History TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter / LiveActionFilms

* The Abomination from ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'' is almost certainly the first and oldest of these characters in the MCU, as he appeared in one of the very first films in the series, and is noteworthy for being one of the very few villains to survive his film. Technically, he's still alive in canon ''to this day'', but aside from getting a mention in ''ComicBook/TheAvengersPreludeFurysBigWeek'' (where Tony Stark (of all people) keeps him from being assigned to the Avengers by General Ross), the character remained a SealedEvilInACan. He ended up making a sudden reappearance in ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'', but despite the hype audiences gave him from his early appearances in trailers, [[AdvertisedExtra he ended up experiencing this again as his presence in the final film is just a cameo]] (showing him alive, [[NoodleIncident inexplicably]] sparring buddies with [[Film/DoctorStrange2016 Wong]] of all people, and getting his ass kicked in a short fight scene).

* Double-whammy version for Minn-Erva in ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019''. In the comics, Minn-Erva was a Kree HotScientist and Eugenicist whose pet project was using Mar-Vell's genes to improve the Kree, creating an interesting connection between Minn-Erva and both Mar-Vell and Carol. The movie abandons this backstory, with promotional material describing Minn-Erva as the previous star player of Star-Force who feels threatened by Carol's power and competence. Despite either of these backstories providing plenty of depth for the character, the movie itself [[spoiler:uses Minn-Erva as little more than another goon for the Kree empire, ignoring any potential character development she could have gotten. The nail in the coffin is that she seemingly gets killed off in the finale, preventing her from getting any future character arc to live up to her potential]].

** The movie infamously had TheReveal where [[spoiler:the Mandarin we've been seeing is actually a washed-up British actor named Trevor Slattery, and the real Mandarin is Aldritch Killian]]. This ties in with PragmaticAdaptation to a degree, as [[spoiler:the decision to change the Mandarin so radically was motivated in part by Marvel not wanting to offend the Chinese box office with the UnfortunateImplications of an extreme YellowPeril stereotype]], but fans of the comics were still displeased. A compromise was reached ''Film/AllHailTheKing'', in which it was revealed that [[spoiler:there was actually a ''real'' Mandarin the MCU who was much closer to the comic version. This Mandarin will finally be revealed in ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'']].

* The Abomination from ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'' is almost certainly the first and oldest of these characters in the MCU, as he appeared in one of the very first films in the series, and is noteworthy for being one of the very few villains to survive his film. Technically, he's still alive in canon ''to this day'', but aside from getting a mention in ''ComicBook/TheAvengersPreludeFurysBigWeek'' (where Tony Stark (of all people) keeps him from being assigned to the Avengers by General Ross), the character remained a SealedEvilInACan until reappearing in ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings''.

* G2 from ''Film/InspectorGadget2''. While she's not an AdvertisedExtra, she is largely OutOfFocus for a big chunk of the film]] after Chief Quimby demotes Gadget to the bathrooms, as she has no screen time or lines (save for a few short appearances between scenes) until the ruby scene, which gaves her a very vague CharacterDevelopment, going from TheStoic to NotSoStoic. She had the potential to become a CanonImmigrant to be the DistaffCounterpart that she was intended for WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget, as well as to have more characterization and know more about her and her gadgets. Unfortunately, this is the only ''Inspector Gadget'' media she has appeared so far.

* G2 from ''Film/InspectorGadget2''. While she's not an AdvertisedExtra, [[OutOfFocus she is largely absent for a big chunk of the film]] after Chief Quimby demotes Gadget to the bathrooms, as she has no screen time or lines (save for a few short appearances between scenes) until the ruby scene, which gaves her a very vague CharacterDevelopment, going from TheStoic to NotSoStoic. She had the potential to become a CanonImmigrant to be the DistaffCounterpart that she was intended for WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget, as well as to have more characterization and know more about her and her gadgets. Unfortunately, this is the only ''Inspector Gadget'' media she has appeared so far.

* The Other in ''Film/TheAvengers2012''. Although he is established at the beginning as the servant of a greater villain (revealed at the end to be [[spoiler:ComicBook/{{Thanos}}]]), he is quite shadowy, sinister, and enigmatic in that he is original to the film series. He merely serves as communication between Loki and [[spoiler:Thanos]], and messenger to the latter. [[spoiler:He's later [[DroppedABridgeOnHim killed]] by Ronan in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', meaning he's not going to have his time to shine]].
* Lady Sif, brave, beautiful, badass goddess of war from Asgard played with verve and gusto by Creator/JaimieAlexander, is woefully underused in both ''Film/{{Thor}}'' films, despite being an important character in the comics. At least she gets the honor of being one of the few movie characters to make an appearance in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', and most fans/reviewers agreed her appearance practically made the episode. She's not even present in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', although WordOfGod states that [[spoiler:she had been exiled by Loki (disguised as Odin) for fear that she would figure out his secret]].
* Similar to Sif are the Warriors Three, Fandral, Volstagg, and Hogun. Despite being shown to be Thor's TrueCompanions, the three were underutilized for the entire trilogy. This reached its apex in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' when [[spoiler:all three end up quickly getting killed off, and while Hogun at least gets a DefiantToTheEnd moment, Fandral and Volstagg aren't even lucky to get that much, as both are [[DroppedABridgeOnHim unceremoniously killed]] in less than a minute. To add insult to injury, Thor doesn't even learn of their deaths for the entire film.]]
* Hawkeye is considered one of the most underused Avenger and superhero. In contrast to his fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and other BadassNormal heroes, he doesn't have enough moments to shine (he spent most of ''The Avengers'' as a brainwashed pawn of Loki) and has the least amount of screentime (he didn't appear in any Phase 2 movie aside from ''Age of Ultron''). Granted, his archery skills wouldn't be much use against world-ending aliens and robots, but he was absent from more grounded installments like ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' and ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' that could have put him on a more level playing field. Subverted in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' when [[spoiler:Hawkeye gets to play a major role in restoring those erased by The Snap, including his wife and kids, the loss of which sent him on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge during the 5-year TimeSkip killing various criminal organizations around the world as the sword-wielding Ronin]]. Marvel will finally put him in the limelight in his own Disney+ show - granted, it's one that involves PassingTheTorch to [[Comicbook/KateBishop the other Hawkeye]], but at least finally Clint got some attention.

** Also Maya Hansen. [[spoiler: Originally, she was going to be the true mastermind behind the Mandarin, not Killian, which would've opened up a number of new storytelling avenues, as well as give the MCU its first main female villain a full four years before Hela in ''Thor: Ragnarok''. Instead, the part was rewritten at the last moment due to [[MerchandiseDriven concerns that a female villain wouldn't sell toys]], leading to Maya being unceremoniously shot and killed well before the final act of the movie]].

** [[spoiler:Baron Strucker]] is basically an extended cameo and is murdered offscreen by Ultron at the end of the first act. A shame, as he had the potential to be a recurring antagonist and the MCU is now unable to delve into his rivalry with ComicBook/NickFury. At least The Other had the dignity of an on-screen death, which served to make Ronan not seem like a wimp, as well as giving us the chance to hear Thanos speak. Interestingly enough, his ''children'' seem to be making more of an impact on the franchise than he ever did, with his son [[spoiler:Werner von Strucker]] introduced as a recurring role in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' and a number of characters bearing his surname in ''Series/TheGifted2017''.
* Sharon Carter in ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier The Winter Soldier]]'' and ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar Civil War]]''. She has less than 8 minutes in both films combined, despite being one of Cap's main partners in the comics, romantic or otherwise. Basically, imagine a Superman movie where Lois Lane is a waitress in the Starbucks across from the Daily Planet. She was also originally planned to appear in ''[[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Infinity War]]'' and ''[[Film/AvengersEndgame Endgame]]'' but had all of her scenes cut out and was changed to having been killed off by the Snap. At least she will be in ''The Falcon and the Winter Soldier'', which could ironically make Sharon spend more time with [[LegacyCharacter the next two Captain Americas]] than the one she's associated with in the comics...

* Ulysses Klaue as played by the delightfully hammy Creator/AndySerkis was introduced in ''[[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron Age of Ultron]]'' as a "powerful new player in the Marvel Cinematic Universe" three years before the hero he's most associated with, [[ComicBook/BlackPanther Black Panther]], got his [[Film/BlackPanther2018 own solo film]]. A FreezeFrameBonus established that Klaue had a long feud with the Wakandan Royal Family -- his great-grandfather was killed in the 19th century by the then Black Panther, he tried to kill T'Chaka at least once, and he managed to steal some Vibranium from Wakanda and actually got to keep his life and his loot -- although he was branded for his troubles. All of this makes the audience believe he'll be the main villain and ArchEnemy to T'Challa. In truth, [[spoiler: he's actually the DiscOneFinalBoss and something of a RedHerring for the audience, as he's betrayed and murdered by Killmonger, the film's ''real'' villain, partway through the second act. While Killmonger did end up being praised as one of the MCU's most complex and interesting villains, many still feel that it might have been a good idea to leave Klaue alive for future movies, especially given that his comic counterpart went on to join the Masters of Evil and clash with a wide variety of Marvel heroes. That Klaue died before he could even get his trademark sonic powers from the comics just rubbed more salt in the wound.]]
* The Abomination from ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'' is almost certainly the first and oldest of these characters in the MCU, as he appeared in one of the very first films in the series, and is noteworthy for being one of the very few villains to survive his film. Technically, he's still alive in canon ''to this day'', but aside from getting a mention in ''ComicBook/TheAvengersPreludeFurysBigWeek'' (where Tony Stark (of all people) keeps him from being assigned to the Avengers by General Ross), the character has remained a SealedEvilInACan.

* ''Film/SpaceJam'': The Nerdlucks, the alien antagonists created for this movie, had no other appearances in any Warner Bros-related media outside of a brief cameo in the last episode of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'', "Star Warners", a crossover movie with ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'', "WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoSeeSpaceJam", and as cameos in the sequel ''Film/SpaceJamANewLegacy'' via RecycledAnimation of the first film.

* ''Film/SpaceJam'': The Nerdlucks, the alien antagonists created for this movie, had no other appearances in any Warner Bros-related media outside of a brief cameo in the last episode of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'', "Star Warners", a crossover movie with ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'', "WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoSeeSpaceJam", and as cameos in the sequel ''Film/SpaceJamANewLegacy'' via RecycledAnimation from the first film.

* Gadget Model 2, or G2 for short from ''Film/InspectorGadget2''. While the idea of a DistaffCounterpart for WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget sounds interesting, she had a lot of wasted potential. She had a very vague CharacterDevelopment, going from TheStoic to NotSoStoic. She is also largely absent for a big chunk of the film after Chief Quimby demotes Gadget to the bathrooms, as she has no screen time or lines (save for a few short appearances between scenes) until the ruby scene. The fact that she had no other appearances in any other ''Inspector Gadget'' media only makes things worse.

* ''Film/SpaceJam'': The Nerdlucks, the alien antagonists created for this movie, had no other appearances in any Warner Bros-related media outside of a brief cameo in the last episode of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'', "Star Warners", a crossover movie with ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'', "WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoSeeSpaceJam", and as cameos in the sequel ''Film/SpaceJamANewLegacy''.

** The film wastes not only Colossus but Comicbook/{{Psylocke}} and Multiple Man as well. Even Callisto could have gotten more characterization mileage than simply being another of ComicBook/{{Magneto}}'s lackeys. Basically, there are two kinds of characters in the third film: on one hand, you have the characters who could all be the poster children for this trope. On the other hand, you have {{Wolverine}}.

** Wade Wilson[=/=]Comicbook/{{Deadpool}}. After getting the chance to display a weary snarky persona, he's taken out of the film until the climax, where we see that Stryker has basically turned him into an HumanoidAbomination. With his mouth sewn shut, essentially robbing him of the sole trait he had in the movie. Luckily, he gets [[Film/Deadpool2016 much better]] [[Film/Deadpool2 received movies later]], the latter of which quite blatantly mocks his characterization in the film as it ends with [[spoiler: Deadpool using time travel to kill his unpopular past self.]]
** Comic fans had been calling for Comicbook/{{Gambit}} to show up in the movies since the first X-Men film. When he finally does here he's little more than a built-up throwaway gag.

* Gadget Model 2, or G2 for short from ''Film/InspectorGadget2''. While the idea of a DistaffCounterpart for WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget sounds interesting, she had a lot of wasted potential. She had a very vague CharacterDevelopment, going from TheStoic to NotSoStoic. She is also largely absent for a big chunk of the film after Chief Quimby demotes Gadget to the bathrooms, as she has no screen time or lines (save for a few short appearances between scenes) until the ruby ​​scene. The fact that she had no other appearences in any other ''Inspector Gadget'' media only makes things worse.

* ''Film/SpaceJam'': The Nerdlucks, the alien antagonists created for this movie, had no other appearances in any Warner Bros-related media outside of a brief cameo in the last episode of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'', "Star Warners", and a crossover episode with ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo''.

* ''Film/SpaceJam'': The Nerdlucks, the alien antagonists created for this movie, had no other appearances in any Warner Bros-related media outside of a brief cameo in the last episode of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'', "Star Warners".

* ''Film/SpaceJam'': the Nerdlucks, the alien antagonists created for this movie, had no other appearances in any Warner Bros-related media outside of a brief cameo in the last episode of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'', "Star Warners".

** Unlike previous installments (in which she made token cameo appearances, sometimes as a DamselInDistress), Comicbook/{{Jubilee}} was intended to play a bigger role in ''Apocalypse''. Lana Condor was cast to play the character and was a big part of the ViralMarketing campaign (appearing in an in-universe ad promoting the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters). However, her role in the final film is minimal at best -- she's in the background of several shots, goes to a movie with Scott, Jean and Kurt, then gets knocked unconscious by [[spoiler:General Stryker]] and doesn't appear again until the very end of the film, after the final battle. It doesn't help that Condor herself mentioned that she had scenes showcasing her powers that were cut from the final product, as well as a longer mall sequence which [[MissingTrailerScene only appeared in a TV spot]].

* ''Film/DjangoUnchained'' does this with a lot of characters. It was originally meant to be two films a la ''Film/KillBill'' - but Tarantino decided to edit down to one film instead. As a result, many scenes and characters were DemotedToExtra or cut entirely. There is one character played by Creator/ZoeBell who gets one lingering close-up, implying she is about to enter the plot in a big way - and then is promptly killed off. Considering how heavily the film runs on TheSmurfettePrinciple, one does wonder.

** Sally Hawkins' character Vivienne Graham also has shades of "They Wasted a Perfectly Good Actress," since she doesn't have much to do except help Serizawa with plot exposition.

** Mikaela Banes. Upon close examination, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKyrUMUervU as done by film critic Lindsay Ellis]], the first film can be considered Mikaela's coming-of-age story instead of Sam's. Mikaela has the more interesting backstory and character arc that fit into the "No sacrifice, no victory" theme. Unlike Sam, Mikaela can handle herself in situations, possesses skills useful to the Autobots, and she ends up a different character at the end compared to the beginning. However, Sam is the character the audience is introduced to first and therefore the one people are expected to follow and get invested in.

[[/folder]]

* Sharon Carter in ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier The Winter Soldier]]'' and ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar Civil War]]''. She has less than 8 minutes in both films combined, despite being one of Cap's main partners in the comics, romantic or otherwise. Basically, imagine a Superman movie where Lois Lane is a waitress in the Starbucks across from the Daily Planet. At least she will be in ''The Falcon and the Winter Soldier'', which could ironically make Sharon spend more time with [[LegacyCharacter the next two Captain Americas]] than the one she's associated with in the comics...

* ''Series/WandaVision'': In an example that combines this trope with FanDislikedExplanation, TheReveal that [[spoiler:the fake Pietro[=/=]Quicksilver was Agatha's "husband" Ralph]] went over very poorly with fans who either wanted [[spoiler:Fietro]] to be [[spoiler:the X-Men version of Quicksilver (since he was played by Evan Peters)]] or wanted "Ralph" to be [[spoiler:a demonic entity, like the show had been greatly hinting at.]] That [[spoiler:both Fietro and Ralph's]] identities had been built up as a great mystery only for the payoff to amount to be [[ToiletHumor the punchline to a dick joke]] fell very flat, and many people felt as though the character did not live up to his potential no matter who you were expecting him to be. It was taken so poorly people call it the "Mandarin 2", likening TheReveal to the infamous ''Film/IronMan3'' bait and switch with The Mandarin.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:''Star Wars'']]
* ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'':
** Darth Maul. He was dark, energetic, had strange markings and gave ''two'' Jedi an even fight, managing to kill the more experienced of the two. He got two or three lines[[note]] many ''droids'' got more lines than he did, and not even just C-3PO[[/note]] in the entire movie, no characterization except for a brief mention of wanting revenge on the Jedi and then got killed because he apparently couldn't believe that Obi-wan could make that jump. It's a slight consolation that ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' and ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' spent a few episodes on his origin [[spoiler:and gave him another chance, along with ''Film/{{Solo}}'' revealing him to be TheManBehindTheMan]].
** Youtuber [[https://www.youtube.com/user/belatedmedia Belated Media]] did a series of videos that posited an alternate storyline for the Star Wars Prequels in which Maul featured as TheDragon in all three movies, similar to Darth Vader in the Original Trilogy. He makes some excellent points that really do hammer home just how much of a wasted opportunity Maul was not just for ''Phantom Menace'' but for the entire Prequel Trilogy as a whole.
** Padme showed great potential to be the next Leia, a skilled and deadly warrior and diplomat at the heart of the heroes' efforts. Except most of her screentime in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' has her be one half of [[RomanticPlotTumor the most infamous romance in cinema history]], and she spends most of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' standing around doing nothing, her most important action (heading [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Delegation_of_2000 the Delegation of 2000]] that eventually led to the Rebel Alliance) happening in a ''deleted scene''.
* ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'':
** As [[Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids David Morgan-Mar]] [[http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0240.html rants about]], Zam Wessel is exposited to be a {{Shapeshift|ing}}er. This affects nothing of any part of her screen time, and she dies minutes after her introduction. Not even the ExpandedUniverse manages to exploit that detail nearly as well as they should.
** Jango Fett. Seemingly his entire existence is owed to the EnsembleDarkHorse power of Boba Fett (of whom he is revealed to be the [[TrulySingleParent "father"]]), so nothing is known about his motives or past or what he's doing with the Separatists in the first place. While he does get a chance to show off some cool moves, after being on the receiving end of a deadly CurbStompBattle he's never mentioned again.
** Count Dooku left the Jedi Order in protest of their support of the horrifically corrupt Republic, and eight years later reemerged leading a separatist movement of systems that thought the same way and wanted to form their own government, backed by a bunch of {{Mega Corp}}s who had the military muscle to ensure the Republic would agree to their terms. Any potential for him to be a WellIntentionedExtremist is shattered when he's swiftly revealed to be an evil Sith Lord, and his pitifully small screentime means he doesn't even receive any character development, ultimately getting killed off unceremoniously in the '''first ten minutes''' of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. It's telling that one chapter of the ''[=RotS=]'' {{novelization}} (which portrays him as a multiple-level [[FantasticRacism Fantastic Racist]] intent on forming a Sith Army) gives him more focus than anything in the films.
* ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'':
** General Grievous gets approximately ten minutes of screen time and spends it threatening random underlings, running away, and [[spoiler:getting killed by Obi-Wan]] in one of the worst anti-climaxes of the entire saga. This is especially hated by a lot of fans as the (very popular) ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'' series had already established Grievous as a [[TheDreaded monstrous]] [[HeroKiller Jedi-killing]] [[OneManArmy One Cyborg Army]], and then the film comes along and turns out that nope, he's a coward with a nasty cough.
* ''Film/RogueOne'': Saw Gerrera only appears in a few brief scenes (one of which is also a BigLippedAlligatorMoment), and doesn't partake in any action scene presented in the movie, despite being hyped up as one of the main characters. [[spoiler:Fans of ''WesternAnimation/TheCloneWars'' were interested to see what he's up to after the series and eager to see him getting back into action again. Instead, he has only a little role and isn't even part of Jyn's Rogue One group, as he's killed when Krennic tests the Death Star on Jedha. In addition, some were expecting a Steela mention, but there is none in the film whatsoever]].
** Galen Erso suffers a similar fate: the prologue is about Krennic's willingness to go to any lengths to get Erso to work on the Death Star project, and it's stated that he has spent the time on the project resisting and trying to expose the Death Star's real purpose, he somehow persuaded an Imperial pilot to smuggle top-secret information to a notorious terrorist, he apparently loved his daughter enough to believe she'd eventually be in a position to use the information--and we learn all of this second- or third-hand, while his only appearances in the main plot are an exposition dump and a brief scene where he's almost immediately killed off. He barely interacts with Krennic, and exchanges two lines of dialogue with his adult daughter directly. The pilot in question, Bodhi, is almost as wasted--his motivations for believing Galen and defecting are never explained, he's tortured but the damage is brushed off after we're told it usually drives people mad, and he tags along as far as we can tell out of a lack of anything better to do.
* ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' has a scene which introduces a stable of revered bounty hunters, who are personally summoned by Darth Vader to receive a briefing regarding the capture of the Millennium Falcon. Despite setting up characters like Bossk, IG-88, and Dengar to be potential foils for Boba Fett, none of them appear in the film series afterward, with some of their ExpandedUniverse exploits eventually being declared non-canon when Disney bought the franchise from Lucasfilm.
** In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', Boba Fett gets this treatment and is famous for it. After all the build-up in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', at the start of this film, a visually-impaired (due to having been frozen in Carbonite ''for a whole year'') Han accidentally hits him in the back with a stick and he falls into the Sarlacc pit.
* ''Film/TheForceAwakens'':
** The two crime gangs that confront Han & Chewie, [[http://oi65.tinypic.com/351tufq.jpg The Guavian Death Gang]] and [[http://oi63.tinypic.com/2qsw27l.jpg Kanjiklub]] (the latter containing three actors that were in ''Film/TheRaid''). Both look mysterious and badass, but instead of a long awesome scene with them fighting, it's mainly them getting eaten by monsters (especially the latter gang falling victim to this; some Guavians do survive and the leader of the group does survive and tells one of his guys to inform the First Order that BB-8 was on the Millenium Falcon) that Han was transporting.
** Captain Phasma. Despite having an awesome costume, being played by ''Series/GameOfThrones''' Creator/GwendolineChristie and being played up in the marketing as a strong enforcer character, she does absolutely nothing of note, which has noted by reviewers like [[http://www.geekscape.net/captain-phasma-is-unfortunately-the-worst-thing-about-star-wars-the-force-awakens geekscape]]. The majority of her screentime is spent either delivering exposition before she is ambushed by Finn, Han and Chewie, [[DirtyCoward cowardly submits]] to their demand to deactivate Starkiller Base's shields without even a fight, then being thrown into a garbage disposal unit (off-screen, no less). When she returns in ''Film/TheLastJedi'' (having been advertised as an AscendedExtra), she starts a badass fight with Finn... that lasts about thirty seconds until she gets distracted by new character Rose, allowing Finn to shove her to her apparent death. We never learn what's so important about her. Even worse, most of her [[ItsAllAboutMe personal]] [[BadBoss character]] [[ChronicBackStabbingDisorder traits]] are only revealed in a deleted scene from the ''The Last Jedi'' in which she kills off several witnessing Stormtroopers when Finn reveals that she betrayed the First Order to save her own skin.
** The [[AdvertisedExtra stormtrooper wielding a "riot stick"]] that briefly does battle with Finn could have easily been replaced by Phasma, though most fans would have preferred to see Phasma replaced by the [[EnsembleDarkHorse decidedly]] [[BadAssNormal more badass]] "[[FanNickname TR-8R]]/FN-2199."
* ''Film/TheLastJedi'':
** Several of the Resistance pilots and generals who had key roles in ''The Force Awakens'' (including Creator/GregGrunberg's pilot, Temmin Wexley, and Creator/KenLeung's Admiral Statura) all disappear in the interim between the two films with absolutely no explanation as to where they've gone, nor any death scene when the Resistance is attacked at various points throughout the film. According to the novelization of ''The Last Jedi'', Leia sent them off on a secret mission after the events of ''VII'', though this isn't mentioned in the film itself and no one comments on their absence. Wexley does [[TheBusCameBack eventually return]] in ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker''.
** Supreme Leader Snoke. After a film's worth of buildup for this mysterious character (including speculation that he was around for decades prior to the events of the sequel trilogy), absolutely nothing is revealed about his backstory, identity, or plans. Even fans who didn't mind his mysterious background were disappointed that he didn't have a philosophy or personality that would make him stand out from Palpatine. Despite being a powerful Force user with enormous telekinetic and telepathic abilities, he spends his time sitting around in a tacky golden bathrobe who [[spoiler:eventually gets sliced in half with Luke's lightsaber courtesy of Kylo Ren, while sitting on his throne and gloating, no less]]. It doesn't help that he acted like a nuanced {{Pragmatic Villain}} in ''The Force Awakens'', yet now acts like a borderline DastardlyWhiplash - as noted by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr9pt1IYA-c one viewer]].[[spoiler: ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' reveals he was just a (literally) puppet controlled by a slowly-recuperating Palpatine, who somehow survived the events of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' through his Sith powers.]]
* ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'':
** Rose Tico, introduced in the previous film as a secondary protagonist and FireForgedFriend to our heroes, is relegated to the background with barely any dialogue or screentime. Though many were glad to see her dropped without much fanfare owing to her {{Base Break|ing Character}}er status, others still either wanted to see more or hoped she'd get a better showing here than in her previous movie.
** The Knights of Ren, introduced in ''The Force Awakens'' as Kylo Ren's shadowy and elite pseudo-Sith compatriots, [[TheBusCameBack reappear after a conspicuous absence in ''The Last Jedi'']] only to barely feature in the story and then be killed in the third act without so much as a line of a dialogue or ounce of characterization.
** General Hux, secondary antagonist and newly-minted foil to Kylo Ren, [[spoiler:suddenly turns turncoat against the First Order (off-screen), is promptly found out and killed off by a SuspicuouslySimilarSubstitute]].
[[/folder]]

** Captain Phasma. Despite having an awesome costume, being played by ''Series/GameOfThrones''' Creator/GwendolineChristie and being played up in the marketing as a strong enforcer character, she does absolutely nothing of note, which has noted by reviewers like [[http://www.geekscape.net/captain-phasma-is-unfortunately-the-worst-thing-about-star-wars-the-force-awakens geekscape]]. The majority of her screentime is spent either delivering exposition before she is ambushed by Finn, Han and Chewie, forced to deactivate Starkiller Base's shields, then being thrown into a garbage disposal unit (off-screen, no less). When she returns in ''Film/TheLastJedi'' (having been advertised as an AscendedExtra), she starts a badass fight with Finn... that lasts about thirty seconds until she gets distracted by new character Rose, allowing Finn to shove her to her apparent death. We never learn what's so important about her. Even worse, most of her [[ItsAllAboutMe personal]] [[BadBoss character]] [[ChronicBackStabbingDisorder traits]] are only revealed in a deleted scene from the ''The Last Jedi'' in which she kills off several witnessing Stormtroopers when Finn reveals that she betrayed the First Order to save her own skin.

** Rose Tico, introduced in the previous film as a secondary protagonist and FireForgedFriend to our heroes, is relegated to the background with barely any dialogue or screentime.

** Several of the Resistance pilots and generals who had key roles in ''The Force Awakens'' (including Greg Grunberg's pilot, Temmin Wexley, and Ken Leung's Admiral Statura) all disappear in the interim between the two films with absolutely no explanation as to where they've gone, nor any death scene when the Resistance is attacked at various points throughout the film. According to the novelization of ''The Last Jedi'', Leia sent them off on a secret mission after the events of ''VII'', though this isn't mentioned in the film itself and no one comments on their absence.
** Supreme Leader Snoke. After a film's worth of buildup for this mysterious character (including speculation that he was around for decades prior to the events of the sequel trilogy), absolutely nothing is revealed about his backstory, identity, or plans. Even fans who didn't mind his mysterious background were disappointed that he didn't have a philosophy or personality that would make him stand out from Palpatine. Despite being a powerful Force user with enormous telekinetic and telepathic abilities, he spends his time sitting around in a tacky golden bathrobe who [[spoiler:eventually gets sliced in half with Luke's lightsaber courtesy of Kylo Ren, while sitting on his throne and gloating, no less]]. It doesn't help that he acted like a nuanced {{Pragmatic Villain}} in ''The Force Awakens'', yet now acts like a borderline DastardlyWhiplash - as noted by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr9pt1IYA-c one viewer]].

** Sally Hawkins' character also has shades of "They Wasted a Perfectly Good Actress," since she doesn't have much to do except help Serizawa with plot exposition.

* Hawkeye is considered one of the most underused Avenger and superhero. In contrast to his fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and other BadassNormal heroes, he doesn't have enough moments to shine (he spent most of ''The Avengers'' as a brainwashed pawn of Loki) and has the least amount of screentime (he didn't appear in any Phase 2 movie aside from ''Age of Ultron''). Granted, his archery skills wouldn't be much use against world-ending aliens and robots, but he was absent from more grounded installments like ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' and ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' that could have put him on a more level playing field. Subverted in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' when [[spoiler:Hawkeye gets to play a major role in restoring those erased by The Snap, including his wife and kids, the loss of which sent him on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge during the 5-year TimeSkip killing various criminal organizations around the world as the sword-wielding Ronin]].

* Sharon Carter in ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier The Winter Soldier]]'' and ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar Civil War]]''. She has less than 8 minutes in both films combined, despite being one of Cap's main partners in the comics, romantic or otherwise. Basically, imagine a Superman movie where Lois Lane is a waitress in the Starbucks across from the Daily Planet.

* Hawkeye is considered one of the most underused Avenger and superhero. In contrast to his fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and other BadassNormal heroes, he doesn't have enough moments to shine (he spent most of ''The Avengers'' as a brainwashed pawn of Loki) and has the least amount of screentime (he didn't appear in any Phase 2 movie aside from ''Age of Ultron''). Granted, his archery skills wouldn't be much use against world-ending aliens and robots, but he was absent from more grounded installments like ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' and ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' that could have put him on a more level playing field. Subverted in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' when [[spoiler:Hawkeye gets to play a major role in restoring those erased by The Snap, including his wife and kids, the loss of which sent him on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge during the 5-year TimeSkip killing various criminal organizations around the world as Ronin]].

** The movie infamously had TheReveal where [[spoiler:the Mandarin we've been seeing is actually a washed-up British actor named Trevor Slattery, and the real Mandarin is Aldritch Killian]]. This ties in with PragmaticAdaptation to a degree, as [[spoiler:the decision to change the Mandarin so radically was motivated in part by Marvel not wanting to offend the Chinese box office with the UnfortunateImplications of an extreme YellowPeril stereotype]], but fans of the comics were still displeased. A compromise was reached ''Film/AllHailTheKing'', in which it was revealed that [[spoiler:there was actually a ''real'' Mandarin the MCU who was much closer to the comic version. This Mandarin will finally be revealed in ''Film/Shang-ChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'']].

* Hawkeye is considered one of the most underused Avenger and superhero. In contrast to his fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and other BadassNormal heroes, he doesn't have enough moments to shine (he spent most of ''The Avengers'' as a brainwashed pawn of Loki) and has the least amount of screentime (he didn't appear in any Phase 2 movie aside from ''Age of Ultron''). Granted, his archery skills wouldn't be much use against world-ending aliens and robots, but he was absent from more grounded installments like ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' and ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' that could have put him on a more level playing field.

** The movie infamously had TheReveal where [[spoiler:the Mandarin we've been seeing is actually a washed-up British actor named Trevor Slattery, and the real Mandarin is Aldritch Killian]]. This ties in with PragmaticAdaptation to a degree, as [[spoiler:the decision to change the Mandarin so radically was motivated in part by Marvel not wanting to offend the Chinese box office with the UnfortunateImplications of an extreme YellowPeril stereotype]], but fans of the comics were still displeased. A compromise was reached ''Film/AllHailTheKing'', in which it was revealed that [[spoiler:there was actually a ''real'' Mandarin the MCU who was much closer to the comic version]].

* Double-whammy version for Minn-Erva in ''Film/CaptainMarvel''. In the comics, Minn-Erva was a Kree HotScientist and Eugenicist whose pet project was using Mar-Vell's genes to improve the Kree, creating an interesting connection between Minn-Erva and both Mar-Vell and Carol. The movie abandons this backstory, with promotional material describing Minn-Erva as the previous star player of Star-Force who feels threatened by Carol's power and competence. Despite either of these backstories providing plenty of depth for the character, the movie itself [[spoiler:uses Minn-Erva as little more than another goon for the Kree empire, ignoring any potential character development she could have gotten. The nail in the coffin is that she seemingly gets killed off in the finale, preventing her from getting any future character arc to live up to her potential]].

* Double-whammy version for Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel. In the comics, Minn-Erva was a Kree HotScientist and Eugenicist whose pet project was using Mar-Vell's genes to improve the Kree, creating an interesting connection between Minn-Erva and both Mar-Vell and Carol. The movie abandons this backstory, with promotional material describing Minn-Erva as the previous star player of Star-Force who feels threatened by Carol's power and competence. Despite either of these backstories providing plenty of depth for the character, the movie itself [[spoiler:uses Minn-Erva as little more than another goon for the Kree empire, ignoring any potential character development she could have gotten. The nail in the coffin is that she seemingly gets killed off in the finale, preventing her from getting any future character arc to live up to her potential]].