Follow TV Tropes

Following

Sandbox / MCU: White Collar Criminals

Go To

Main Character Index > Villainous Individuals and Organizations > White Collar Criminals > Hammer Advanced Weapons Systems | [[Characters/MCUAIM AIM
]]

Spoilers for all works set prior to the end of Avengers: Endgame are unmarked.

    open/close all folders 

Stark Industries

    Obadiah Stane / Iron Monger 

Obadiah Stane / Iron Monger

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stane_obadiah.jpg
"We're iron mongers; we make weapons."
Click here to see the Iron Monger suit 

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Stark Industries

Portrayed By: Jeff Bridges

Voiced By: José Luis Orozco (Latin-American Spanish dub), Salvador Vives (European Spanish dub), Júlio Chaves (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Iron Man | Spider-Man: Far From Home note 

"For thirty years, I've been holding you up! I built this company from nothing! And nothing is gonna stand in my way — least of all, you...!"

The CEO of Stark Industries, taking over after his friend Howard Stark died. His friendly image hides an amoral and sinister mind who seeks to use the Iron Man armor for his own ends.


  • Adaptation Origin Connection: In the MCU, Obadiah is a long-term business partner to both Tony Stark and his father. His betrayal is what leads to the creation of Iron Man. In the comics, he has no connection to Tony's origin, being simply a rival arms manufacturer.
  • Adaptational Jerkass: He's worse in the novelization of the film (and ironically, closer to his original depiction in the comics).
  • Adaptational Nice Guy: While still a very corrupt man who wants to destroy Tony's life and use his creations for the sake of a new grade of weapons, Stane bears a more polite demeanor compared to his vehement, obsessively hate-driven personality in the comics, does not drag Tony through sadistic mind games (instead just trying to get rid of him to save his skin, before fighting him head-on as the Iron Monger), and his troubled childhood is not implied to exist in the MCU; making him look much less of a brutal monster seeing life as a game that must be won at all costs, and far more like just a regular guy that let the power get to his head a long time ago.
  • Alternate Self: Has one on Earth-32938 who never became Iron Monger and was instead exposed for his crimes and arrested.
  • Arm Cannon: The Iron Monger suit has a minigun mounted on the right forearm and a rocket launcher on the left.
  • Ax-Crazy: Became one at the end of the movie. To clarify, he tries to kill Pepper and starts a violent rampage. He's willing to kill anyone, even children.
  • Awesome, but Impractical: Even prior to Tony building other armors, the Iron Monger armor had many key weaknesses that were taken advantage of. It's larger size meant it wasn't suited for going through doors or other smaller openings, which allowed Pepper to escape him, as well being unable to see behind in time for a sneak attack. Most of its weaponry and wiring were also on the exterior, which would make it easier to disarm. And despite how durable it is, its bulky size made it slow to keep up with Tony at first and the metal it was made of wasn't as resistant to icing at high altitude. Alot of this can be justified as it was built to be a tank with legs and being more for ground combat, but since Tony was able to make armors that could take hits from beings like the Hulk or Thanos at such smaller sizes, Stane's armor was more a rough prototype than the ideal version.
  • Badass Boast:
    Iron Monger: And nothing is gonna stand in my way. Least of all... you.
  • Bald of Evil: Jeff Bridges was reported to be looking forward to shaving his head to portray Stane with this.
  • Beard of Evil: A well-groomed one, in contrast to Tony's goatee.
  • Big Bad: His attempts to take over Stark Industries drive the plot of Iron Man.
  • Big Bad Friend: He's something like Tony's Honorary Uncle in the first film and plotted to have him killed.
  • Black Market: His source of income is selling weapons to anyone with the money for them. His plot to have Tony killed is so he can engage in his dealings without someone watching over his shoulder.
  • Bond Villain Stupidity:
    • Not cleaning out his inbox, for a start.
    • Leaving Tony alone in anguish and dying without his heart. (Though admittedly, Stane barely had enough time to do a victory jig as Coulson and Pepper were rapidly closing in.)
  • Broken Armor Boss Battle: In Tony's duel with him, the massive Iron Monger suit is completely impervious to Tony's attacks. After an attempt to disable it with cold weather fails, Tony goes for an exposed power line on its neck, shutting off its visual systems and forcing Stane to open the armor and expose himself so he can aim.
  • Car Fu: He tries to crush Tony under an SUV. When that fails, he grabs a motorcycle and bats him away with it.
  • Celebrity Paradox: Thor's appearance after the first act in Avengers: Endgame resembles the Dude so much that Tony Stark even acknowledged this In-Universe in one scene by snarkily calling him "Lebowski". No mention of how Stane was portrayed by the Dude himself.
  • The Chessmaster: He orchestrated the hit on Tony in Afghanistan and later locks him out of the company to continue his Evil Plan.
  • Chewing the Scenery: Just that memetic line he delivered in the movie. (See Large Ham entry)
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Everyone he works with will eventually find themselves paralyzed and their stuff stolen.
  • Cigar Chomper: It goes nicely with the corrupt businessman thing he has going.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: He handed over Stark weaponry to the Ten Rings in exchange for using them on Tony's convoy. Tony is aghast when he finds out, as it means his uber-patriotic company has been "double-dealing" to terrorists and U.S. armed forces alike.
  • Cut Lex Luthor a Check: His motivation in the third act — he sees the vast potential in the arc reactor and armor Tony has designed and plans to reproduce the technology and use it to create a new generation of weapons.
  • Create Your Own Hero: Tony's origin story began with Stane trying to assassinate him. Had Stane not bothered, Tony might well have stayed the apathetic Arms Dealer he was at the start of the movie.
  • Dark Is Evil: Stane's Iron Monger armor is primarily dark gray in color, and he deeply enjoys using it to inflict harm on those around him.
  • Deadpan Snarker: The most obvious thing he and Tony have in common is witty banter.
  • Disney Villain Death: Faceplants directly into the prototype arc reactor, causing the plant to blow up.
  • Drunk on the Dark Side: Normally calm and Affably Evil, Obadiah loses his cool after becoming the Iron Monger, and even realizes it: "I must admit, I'm deeply enjoying the suit!"
  • Evil Chancellor: Not royalty or even part of the government, but still fills the role due to his position in Stark Industries. He was basically the company's regent.
  • Evil Counterpart:
    • He turned the Mark I Iron Man suit into his Iron Monger suit, literally making him an evil Iron Man.
    • In their civilian identities, he and Tony were weapons manufacturers, except Tony realized the harm his work was doing and aimed to do good, while Obadiah was intentionally selling his weaponry to terrorists.
  • Evil Gloating: "This is your legacy. A new generation of weapons, with this at its heart."
  • Evil Is Bigger: The Iron Monger suit is gigantic compared to the Iron Man suit, towering over Tony during their fight. Obadiah himself even acknowledges this:
    Obadiah: I wish you could see my prototype. It's not as... ah, well not as conservative as yours.
  • Evil Knockoff: His Iron Monger suit is this to Tony's Iron Man suit; a deliberate attempt to back-engineer a more powerful weapon from Tony's scrap-built first suit, prioritizing more conventional weaponry and power over the trial-and-error perfection that gives even the under-powered Iron Man some advantages over a fully charged Iron Monger.
  • Evil Mentor: He tries to steer Tony over to his line of thinking; "We're Iron Mongers".
  • Evil Plan: He arranged for Tony's murder and the takeover of Stark Industries. Later, he adds "stealing Tony's prototype armor and repurposing it" to that plan.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: The Iron Monger makes his voice sound deeper and more menacing when he's got the helmet on. And a hell of a lot hammier, too.
    Iron Monger: IMPRESSIVE! YOU'VE UPGRADED YOUR ARMOR! I'VE HAD SOME UPGRADES OF MY OWN!
  • Faux Affably Evil: He's a double-dealing arms trader who initiates a coup against Tony with the board of directors to lock him out of the company. On the other hand, he's a jovial wise-cracker who brings Tony pizza from New York (Tony lives in Malibu), rides around on a Segway, and treats his employees well (unless he's in a bad mood). In the film's climax, he compliments Tony's arc reactor design even as he casually mentions ordering a hit on Tony, and takes the arc reactor from his chest and leaves him for dead.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Definitely a part of his motivation. He thinks he's been "holding [Tony] up" for almost three decades and resents being pushed into the background since he took over the company (literally, in the montage of magazine posters shown at the beginning of the film).
  • Large Ham:
    • Evil Is Hammy, after all. Best exemplified by the Punctuated! For! Emphasis! gem of a quote he gives to one of the scientists at Stark Industries that was so over the top and memorable, it reappeared in a flashback with said scientist in Spider-Man: Far From Home which came out eleven years after Iron Man:
    Stane: Tony Stark was able to build this IN A CAVE!...WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!!
    • His ham becomes an Exaggerated Trope once he gets the Iron Monger suit and practically every line has him shouting at the top of his lungs. Though in fairness, this could partially be due to him speaking over the loud noises of his and Tony’s suits along with all of the mayhem going on during their battle.
    Stane: HOW IRONIC TONY! TRYING TO RID THE WORLD OF WEAPONS, YOU GAVE IT ITS BEST ONE EVER! AND NOW, I’M GONNA KILL YOU WITH IT!
  • Manipulative Bastard: Manipulates Tony out of the company and uses and discards the Ten Rings when they are no longer useful.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Tony often refers to his mentor/father figure as "Obie". Obie = Obi = Obi-Wan.
    • "Monger" is an archaic English word for seller or dealer, which survives in words like "fishmonger" but now often has a negative connotation as in "warmonger" or "gossipmonger".
  • Mighty Glacier: Relatively speaking, The Iron Monger isn't quite as fast or agile as Tony's Mark III armor (even its flight takeoff starts out slow, but soon gains speed afterward) but completely surpasses it in both firepower and durability.
  • Mini-Mecha: The Iron Monger suit is closer to this than Powered Armor.
  • Mirror Character: To Darren Cross. Both of them are Corrupt Corporate Executives who attempt to take control over the company that they worked for out of jealousy of the man running it. They also both end up fighting against the main character of their respective movies in a knockoff of their similarly powered suit.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Had Stane not ordered the hit on Tony, Iron Man never would have been created, and the MCU would have been doomed as a result. Without Iron Man, New York would have been nuked, possibly without stopping the Chitauri invasion, Killian would have easily succeeded, and Thanos's snap couldn't have been undone. And that's without getting into the ripple effect of how other heroes and their movies would have been affected. All this and more had Stane not ordered the hit on Tony.
  • No Honor Among Thieves: Perturbed by Raza's refusal to kill Tony, Stane later meets with him in the desert to talk terms. However, Raza no longer has any collateral with which to bargain, and Stane simply disposes of him and his goons.
  • No Sense of Personal Space: Stane loves getting very close to people and putting his arm around them, whether he's trying to butter them up or intimidate them.
  • Pet the Dog: When he's berating William Ginter Riva over the failed attempt at making the Iron Monger suit functional and Riva tells him bluntly that he isn't Tony Stark (for context, he had just been told that Tony had built his own first suit in a cave with a box of scraps), Stane simply calms down and tells William to stop worrying and get some rest, because, despite his best efforts, the only one capable of getting the suit to work is, indeed, Tony Stark.
  • Playing Both Sides: As the man running the day-to-day operations of Stark Industries, he sold cutting-edge weaponry to the U.S. Military and the terrorists and rival nations they were fighting.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: It didn't stop him from trying, but he admits to having worried that having Tony killed would be like "killing the golden goose".
  • Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Though interrupted.
    Iron Monger: Your services are no longer required.
  • The Resenter: Stane grew too comfortable running the company during Tony's adolescence, and was pissed after Tony decided to take control once he came of age.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: He's small-time as far as MCU villains go. A one-off corrupt businessman whose big goal is selling Black Market weapons. But without him trying to wax Tony, Iron Man never becomes a thing. So in a roundabout way, he helps save the universe.
  • Starter Villain: For Iron Man, and the first Big Bad of the MCU.
  • Suddenly Shouting: Stane is initially civil and composed in his conversation with Riva about the latter's inability to recreate a miniaturized Arc Reactor. However, his patience grows thin very quickly and starts shouting about how Tony Stark was able to build a miniaturized Arc Reactor in a cave with a box of scraps.
  • Super Prototype: The Iron Monger Armor is basically Tony's Mark I Armor repurposed into a Mini-Mecha.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Midway through the film, Stane buys some pizza from New York while waiting for Tony to return to his Malibu mansion. The latter implies that Stane does this whenever something business-related goes bad.
  • Treacherous Advisor: Already a major early villain from the comics, Obadiah was retooled as having co-founded Stark Industries with Tony's dad, who then served as a mentor to Tony and the second-in-command of his company when the elder Stark died and Tony inherited the company. Naturally, this being an adaptation, Obadiah turns out to be more villainous than he lets on.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He is indirectly responsible for a Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal that happened years later and has potentially long-lasting implications. The scientist he yelled to about Tony Stark making an Arc Reactor "in a cave with a box of scraps" went on to join a group of disgruntled former Stark Industries employees to help create Mysterio.
  • Uriah Gambit: He sends Tony on a sales trip to Afghanistan to demonstrate Stark Industries' latest missile technology to the American military and hires the local Ten Rings cell to attack his convoy and kill him, so Stane can take full control of the company. The plan fails when Stark survives the attack (barely), and the Ten Rings figure out who he is, keeping him alive to build weapons for them while demanding more money from Stane.
  • Villain Has a Point: Up until the third act where he steals Tony's arc reactor and leaves him for dead (not to mention all his subsequent actions), Stane's reasons for his villainy are rather understandable.
    • Although ordering a hit on him takes things too far, Stane is absolutely correct in pointing out Tony is irresponsible and difficult to work with- blowing off events where he is the guest of honor and letting the business side of things be handled squarely by Stane for years, all while spending money on idle luxuries. That being said, a lot of the companies' success could also be attributed to Tony's work as an engineer in the first place. Also, Stane's way of dealing with Tony pretty much made him realize these flaws and do something about them.
    • When Tony returns from Afghanistan, Stane shuts Tony off from the board of directors and tries to convince him to let their scientists have a look at the arc reactor. Though Stane is definitely still scheming, consider what Tony did when he came back — he announced he was shutting down the weapons development division of Stark Industries, which has been the company's cornerstone for decades and admitted in the same sentence he isn't sure what path the company should take instead and has spent most of his time since then tinkering in his garage refusing to let anyone see what he's doing. Tony pretty much blew up the company and left Stane to clean up the mess while he went home and started experimenting with his Iron Man suit, so Stane has every reason to shut Tony out of the company.
    • Stane keeps trying to convince Tony to let some of the Stark scientists take a look at the arc reactor, but is refused, and he later mocks Tony for thinking he could keep it to himself. While Stane's intentions for the arc reactor are to use it to build "a new generation of weapons", he's correct that it is a revolutionary technological innovation, and there's an argument to be had over if Tony should share it with the world or not. That conflict - trying to use his technology to benefit the world in a safe and responsible manner - is a recurring theme with Tony in later films.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: Implied in Hawkeye. The clocktower that Kate Bishop accidentally destroys is shown to be named after him, indicating that the general public still hasn't found out the truth of who he really was after S.H.I.E.L.D covered up his death over a decade ago.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Everything he does after Pepper steals the evidence of his terrorist dealings and hands them over to S.H.I.E.L.D., including the well-known "Box of scraps" scene. Even his final gambit is nothing more than a desperate, insane bid to drag Tony down with him.
  • Visionary Villain: He presents himself as one to the arc reactor team just before their failed attempt to construct his custom Iron Monger suit.
  • War for Fun and Profit: His ultimate goal is to revolutionize the U.S. military with arc-powered weapons and suits. Each is patented and trademarked by Stark Industries, of course.
  • Wicked Cultured: This guy is great on the piano, but the hidden message was less well-meaning.
  • Would Harm a Child: He throws a car full of them at Tony. He was looking directly into the windshield and could see them screaming, so he was well aware of what he was doing.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: As soon as Raza and his Ten Rings cell hand over the pieced-together remains of Tony Stark's first Iron Man suit as a gift, Stane has them all murdered.
    • Later on, he paralyzes Tony and rips the Arc reactor out of his chest, leaving him to die while he installs it in his own Iron Monger suit, with the long-term plan of building and selling new weapons based on the technology. Subverted, in that Tony survives and comes after him.
    • Another subversion is when Stane attempts to kill Pepper with his Iron Monger suit and tells her that her services are no longer required after she brought Coulson and several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to arrest him, only for Tony in his Iron Man suit to swoop in just in time to fight him.

    Quentin Beck / Mysterio 

Cross Technologies

    Darren Cross / Yellowjacket 

Dr. Darren Cross / Yellowjacket

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cross_darren_4.jpg
"The laws of nature transcend the laws of man. And I've transcended the laws of nature."
Click here to see the Yellowjacket suit 

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): MIT (formerly), Pym Technologies, Cross Technologies

Portrayed By: Corey Stoll

Voiced By: Juan Frese (Latin-American Spanish dub), Luis Bajo (European Spanish dub), Tōru Ōkawa (Japanese dub), Pierre Tessier (French dub), Adrien Bletton (Canadian French dub)

Appearances: WHiH Newsfrontnote  | Ant-Man | Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

The current head of Pym Technologies and creator of the Yellowjacket suit. Originally a close protege of Hank Pym, he grew distant due to Hank's unwillingness to share his Pym Particle research with him and has been driven to get the same results as the Pym Particle without Hank. His ultimate plan is to sell the Yellowjacket suit to Hydra.


  • Abhorrent Admirer: To Hope, who he has feelings for. They may be romantic or platonic, but he does like and respect her.
    Cross: You know, I came to the house the other night to kill him, but you were there.
    Hope: You're sick and I can help you. Just put the gun down.
    Cross: I wasn't ready to kill you then, but I think I am now!
  • Adaptational Superpower Change: In the comics, he had Super-Strength and later mood-based size-shifting abilities. As the Yellowjacket in the film, he can use lasers and can change his size at will.
  • Adaptational Villainy: His Yellowjacket identity was a hero in the comics.
  • Age Lift: In his original comics appearance, he was a middle-aged man with an adult son; in the MCU, he's played by Corey Stoll (late 30s) and is heavily suggested to be close in age to Hope (who is, specifically, 35 years old).
  • Animal-Themed Superbeing: His suit is black and yellow with protrusions on the back that evoke the image of a wasp.
  • Applied Phlebotinum: Just like Scott's suit, his suit utilises Pym Particles to shrink.
  • Arch-Enemy:
    • To Hank Pym. Darren Cross was the man who usurped his company and began using it to try to enrich himself and gain influence over the world in dark ways. Hank is determined to shut Cross down, and Cross wants to rub Hank's failures in his face before killing him once and for all.
    • During the events of the first Ant-Man film, Cross also gradually becomes this to Scott Lang. With Darren's jealousy and hatred over Pym favoring Scott over him and Scott destroying his company as well as Darren threatening Cassie and killing Ant-tony., the enmity becomes mutual for both of them.
  • Ascended Extra: He was a very minor villain in the comic who became the Big Bad of the movie. Conveniently, the 2015 Ant-Man comic book has him and his company as the main villain.
  • Ax-Crazy: A subdued version that gets scarily worse over the course of the movie. Hank suggests it to be from exposure to the Pym Particle, and Darren was already unstable to begin with before he began to work at replicating his mentor's technology. After being electrocuted by a fly trap to death and then also resurrected by it, he becomes even more berserk.
  • Badass Boast: "The laws of nature transcend the laws of man, and I have transcended the laws of nature".
  • Badass Bookworm: He's a Mad Scientist who fights Ant-Man with his own, upgraded suit.
  • Bad Boss: He kills several of his own men in his attempt to murder Scott.
  • Back from the Dead: During their first fight, Scott (hilariously) swats him into a bug zapper that temporarily kills him, before electrocuting him back to life. If Cross wasn't royally pissed off then, he was BEYOND pissed after that.
  • Bald of Evil: Darren has his head shaved in a film where all the heroes have hair, even the old man. And he's the main antagonist.
  • Big Bad: As the one who created and plans to sell the Yellowjacket suit, he is the main villain of Ant-Man.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: You have to be a self-professed villain to straight-up tell someone that you're selling the Yellowjacket suit to HYDRA with a smile on your face. There's also the fact that his response to Cassie asking him if he's a monster is to gleefully ask back "Do I look like a monster?"
  • Character Tic: Putting a reassuring hand on someone's shoulder, in a way that's not the least bit reassuring.
  • Chewing the Scenery: Once he dons the Yellowjacket suit, he unhinges even further as he fights Scott until he's shouting while blasting things to bits with his lasers.
    Darren: [After stepping on, and accidentally activating, an iPod] I'M GONNA DISINTEGRATE YOU!!!
    Siri: Now playing "Disintegration" by The Cure.
  • Clothes Make the Superman: The Yellowjacket suit gives him very similar powers to Ant-Man, although it comes equipped with shoulder-mounted lasers while the Ant-Man suit does not have any weapons at all.
  • Color Character: The Yellowjacket.
  • Combat Tentacles: Two tentacles that fire blasts of energy like stingers.
  • Composite Character: Of four characters from the comics:
    • This version of Yellowjacket is not an alter-ego of Hank Pym, but instead a villain and alter-ego to Darren Cross.
    • In the comics Cross is a Starter Villain for Scott Lang that has nothing to do with the Yellowjacket title. Though this later gets introduced back into the comics due to the film's influence.
    • He also shares some personality traits with Ultron, such as his "daddy issues" with Pym and Hank seeing a darker version of himself in him.
    • The choice to make Cross completely bald in the film is probably a reference to Pym's original Mad Scientist Arch-Enemy in the comics, Egghead.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: Cross is the CEO of his own company and thinks nothing of shrink-killing people who disagree with him, and supplying weapons to HYDRA.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: It's hard not to cringe as different parts of his suit start shrinking at different times, agonizingly crushing him.
  • Deadpan Snarker: He's usually ready with a quip or put-down.
  • Dies Differently in Adaptation: In Ant-Man, he is killed when his Yellowjacket suit (tampered with by Scott Lang) crushes him to death, but in the comics, he dies of natural causes (a heart attack) during a fight with Scott.
  • Establishing Character Moment: He murders a coworker who offhandedly speaks out against his work after stating that he has "transcended the laws of nature". Showing that he's a cold-blooded murderer with an ego beyond reproach. He even does it with his shrink ray. Then flushes what's left of him down the toilet.
  • Evil Counterpart:
    • To Scott Lang, who he counts as a foil to. While Scott is an ex-con who uses the Ant-Man suit for noble purposes, Cross is the powerful CEO of Pym Technologies and uses the Yellowjacket suit for power and destruction.
    • He kinda counts as one to Hope as well. Both hold a grudge against Hank Pym by the start of the movie. But while Hope manages to reconcile with Hank, Cross does not and wants to prove himself better than Hank at any cost.
  • Evil Genius: His inventions are fueled by a complete disregard for the safety of others and they're being sold to Hydra!
  • Evil Is Hammy: I'M GONNA DISINTEGRATE YOU!!!
    Siri: Now playing "Disintegration" by The Cure.
  • Evil Plan: Re-invent the Pym Particle and make a commercial success of it in order to prove himself better than his mentor.
  • Faux Affably Evil: He usually acts friendly and cheerful, even as he commits horrible acts like murder.
  • Foil:
    • An emotionally unstable business executive desperate for Pym's approval and holds stark similarities to him, in contrast to Scott, who's the criminal disciple of Pym, but is less similar and holds much greater emotional maturity.
    • There is also a sharp contrast between the Ant-Man suit and the Yellowjacket suit. Hank emphasizes the Ant-Man suit carries no weaponry, with Scott utilizing size-changing discs and his ant buddies in combat, while the Yellowjacket is chock full of deadly weapons. There's also the fact the Ant-Man suit is designed for infiltration and camouflage, while the Yellowjacket is bright and lets enemies know its presence.
  • For Science!: One of his earlier motivations, along with "Well Done, Son" Guy, is to recreate the Pym Particle formula.
  • For the Evulz: He uses lambs as test subjects for his fatal shrink ray rather than cheaper and less empathic mice for no discernible reason. Then he flicks the container like a kid with insects.
  • Gone Horribly Right: Hank choose him as his apprentice because he saw himself in Cross. Then he distanced himself because he started seeing too much.
  • Granola Guy: A minor case from his morning meditations, a reference to the New-Age Retro Hippie elements of Silicon Valley. He doesn't have any other traits.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: There's more than a little jealousy in Darren's hatred of Scott, who is Hank's new pupil.
  • Hidden Depths: He listens to the Cure.
  • Ignored Epiphany: There are a few times where he is a little unsure of himself. After killing Frank, he stares at himself in the mirror. He later shows some vulnerability by asking Hank why he was pushed away. Cross was also conflicted about killing Hope and had to engineer a situation where he seemingly had no choice but to be 'ready'. Finally, he is a little affected when Cassie asks him if he's a monster. Of course, whenever he comes close to showing an inkling of morality, he swerves hard in the other direction.
  • Instant Costume Change: He unshrinks and dons the Yellowjacket suit in about five seconds while Scott is distracted.
  • It Amused Me: One of the reasons he sold the Yellowjacket suit to HYDRA, other than to spite Hank, is because he "enjoyed himself".
  • It's Personal: By the time of his final duel against Scott, he declares that he will pay for destroying Pym's company along with his plans by destroying everything that he loves, beginning with Cassie.
    Cross: You insult me, Scott. Your very existence is insulting to me. You know, it'd be much easier to hit you if you were bigger.
  • Jaw Drop: His reaction upon seeing Pym's work facility explode, then implode on the night it was going to be given to him.
  • Jerkass: Outright bullying Pym in his actions, and taunts Scott throughout their battle.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: What IS the difference between testing on a mouse or a goat? Both are feeling creatures.
  • Karmic Death: Darren's weapon of choice before donning his suit is a Pym Particle device that causes people to turn inside-out as they shrink. Scott sabotages his suit during their final battle, causing Darren to slowly and painfully implode in a similar process.
  • Lack of Empathy: He does not care at all that he killed a number of his own employees trying to kill Scott, and even less than completely innocent people would likely die as a result of him selling the Yellowjacket suit to HYDRA.
  • Large and in Charge: Darren towers over many people including his former mentor Hank, and the more lanky Scott. Corey Stoll is 1.87 metres (6' 2") in height and fairly muscular, making his portrayal physically imposing — especially when he puts on the Yellowjacket suit.
  • Ludicrous Gibs: He uses an imperfect version of the Pym Particle device to cause people to shrink and implode into tiny red blobs.
  • Mad Scientist: He was able to reverse engineer the Pym Particles, after all — and suffered Sanity Slippage as a result, due to unprotected exposure.
  • Made of Iron: Gets stung by multiple bullet ants at once, then later swatted into a bug zapper and repeatedly electrocuted, but still doesn't go down. Hank even rightfully believes him dead at one point.
  • Mirror Character: To Obadiah Stane. Both of them are Corrupt Corporate Executives who attempt to take control over the company that they worked for out of jealousy of the man running it. They also both end up fighting against the main character of their respective movies in a knockoff of their similarly powered suit.
  • Mood-Swinger: This guy can go from professional to manic, to enraged, to depressed, and then back to manic again over the course of a half-hour.
  • No Sense of Personal Space: Darren has a way of getting very close to people he's having chats with that tends to get very menacing, especially when his off-kilter behavior is added into the mix...
  • Pet the Dog: He's largely a good boss to Hope and is very respectful of her, possibly due to unspoken feelings. She's his Only Friend.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: His suit allows him to fight on equal footing against Scott.
  • Primary-Color Champion: Inverted. His predominately yellow suit has small red markings and allows him to fire bolts of blue energy, but he's the Big Bad of his film.
  • Psychopathic Manchild: His Mood-Swinger tendencies plus his desire for attention from Hank makes him come off as very childish most of the time — as well as petty, selfish, and unstable.
  • A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Hank Pym was his mentor and Cross went down a dark path. Now they're enemies.
  • Put on a Bus to Hell: His final moments retroactively become this. The last we see of Cross is when he's shown shrinking uncontrollably into a contorted shape before disappearing. Despite this seeming like certain death, he's confirmed to be returning for Quantumania
  • Ret-Canon: Both Darren Cross and Yellowjacket existed in the comics as established characters, but in 2016 Cross took up the mantle of the Yellowjacket identity, due to the events of the film.
  • Revenge Before Reason: His initial goal of escaping with the Yellowjacket suit is tossed aside in favor of taking revenge on Scott for imploding his building and all the research in it, and then smacking him into a bug zapper. It's likely that Scott's actions (and being zapped) finally drove him completely over the edge.
  • Sanity Slippage: He wasn't all that stable to begin with, and a combination of the Pym particles and his own insecurities cause him to grow more ruthless and psychotically paranoid over the course of the film. Getting his plans ruined by Ant-Man and Hank only makes his state worse.
  • Shadow Archetype: He's inherited not only Hank's Yellowjacket identity but also the Mad Scientist and Sanity Slippage traits typically associated with it, and serves to demonstrate why Hank stopped using the Ant-Man suit in the first place. Invoked late in the movie.
    Darren Cross: All those years ago, you picked me. What did you see in me?
    Hank Pym: I saw myself.
    Darren Cross: [hurt] Then why did you push me away?
    Hank Pym: Because I saw too much of myself.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: He's wearing a three-piece suit for much of the movie until he dons the Yellowjacket suit near the climax.
  • Shrink Ray: He carries one, which he uses on those who disagree with his ideas. Since it's imperfect, it also turns them into a lifeless, tiny pile of mush.
  • Sizeshifter: He can shrink like Ant-Man using the Yellowjacket suit.
  • Uncertain Doom: According to director Payton Reed, it's possible that Cross didn't die when Scott seemingly imploded him, and that he could be in Quantum Realm, presumably to leave the possibility open for some kind of return. Though, he might be wishing he were dead at this point. He's confirmed to be returning in Quantumania, indicating that he's still alive in there.
  • The Unfettered: He's willing to use Hank Pym's technology as a weapon and do everything from murder to working with HYDRA to make it happen.
  • Villainous Breakdown: He is already suffering a Sanity Slippage as the movie progresses, but when he sees his company being obliterated by Pym's plan coming to fruition, he completely snaps, puts the Yellowjacket suit on and spends the rest of the movie trying to get revenge on Scott. Then Scott throws him into a bug zapper, which shreds whatever sanity was left.
  • Villain Respect: Downplayed example — Darren can't help but admire that despite his age, Hank can still throw a mean right cross.
    Darren: Wow! ... Wow! I mean, I saw that punch coming a mile away, but I thought it'd be all weak and pathetic!
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Darren considers himself a surrogate son to Hank, and the feeling was returned. Much of his motivation stems from a desire to both prove himself and outdo his mentor since he feels abandoned and betrayed by him.
    Cross: What do you call the only man who can arm the most powerful weapon in the world?
    Hank: The most powerful man in the world.
    Cross: You proud of me yet?
  • Wicked Wasp: His suit and supervillain name is Yellowjacket, which is a species of wasp.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Cross became mentally unstable due to unprotected exposure to Pym particles over thousands of experiments trying to reproduce Hank's technology.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: One has to wonder to what effect the Pym Particles have affected his mind. He's certainly not on speaking terms with sanity, and he has little moments of vague humanity. It's also oddly affecting to see him watch his beloved company crumble to the ground right before his eyes.
  • Would Hurt a Child: He has zero qualms about threatening Cassie and was fully prepared to kill her to get revenge on Scott. Ironically, it ended up leading to his death.

Meachum Family & Associates

    Harold Meachum 

Harold Meachum

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/harold_meachum.png
"I have no idea what an Iron Fist is. Sounds like a sex toy."

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: David Wenham

Appearances: Iron Fist

Wendell's business partner, and father of Joy and Ward Meachum.


  • Abled in the Adaptation: Harold's legs were amputated in the comics.
  • Abusive Parents: He treats Ward like a henchman and a whipping boy rather than his own son and he is not afraid of physically disciplining him to get that across. It's very telling that Ward says the last time he was happy was when Harold died (Ward was 15 years-old at the time). Harold also had one in his own father, who used to beat him with his belt all the time. When Bakuto is preparing to (try to) decapitate him, Harold's last words to his children are to express how much of a disappointment Ward has been to him and glorifying Joy for being the better choice.
  • Adaptational Badass: In the comics, Harold was an crippled and broken old man who lost his legs. Not only is he much younger, able-bodied and capable of fighting, but he is also The Ageless as result of his ties with the Hand.
  • Adaptational Jerkass: While Harold was involved in the death of Danny's parents in the comics, he had absolutely no involvement with the Hand and was instead motivated by jealousy, as he was in love with Danny's mother. Harold in the show is also a more active threat than his comic book counterpart, who was much more passive and wanted to be put out of his misery by Danny.
  • Affably Evil: He acts polite and reasonable to those he's talking to and even when angry, he still keeps the same calm tone. However...
    • Faux Affably Evil: After Ward kills him, his politeness becomes more of an act as he starts to lose traces of his humanity.
  • The Ageless: Since dying, he hasn't aged a day in thirteen years.
  • Age Lift: A great deal younger than his comic counterpart, who is depicted as an old man. See The Ageless above.
  • Bad Boss: Though he initially tries to paint himself as a Benevolent Boss in his introductory scene by teaching the values of appreciating and rewarding employees to his son, they aren't particularly impressive as he demonstrate it by giving his assistant Kyle a day off...when it's about to hit midnight. His subsequent appearances show him being very condescending towards him which leads to Harold brutally murdering him in a fit of madness caused by resurrection after Kyle declines the fancy ice creams Harold bought for him and asks for vanilla.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: With Madame Gao and Bakuto for Season 1 of Iron Fist. While the weakest of the three in terms of overall threat, and Gao and Bakuto are fighting to control him, Harold is responsible for the events of the series: he made a deal with Madame Gao's Hand faction to resurrect him after his cancer reached a terminal state, in exchange for using Rand Enterprises to move Gao's heroin over the world. When Wendell began getting suspicious, Harold got poison from Gao to kill the pilots of the Rands' plane, which resulted in the deaths of Wendell and Heather, as well as Danny heading to K'un-Lun. And ultimately, Harold is the last one of the three to be dealt with to end the season.
  • Brooklyn Rage: A martial arist and brutal fighter from New York.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Harold is a pretty quirky guy to say the least, and his Sanity Slippage doesn't help. It doesn't make him any less of a Manipulative Bastard.
  • Came Back Wrong: Every death and resurrection makes him a little less human and more prone to violence.
  • Composite Character: The more villainous qualities of Ward in the comics have instead gone to him.
  • Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: While Wilson Fisk, Kilgrave, Cottonmouth, and Diamondback were all defined by their horrible childhoods, Harold serves as a sinister patriarchal role to both his children and Danny.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: A very shady businessman.
  • Deal with the Devil: Made a deal shortly before dying. It was to make him Immortal, but a puppet of the Hand.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: He's the main antagonist for the first part of the first season of Iron Fist. Subverted, though, in that he returns in the finale to be Danny's last opposition.
  • Dragon Ascendant: He served as The Dragon to the Hand, but once Gao and Bakuto are out of the way, he takes his place as the Final Boss that Danny has to deal with.
  • Evil All Along: He wasn't exactly a nice guy to begin with, but one could mistake him for simply being extreme but well-meaning early in the season. He's eventually revealed to be a cold-blooded murderer and just as bad as the Hand he serves, having been screwing with Danny's life even before his resurrection.
  • Exact Words: When Joy asks that he assure her that he did not have Lawrence killed, he truthfully answers that he did not. Because he did it himself.
  • Face Death with Dignity: When it looks like Bakuto has him dead to rights, he does his best to console a wounded Joy and assure her how everything will be okay. Though it's tempered a bit by the fact that his intended last words are "Ward, you are the greatest disappointment in my life."
  • Faking the Dead: The world thinks he died of cancer, but he's actually alive and well. Technically, both are true.
  • Fantasy-Forbidding Father: In Season 2, Joy tells Walker that Ward used to draw until Harold told him to stop because he saw it as a "distraction".
  • Final Boss: Once Gao and Bakuto had been dealt with, he rises as the final threat to Danny for Season 1.
  • Fingore: Gao's thugs try to amputate one of his fingers as a lesson on foolishness. After Danny blows his cover and he's forced to kill them, Harold amputates his finger anyway to keep Gao from raising suspicion. It apparently grows back as part of Harold’s resurrection, as all ten of his fingers are plainly visible afterwards.
  • Fire Keeps It Dead: He's cremated to prevent resurrection.
  • It's All About Me: Ward openly says that the only person Harold really cares about is himself.
  • Kingpin in His Gym: He is frequently shown going to town on his punching bag or sparring with a physical trainer, to help establish that he's a physical threat in addition to a corporate criminal.
  • Like a Son to Me: Towards Danny, it's not genuine.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Harold spends most of the show manipulating Danny, his children, and even the Hand.
  • The Nothing After Death: How he describes the afterlife to a recently murdered Kyle. He goes into more detail as to what it's like to pass on when he reunites with Joy.
  • Orcus on His Throne: Initially played straight; he's been publicly dead for several years seemingly due to the involvement of the Hand. Danny Rand's return to New York City forces him to directly involve himself in the world again.
  • Papa Wolf: Seeing a bruise on Joy's face leads him to slice the owner of the offending fist...vertically. Only extends to his daughter, since he clearly despises and denigrates his own son Ward every chance he gets.
  • Parental Favoritism: Blatantly prefers Joy over Ward.
  • Posthumous Character: Averted Trope. The Hand resurrected him when he died from cancer 13 years ago, and is pulling the strings of Rand Enterprises in secret.
  • Rasputinian Death: He's impaled on rebar, shot, falls off of a skyscraper, and is cremated to prevent him from resurrecting.
  • Resurrective Immortality: When he dies, he wakes up three days later fully healed.
  • Sanity Slippage: Thanks to the Hand resurrection techniques, and since he wasn't a very stable or terribly kind person to start with, he didn't have far to fall.
  • Supernaturally Young Parent: Justified TropeHarold died 13 years ago but was subsequently revived by The Hand, and a side effect of the resurrection is him retaining the appearance of the age at which he first died.
  • That Man Is Dead: Ward considers Harold to have died 13 years ago. The man before him who looks like his father is a monster who had part of his soul left in the grave.
  • Wicked Cultured: As benefiting a top businessman, he's seen enjoying fine alcoholic beverages and when he returns to Rand Enterprises, he shows up wearing a sharp three-piece suit.
  • You Killed My Father: Killed Danny's parents because they discovered his illicit dealings with The Hand.

    Joy Meachum 

Joy Meachum

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mcu_joy_meachum.png

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Jessica Stroup

Appearances: Iron Fist

Harold's daughter, running Rand Enterprises with her brother Ward when Danny Rand returns to New York.


  • Big Bad Ensemble: With Mary Walker and Davos in Season 2 of Iron Fist. She starts off working with Davos to undermine Danny, hiring Mary to achieve this, but then she has a Heel Realization and gradually turns against Davos, while Mary becomes a Wild Card with her own agenda.
  • Broken Pedestal: Walks away from Harold when she realizes what a monster he is. Unfortunately her relationship with Ward and Danny has also been destroyed, causing her to become an antagonist in Season 2.
  • Daddy's Girl: Issues notwithstanding, she adored and looked up to her father. Joy becomes Daddy's Little Villain shortly after learning of his resurrection.
  • Daddy Issues: Joy is flat out stated to have this. Even joining with Harold despite his unwillingness to explain his absence for 13 years and her protectiveness towards him despite being affiliated with the Hand. Ward even calls her out on this for using him as a replacement for her acceptance because she couldn't get the same from her father.
    Ward: I didn't ask to be the heir to your daddy issues, so grow up, and stop begging for my approval! It's cliche; it's pathetic!
  • Defrosting Ice Queen:
    • She's very cold to Danny when he returns but starts warming to him quicker than Ward does, especially once she realizes who he really is.
    • In Season 2 she rejects Ward's attempts to reconcile with her, but does hold out the possibility of doing so at some point in the future. After Davos nearly kills her and Ward turns up to rescue her, she's able to put aside much of her animosity towards him.
  • Determinator: Once Joy has a goal, she won't stop until it's achieved whether it's getting back into Rand, destroying Danny, or stopping Davos.
  • Evil Costume Switch: In Season 2, she's introduced wearing dark clothing and having switched the executive skirt for black leather pants.
  • Evil Is Not a Toy: Forms an alliance with Davos to steal the Iron Fist from Danny, only to find that Davos won't let her go afterwards, aiming to use her for influence and wealth for his own schemes. She then calls in Walker to take down Davos, only to find herself in the same position with Walker.
  • Face–Heel Turn: In Season 2 she allies herself with Davos' plan to get the Iron Fist, seeking to humiliate Danny as she blames him for everything that went wrong after he came back.
  • Hypocrite: Joy states that she's more open-minded than her brother's Black-and-White Morality. But at the end of the day, she's as obstinate as Ward in her opinions and is all too willing to side with her untrustworthy father despite Ward warning how dangerous Harold is, while spitting excuses for his behavior.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Joy starts season 2 siding with Davos to hurt Danny but when she realizes Davos' instability, she finds and delivers the key to stopping him without the help of any of the heroes (who have no idea she's even doing this). She later insists it was just because Davos had to be stopped, not to help the others, but Ward doesn't buy it.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: She isn't aware that her father is alive, not at first.
  • Love Makes You Evil: Joy loves her father and wants to please him, so much that she is willing to become more and more corrupted to keep up with Harold's immorality.
  • Morality Pet: Serves as one to Ward and Harold. Possibly also to Walker.
  • Related Differently in the Adaptation: Her counterpart in the comics is Ward's niece, but they're siblings here.
  • Self-Made Man: Her ultimate goal.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: While Ward is very obstinate and unfeeling, Joy is more reasonable and willing to listen. The pendulum then swings by the end of the season.
  • Vengeance Feels Empty: Her expression when she receives the video of Danny's defeat indicates this.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: In season 2, she calls out both Danny and Ward for repeatedly lying to and manipulating her and points out that Ward had pretty much their entire life to come clean but never did.

    Ward Meachum 

Ward Meachum

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mcu_ward_meachum.png

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Tom Pelphrey

Appearances: Iron Fist

Harold's son, running Rand Enterprises with his sister Joy when Danny Rand returns to New York.


  • Adaptational Heroism: He gets to have a Heel–Face Turn whereas his comic counterpart did not. Up until that point, however, he's as bad as his comic counterpart was.
  • Adaptation Dye-Job: Ward Meachum is blonde in the comics, while here his hair is black.
  • Age Lift: He goes from being Harold's brother to Harold's son.
  • Agent Scully: He will always refuse to believe any of the fantastical stories accompanied by Danny including; the homeless man who walks in is Danny Rand back from the dead, Danny's story on Rand being used to smuggle heroin, The Hand holding a girl hostage in one of Rand's warehouses. He finally has a Heel Realization after he sees the decapitated head of a Hand member who failed to stop Danny.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: He suffers a bad case of this at first: despite living in a city of ninjas, bulletproof men and mind-rapists, not to mention a full-on extra-terrestrial invasion, Ward has trouble believing Danny, officially stated as deceased, may actually be who he says he is. Though in his defense, he has problems admitting that because of how troublesome it would have been to his position in Rand Enterprises, it can get ridiculous that he still doesn't entertain the notion while speaking with his own father Harold, who was brought back to life by an evil ninja cult and whom Ward has been forced to serve as lackey.
  • The Atoner: Thanks to his Character Development, Ward tries hard to be a good guy in Season 2. While he successfully makes amends with Danny, Joy blows him off. He lapses back into addiction (this time getting shitfaced drunk in the morning) and starts atoning again.
  • Big Brother Instinct:
    • While Ward has many flaws, he genuinely cares and wants to protect Joy even at personal cost.
    • In season 2, he also starts acting more protective and brotherly towards Danny, outright referring to Danny as his brother at several points. Seeing what Davos did to Danny drives Ward to get himself piss-drunk and pick a losing fight with a bartender twice his size.
  • Black-and-White Morality: Joy describes his worldview as being this way.
  • Bully Turned Buddy: When they were children, Ward bullied Danny. In season 1, when the long-lost adult Danny returns, Ward doesn't seem to think their relationship was that antagonistic, and by the time season 2 starts, they've become close friends.
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: He doesn't remember any of what he and Danny did together, including the bullying he did growing up, seemingly because it was so commonplace he doesn't care to remember.
  • Butt-Monkey: Ward does not catch a break at all. He's consistently being manipulated, kicked around, and forced to play second-fiddle to both Danny and Joy.
  • Character Development: Goes through some extreme changes, to the point he's almost unrecognizable at the end of the season then as the person we're first introduced to.
  • Crying Wolf: He lied to Joy about everything from the purpose of business deals to their father's death, so by the time he tries to tell her about how dangerous Harold is, she doesn't believe him and it contributes to her Face–Heel Turn.
  • The Dragon: To his father, Harold.
  • Establishing Character Moment: Literally the first childhood flashback Danny has of childhood with Ward is Ward refusing to follow the rules of the game they're playing when he starts to lose, kicking Danny in the balls, throwing all of the game pieces off of the table, and then blaming Danny for it when his parents show up a minute later. Danny helps him grow out of his Jerkass-ness by the end of the first season.
  • Everyone Has Standards: He's quite disdainful of the trust fund babies in New York City who live off their parents' money and don't work. While he too was born into a life of privilege, he and his sister actually run the day-to-day operations of the company their father helped build and earn their own salaries.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Tells a reporter all about Danny's decision to have the company sell medicine at cost without realizing this actually makes Danny look good.
  • Face–Heel Revolving Door: Ward is a weak man who is full of Conflicting Loyalties and deeply desires to be his own man. As he tries to deal with the events of season one, he makes various deals and compromises with both the heroes and the villains and it is hard at times to figure out whose side he is on. By the end of the show, he's settled on "Face".
  • Fatal Flaw: Ward has a laundry list of flaws, but the top one is his hatred of his father, and more specifically his childish reaction to being ordered around. His biggest problems are caused when Harold orders him to back Joy on the Danny apologizing scandal, and Ward refuses to. Ward has been considering it until Harold orders him to go along with it.
  • Freudian Excuse: It becomes obvious early on that all of Ward's problem come from being treated like crap by his powerful and sadistic father while simultaneously getting very ruthless life philosophy beat into him by his father since childhood, and the stress of having to secretly deal with his father in the present day.
  • Functional Addict: He pops pain pills like they're candy, but otherwise seems to not be affected too much. Until he ends up hooked on the Hand's tainted heroin, that is, and he's forced to get detoxified.
  • Generation Xerox: Plays with it with his hair. Mimics his dad's hairstyle. Shows how he's mimicking Harold's ethics.
  • Good Hair, Evil Hair: His slicked-back hairstyle can be seen as shady.
  • Grew a Spine: He starts season one as a weak minion of his father, but gets Character Development and starts to assert himself. He finally has enough and stabs his father to death. He has a Heel–Face Turn when he finally has the courage to do the right thing and stick with it.
  • Hate Sink: He was initially depicted as this, being a bully as a child and a Corrupt Corporate Executive as an adult. He does grow out of it after a Hazy-Feel Turn.
  • Heel–Face Turn: By the end of the show, he has made a complete 180 and even offers to work with Danny as equals "the way our fathers should have".
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: Halfway through the second season of Iron Fist, Ward starts referring to Danny as his brother, caring for him as he convalesces from the shit Davos did to him. By the end of the season, they're traveling together, full partners.
  • Irony: Early in the season he has Danny incarcerated in Birch Psychiatric Hospital where he was treated as a mental patient by Paul Edmonds. Later on, Ward in the season he is sent to the exact same institute for being an addict and interrogated by the same psychiatrist.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a colossal dick as a kid and isn't much better as an adult but he gradually shows a softer side and becomes far more likable as a result.
  • Karma Houdini: Downplayed. While he ends up in a good position despite repeated attempts to murder Danny, it's hard to argue the sheer amount of suffering he goes through over the whole season isn't punishment enough, plus he ends up a genuinely better person because of it.
  • Mommy Issues: Is accused of having these by Joy in season 2.
  • One-Steve Limit: Averted, as he's the second character in the MCU who answers to the name "Ward", alongside Grant Ward from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..
  • Patricide: Ward kills Harold in "Felling Tree With Roots". It doesn't stick. The first time, anyway.
  • Rage Quit: Danny's first childhood flashback shows Ward refusing to follow the rules of Monopoly when he starts to lose, then throwing all of the pieces on the floor.
  • Related Differently in the Adaptation: He's Harold's son in the show whereas he was his brother in the comics.
  • Sanity Slippage: Throughout the first season, the stress of Danny's return, his father's sociopathic controlling over him, his increasing addiction to pain meds (and withdrawal when they are thrown away) and his inability to tell Joy - the only person he could ever confide in - slowly erodes his fried nerves, eventually leading to him killing his father when he takes all of his money when Ward tries leaving the country. He eventually gets better when Joy learns the truth behind everything nd he learns to trust Danny.
  • Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up: Although not directly from the schoolyard, Ward is no less of a self-involved prick to Danny than from when they were kids. Their first on-screen interaction of them as kids had Ward cheating him out of Monopoly money; years later, Ward would grow up to embezzle millions of dollars from Rand Enterprise's pension fund.
  • Self-Made Orphan: He kills his father, Harold, twice. The first time by stabbing him to death after being fed up with being abused as his father's underling. This doesn't last since Harold returns from the dead. The second time he shoots an already impaled Harold off a building then had his body cremated to prevent resurrection.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: While Joy is slightly more empathetic and reasonable, Ward is less forgiving and stuck in his ways. At first.
  • Slasher Smile: He gives one after he murders Harold, finally being freed of his abusive father.
  • Smug Snake: He's very condescending toward Danny upon his return, and doesn't immediately believe it's him.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's 6'2 with black hair and is quite easy on the eyes.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: He goes through some serious development during the first season and ends a much better person than he was at the start, een becoming genuine friends with Danny.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: inverted. Under his seriously shitty dad, he bullied Danny, grew into a seriously troubled adult, and eventually had a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Villainous Breakdown: His constant state for almost the entire first season, with the strain of Danny's return and having to keep Harold's state of being alive a secret. The drugs don't help.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: He has become this with Danny by the start of season 2.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Was always treated worse then Danny by Harold, which he responded to by bullying Danny. This continues even to the present, with Harold welcoming Danny with open arms
  • Written-In Absence: He's on a business trip during The Defenders.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Ward would be a pretty effective villain in a corporate espionage thriller, but the poor bastard has no idea how far over his head he is, in a comic book superhero story.
  • Yuppie: He has the look and personality down to a tee; he's a ruthless business man in a three-piece suit and a comb-over haircut ripped straight from Patrick Bateman. He runs a tech and pharmaceutical company that he embezzles from in a lucrative position inherited to him by his abusive, controlling father, he focused more on the profits of his company over ethical ramifications and keeps himself together with a steady diet of addictive pain meds and alcohol.

    Lawrence Wilkins 

Lawrence Wilkins

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lawrencewilkins.jpg
"Don't expect anyone here to be listening to a kid who got his MBA from a Himalayan monastery."

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Clifton Davis

Appearances: Iron Fist

A member of the Rand Enterprises board of directors.


  • Boom, Headshot!: Harold Meachum shoots him in the head, and stages his death to look like a suicide.
  • Canon Foreigner: There's no Lawrence Wilkins in the comics.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: He is embezzling from Rand and hires prostitutes with company money. He also wanted to sell a life-saving medicine at ten times the production cost.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite having some skeletons of his own, Lawrence has kids, and a nephew in the hospital, all of whom he loves. Harold actually asks if he wants to preserve his image as a loving uncle/father before capping him in the head.
  • Fatal Family Photo: Has a photograph of his son on his desk.
  • Irony: Tries to offer Joy and Ward a severance package in the same amount that they had tried to buy Danny out for.
  • Never Suicide: Harold covers up his murder of him by staging it to look like suicide. Everyone buys it.
  • Office Golf: Has a putt-putt hole in his office.
  • Smug Snake: A backstabbing, swindling, no-good man that was all smiles and polite belittling of Danny and anybody that was against the bottom line.
  • Trespassing to Talk: On the victim end of this, courtesy of Harold Meachum.

    Kyle 

Kyle

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Alex Wyse

Appearances: Iron Fist

A young assistant attending to Harold Meachum's every whim.


  • Apologizes a Lot: He does this to Harold a lot, who mocks him for it.
  • Butt-Monkey: Harold likes to torment him in an indirect casual way, like giving him the day off when it's almost midnight.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: Is killed by Harold with an ice cream scoop.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Perhaps one of the most extreme examples: Harold brutally kills him with an ice cream scoop. What incurred this violent punishment? Asking if there was any vanilla ice cream in the selection of gourmet flavors Harold bought for him.
  • Extreme Doormat: He is so passive and submissive to Harold that he can't even stop apologizing about it even as Harold mocks him about doing so.
  • Manchild: Somewhat. When asked what he would hypothetically do with an immortal life, all he can come up with is eating ice cream for every meal consequence-free.
  • Morality Pet: Zig-Zagged Trope. For most of the show, Harold is nothing but a rude and dismissive Bad Boss toward Kyle. After dying and resurrecting again he makes a genuine effort to bond with him, but this is when he winds up murdering the poor kid. Given that Harold's resurrection method causes its subjects turn on their closest loved ones first, in an incredibly perverse way the fact that Kyle was his first recent victim proves that Harold did care for him like a family member all along.
  • Sacrificial Lamb: His sudden death at Harold's hands is the first sign that resurrection is destabilizing Harold's mental state.
  • Secret-Keeper: One of the few people besides the Hand and Ward to know that Harold is alive.
  • Sweet Tooth: Again, ice cream.
  • Yes-Man: Harold has him hanging on his every word.
  • Undying Loyalty: Takes Harold's abuse without a single complaint.

    Shannon 

Shannon

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Esau Pritchett

Appearances: Iron Fist

The head of security at Rand.


  • The Dragon: Not only is he the head of security at Rand, he's Ward's main enforcer in the early episodes.
  • Scary Black Man: A tall and imposing African-American that acts as a thug for his employer.

    Kevin Singleton 

Kevin Singleton

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Ramon Fernandez

Appearances: Iron Fist

A bodyguard and enforcer for Harold.


  • The Brute: He fills this role to Harold's Big Bad and Ward's The Dragon. He's tasked with destroying Danny Rand's hospital records and gets into a physical confrontation with him.
  • Noodle Incident: He mentions a task he performed for Harold Meachum in Miami that turned messy.

Hammer Advanced Weapons Systems

Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.)

Roxxon Corporation

    In General 

Roxxon Corporation

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c90gedgv0aasg64.jpg

Appearances: Iron Man | Iron Man 2 | Iron Man 3 | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. | Agent Carter | Daredevil | Iron Fist | Cloak And Dagger | Loki note 

One of the largest oil conglomerates, founded by Hugh Jones and active at least since the 1940s. In 1952, it absorbed Isodyne Energy.


  • Big Bad: Of the first season of Cloak And Dagger.
  • Company Town: The town of Haven Hills, Alabama, is owned by Roxxcart in the future.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: All of the Roxxon executives shown so far are involved with some corrupt activity or a criminal enterprise.
  • Cutting Corners: This is a recurring problem with Roxxon and the Corrupt Corporate Executives running it. They skimped on extra safety equipment that Tandy's father and Ivan Hess requested, which led to the Rig exploding, and in the present, a junior executive relocates a crucial valve to an unsafe location simply so he does not have to spend the money on a crane. What makes this really stupid is that if they ever manage to successfully tap into the new fuel source under the seabed, they stand to make billions. However, they sabotage themselves to save a few thousands dollars. By the end of the season, this comes back to bite them when their unsafe practises cause the valves to release the pent up Darkforce and Lightforce they were harvesting, which infect the citizens of New Orleans and almost destroyed the city. Once the city is saved, the company is held responsible and put under investigation.
  • Evil, Inc.: Roxxon was tied to the Council of Nine through its founder Hugh Jones. In the present day they are employed by the Hand to cover some of its illicit activities. They also have ties to A.I.M. through its accountant, Thomas Richards. They also countersue a former employee who developed cancer after working at a Roxxon plant, because he shared information about the plant to the doctor treating him, arguing that the man had violated Roxxon patents.

    Hugh Jones 

    Thomas Richards 

Thomas Richards

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Tom Virtue

Appearances: Iron Man 3

A high-level accountant for Roxxon kidnapped by "the Mandarin".


  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: After the transmission of his execution ends, he stands up and shakes hands with the Mandarin, showing he's aware that the whole thing is a ploy to undermine President Warren Ellis.
  • Faking the Dead: He goes along with his own fake execution.

Asano Robotics

    Associates 
See the Hand page for Hirochi and Stan Gibson.

Roxxon Gulf

    Peter Scarborough 

Peter Scarborough

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Wayne Pére

Appearances: Cloak and Dagger

The Chief Executive of Risk Management for the Roxxon Corporation and de facto head of Roxxon Gulf based in New Orleans.


  • Alternate Self: Has a variant named Lloyd Emerson in another world's San Francisco.
  • Ambition Is Evil: One of his hopes, as discovered by Tandy, is getting more money, even if he gets his employees killed in the process.
  • Bad Boss: The other executives at Roxxon Gulf hate him. One of them fantasizes of getting served by him, another of getting serviced (sexually), and a third one of killing him.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: Of Cloak and Dagger Season 1, along with Connors. Scarborough was responsible for the platform that Tandy's father Nathan Bowen designed, and when it collapsed, he placed the blame on Nathan, causing Tandy and Melissa's lives to go into a downward spiral. The explosion also caused Connors to startle and shoot Tyrone's brother Billy. So while ultimately responsible for both Tandy and Tyrone's problems, he isn't connected with Connors.
  • Big Bad Wannabe: Scarborough's pathological inability to not cut corners and Too Dumb to Live character traits mean that most of his threat comes from pure incompetence, as his screw-ups create increasingly bigger problems to deal with.
  • Bullying a Dragon: He knows full well that Tandy has superpowers and when they met she effortlessly kidnapped and nearly killed him. So naturally, he decides the best thing to do is to send a hitwoman after her mother.
  • Canon Foreigner: Has no basis in the comics, though corrupt Roxxon executives are a dime a dozen.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: Probably the most evil executive at Roxxon within the MCU, and given Roxxon was a tool of both the Council of Nine and the Hand, that's an accomplishment. Even if using Nathan Bowen as a scapegoat for his Cutting Corners wasn't bad enough, his deepest hope is to get at whatever Roxxon was drilling for, even if it means murdering every one of his employees.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: His fate at the end of season 1 of Cloak and Dagger is very fitting: his reckless cost cutting measures led to the Rig exploding, drove most of his employees there insane and trapped Ivan Hess into a mental loop for eight years. At the end of the season Tandy uses her powers to trap Scarborough in the very same mental loop leaving him catatonic. And even if he does escape his loop, thanks to New Orleans almost being destroyed thanks to Roxxon's actions, he will almost surely be arrested for life if he wakes up.
  • Narcissist: His greatest desire is to be God itself.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Tandy was all set to give up on investigating Roxxon and take his deal, since she no longer cared about clearing her father's name. But then Scarborough decides that's not enough and tries to kill her and her mother to cover it up, and Tandy is back in the game.
  • Too Dumb to Live: He is seemingly incapable of putting a project together without cutting corners. He was responsible for the original oil rig explosion because he didn't want to foot the bill for the heat shielding and now he's done the same thing all over again with the pipes except all over the city. For further examples, see Bullying a Dragon above.

    Nathan Bowen 

Nathan Bowen

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Andy Dylan

Appearances: Cloak and Dagger

A scientist at Roxxon and father of Tandy Bowen.


    Ivan Hess 

Ivan Hess

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Tim Kang

Appearances: Cloak and Dagger

Senior Engineer in Fluid Dynamics for Roxxon. He's been catatonic ever since the rig explosion.


  • And I Must Scream: Trapped in an endless mental loop for nearly 8000 years. He has to abandon most of his memories just to cope.
  • Honest Corporate Executive: Unlike his higher-ups, he's a humble man who works hand-by-hand with workers under his authority.
  • Orphean Rescue: Tyrone and Tandy go into his mind to try to break him out of his catatonia.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Doesn't know how truly corrupt Roxxon really is.

    Mina Hess 

Mina Hess

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Ally Maki, Hannah Hardin (young)

Appearances: Cloak and Dagger

An enviromental engineer for Roxxon, following in her father's foodsteps.


  • Friend to Bugs: She likes bumblebees, having written her thesis on colony collapse and makes a point of looking out for them on her walks. When Tandy starts taking people's hopes, including Mina's, the first sign of how badly this affects them is Mina immediately killing a bee.
  • Nature Lover: Comes with the territory of being an environmental engineer. Tandy's vision of her greatest hopes shows her tending a very beautiful garden.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Her new drilling system is spread out across the entire city rather than one concentrated spot, making it safer to use and more environmentally friendly than the original rig. Unfortunately, her Roxxon superiors don't care about her precautions and cut corners on vital parts of it, and now the entire city is at risk.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Doesn't know how truly corrupt Roxxon really is.

    Stan Bartlett 

Stan Bartlett

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Preston Vanderslice

Appearances: Cloak and Dagger

An employee at Roxxon.


  • Pointy-Haired Boss: He is an incompetent low-level executive that prefers to cut corners.

    Ashlie 

Ashlie

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Vanessa Motta

Appearances: Cloak and Dagger

A hitwoman in the employ of Peter Scarborough.


  • Beneath Notice: She uses the guise of a water delivery worker to approach her targets without arising suspicion.
  • The Dragon: She's Scarborough's go-to hitwoman to eliminate those he deems as threats.
  • Professional Killer: She's a contract killer under the guise of a water delivery woman.

Cybertek

    Carlo Mancini 

Carlo Mancini

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: T.J. Ramini

Appearances: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Cybertek head of security transporting.


  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's a corporate executive collaborating with the similarly corrupt Ian Quinn.
  • You Have Failed Me: The Clairvoyant (John Garrett) has Mancini executed by Deathlok after Mancini's men unwittingly attracting S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attention.

    Sofia 

Sofia

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Emily Baldoni

Appearances: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

A member of Mancini's team.


  • Number Two: To Mancini.
  • You Have Failed Me: The Clairvoyant (John Garrett) orders Deathlok to kill her after Mancini's men unwittingly attracting S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attention.

    Kyle Zeller 

Kyle Zeller

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Josh Daugherty

Appearances: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

A Cybertek forced employee used by John Garrett as Deathlok's handler.


  • I Have Your Wife: Or as Cybertek calls it, the "Incentives Program": his wife has been kidnapped to ensure his cooperation.
  • Mission Control: Forced to act as Deathlok's handler and mission control.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: He serves Garrett not out of villainy or corruption, he simply wants to keep his wife alive.

    Joseph Getty 

Dr. Joseph Getty

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Mark Fite

Appearances: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

A scientist forcibly recruited into Cybertek to do research into Gravitonium.


Isodyne Energy

    Calvin Chadwick 

    Jason Wilkes 
See Stark Industries

    Jane Scott 

Jane Scott

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By:

Appearances: Agent Carter

A particle physicist at Isodyne.


  • The Mistress: She had an affair with Calvin Chadwick.
  • Posthumous Character: She first appears as a corpse. She died after being exposed to Zero Matter a.k.a. the Darkforce, at the Isodyne particle acelerator.

Anvil Security

See the Operation Cerberus page

Cheng Consulting & Risk Management

    Pryce Cheng 

Pryce Cheng

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vlcsnap_2018_03_14_21h55m44s588.png

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Terry Chen

Appearances: Jessica Jones

The head of Cheng Consulting Management. He's a private investigator who wants to absorb Alias Investigations and hire Jessica Jones to attract superhuman cases.


  • The Ace: He's a very accomplished Private Investigator, self-made man and former Marine.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He isn't seen again in Jessica Jones Season 3 and Malcolm works for Hogarth instead of him, with no explanation given.
  • Fantastic Racism: Hates Jessica just for being a super.
  • Hypocrite: Calls Jessica out on breaking the law to get results then immediately resorts to just that when Jeri won't help him sue Jessica.
  • I Was Beaten by a Girl: Implied to be the main reason he escalates things with Jessica. When he wants to sue Jessica for his injuries Jeri tells him to get over the fact that a woman managed to manhandle him like Jessica did, hinting that he simply can't stand the idea of getting outdone in any way by women given his being The Ace.
  • Jerkass: Extremely full of himself. Decides to put Jessica out of business just because she refuses to work with him and promptly starts poaching her clients, makes fun of her trauma to her face, and then has one of his people break into her office and steal all her files and even her P.I. certification.
  • Jerkass Has a Point:
    • As much as an asshole he might be, he correctly points out that Jessica has some serious issues, and not the cleanest of slates (as opposed to him).
    • He also is right when he tells Jessica to turn in her mother for murder. He quickly forgives Jessica for kidnapping him (though he earlier accidentally shot her, so they are even), but he can't ignore the person that killed his partner. Jessica eventually agrees and calls the police.
  • Revenge: Tries assassinating Jessica (only her mother actually) after his friend, Nick, was murdered.
  • Semper Fi: He's a former Marine Corps captain.
  • Smug Smiler: Even gets mentioned by Jessica.
  • Smug Snake: Jessica even describes him as such due to his unrepentant jerkassery and insistence.

    Nick Spanos 

Nick Spanos

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Maceo Oliver

Appearances: Jessica Jones

One of Pryce Cheng's fixers and best friends.


  • Cruel and Unusual Death: Alisa kills him by throwing him in the back of his van, beating him senseless, and tearing off one of his arms.
  • The Fixer: He's sent by Cheng to steal files and information from Jessica's apartment.
  • Semper Fi: He served in the Marines alongside Cheng.

    Malcolm Ducasse 

Momentum Labs

    Joseph Bauer 

Joseph Bauer

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Momentum Labs

Portrayed By: Kerr Smith

Appearances: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The head of Momentum Labs and the husband of Lucy Bauer.


  • Bad Boss: Acquiring the Darkhold caused him to become more and more aggressive towards his employee Eli Morrow, to the point that he eventually ordered a hit on him out of fear that he would try to steal it from him.
  • Blood from Every Orifice: Like all victims of the ghost infection, he has blood coming out of his eyes and nostrils just before he dies.
  • Canon Foreigner: He has no comic book counterpart.
  • Convenient Coma: Joseph was left in a deep coma after suffering a violent beating from Eli Morrow. Years later, he is awakened by his wife Lucy when she touches him in her ghostly state so that she can question him about the Darkhold. Unfortunately, her infection ends up killing him shortly after.
  • Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit: Comatose rather than deceased, but the principle is the same. After trapping his coworkers in the Quantum Batteries and beating Joseph into a coma, Eli Morrow claimed that Joseph was the one who killed their coworkers, as he won't be able to deny the accusation in his condition.
  • Decomposite Character: He essentially takes the role of Calvin Zabo from the All-New Ghost Rider comics as the one who sent the thugs who shot Robbie Reyes before he was resurrected as Ghost Rider.
  • Flatline: We can hear the flatline sound right after he dies in the hospital from the ghost infection.
  • For Science!: Lucy and him were delighted by what the Darkhold could do and how it could be used to help others, but the book corrupted their intentions.
  • Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He wears a pair of glasses and his exposure to the Darkhold made him increasingly unstable and dangerous, so much so that he hired criminals to try to kill his coworker Eli Morrow.
  • Get Out!: When Eli tries to talk to him about the Darkhold, Joseph gets angry and repeatedly yells at him to get out while throwing things at him.
  • A God Am I: After discovering their plan to obtain the power of creating matter, Eli Morrow accuses Joseph and Lucy of wanting to "play God." However, Eli secretly wants this power for himself.
  • Go Mad from the Revelation: He became increasingly corrupted after reading the Darkhold.
  • If My Calculations Are Correct: He says this sentence word-for-word when he describes the possible uses of the Quantum Particle Generator to his coworkers in a flashback.
    Joseph: Well, before we publish, we're gonna need to replicate the cube and scale up the chamber, but if my calculations are correct, I mean, we're gonna be able to eventually create complex compounds, and then organic materials, wheat, rice…
  • Mad Scientist: As a result of the Darkhold's corruption, he becomes more and more obsessed with creating matter using the information gained from the tome.
  • The Man Behind the Man: As it turns out, he is the one who hired the Fifth Street Locos to assassinate Eli Morrow, which led to Robbie and Gabe Reyes getting shot by mistake.
  • Mind Rape: He's awakened by Lucy Bauer and suffers from the same paranoia effect that infected May until he dies.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Shortly before his death, he admits that he shouldn't have used the Darkhold because it only resulted in ruining lives.
    Joseph: It was a mistake! We never should have taken it, we should've left it buried!
  • Properly Paranoid: While Joseph and Lucy became obsessed with their experiment, they were right in thinking that Eli wanted all the power for himself.
  • Red Herring: For most of the Ghost Rider arc in Season 4, Joseph Bauer appears to be the one responsible for turning the members of Momentum Labs into ghosts, before the end of the sixth episode reveals that it was Eli Morrow who did it.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: Joseph Bauer doesn't have that big of a role in Season 4 compared to his wife, as he mostly appears in a few flashback scenes and during the present he's only awakened from his coma for one scene before dying. However, he's eventually revealed to be the one responsible for the shoot-out that caused Gabe Reyes to lose the use of his legs and Robbie Reyes to die, which means that without him Robbie would never have become Ghost Rider.
  • Stronger Than They Look: Eli describes him this way for having been able to get beat up into a coma without ever revealing where the Darkhold was hidden.
    Eli: He was a lot tougher than he looked. I beat the hell out of him, he never gave up where he hid that book.
  • Torture Is Ineffective: No matter how hard Eli beat him up, Joseph still refused to tell him anything about the Darkhold before he fell into a coma.
  • You Are Too Late: When the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents come to see him after he has woken up from his coma to ask him where the Darkhold is, Joseph tells them that it's too late because he has already revealed it to Lucy earlier and she must probably have it in her possession by now.
    Joseph: You're too late. She knows.

    Others 

Midland Circle Financials

    Alexandra Reid 
See the Hand page

Vistacorp

    Geoff Zorick 

Geoff Zorick

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: N/A

Appearances: Ant-Man - Scott Lang: Small Time | Newsfront With Christine Everhart (Ant-Man viral marketing) note  | Ant-Man note 

The CEO of Vistacorp.


  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: He knows that the Vistacorp payment systems are illegally overcharging Vistacorp's clients and wants to keep it so, even ordering Scott Lang not to install the update that would fix the bug.

Testament Industries

    Anderson & Eliza Schultz 

Anderson & Eliza Schultz

Species: Humans

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Corbin Bernsen (Anderson) & Annette O'Toole (Eliza)

Appearances: The Punisher

The married heads of Testament Industries.


  • Asshole Victim: Anderson's one redeeming trait was caring for his son and John Pilgrim's kids. When he holds Pilgrim's kids hostage and kills himself because he's so ashamed of his son, that one redeeming factor disappears and nobody misses him.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: With Billy Russo in The Punisher Season 2, while in a Big Bad Duumvirate with each other with Pilgrim as their Dragon-in-Chief.
  • Big Bad Wannabe: While certainly dangerous, the two are only a threat with Pilgrim doing their dirty work. Once he turns on them, Amy and Frank quickly track them down and kill them.
  • Boom, Headshot!: Frank shoots Eliza in the head before she can stab Amy with a table knife in the Season 2 finale.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Anderson knows all too well what Frank Castle is capable of, and he still thinks it's a good idea to berate and threaten him.
  • Canon Foreigner: The two have no counterparts in any of the comics.
  • Churchgoing Villain: In contrast to her husband, Eliza appears to actually believe in her conservative Evangelical Christian faith. This does not stop her from ordering horrible crimes.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: The two use the wealth their company provides to buy politicians and outright murder anyone who stands in the way of their family.
  • Driven to Suicide: Anderson shoots himself with a pistol, using a bullet and gun Frank left behind for that exact purpose after Frank shoots Eliza and drives him into despair in The Punisher's Season 2 finale.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite how monstrous they are, the two truly love each other.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: The duo behind Pilgrim who want Amy dead, but they doesn't get involved with the hunt for her themselves.
  • Heteronormative Crusader: Self-righteous and extremely disapproving of their son's orientation.
  • Hiding Behind Religion: In public, Anderson is a deeply religious conservative Evangelical Christian and uses this to manipulate John Pilgrim. In private, however, he values power and his own family’s status and image above all else.
  • Lady Macbeth: While Anderson is by no means a pushover, Eliza is significantly more ruthless, often making the hard decisions that he won't, as well as being more likely to keep her cool.
  • Leave Behind a Pistol: Frank leaves a pistol and one bullet with Anderson in the Season 2 finale after killing Eliza, telling him he needs to die and end his influence over his son. Anderson obliges and shoots himself as Frank and Amy leave.
  • Unholy Matrimony: The two are married and force Pilgrim to be their assassin.

    Robert / John Pilgrim 

Robert / John Pilgrim

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/177555_1548144967_4.jpg

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Josh Stewart

Appearances: The Punisher

A born-again hitman who does the dirty work for the Schultz family.


  • Adaptational Curves: Inverted. His comic counterpart, the Mennonite, is much larger and better built.
  • Adaptational Name Change: His comic counterpart's name isn't revealed.
  • Adaptational Villainy: The Mennonite was a mafia hitman in the past, while Pilgrim was a white supremacist. Following their respective Heel–Faith Turn, the Mennonite became a pacifist for years who only took a job for the mafia as his wife was dying, and even then tried to adhere to his religious edicts to not use firearms, while Pilgrim was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood before working for the Schultzes.
  • Affably Evil: He's impeccably polite, speaks softly and treats everyone including his victims with courtesy. He's also a loving husband and father, does not enjoy any of his work and bears his targets no ill will. In fact, he absolutely hates his job and would prefer living a peaceful life with his family if the Schultzes weren't practically holding them hostage to begin with.
  • Anti-Villain: Type IV. Only does Anderson and Eliza's dirty work because they were funding his wife's medical treatment and later it turns out were implicitly holding his sons hostage.
  • As the Good Book Says...: He's fond of quoting and referencing scripture. He tends to paraphrase or draw comparisons more often than outright speak the gospel verbatim.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: With Billy Russo in Season 2. While John is merely The Heavy working for a Greater-Scope Villain, he poses the greatest danger to Frank and his associates in the first 6 episodes of the season and remains in the shadows as Russo becomes more and more of a threat in the later episodes. They are more or less on equal footing as the season draws to a close.
  • Churchgoing Villain: Despite committing horrible crimes in service of the Schultz family, he is very sincere in his faith.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Par for the course for the series, Pilgrim is quick to fight dirty.
  • Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: With Billy Russo. Russo is handsome and charismatic, whereas Pilgrim is plain, soft-spoken, and somewhat awkward. Russo is defined by his close relationship with Frank, while Pilgrim was a total stranger with no connection to him at all and never even talks to him until the last episode. Russo used to be a good person before turning bad, Pilgrim is a Retired Monster trying to make amends. And while Russo is unable to give up on his vendetta with Frank, ultimately costing him his life, Pilgrim eventually makes a Heel–Face Turn and parts ways with Frank amicably.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: As dark as his work for the Schultz family can get, it is still peanuts compared to the life he used to live before his conversion.
  • The Determinator: On a level rivaling the likes of Frank and Billy. He seeks and chases leads for his mission relentlessly and patiently, and takes a beating nearly as well as the Punisher to boot.
  • Dragon-in-Chief: Anderson Schultz's main enforcer and hitman. He's the one actively hunting down Amy and fighting Castle, and is the only reason the Schultzes are an immediate threat. Tellingly, once he turns on the Schultz family, they're killed off in short order.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He is entirely devoted to his wife Rebecca and his sons Michael and Lemuel.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: There's one of the moments when Pilgrim is annoyed to have the police lieutenant clean up the mess at the bar when Marlena caused an unnecessary bloodbath while she was suppose to retrieve Amy; also, he seems to be sincere when he offers to spare the Sheriff and Deputies if they handed Amy over.
  • Forced into Evil: He is a reformed criminal who wants to devote his life to God and to take care of his family. But his wife's illness and the Schultzs threats against his sons forces him to become their hitman.
  • The Heavy: Of the Testament Industries conspiracy portion of the plot. He may simply be a hitman on retainer, but his masters remain in the background and keep their hands clean. Pilgrim does the legwork, the information gathering, puts out the bounties, and does all of the dirty work.
  • Heel–Face Turn: He had one when he found religion, and has another when Frank spares his life and rescues his children.
  • Hitman with a Heart: Zig-zagged. He has no qualms with maiming or killing anyone in his way, yet he seems to find doing so unpleasant. He does not enjoy or take pride in his work, but accepts his lot and makes no excuses for it. He only does the work he does for the love of his family, and tells both Curtis and Amy that he'd prefer not to have to hurt them, and if he had a choice, he would be leaving them alone.
  • Karma Houdini: Despite all the bodies he left behind, Frank lets him go in the end to look after his two sons.
  • Nothing Personal: He holds no animosity for his targets, let alone the people he interrogates along the way, and often says as much. He is completely civil and non-violent with anyone who cooperates or stays out of his way. But when he finds his targets or meets opposition, he doesn't hesitate to harm or kill.
  • Off the Wagon: He's heavily implied to be have been pretty wild in the past, but now is clean, sober, and faithful in marriage. But after a serious beating, a confrontation with his past demons, and the mounting stress of his line of work and his wife's condition, he goes on a bender with booze, cocaine and prostitutes.
  • One-Man Army: Pilgrim may be one of the few people capable of matching Frank Castle in sheer lethality and badassery.
  • Named by the Adaptation: He is based on the Mennonite, who was never named. His real first name is given as Robert, and has taken the name John after his religious rebirth.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: He was a member of the neo-Nazi gang known as the Aryan Brotherhood.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: He's only hunting down Frank and Amy because he was ordered to. He takes no pleasure in it, holds no grudges against the two, and even says that he doesn't want to do this. He also has a family back home and wants to be reunited with them after he completes his mission.
  • Reformed Bully: He was once a proud white supremacist and Blood Knight, and admits more than once that he used to hate people for the color of their skin and hurt others for his own desires. He may still be a killer, but he takes no pleasure in it and only wants to get his work over with.
  • Resignations Not Accepted: When he runs into his old friends from the Aryan Brotherhood, he tells them he put that life behind him. Unfortunately, that answer doesn't sway the Brotherhood's intolerance for defectors.
  • Retired Monster: The fact that he still qualifies despite doing wet work for the Schultz family is a clear indication of just how bad he was back in the day. Even moreso since Pilgrim used to be a member of the Aryan Brotherhood before he found religion.
  • The Stoic: Nothing really phases him, even injuries and wounds he has sustained.
  • Straight Edge Evil: Since his conversion, he gave up alcohol, drugs and random sex.
  • Stronger Than They Look: He has an unassuming physique, somewhat paunchy and slim compared to other fighting men like Frank, Curtis, and Billy. But he can take down an entire gang single-handedly and go toe-to-toe with Frank while severely wounded.
  • Suppressed Rage: When Eliza insists that he continue his mission of hunting Frank instead of returning home to his family, John has an Imagine Spot where he trashes the room in a blind rage while in reality he is quietly agreeing with Eliza.
  • Those Wacky Nazis: Prior to his conversion, he was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood.

Associates

    Marlena Olin 

Marlena Olin

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Teri Reeves

Appearances: The Punisher

A mercenary tasked by John Pilgrim to search for Amy Bendix.


  • Asshole Victim: No one's gonna miss her when Pilgrim murders her sorry ass after she broke free from her jail cell.
  • Butt-Monkey: Nothing seems to go well with her when she was brutally beaten by Castle in a fistfight, knocked out by again by Castle, and shot in the leg outside of the Motel. By the time she was broke free from her jail cell, she ends up getting choked to death by Pilgrim due to her failures.
  • The Brute: She leads the mercenaries hired by Pilgrim.
  • It's Personal: After going up against Castle on two separate occasions she develops a personal animosity towards him.
  • Jerkass: "Arrogant bitch" is putting it mildly.
  • Moral Myopia: She has the audacity to say Pilgrim and his methods give her the creeps, and she'd much rather solve the "Castiglioni" problem on her own so she doesn't have to involve him, even if it means turning a bar into a bloodbath.
  • Private Military Contractors: After leaving the United States Army she became a mercenary and isn't particularly picky about choosing her employers.
  • Smug Snake: Thinks she can tango with Frank when she is way out of her league and overestimating her usefulness given her failures to deal with Frank and capture Amy, which ends up getting herself killed in the process. She is thoroughly condescending to everyone she meets in an "I can kill you if I feel like it" kind of way.
  • You Have Failed Me: She really doesn't seem to know her place when she's been given a specific task when she was suppose to retrieve Amy unscathed, but ends up getting into a fight with Castle and causing a massive shootout within the bar that killed several innocent bystanders, and failed to retrieve her the second time which landed her in a jail cell and the moment she got free, just as she is planning on going to get a third round against Castle, she ends up being unceremoniously killed by Pilgrim, who has had it with both her failures and her messy collateral damage.

    Marlena Olin's crew 

Marlena Olin's crew

Species: Humans

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Adrian Alvarado (Eddie), Todd Jones (Davy)

Appearances: The Punisher

A team of mercenaries under Olin's command.


    Ferrara 

Ferrara

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Portrayed By: Michael Pemberton

Appearances: The Punisher

A Michigan police detective that collaborates with John Pilgrim to cover up his and Olin's string of dead bodies.


  • Bald of Evil: No hair on his dome and he is complicit in the cover-up of several murders committed by Pilgrim as well as other hired killers.
  • Dirty Cop: He's a corrupt police detective helping with the cover up the string of murders carried out by a hitman and a group of mercenaries.
  • Karma Houdini: He never gets any comeuppance or punishment from his collaboration with Pilgrim.

Top