strangle.
- Hero Killer: Downplayed. Gyrich was the one responsible for depowering Storm in the 80s.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Gyrich is so hateful towards superheroes he will often, and gladly, hire supervillains to go after them.
- Hypocrite: Demands heroes follow the rules, while doing nothing of the sort himself.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: During an appearance in Thunderbolts, he remarks that Dallas Riordan's trust in Zemo makes him want to take several drinks. A day.
- Jerkass: He spent decades being a massive pain in the ass to the Avengers. How bad is he? Captain America can't stand him.
- Jerkass Has a Point: The times he stops in on the mansion are always just after a huge breach in security, from his POV it isn't that unjustifiable that he sees the Avengers as not taking security seriously.
- Karma Houdini: No matter how much grief he causes the Avengers or aliens and mutants on Earth, he never gets punished for it in any notable way. At worst, he got fired from the Initiative and was put in charge of another government project sometime later. However he pushed his luck a little too far....
- Karma Houdini Warranty: ...As Abigail Brand (who's a half-alien, half-mutant hybrid) murders him by sending him out an airlock in S.W.O.R.D #11 (2021).
- Knight Templar: After Crisis Crossover events such as Civil War (2006) and Secret Invasion (2008), he took extreme lengths to prevent any further invasions or schisms in the superhero community.
- Never My Fault: After his disastrous run in charge of Camp Hammond, he refuses to take any responsibility for his actions, which led to several deaths.
- Nominal Hero: He's technically in the heroes's side, but he's a horrible man in every regard.
- Obliviously Evil: One of the most obnoxious things about him. He is a rock of self-righteousness, believing all his actions are entirely justified and for the "greater good", no matter how awful, and gets truly indignant whenever anyone tries calling him out.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: The obstructive bureaucrat, as far as Marvel's concerned.
- Only Sane Man: During one terrifying point during an issue of X-Men, he was this to Project: Wideawake, pointing out antagonizing mutants as a whole might not have been the best idea. Yeah, this guy was the only sane man in the room.
- Opportunistic Bastard: He almost immediately takes over an organization right after a major event. Brand compares him to a weasel looking for an easy meal.
- Patriotic Fervor: Of the unpleasant jingoistic kind, naturally. He's very America first, and it's his definition of America. Much as he hates superbeings, he hates the idea of other countries having superpowered beings of their own even more, because that might threaten America.
- Pet the Dog: When called out for being 'heartless' he brings up that he took a year off work to take care of his father, who was suffering from dementia and he himself fears suffering from it.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Whenever he's not bothering the Avengers, he can usually be found harassing the X-Men and their associates. He's also bothered the Thunderbolts, during their time working with the US government, and the Hulk more than once.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Tried doing this after the KIA incident in Avengers: The Initiative. Iron Man's connections trump his, and Gyrich's sent packing.
- Sinister Shades: A general indication of where his moral shadiness is at is the opacity of his specs.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: With Sally Floyd, in Avengers: The Initiative, who always manages to poke through his BS screens.
- Spanner in the Works: When the Avengers and other heroes were busy battling the Dire Wraiths (the sworn enemies of Rom Spaceknight) in their final invasion of Earth, Gyrich found himself manning a giant-sized version of Rom's Neutralizer weapon, intended to be used on the Wraiths (who were busy trying to replace Earth with their "Wraithworld"), but he instead tried to use it to rid Earth of all superpowered beings. Thankfully, mutant inventor Forge (who was also manning the device) stopped him before he could screw everyone else over.
- Sunglasses at Night: He's almost always wearing sunglasses, regardless of how much light there is.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Falcon, during Geoff Johns' Avengers run, due to their prior history, and Gyrich's general jerkassery. They get slightly better after the Red Zone incident.
- There's No Kill like Overkill: He's perfectly willing to send giant killer robots after teenagers.
- Too Dumb to Live: During the Dire Wraith war storyline that originated in Rom: Spaceknight and spread out into the rest of the Marvel universe of the time, he stole Forge's prototype recreation of Rom's Neutralizer and used it to depower Storm just because he's an anti-mutant racist asshole. This caused Forge to destroy that prototype and declare he would no longer work on that project... at a time when Earth desperately needed the Neutralizers to fend off the army of shapeshifting, brain-sucking, Black Magic-using aliens that were ravaging the world. That's right; Gyrich nearly caused the extinction of humanity because he couldn't pass up the opportunity to be a jerk and try to depower one mutant who was actively working to help humanity fight off the Dire Wraiths.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Gyrich was never going to win any personality awards (unless it was "Asshole of the Year"), but during Avengers: The Initiative, he soars to astounding heights of sheer awfulness. He covers up the death of a teenager, has the kid dissected and cloned to make living weapons, had the person accidentally responsible institutionalized and monitored, complains when Trauma finds a way to use his powers constructively, causes the KIA incident, and refuses to admit the whole situation might have for any reason been his fault, doing everything to obfuscate and stall the investigation.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: His command over Avengers and S.W.O.R.D. was obstructive and often inhibited the heroes.
- Ungrateful Bastard: "Thanks" isn't a word in Gyrich's vocabulary. Even when a hero does happen to be nearby and save him, he's still rude to them. During an appearance in X-Force, he mouthed off to Cable (pre-Character Development Cable, even) when the man saved him. He's lucky Nate just punched him out.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Gyrich has no small part in Hank Pym's famous mental breakdown. While Pym wasn't a bastion of mental fortitude anyway, it was Gyrich unceremoniously booting him from the team that he helped found that starts Hank on the long slide down. Not that Gyrich would probably care if anyone told him this.
- Would Hurt a Child: Zigzagged. He was initially unwilling to send Sentinels after the New Mutants even if they were both Mutants and largely foreign nationals, figuring it was more sensible to just send goons after them. However, when that didn't work, he sent Sentinels after them anyway.
Diamondback
Diamondback
Alter Ego: Rachel Leighton
Notable Aliases: Ray, Snapdragon
First Appearance: Captain America #310 (October, 1985)
A former member of the Serpent Society, Diamondback is a villainess-turned-hero, a S.H.I.E.L.D. operative, and the former girlfriend of Captain America.
For tropes regarding Diamondback, see her entry on the Captain America: Supporting Characters page.
Bill Foster
Bill Foster
Alter Ego: William "Bill" Foster
Notable Aliases: Goliath, Black Goliath, Giant-Man, Rockwell Dodsworth
First Appearance: The Avengers #32 (Sept. 1966) note ; Luke Cage, Power Man #24 (April 1975) note ; Marvel Two-in-One #55 (September 1979) note ; The Thing #1 (January 2006) note
Brilliant and tough, Goliath fought evil using a variation of the Pym Particles. He was killed during the Civil War by Ragnarok, a clone of Thor. He was succeeded by his nephew, Tom Foster.
For Bill's tropes, see his Goliath entry on the Ant-Man: Heroes page.
Duane Freeman
Duane Freeman
First Appearance: Avengers (Vol. 3) #4 (March, 1998)
Duane Jerome Freeman was one of a line of government liaisons to the Avengers. He was one of the most supportive liaisons the Avengers ever had, being a long time fan of the team and having several Avengers collectibles.
- Ascended Fanboy: Duane is a huge fan of the Avengers and even had some collectibles.
- Bald of Authority: He's bald and head liaison of the Avengers.
- Church of Happyology: He reveals himself to be a member of the Triune Understanding, which makes some of the Avengers (especially Iron Man) concerned that he might be The Mole leaking information to the Understanding's leader. He's not.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He's nice, he's helpful, he's friendly... the first time meeting him, Cap and Iron Man are disturbed by having a government liaison who isn't another Gyrich.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Not afraid of handing these out when he thinks they're due. Iron Man even admits he had good points, and regrets that they'd never gotten the chance to work things out before Duane's death.
Marilla
Marilla
First Appearance: Avengers #343 (January, 1992)
Marilla was Luna's nanny, and her mother Crystal's nanny when she was a girl. She was murdered by a brainwashed Tony Stark.
- Gonk: The woman is not attractive to look at.
- Killed Off for Real: Killed by Iron Man when he was being controlled by Kang the Conqueror.
- Mundane Utility: Using her powers as a nanny and servant.
- The Rival: To Jarvis during the time they both lived in Avengers Mansion.
- Ultraterrestrials: Is a member of the Inhumans.
Moonhunter
Moonhunter
Alter Ego: Zachary "Zack" Moonhunter
Notable Aliases: Zach Guildenstern
First Appearance: Captain America #402 (July, 1992)
Moonhunter formerly worked alongside Dredmund Druid and, after crossing paths with Captain America, became a member of the Avengers personal support staff. He is a master pilot, and an occasional werewolf hunter.
- Hunter of Monsters: Of werewolves.
- Walking Armory: Has several weapons, all of which made of silver.
