While the Multiverse deals with variants of the same characters, there exist alternate planes of dimensions that can be accessed by either portal or drawn from to grant powers to those who seek them.
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Dark Dimension
In General
Dark Dimension
Appearances: Doctor Strange | Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessnote
A realm that is home to dark beings and exists beyond time.
- Acid-Trip Dimension: The Dark Dimension would not look out of place in an LSD trip, appears in all its classic psychedelic glory.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Drawing power from the Dark Dimension is forbidden due to its corruptive influence.
- The Dark Side: The Dark Dimension, ruled by Dormammu. Dormammu is very much The Corrupter, offering eternal life to his followers who drink on this dimension's power (what they often forget is that it's an eternal life of suffering). The Ancient One managed to use said dimension's power to stay young and live hundreds of years without succumbing to Dormammu's will, while Kaecilius and his followers became servants of Dormammu, as shown by the cracked skin around their eyes.
- Eldritch Location: A hostile universe under the complete control of its ruler Dormammu, assimilating other realities into it in an endless hunger. Sorcerers are able to draw power from it, gaining abilities regular sorcerers do not possess, including immortality and the power to bend matter in the Earth Dimension.
- Immortality Field: The Dark Dimension is a Place Beyond Time. Therefore, Dormammu can promise eternal life, as time does not affect the residents. The quality of said life, now, is very arguable, as the Zealots painfully discover at the end of the movie.
- Instant Runes: Spells involving the Dark Dimension turn red.
- Mythology Gag: The Dark Dimension is very much similar to Steve Ditko's original
◊ drawings◊ of it. - Place Beyond Time: The Dark Dimension, which is how Dormammu can promise eternal life, as time does not affect the residents. This bites him hard when Strange introduces a time loop into the Dark Dimension. Dormammu doesn't know how time magic works — he doesn't even know what time is — so he can't shift himself out of the loop like Kaecilius's zealots are able to do. His options are either killing Strange until he can't bear the suffering, or accepting Strange's bargain. The doctor ends up being more stubborn than the dimension lord.
Inhabitants
Dormammu
Dormammu
"You've come to die."
Species: Faltine
Portrayed By: Benedict Cumberbatch (motion capture and voice)
Appearances: Doctor Strange
"Your world is now my world. Like all worlds."
An evil entity who rules the Dark Dimension and the terrifying Greater-Scope Villain of Doctor Strange.- Achilles' Heel: He lives in a reality where time doesn't really exist. As a result, being trapped in a "Groundhog Day" Loop by Strange is something so utterly alien to him, he can't escape it despite his godlike powers.
- Adaptational Abomination: Provides the current page image. While Dormammu in the comics is a Humanoid Abomination, he was still just a normal sorcerer that became all-powerful, albeit a sorcerer who was also an alien from a race of Energy Beings. Here, he is way more eldritch, being a living, carnivorous dimension whose "face" is nothing more than its poor attempt at approximating Strange's own.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: In a way; in the comics, Dormammu's appearance had his face wreathed in orange flame, while in the film, his colour scheme is predominantly purple.
- Adapted Out: Dormammu doesn't have the Mindless Ones under his command as he did in the comics (though the Zealots' final form serves as a Mythology Gag to the group), nor is Mordo his understudy (Kaecilius instead takes the role).
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Dormammu ends up pleading with Strange to break the time-loop and free him.
- Alternate Self: Has one on Earth-91233.
- Assimilation Plot: What Kaecilius describes his scheme to be like:Kaecilius: All will be united in One...
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The pupil of his eye is several times larger than Strange's entire body. Naturally, from Strange's vantage point all we see of him is his head, which is probably well over fifty feet tall on its own.
- Badass Boast: His first line serves as one. Quickly subverted, however, because while he's technically correct (in that Strange has come to die), he's Right for the Wrong Reasons, because Strange can die over and over, stuck in a loop, trapping Dormammu as well.Strange: Dormammu! I've come to bargain!
Dormammu: You've come to die. Your world is now my world, like all worlds. - Big Bad Duumvirate: Played With. Kaecilius is The Heavy carrying out the plan to destroy the Sanctums, and while Dormammu empowers the Zealots he otherwise barely appears in the film. Despite this, Dormammu is clearly established from the beginning as the ultimate evil with a nigh-omnipresent looming presence (with everything ranging from Kaecilius's disillusionment with the Ancient One to Mordo's anti-magic radicalization being traced back to him), and he ultimately serves as the climactic Final Boss. While he lacks Kaecilius's prominent physical presence, the buildup to his confrontation and sheer impact he has on the plot elevates Dormammu to something far more important than your average Greater-Scope Villain, leaving the two as equally plot-relevant threats.
- The Comically Serious: He is a dark, serious entity who obliterates Doctor Strange for his feeble attempt to bargain with a fraction of his power... until he sees Strange coming back to bargain again and again. Humorously, he drops his menacing act in confusion and the rest of the time loop montage is him devolving from a terrifying threat to a sore loser begging Strange to stop.
- Composite Character: He is called a "devourer of worlds" (which he was never called in the comics, although his Spider-Man: The Animated Series counterpart was) and his color scheme is primarily purple (rather than his usual red and orange), just like Galactus. The billowing cloud effect around his head also vaguely resembles Galactus's iconic helmet-horns.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: He kills Doctor Strange, quickly and without effort, multiple times. Subverted, however, as while he can do that forever, so can Strange, and his power is completely impotent in the face of the Time Stone.
- Dark Is Evil: Master of the Dark Dimension, and the appearance he shows to Strange takes the form of a purple, flaming face, both fitting Dormammu's overall malevolence.
- Deal with the Devil:
- Tricks the Zealots into destroying the Sanctums in exchange for "life everlasting," when in reality he brings suffering and eternal horror.
- Amusingly enough, the godlike Eldritch Abomination is on the receiving end of it, courtesy of Strange's "Groundhog Day" Loop gambit.
- Demonic Possession: Played With. Dormammu provides his followers with the Dark Dimension's power, engraving his symbol on their foreheads and scarring their eyes with a noticeable purple tint that signifies his foothold within them. Despite this, he seemingly doesn't use his hold over the Zealots to control or even influence their actions and thoughts... until the climax when he takes advantage of his loaned power to drag them into the Dark Dimension, fully converting them into what appear to be Mindless Ones.
- Dimension Lord: The ruler of the Dark Dimension, and is essentially omnipotent. This trope works against him, as Strange manages to trap him by bringing the concept of time with the Time Infinity Stone, something that doesn't exist in his domain and thus Dormammu has no idea on how to counter or even break free from it.
- The Dreaded: The Masters of the Mystic Arts, especially the Ancient One and Mordo, are afraid of him. The three Sanctums were built specifically to keep him and other interdimensional threats from entering Earth.
- Early-Bird Cameo: When the Ancient One sends Strange on his first trip across the Multiverse, the future sorcerer comes face to face with a giant eye. It's Dormammu's.
- Eldritch Abomination: Immortal, indestructible, feeds on entire universes. His face is constantly rippling vertically, he has Icy Blue Eyes, his head is partially Wreathed in Flames (psychedelic flames, at that), and he also has the Voice of the Legion.
- Eldritch Location: His Dark Dimension, a purple nebula-esque land of spheres connected by strange bows of matter, and where time does not exist.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Very deep. His voice actor isn't credited, but according to the director, Dormammu's voice was provided by the famously deep-voiced Benedict Cumberbatch himself, blended with the "very deep voice" of... someone else.
- Final Boss: Despite being a Greater-Scope Villain, Dormammu ends up being the final enemy Strange faces, which leads to Dormammu doing Kaecilius in.
- Flat Character: His motives behind why he wants to attack are Earth are pretty much absent. He's basically a world eating Eldritch Abomination simply because he is.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: Reportedly, that face we see is less Dormammu's actual face than his way of communicating with Strange.
- Genius Loci: Dormammu effectively is the Dark Dimension, his form in the climax simply being a construct created by warping the dimension. This extends to the Dark Dimension's magic, which he provides to be used as a tool for Kaecilius.
- Greater-Scope Villain: He is the one who Kaecilius is working for but due to the Sanctum barriers preventing him from coming to Earth, Kaecilius is the one leading the story. He does appear at the very end as the Final Boss when Doctor Strange meets him but was otherwise uninvolved with the Evil Plan.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: Strange defeats Dormammu by locking him in a repeating series of events where Strange says he's come to bargain, Dormammu tries to kill Strange in some new horrifying way, and then the events repeat again, forever. Since the very concept of time is relatively foreign to him, Dormammu has a somewhat Delayed Reaction when the loop first repeats.Dormammu: [repeating Badass Boast] You've come to die. Your world is now my... What is this? Illusion?
- Hopeless Boss Fight: Way, way beyond Strange's capability to defeat, and they both know it.
- Hot-Blooded: Very quick to get angry and annoyed with Strange.
- I Gave My Word: There's really nothing stopping him from proceeding with his plan to conquer Earth after Strange releases him from the time loop. He honors his promise anyway and leaves, taking the Zealots with him. Since Dormammu is the ruler of his entire dimension and answers to no one, it was a necessary gamble that Strange had to take. Of course, there's nothing stopping Strange from just using The Eye to start another "Groundhog Day" Loop until he complies, so he probably simply doesn't want to deal with that again. With the atomization of the Infinity Stones in Endgame however, there is now nothing stopping Dormammu from going back on his word and tricking another bunch of sorcerers into destroying the Sanctums keeping him out again. Better hope he doesn't find out.
- It's All About Me:
According to the director, on the subject of Benedict Cumberbatch performing Dormammu's motion-capture:Scott Derrickson: I also wrote that role to be a kind of ultra-inflated version of Strange. He is an ego run amok; he is this cosmic conqueror where everything, where literally everything in the multi-verse is about him. - Kryptonite Factor: Time Master powers really screw with him. Unfortunately for him, Strange brings the best kind (the Eye of Agamotto / Time Stone) for their confrontation.
- The Man Behind the Man: It turns out that Kaecilius's plan was to allow Dormammu to be unleashed on Earth, and was using part of Dormammu's power to make this happen.
- Mirror Match: An interesting in-universe and meta case. Cumberbatch playing Dormammu in motion-capture pretty much spelled this when he was finally given credit. In-universe, Dormammu takes on a rough form of Strange's face since he doesn't have a form of his own in his realm, making him a Threshold Guardian since his defeat at Strange's hands led directly to Strange finishing his Character Arc.
- Multiversal Conqueror: He routinely conquers and absorbs entire universes.
- Mythology Gag:
- The fact that the Ancient One drew her power from the Dark Dimension (as did Strange, almost) seems to reference the fact that Strange in the comics also called upon Dormammu's name for some of his spells, but he was unaware of who or what he was really channeling.
- The symbol used to invoke him bears a passing resemblance to his comic version's High Collar of Doom.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: Dormammu does not mess around with mortals, and he will just kill them on sight. Since Dormammu has no concept of time, this trope ends up backfiring on him as his unwillingness to bargain will cause him to keep killing Strange over and over again, and he's ultimately forced to listen and bargain.
- Place Beyond Time: The Dark Dimension, where he lives, does not have time. This is exploited by Strange, as he gets tired of killing Strange over and over faster than Strange gets tired of dying, and since he has no idea how time works, he can't find loopholes or pull himself out of the time flow like his followers did earlier.
- Powerful and Helpless: Dormammu could consume our universe with ease and was in the process of doing so when Doctor Strange confronts him. Strange realises that for all his infinite power, Dormammu has no control over time (which doesn't exist in his domain). Strange defeats him by bringing time to the Dark Dimension via the Eye of Agamotto and locking them both in a "Groundhog Day" Loop where all he can do is kill Strange repeatedly for all eternity. This effectively makes Dormammu a helpless prisoner in his own dimension until he accepts Strange's request to leave Earth alone.
- Purple Is Powerful: Extremely powerful and extremely purple.
- Rage Quit: Gives up on the Sealed Evil in a Duel business out of frustration when he realizes Strange won't let him win and just lets Strange name his terms.Dormammu: You will never win...Strange: No, but I can lose... again, and again, and again... and again forever. That makes you my prisoner.
- Reality Warper: His power allows Kaecilius to distort physical laws such as space and gravity in the real world, and even pull himself out of the Eye of Agamotto's time reversal magic.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: His realm is beyond time. So Strange traps him in a time loop, and dies over and over to Dormammu's increasing frustration.
- Sadist: He repeatedly kills Strange in a variety of brutal and inventive ways, many of which were out of frustration with being trapped in Strange's time-loop.
- Sealed Evil in a Duel: Briefly gets trapped in an endless duel with Strange, thanks to the Eye of Agamotto locking the two in a "Groundhog Day" Loop. Ultimately, he gets annoyed and agrees to Strange's terms.
- Sentient Phlebotinum: Dormammu is the Dark Dimension, which extends to the magic he provides for the Zealots to use.
- Space Time Eater: Is an inter-dimensional entity that absorbs entire universes into the Dark Dimension.
- Threshold Guardian: His Rage Quit cemented Strange's acceptance as a protector of the Earth from mystical threats and completed his evolution over the course of the film. Also, as mentioned several times, Dormammu wasn't overwhelmed by sheer force, but talked out of fighting, heralding Strange's maturity.
- Villainous Breakdown: Though more subdued than most examples, his smugness over his power quickly transforms into frustration since he can't be rid of Doctor Strange.
- Voice of the Legion: Voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch and an unknown voice actor.
- You Cannot Grasp the True Form: A variant of it. According to Word of God, Dormammu doesn't have a physical form in the Dark Dimension, so for the final battle with Strange, when he's played by Benedict Cumberbatch, it is meant to be taken as a sort of Mirror Match since he sees Strange as beneath him.
Clea
Clea
"You caused an incursion, and we're gonna fix it. Unless you're afraid?"
Species: Faltine
Citizenship: Unknown
Portrayed By: Charlize Theron
Appearances: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness note
A sorceress who tracks down Doctor Strange to get him to fix the incursion he caused.
- Action Girl: She is a powerful and courageous sorceress who asks Strange if he is willing to accompany her in stopping an incursion that he caused.
- Adaptational Hairstyle Change: In the comics, Clea is frequently drawn with two corkscrew-liked curls. Here, Clea has straight hair.
- Age Lift: Played With. In the comics, Clea is Really 700 Years Old, but is traditionally drawn to resemble a 20-something woman, to add irony to the May–December Romance undertones of the Merlin and Nimue dynamic she shares with the middle-aged-looking Stephen Strange. Here, Clea is played by Charlize Theron, who was 45-46 when the movie was in production (and, for the record, is a year older than Strange's actor Benedict Cumberbatch in Real Life).
- Casting Gag: This is not the first time Charlize Theron plays a powerful sorceress.
- Dare to Be Badass: She challenges Strange to visit the Dark Dimension with her unless he's afraid.
- Dimensional Cutter: She carves open a portal to the Dark Dimension with a knife glowing with purple energy.
- Icy Blue Eyes: She has crystal-clear blue eyes and she introduces herself to Strange with a confident and bold demeanor.
- Mystical White Hair: She is a powerful sorceress with white hair.
- Purple Is Powerful: She is a powerful sorceress with purple clothing.
- Walking Spoiler: Knowing about Clea would reveal her surprise appearance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Morgan le Fay
- See the Morgan le Fay entry in the Other Supervillains page
Quinton the Great
Quinton the Great
Species: Human
Citizenship: None
Portrayed By: John Ales
Appearances: Runaways
A sorcerer and the original owner of the Runaways Hostel who is trapped in the Dark Dimension.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: He becomes zombified after getting killed by AWOL.
- Canon Foreigner: Quinton is an original MCU character.
- Glamour: He takes on the form of Amy Minoru to gain Nico's trust when the Runaways are first dragged into the Dark Dimension.
Mister Jip
Mister Jip
Appearances: Cloak and Dagger
A strange entity that Tyrone briefly encountered.
- Aborted Arc: His appearance was supposed to foreshadow his status as a future villain, but the second season went with a version of D'Spayre. Then, the show's cancellation means that this likely won't come to fruition.
The Darkforce
The Darkforce / Zero Matter
Appearances: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. | Agent Carter | Cloak and Dagger | Runaways
A mysterious, sentient, and apparently malevolent element from another dimension. First discovered in the 1940s, it served as the source of power for multiple heroes and villains, and has at least once tried to invade our reality.
- Ambiguous Situation: The Darkforce's exact relationship to the Dark Dimension is unclear. While its dimension shares the same name and general malevolent desire to consume everything, when actually visited in Cloak and Dagger and Runaways it's far different than the psychedelic place ruled by Dormammu with an iron fist.
- Body Horror: Creates a horrible scar on Whitney Frost's head, which continues to expand as she uses her powers more.
- Casting a Shadow: One of the primary abilities it gives to people.
- Characterization Marches On: Much less actively malevolent by the time of Cloak and Dagger, if still incredibly problematic.
- The Corruptor: Drives Whitney insane and obsessed with gaining more Zero Matter.
- Dark Is Evil: The Darkforce is actively malevolent and most of the people it infects end up as villains, though some (like Tyrone) subvert this.
- Demonic Possession: While it never gets to outright puppeteering her actions, Whitney's deterioration can be chalked up to it gaining a tighter grasp and feeding her addiction.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Darkforce's exact nature is left unclear, save that it's an apparently sentient element that seeks to destroy everything.
- Eldritch Location: The Darkforce Dimension.
- Emotion Eater: Gives these powers to Andre Deschaine, allowing him to take away people's hopes.
- Energy Absorption: Allows Marcus Daniels to absorb electricity, from devices as well as from living things.
- Final Boss: The climax of the second season of Agent Carter isn't depowering Whitney, but rather closing the rift they use to do so before the Zero Matter escapes and absorbs everything.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: It's never given any characterization besides a desire to expand into other dimensions.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Of Agent Carter Season Two, as Wilkes reveals it to be manipulating those who use it (i.e. Whitney) into opening a rift so that it can invade and devour all reality.
- It Can Think: Throughout the season, the Zero Matter appears to be nothing more than a powerful, if corruptive, MacGuffin. In the finale, Wilkes reveals that it's somewhat alive, likening it to a cancer that has already consumed everything in its universe, and has been exploiting Whitney's addiction to it to get her to open a portal. It's further implied to begin talking to Whitney, given her rambling while designing the portal.
- Multiversal Conqueror: Its primary goal is to invade and devour Earth, and presumably other worlds as well.
- Living Shadow: Is apparently sentient darkness.
- Sentient Phlebotinum: The Darkforce is apparently alive, and influences Whitney the longer she's exposed to it.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Only a few who have been exposed to it (Tyrone) don't devolve into egomaniacal supervillains.
The Zealots
In General
The Zealots
Species: Humans
Portrayed By: Zara Phythian, Katrina Durden, Alaa Safi, Dean Ridge
Appearances: Doctor Strange
The students of Kaecilius who split off from Kamar-Taj and joined him to form their own following, seduced by the power of the Dark Dimension.
- Anti-Villain: They follow their master's goals in that they believe their actions are for the greater good - assimilation into the Dark Dimension with eternal life for all.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: In their original party over a dozen strong, they fall left and right to the Ancient One's more advanced control of magic. But once Kaecilius raids the Sanctums with only two Zealots at a time, they are a more formidable force, easily wiping out two Sanctums and killing the Ancient One. Justified, as at that point they've been granted power from the Dark Dimension, increasing their magical power.
- Dark Action Girl: Kaecilius has several female Zealots who follow him into combat.
- Dark Is Evil: Like Kaecilius, they draw power from the Dark Dimension, and serve their leader's villainous, albeit well-meaning goals.
- Dragged Off to Hell: The surviving ones share in Kaecilius's fate of being dragged off to the Dark Dimension as Mindless Ones when Dormammu leaves as part of Strange's deal with him.
- Dwindling Party: Their numbers decrease over the course of the film as they are killed off by the Ancient One, Strange, or Kaecilius. By the time they arrive in Hong Kong, there are only two Zealots left, aside from Kaecilius himself.
- Eye Scream: The Dark Dimension ritual burns and chars the skin around their eyes, giving them the same horrific appearance as Kaecilius. They don't seem bothered by it.
- Kung-Fu Wizard: They use Supernatural Martial Arts in tandem with their spellcasting abilities. Additionally, they also use magically-imbued weapons in combat.
- Obviously Evil: Kaecilius and his followers all have disturbing purple-black scars around their eyes. Strange even lampshades this by pointing out Dormammu can't be good if he puts nasty black decay around his followers' eyes.
- A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: They were a whole group of disciples and students of the Ancient One, before following Kaecilius in his fall to the Dark Dimension's power.
- Reforged into a Minion: They are transformed into Mindless Ones after being Dragged Off to Hell by Dormammu.
- Renegade Splinter Faction: They broke off from the Kamar-Taj orthodoxy over a disagreement in how sorcery should be used.
- Spontaneous Weapon Creation: They can form their swords from little more than space and magical energy, making them transparent yet deadly.
- Superpowered Mooks: Their main purpose in the story is to serve as Kaecilius's muscle, not much more.
Kaecilius
Master Kaecilius
"People think in terms of good and evil, but really, time is the true enemy of us all. Time kills everything."
Species: Human
Citizenship: Danish
Affiliation(s): Masters of the Mystic Arts (formerly), Zealots, Dormammu
Portrayed By: Mads Mikkelsen
Voiced By: Óscar Bonfiglio (Latin-American Spanish dub), Paco Gázquez (European Spanish dub), Yann Guillemot (French dub), Louis-Philippe Dandenault (Canadian French dub), Kazuhiko Inoue (Japanese dub)
Appearances: Doctor Strange
"The world is not what it ought to be. Humanity longs for the eternal, for a world beyond time, because time is what enslaves us. Time is an insult. Death is an insult. Doctor, we don't seek to rule this world... We seek to save it."
A Master of the Mystic Arts who broke away from the Ancient One to form his own following of Zealots, which puts him at odds with Stephen Strange.
- Adaptational Badass: In the comics, Kaecilius was a mere minion of Baron Mordo. Here, he's a major threat, acting as a herald and servant for Dormammu, and is capable of killing the Ancient One.
- Adaptational Nationality: His nationality isn't disclosed in the comics. In the MCU, he's Danish.
- Affably Evil: He's very civil and polite to Strange, even asking for his name and addressing him respectfully. He's also cordial to his former comrades from Kamar-Taj when not killing them.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: He and his Zealots attack all three Sanctums that the Masters of the Mystic Arts are sworn to protect. The London and Hong Kong Sanctums quickly fall to his assault, and the New York Sanctum is heavily damaged.
- And I Must Scream: His final fate; assimilated into the Dark Dimension as a mindless, deformed extension of Dormammu.
- Anti-Villain: His intentions aren't villainous per se and he sounds sincere when he says that "time is the enemy" and he wants everyone to be immortal, but he's definitely not a heroic figure.
- Ascended Extra: He's an extremely minor character in the comics, and is much more prominent in the movie.
- Bad Boss: He doesn't particularly care much for the wellbeing of his fellow Zealots, watching them die in droves against the Ancient One, with little effort made to rescue or even help them. He's even willing to kill his own followers just to get a shot at the Ancient One. A deleted scene even has him kill one of the Zealots for failing to draw power from the Dark Dimension.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: In the end, he and his followers got exactly what they wanted - eternal life. Eternal life as deformed, mindless slaves to Dormammu.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Played With. He may be working for Dormammu, but Kaecilius is the direct threat who receives more focus, and the Eldritch Abomination's plan can't work without his involvement.
- Big Bad Wannabe: At the end of the day, Kaecilius is just an Unwitting Pawn to Dormammu. His goal of achieving eternal life is a mere delusion, as he ignores every warning that the Dark Dimension is a Fate Worse than Death.
- Big "NO!": He yells this during the climax when Strange traps him in a wall before going to face Dormammu.
- Celebrity Paradox:
- Star Wars exists in the MCU. Mads Mikkelsen played Galen Erso in Rogue One.
- Nick Fury mentions Hannibal Lecter in Captain Marvel (2019) when the Kree put a muzzle on Goose. Mads Mikkelsen played Lecter in Hannibal.
- Combat Pragmatist: Coupled with Bad Boss tendencies, he seems to recognize that even with his heightened powers (courtesy of Dormammu) he still may not be a match for the Ancient One, and so instead sacrifices one of his few remaining followers to get a winning stab in rather than fight her one-on-one. His followers may be of the same mindset as none of them seem to take issue with this action.
- Comically Missing the Point: At one point, he mistakenly believes that Stephen Strange's name is "Mister Doctor". It Makes Sense in Context—see below.
- The Comically Serious: He's serious, but has some lighthearted moments such as calling Stephen "Mister Doctor" and his general puzzlement over Stephen's antics while trying to fight him.
- Composite Character: He's an amalgamation of many Doctor Strange villains from the comics. His desire for eternal life matches that of Alaric, and he resembles the comic book iteration of Mordo in that he is a former student of the Ancient One and Dormammu's follower. His appearance after being absorbed by the Dark Dimension closely mimics that of a Mindless One.
- Dark Is Evil: Kaecilius draws his power from the Dark Dimension, and while he's an Anti-Villain, he's still quite evil.
- Deadpan Snarker: Occasionally, such as in his first encounter with Strange.Kaecilius: How long have you been at Kamar-Taj, Mister...?
Strange: "Doctor".
Kaecilius: Mister Doctor.
Strange: It's "Strange".
Kaecilius: Maybe. Who am I to judge? - Decomposite Character: He bears more than a few similarities with the comic version of Mordo, being a former pupil of the Ancient One and a current disciple of Dormammu.
- Dragged Off to Hell: Part of the deal Strange makes to save the Earth from Dormammu is taking Kaecilius when he leaves, resulting in Kaecilius and his Zealots all being dragged off to the Dark Dimension.
- The Dragon: The leader of Dormammu's Zealots who destroys the Sanctums so he can consume Earth.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: His late wife and son, and his pain over their deaths are what fuel his actions throughout the film. A prequel comic shows his split from the Ancient One came when she refused to teach him the magic that can bring them back from the dead.
- Evil Plan: Destroy the shield generated by the Secret Sanctums in order to allow Dormammu into the human dimension, which will make everyone immortal.
- Evil Sorcerer: His mastery of magic and his evil goal puts him into direct conflict with Kamar-Taj.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Kaecilius has a deep and villainous voice, courtesy of Mads Mikkelsen.
- Eye Scream: As Kaecilius and his followers get closer and closer to their dark goal, the areas around their eyes appear like dark purple craters on their faces.
- Face–Heel Turn: He broke away from the Ancient One to follow his own path for his evil purpose.
- Facial Horror: The purple scarring around his eyes.
- Fallen Hero: He was once a famous Master of the Mystic Arts before breaking away and becoming an Anti-Villain.
- Fate Worse than Death: He ends up trapped in the Dark Dimension at the film's conclusion as a Mindless One.
- The Heavy: He is not the head villain, that would be Dormammu, but he is the villain moving the plot along since Dormammu is locked out of Earth's dimension.
- Hero's Evil Predecessor: Takes this role compared to Doctor Strange, as opposed to Mordo. In fact, the similarities between his arrogance and that of his successor play a part in the Ancient One's initial refusal to teach the latter magic.
- Hollywood Atheist: A deleted scene has him discuss life and death with a priest, with Kaecilius's dialogue implying that he has forsaken any faith he had in God in favor of serving Dormammu.
- Humanoid Abomination: Seems to be his fate after he's transformed into something resembling a Mindless One from the comics.
- Hypocrite: Kaecilius longs to bring about a world without death, but he has no problem with killing anyone who gets in his way, including his own followers.
- Immortality Seeker: Kaecilius seeks to bring the Dark Dimension to Earth to make everyone, himself included, immortal. He gets his wish, at least for himself and his Zealots, but not in the way he probably expected.
- Ironic Echo: Unknowingly echoes Strange's line about people being "momentary speck[s] in an indifferent universe", which visibly disturbs Strange.
- It's Personal with the Dragon: Downplayed. Strange has no emotional connection to Kaecilius aside from one "Not So Different" Remark halfway through the film, and even after Kaecilius kills the Ancient One, greater focus is put on her own dealings with the Dark Dimension and stopping Dormammu rather than avenging her. Kaecilius's enmity is instead with his former comrades within the Masters of the Mystic Arts, primarily the Ancient One for her hypocrisy.
- Manly Tears: While explaining his motivations to Doctor Strange, he eventually breaks into tears as he describes the possibilities of merging Earth's realm with the Dark Dimension. It's the first clue we get that he seems to genuinely want to improve the lot of all humans... though he's still willing to kill a few dozen on the way.
- Mirror Character: To Strange, both being magically gifted, brilliant, bitter, and far too willing to reach for power they aren't ready for/capable of understanding yet. This is a large part of why the Ancient One initially refuses to train Strange.
- Mythology Gag: His wife is named Adria. Both he and Adria are Baron Mordo's minions in the mainstream comics.
- Obviously Evil: Even when he drives some valid points, Strange refuses to help him because a) he just killed someone and b) his dark-magic-corrupted face is clearly the one of a bad guy.
- Off with His Head!: What he does to the Kamar-Taj librarian. He even arranges a basket to catch the head when it drops.
- Outliving One's Offspring: His son died before the events of the film.
- The Paragon Always Rebels: A very promising Master of the Mystic Arts, he left Kamar-Taj violently, taking his Zealots with him.
- A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: He was a disciple of the Ancient One until he decided to use his powers for evil.
- Razor Wind: Kaecilius tends to conjure swords made of air during battle when not using other offensive magics.
- Reality Warper: After being empowered by Dormammu, Kaecilius gains a tremendous boost to his magical abilities, which grants him phenomenal control over the Mirror Dimension, and even allows him to distort physical laws such as space and gravity in the real world. Further, thanks to his knowledge of time, Kaecilius is even able to resist and pull himself out of the Eye of Agamotto's time-reversal magic, which is powered by an Infinity Stone.
- Reforged into a Minion: He and his followers are transformed into Mindless Ones after being dragged off to the Dark Dimension by a departing Dormammu.
- Secondary Color Nemesis: In contrast to Stephen Strange's Primary-Color Champion, Kaecilius wears an orange gi and after making his magical contract with Dormammu, he gains Black Eyes of Evil that reflect purple and green.
- Space Master: Crosses with Spontaneous Weapon Creation. Thanks to Dormammu's empowerment, he can distort space itself to form razor-sharp glass-like material called Space Shards, which can not only physically cut through almost anything but can be summoned and deactivated at will.
- Start of Darkness: His start is detailed in a prequel comic, where the Ancient One's refusal to teach him how to reunite with his dead wife and son drives him to darkness.
- The Stoic: Kaecilius rarely shows strong emotion. Even when describing his motives to Strange with tears in his eyes, his voice is calm and steady.
- Straw Nihilist: Kaecilius believes that death renders life meaningless and that the only way to achieve a meaningful existence is to become immortal via the Dark Dimension. For this reason, he has no problem killing people to serve his goals.
- Unwitting Pawn: Tricked into believing Dormammu's promise of eternal life, unaware that releasing him onto Earth will bring only suffering.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: How he justifies killing people. As far as he's concerned, a few lives here and there are a small price to pay to create a world free of death.
- Villain Has a Point: When he points out that the Ancient One is a hypocrite. Telling your students not to steal power from the Dark Dimension to live forever and become a Reality Warper when you yourself are doing that very thing in secret is a pretty textbook case of hypocrisy.
- We Can Rule Together: Unsuccessfully tries to recruit Strange.
- We Used to Be Friends: The way he talks to Daniel Drumm gives the impression that this was true before he abandoned Kamar-Taj.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: His goal is pretty simple: stop the effects of time on humanity. That way, we have all the time we need to gain wisdom and achieve our true potential, and no one ever has to go through the loss of watching their family die ever again, as he did.
- You Don't Look Like You: He shares little resemblance with his original comic book counterpart◊.
Lucian Aster
Lucian Aster
Species: Human
Portrayed By: Scott Adkins
Appearances: Doctor Strange
A member of Kaecilius's Zealots.
- Beard of Evil: A sorcerer, rocking Perma-Stubble, seeking to put this dimension under the domain of an Eldritch Abomination.
- Deader than Dead: Compared to the other Zealots, Lucian's astral form - that is, his soul - is overloaded with electricity, incinerating it and killing his body outright simultaneously.
- Demoted to Extra: He was the main villain of 4 issues of an 92 Annual, for each member of the comics version of The Defenders. In the MCU, he's demoted to a mook.
- Elite Mook: Lucian gives Stephen his most brutal thrashing in the entire film, almost killing him.
- Flat Character: We learn absolutely nothing about him.
- What Measure Is a Mook?: The Ancient One, Mordo, and Kaecilius himself have no qualms about killing them, but after killing Lucian, Strange is quite shaken up, both because this is his first time taking a life and because of the Hippocratic Oath he swore as a doctor.
Ta Lo
In General
Ta Lo
Appearances: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
"I always thought it was a fairy tale."
—Xu Shang-Chi, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
An alternate dimension of magical creatures, roughly equivalent to rural China of centuries past.
- Fantastic Nature Reserve: All manner of critters from Chinese mythology can be found here.
- Hidden Elf Village: It's a parallel magical world, and the only way to access it from Earth is through a dizzying maze of bamboo. On the other side are people protected by a mighty water dragon and imbued with mystical martial arts talents.
- Holy Burns Evil: Ta Lo's human inhabitants use weapons and armor coated in dragon scales to effectively combat the Dweller-in-Darkness and its minions.
- Magic Staff: The primary melee weapons of the Ta Lo villagers are staffs covered in dragon scales.
- Pocket Dimension: Like its comic-book source, Ta Lo is less an independent version of Earth and more a direct consequence of it: it is the home of all the magic and mythology of the Chinese spiritual imagination.
- Red Is Heroic: The villagers of Ta Lo all wear red robes made of dragon scales into battle.
- Visual Pun: The Great Protector grants Ta Loan power over wind and water. In other words, Ta Lo's magic is literally Fengshui.
Citizens
Guang Bo
Guang Bo (光伯)
Species: Human
Citizenship: Ta Loan
Portrayed By: Yuen Wah
Appearances: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
An elder and community leader of the Ta Lo village.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: At first seems to be very xenophobic towards the heroes in general and is dismissive of Katy in particular. But beneath the crusty surface, he really does have the best intentions and even takes Katy under his wing in his own cantankerous way.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: He gives Katy some much-needed advice both on the battlefield and in her directionless adult life. He dies by her side in the final battle.
- Racist Grandpa: Invoked by Xu Wenwu in his self-serving version of his courtship with Ying Li. Wenwu claims that the elders of Ta Lo refused to let him and Li live together in Ta Lo because they did not like that he came from Earth. When Wenwu and Guang Bo meet again years later, he tells him that he would not accept their union because of Wenwu's violent past, which would put their community at risk. And given Ying Li's eventual fate, the argument has its merits.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: At first, he tries to tell the heroes to leave, in a harsh tone, when they come to warn Ta Lo that Wenwu is coming. Then when they're able to explain that Wenwu thinks Ying Li is trapped behind the gate and he's coming with an army, Guang Bo is quick to agree with Ying Nan that their new guests deserve Sacred Hospitality, and training. When Katy wants to fight, Guang Bo tells her to stay where it's safe because she might be a fast-learner at archery, but as an amateur on the field she'll be a liability for the experienced villagers. She comes out anyway after the Soulsuckers emerge, and Guang Bo relents to tell her, "Don't die!" He spends his last moments telling her to aim for the Dweller-in-Darkness's throat.
Ying Li
Ying Li (映麗)
Species: Human
Citizenship: Ta Loan
Portrayed By: Fala Chen
Appearances: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
A Ta Lo villager who fell in love with a man from Earth, leaving her homeland behind to marry him.
- Action Mom: She is the mother of Shang-Chi and Xialing who is also a martial artist who can control the wind.
- Blow You Away: Ying Li uses wind manipulation with her martial arts. She loses the ability after leaving Ta Lo.
- Brought Down to Badass: Her powers only work in Ta Lo, but that doesn't mean she's not good at martial arts without them. Although ultimately overwhelmed by sheer numbers, she makes the Iron Gang pay dearly in their attempt to kill her.
- Canon Immigrant: Created for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings but has since made it into comics as Shang-Chi's real mother, albeit renamed as Jiang Li.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: In contrast to their horrid relationships with their father, Shang-Chi and Xialing have nothing but fond memories of their mother.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: We don't actually get to see the fight where she died, but she was alone against more than a dozen members of the Iron Gang. When Wenwu comes home, we see her body and those of at least five men.
- The Heart: Of her family. When she died, they completely fell apart.
- Kung-Fu Wizard: She is a martial artist who is given the magical ability to control the wind by the Great Protector.
- The Lost Lenore: To Xu Wenwu, and in a platonic way, to her children as well. It's her death and her family's inability to properly mourn her and move on from it that ultimately drives the plot of Shang-Chi, as it made Wenwu susceptible to the manipulations of the Dweller-In-Darkness.
- Lightning/Fire Juxtaposition: Downplayed, as she tends to use more wind-themed attacks in her clash with Wenwu, but the moment she takes control of the Ten Rings, she changes their color from electric purple to a glowing fiery orange. In a bit of Foreshadowing, Shang-Chi, her son, would eventually invoke this same effect when he finally takes control of the Ten Rings himself.
- Love at First Punch: Wenwu fell for her during their first fight, where she kicked his ass. While he was using the Ten Rings no less.
- Love Redeems: After several lifetimes of conquest and crime, Ying Li inspires Xu Wenwu to be a better man. However, after her death...
- Mama Bear: She gave her life protecting both of her children from the Iron Gang.
- Martial Artists Are Always Barefoot: Downplayed. In Ta Lo, she wears their signature straw sandals, but once she leaves with Wenwu she is only ever seen barefoot. She even confronts the Iron Gang like this, completely indifferent to the snow. As a bonus, the comic book version of her own son even provides the page image (though the MCU version does avert this in the actual film)!
- May–December Romance: Supernatural Martial Arts aside, she was a mortal woman who fell in love with a thousand-year-old warlord.
- Morality Chain: To Xu Wenwu. His love for her drove him to put his past as an immortal warlord behind him, and as soon as she died he went right back to his old ways.
- One True Love: To Xu Wenwu, the leader of the Ten Rings. One thousand years of conquest and she is the one and only woman he ever loved, to the point he willingly gave up all his power and immortality just to grow old with her.
- Posthumous Character: She is long dead by the time of Shang-Chi, killed when her son was only seven years old.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Subverted. She was always welcome to come back to Ta Lo at any time and even had a pair of pendants that showed her an easy path back, which she would later pass on to her children. However, she stayed away because she wanted to stay with her husband, who was denied permission to reside in Ta Lo with her.
Ying Nan
Ying Nan (映南)
Species: Human
Citizenship: Ta Loan
Portrayed By: Michelle Yeoh
Appearances: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Ying Li's sister, who stayed behind in Ta Lo and leads the warriors in their ongoing fight to keep the Dweller-in-Darkness at bay.
- Big Sister Instinct: Ying Nan knows that fighting against Wenwu, her brother-in-law, will not honor the memory of her late sister Ying Li.
- Blow You Away: She can manipulate the wind just like her sister.
- Celebrity Paradox: As far as Black Widow (2021) is concerned, the James Bond franchise exists in the MCU with Michelle Yeoh having played the main Bond girl of Tomorrow Never Dies.
- Cool Aunt: To Shang-Chi and Xialing. For them, it's hard to get an aunt who is much cooler than a master martial artist with supernatural powers who gives you the first genuine positive attention a relative has given you in nearly a decade.
- Kung-Fu Wizard: Much like her sister, she is a martial artist who is given the magical ability to control the wind by the Great Protector.
- Lady of War: As graceful and elegant as she is badass.
- Mama Bear: When Guang Bo and the other Ta Lo villagers call Shang-Chi and Xialing intruders, Ying Nan scolds them for being hostile and unwelcoming towards her sister's children.
Others
The Great Protector
The Great Protector
"Our people have guarded that gate ever since, empowered by the magic of The Great Protector and the gift that she gave us."
Species: Dragon
Citizenship: Ta Loan
Portrayed By: N/A
Appearances: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
A powerful dragon who guards the realm of Ta Lo from evil forces.
- 11th-Hour Ranger: She is awoken during the final battle at Ta Lo, saving Shang-Chi from the lake and rising to fight the Soulsucker army, and eventually the Dweller-in-Darkness personally, as the only being large and powerful enough to match the demon in single aerial combat.
- Badass in Distress: Twice the dragon needed an assist from the humans. The first was when a group of surviving Soulsuckers had latched onto one of her eye sockets and more were joining in the attack when Xialing destroys them with her rope-dart. The second time was when the Dweller-in-Darkness is powered up and breaks out of the water prison. It then snares the dragon with its tentacles and tries to suck her soul out. Luckily, Katy saves her with an arrow through the demon's neck.
- Big Good: She is the mythical dragon who oversees the extradimensional village of Ta Lo. It was her who originally saved the village from the true Big Bad, the Dweller-in-Darkness, provided the villagers with the magics and weapons to fight it and its minions, and is the only being capable of matching the Dweller in physical combat.
- Blow You Away: Although she doesn't use it herself, she has bestowed the ability to move wind to the villagers of Ta Lo. Li was seen using the power when defending Ta Lo from Wenwu (before giving it up when she left the village), and her sister Nan also demonstrated the power to Shang-Chi when training him.
- Delightful Dragon: When Ta Lo was being invaded by the Dweller-in-Darkness and the Soul Suckers thousands of years prior the events of the film, she came to the aid of the villagers and later became the village's protector. She even provided Ta Lo with gifts, such as her dragon scales, which the villagers used make their weapons.
- Holy Burns Evil: She's a divine dragon capable of doing damage to the Dweller-in-Darkness and its soul-sucking mooks while human weapons fail. The inhabitants coat their weapons with her scales.
- Light Is Good: The Great Protector is a dragon with predominantly white scales who fights on the side of good.
- Making a Splash: Much like the dragons of Asian mythologies, she has complete dominion over water.
- Our Dragons Are Different: A giant, mystical Chinese dragon that has water powers and can grant wind powers, who resides at the bottom of a lake.
- Red Is Heroic: The Great Protector is a dragon with red fur and hints of red on her white scales who fights on the side of good.
- White and Red and Eerie All Over: Despite her benevolent nature, her color scheme does help highlight that she's a supernatural entity that one should not trifle with.
Morris
Morris
Species: Hundun/Dijiang
Citizenship: Ta Loan
Voiced By: Dee Bradley Baker
Appearances: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
A winged fuzzball from Ta Lo who befriends Trevor Slattery.
- Adaptational Wimp: In Chinese mythology, the Hundun was the 'legendary faceless being', the embodiment of primordial chaos with similar age and symbolism in cosmology as the world egg origin myths; the Dijiang, which had a similar appearance, was at very least a lesser god. Morris, meanwhile, is one of many of a species of peaceful, amicable spaniel-sized Intelligible Unintelligible fluffballs.
- Adorable Abomination: Possibly. The Hundun has no face and represents the 'muddled confusion' of primordial chaos, though is benign. Morris retains their appearance, it's unclear whether he's anything more than a highly intelligent alien animal.
- Berserk Button: Don't ask about his face.Trevor: Shh-shh-shh-shh. He's a bit sensitive about that.
- The Blank: As is typical for his species, Morris has no visible face (and doesn't even have a head or neck, as shown in this behind-the-scenes video). Trevor says he's a bit sensitive about it.
- Not-So-Imaginary Friend: When Shang-Chi and Katy meet Trevor in Wenwu's dungeon, they have a mild freak-out when Morris (a faceless winged furball about the size of a corgi) wanders in. When Trevor realizes why they're shouting "What's that?" he is overjoyed."You can see Morris? Ho-ho-ho, Morris! They can see you! You're real! All this time, I thought I was hallucinating him!"
- Playing Possum: While Shang-Chi and his allies are battling the Dweller-in-Darkness and the Soulsuckers, Trevor pretends to be among the fallen people who had their souls sucked out to throw off attention from himself. Morris follows his lead after discovering him.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: A faceless furball with wings who speaks solely in adorable chirps and trills.
- The Unintelligible: Is able to give precise directions to Ta Lo as well as hold conversations with Trevor (the only one who can understand what he's saying), but his vocalizations just sound like purring and cooing.
- Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: Morris is covered in fluffy brown fur and has six legs with two pairs of vivid feathery wings on his back, for a total of ten limbs. This is in-keeping with the Dijiang from the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
K'un-Lun
In General
K'un-Lun
Appearances: Iron Fist | The Defenders
A mystical lost city located in a different dimension, which can be accessed in China. It is home to the Order of the Crane Mother and is the birthplace of Danny Rand.
- Adaptational Heroism: Of a sort; in the comics, K'un-Lun is quite conservative in its values, to the point women don't get names if they're not born into the higher class and for the most part, the only non-natives are the Rands and Orsen Randall, who only survived because the leadership basically adopted them. On top of this, the ruling class became very corrupt by the time Danny was Iron Fist. None of this is shown in the show's first season and only vaguely touched on in the second; for the most part, K'un-Lun is presented as completely righteous in its behaviour, with no signs of corruption or inequality.
- Adaptational Villainy: Conversely, the show Deconstructs the Proud Warrior Race Guy Training from Hell aspect of their culture, presenting it as barbaric and abusive, and as a result has caused a severe psychologically damaging effect on both Danny and Davosnote . In the comics, their warrior culture was treated far more favourably; Danny is probably only sane because of the positive effect the culture and their training had on him, and overall life appears quite happy there.
- Arch-Enemy: To the malevolent cult of undead warriors known as the Hand.
- Challenging the Chief: According to Danny, challenging and being challenged for rank is the way of life in K'un-Lun.
- Demoted to Extra: On the whole, K'un-Lun is far less important to the present-day than it is in the comics. We only see very brief flashbacks to the city, and its seemingly destroyed by the Hand offscreen by the end of the first season.
- Emotion Suppression: The Order of the Crane Mother teaches its members to suppress their emotions in order to better combat the Hand. Obviously, this has done a number on Danny's anger over the death of his parents. Davos also showed some signs of cracking over Danny gaining the Iron Fist and abandoning K'un-Lun.
- Good is Not Nice: They might be sworn enemies of the Hand and dedicated to oppose them, but they are not kind people by a long shot, as characters from K'un-Lun introduced were shown to be fairly ruthless and hard-line knight templars.
- Hidden Elf Village: Its inhabitants live secluded from civilization and almost nobody else knows its existence. It's so obscure, no one even heard its legend.
- Interchangeable Asian Cultures: Invoked and justified; the city is in another dimension with a portal somewhere in the Himalayas and is where Danny learns Chinese martial arts, Tibetan mysticism, Edo-era Japanese Ronin Samurai traditions (ex: challenging a school master to try to get a position to teach), and Hindu meditative practices. Davos appears to be Indian. The Defenders further proves K'un L'un has a pretty diverse population since the "Five Fingers of the Hand" were revealed to be former citizens of K'un L'un. This includes Alexandra (European), Sowande (African), Bakuto (South American), Gao (Chinese), and Murakami (Japanese). This is because they've been taking in strays for millennia; anyone who can aid in their battles with the Hand can achieve status in the city.
- Mirroring Factions: Colleen accuses them of brainwashing Danny as if they were a cult just like the Hand.
- The Shangri-La: An outworldly city located somewhere in the far East where Danny gains his mystical power.
- Training from Hell: In order to be considered someone in this place, you must be put through the grinder to become a better warrior. If you fail, you will be subjected to beatings. Joy Meachum accurately describes this as abuse.
- Uncertain Doom: At the end of Iron Fist Season 1, Danny and Colleen discover that the city has vanished after being attacked by the Hand. In The Defenders, Elektra tells Danny that she had personally killed everyone in the city, but its unknown if she was telling the truth or merely provoking him.
- Vanishing Village: The city only appears once every fifteen years as it mostly resides in another dimension, which is why Danny disappeared as a child; he took shelter there after the plane crash that orphaned him, and this was his first opportunity to leave.
The Iron Fists
In General
- Legacy of the Chosen: Danny is the current iteration in a long line of those who has taken the title of "Iron Fist."
- Martyrdom Culture: The Iron Fist is repeatedly described as not being a person, but a weapon with no personal agency of their own tasked with guarding K'un-Lun from the hand. The fact that Danny still identifies as "Danny Rand" is treated as a failing on his part, which just adds to how antiquated and abusive K'un-Lun is implied to be.
- Misapplied Phlebotinum: While the Iron Fist was created as the symbolic enemy of the Hand, the people of K'un-Lun believe that all Iron Fist is good for is keeping any and all outsiders from entering K'un-Lun during the brief window it becomes accessible to the rest of the Earth. When Danny fled back to New York, both enemies and allies tell him that regardless of the fact that the Hand has become a massive threat in the rest of the world, Danny failed to be a protector because he wasn't in K'un-Lun.
Wu Ao-Shi
Wu Ao-Shi / The Pirate Queen of Pinghai Bay
Species: Enhanced human
Citizenship: K'un-Lunan
Portrayed By: N/A
Appearances: Iron Fist
The first female Iron Fist, also known as the Pirate Queen of Pinghai Bay.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Her legend states that she defeated a pirate king to rescue her love and took over his ship and his position.
- The Chosen One: As the Iron Fist, naturally.
- Our Founder: She was the first one to defeat Shou-Lao, becoming the first Iron Fist.
- Famous Ancestor: She may have been an ancestor of Colleen Wing.
- Forbidden Love: According to legend, she was in love with a fisherman, which, due to her status, was a huge issue.
- Posthumous Character: She's centuries dead by the time of Iron Fist.
- Warrior Princess: According to legend, she was a princess.
The 1948 Iron Fist
The Iron Fist (1948)
Species: Enhanced human
Citizenship: K'un-Lunan
Portrayed By: Michael Lehr
Appearances: Iron Fist note
Danny's predecessor, who appears in a video clip.
- Always Someone Better: Appears to have a greater mastery of the Iron Fist power than Danny, wielding it with both hands.
- The Chosen One: As the Iron Fist, naturally.
- Decomposite Character: In the comics, Danny's predecessor as Iron Fist is a man called Orson Randall. In the MCU, this Iron Fist is dead in the present, whereas Orson Randall is mentioned as a black market figure who owned the Iron Fist's corpse and is currently alive. Likewise, Orsen Randall's backstory of being the child of an industrialist who's plane crashed into the mountains and was adopted and raised by the leadership of K'un-Lun, is given to Danny in the show (in the comics, Danny's parents were hiking through the mountains with him when they died, and his father was intentionally trying to reach K'un-Lun).
- Dual Wielding: Of a sort. Unlike Danny, who can only use the Iron Fist with one hand, he seems capable of using both hands.
- Legacy Character: Only one of a long line of individuals to take up the mantle of the Iron Fist.
- No Name Given: His actual name is unknown.
- One-Man Army: Takes out an entire company of Chinese soldiers single-handedly.
- Race Lift: Possibly. The timestamp (1948) makes him a dead ringer for Orson Randall, Danny's direct predecessor as Iron Fist and another white man; this Iron Fist's actor is of East Asian descent.
Danny Rand
- See his page
Order of the Crane Mother
Lei-Kung the Thunderer
Lei-Kung the Thunderer
"You are a living weapon. Drive all of the thoughts out of your mind, except this."
Species: Human
Citizenship: K'un-Lunan
Portrayed By: Hoon Lee
Appearances: Iron Fist
Danny's mentor and sifu, and the father of Davos.
- Big Good: He seems to be the primary force behind the defenses of K'un-Lun, and the Iron Fist defers to him in authority.
- Black-and-White Morality: Lei Kung believes in the utter destruction of the Hand, no matter the cost.
- Demoted to Extra: Along with the rest of K'un-Lun; Lei-Kung is probably the most prominent part of Danny's supporting cast from K'un-Lun, which means far more in the comics where K'un-Lun plays a bigger part.
- Good is Not Nice: A cold and hard man despite fighting for the forces of good.
- Knight Templar: While he does not seem very evil, Lei Kung is fully convinced in the righteousness of K'un-Lun and the evil of the Hand and given his advice to Danny, admits no middle ground.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Lei-Kung forfeits on Davos's behalf in his trial against Danny for the right to face Shou-Lao, be it out of concern for Davos's well-being or, as Danny later implies, fear of what Davos would become had he won.
- Love Is a Weakness: One of his lessons to Danny is that emotions like grief and love are not suited for an Immortal Weapon.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: In one episode Danny seems to imagine Lei-Kung's presence, being real enough to Danny that he converses with him even while nobody else can see him and thinks Danny is crazy. But Danny never exhibits these kind of hallucinations otherwise, and with a nickname like the Thunderer, it doesn't seem all that strange that perhaps Lei-Kung can make his presence felt over long distances.
- The Mentor: Was this to Danny and Davos, as well as numerous others.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Lei Kung the Thunderer does not sound like a very friendly name.
- Parental Favoritism: While his wife Priya sponsored their birth son Davos to be the Iron Fist, Lei Kung chose Danny.
- Parental Substitute: Takes up this after finding Danny, whose parents both died at the plane crash. The mother of his own son outright calls Danny "his other son".
- Properly Paranoid: He advises Danny to be a walking ball of paranoia because the Iron Fist's enemies are everywhere. He's more or less correct, too.
- Red Baron: "The Thunderer".
- Sink or Swim Mentor: Particularly considering that the final test of his training is fighting a dragon.
- Stern Teacher: Lei Kung is very strict and very ruthless, but still righteous.
- The Stoic: He doesn't seem very open to demonstrating emotions either.
- Training from Hell: Subjects his students, such as Danny Rand, to this, although they still regard him with fondness.
Priya
Priya
Species: Human
Citizenship: K'un-Lunan
Portrayed By: Gita Reddy
Appearances: Iron Fist
A high-ranking member of the Order of the Crane Mother and mother of Davos.
- Abusive Parents: She beat Davos when he was a child to teach him to be undoubtedly merciless and was also verbally abusive towards him after he lost the duel for the right to face Shou-Lao.
- Canon Foreigner: Davos' mother in the comics is not ever named and never appears.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The Black-and-White Insanity that Davos bases all of his actions around can be traced back to his mother Priya. She chose him as a candidate to become the Iron Fist (with all of the Training from Hell that entails), she would literally beat the idea of Virtue Is Weakness into him and then thoroughly disowns him when he loses the right to face Shou-Lao to Danny.
- Hidden Depths: For all her cruel treatment of Davos, she's shown to regret her treatment of him but can't bring herself to demonstrate it when Davos tells her he's leaving K'un-Lun to go find Danny.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Is positively vicious towards Davos with her speech after he is defeated by Danny, and yet completely and accurately reads all the (debatably) weak excuses that are on her son's mind, flat-out (if harshly) telling him that's no good justification for losing in a fair match and acting like a Sore Loser.
- Knight Templar: Davos's Black-and-White Insanity is a result of Priya's upbringing.
- Parental Favoritism: Downplayed immensely. Unlike Lei Kung, who favored their adopted son Danny, Priya favored her birth son Davos and raised him with the hopes of becoming the Immortal Iron Fist. The fact that she would physically abuse him and teach him that he needs to reject mercy and compassion as useless doesn't exactly count for much, though.
- Parents as People: While her relationship with Davos is unambiguously abusive, it is implied as he leaves to find Danny that she feels some semblance of regret for the way she treats him, but is too stuck in her ways to tell him.
- Second Place Is for Losers: She cruelly berates Davos after losing the duel with Danny, going as far as to say she'd rather be barren than giving birth to a weak son.
Nu-An
Nu-An
Species: Human
Citizenship: K'un-Lunan
Portrayed By: James Saito
Appearances: Iron Fist
An elder leader of the Order, holding the title of Yü-Ti
- Old Master: An elder master of an order of martial artists.
- Only Known By His Nickname: His name is not mentioned, he's just referred to as "Yü-Ti" or "the Yü-Ti".
Lord Tuan
Lord Tuan
Species: Human
Citizenship: K'un-Lunan
Portrayed By: N/A
Appearances: Iron Fist note
An elder monk of the Order of the Crane Mother.
- The Ghost: So far he's only been mentioned.
Davos
- See the Davos entry in the Other Supervillains page
The Chaste
In General
The Chaste
Appearances: Daredevil | The Defenders
"Some say it was just a kid, Hand comes into his village, kills everyone, almost. Kid pulls the knife from the breast of his dead mother, and goes to work. He cuts down some of the Hand's finest warriors, they're lying dead, kid's standing. They give him a name, the Chaste. Kid grows up, rounds up every warrior he can, men, women, young, old, doesn't matter as long as they kick ass and they do, without mercy."
— Stick
A clan of warriors formed centuries ago when the Hand's leaders were expelled from K'un-Lun, swept across Asia killing all who stood in their way. A single boy who survived the massacre of his village managed to slay many members of the Hand and he became known as the Chaste, whom the organization was later named after. In Daredevil Season 1, their presence is hinted when Stick travels to New York in search of something known as the Black Sky, which is highly sought by their enemies. In the following season, their background and role are fully unveiled.
- Arc Welding/Connected All Along: The Defenders reveals The Chaste serves the Order of the Crane Mother, actively fighting the Hand while the Iron Fist defends the city of K'un-lun.
- Ancient Tradition: They have operated in secret for centuries.
- Child Soldiers: They recruit and train prepubescent boys and girls. This also prevents its members from developing personal attachments.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: By The Defenders, all of its members have been wiped out, except for Stick, and he dies towards the end too. Unless Stick was mistaken or someone decides to rebuild it (which is unlikely), it's the end of the Chaste.
- Foil: To K'un-L'un. Both factions are sworn enemies of the Hand and are absolutely ruthless in their methods. The difference is that the Chaste are far more proactive in hindering their enemy's plans, while K'un-L'un is content to sit back and let the Hand overrun the world as long as they leave them alone. Later subverted when it's revealed they're the foot soldiers of K'un-Lun.
- Good is Not Nice: Their training is brutal and they are willing and expected to carry out assassinations, but are ostensibly on the side of good.
- McNinja: Their fighting styles are ninja-like, and they are multi-racial.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Some of the members' name appear to be just a nickname, such as Stick, Stone, Star, and Shaft.
- Secret War: Involved in one with the Hand.
- The Spartan Way: Apart from the brutal training, they are expected to sever and avoid personal or sentimental attachments and devote entirely to the fight against the Hand.
- Supernatural Martial Arts: Severely downplayed and only hinted at, as when Stick tells Matt to focus more on his meditation, that it'll do things like accelerate his healing. It's not until Iron Fist that we start getting confirmation that this is how the Chaste and K'un-Lun operate.
Stick
Stick
"You know what they call stuff like that? Gifts. The special kind. The kind that very few people have. Or deserve."
Species: Human
Portrayed By: Scott Glenn
Voiced By: Paulo Castro (Latin-America Chilean Spanish dub)
Appearances: Daredevil | The Defenders
"You gonna spend your life crying and rocking yourself to sleep at night? Or are you gonna dig deep and find out what it takes to reshuffle those cards life dealt you?"
A blind man who trained a young Matt Murdock to fight after realizing the boy has Super-Senses. He is a key leader of The Chaste, and as such has been spearheading the war against The Hand for many, many years. Also served as somewhat of a foster father to Elektra.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Stick in the comics, for all his rough talk and behavior, believed in the sanctity of human life and only killed when necessary. This Stick advocates killing as a matter of course, and even tries to kill Iron Fist at one point as he knew the Hand needed him for a purpose.
- Affectionate Nickname: As much as an asshole that he is, Stick does care a great deal about Matt and Elektra and calls the both of them, Matty and Ellie respectfully.
- An Arm and a Leg: In The Defenders, he chops off his hand in order to escape The Hand.
- Arch-Enemy: To Alexandra. The two have been waging war for a very long time and have a very personal animosity. Alexandra taking his surrogate daughter Elektra and turning her into the Black Sky is just the icing on the cake.
- Badass Normal: A master fighter in a world of superhumans. He doesn't even have the chemicals that enhanced Matt's other senses, but he's still taking Matt to school in the main narrative. And according to him, he was killing immortal Hand ninja as a child while armed with nothing but a knife and pure rage. Of note, he was able to get the upper hand on the resurrected and superpowered Elektra, with one hand, and only lost the fight because he hesitated when he had her at his mercy.
- Badass Teacher: He trained both Matt and Elektra in fighting and he's equally strong as well.
- Big Good: He's a lead authority figure for the Chaste, the one organization that has kept the Hand at bay. He also acts as a wise mentor/Nick Fury type character for the Defenders, informing them of their purpose.
- Blind Weaponmaster: He's blind and a skilled swordman.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Matt notes that his sense of morality is strange. For instance, befriending a nurse that can be both The Medic and a Secret-Keeper is bad because relationships of any kind are weakness; cotton sheets feeling like sandpaper is good because it keeps the sleeper tough.
- Broken Pedestal: Between abandoning him and his contrasting world view it'd be an understatement to say Matt no longer looks up to him.
- Character Death: Is killed by Elektra in Episode 6 of Defenders.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: His own incredible physical abilities and those he passed on to Matt were entirely gained through training, unlike Matt, who was seeminlgy mutated by the chemicals that blinded him. And he's been killing the Hand since he was a child. However, given he's a member of the Chaste, who serve the monks of K'un-Lun and Shou-Lao the Undying, he may have mystical connections as well, as hinted at by his talk of meditation.
- Child Soldiers: Every trope that applies to Stick's interactions with Matt, applies to Elektra as well. Matt even accuses Stick as being a Cult leader that picks up lost and hurt children to train them in his made up war.
- Composite Character: Uses the general attitude of the comics version of Stick, but the weapon and attitude toward killing of Master Izo, a similar character who is also a sensei to Matt Murdock and associated with the Chaste. The combination make for a significantly darker take on the character. (In the comics, Stick is a foul-mouthed, abusive asshole, but he believes that all life is sacred and considers the loss of even one life, no matter whom, to be a tragedy. Not that this stops him when he deems it necessary.)
- Cool Old Guy: Said by his actor to be in his late 90s but still has the strength of a man in his 20s.
- Cryptic Conversation: Much to Matt's annoyance, Stick can never seem to be clear when he talks about the "oncoming war".
- Cynical Mentor: He is upfront in letting his student know that the world is unfair and dangerous, and certainly doesn't mollycoddle Matt despite his youth.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He was a petty crook in his youth and spent some time in jail (and points out how being blind made it even worse), before the Chaste took him in.
- Deadpan Snarker: Oh yes.Young!Matt: [sensing a woman on a date] Her skin's too hot, Her heart's beating fast. Is she sick?
Stick: Worse. She's in love.Sowande: That army you used to fight alongside... the Chaste. They captured me once. This was years ago. Long before you were born. I had been captive three days when they heard my soldiers approach. The fortress fell silent. The gate remained locked. The Chaste couldn’t comprehend it, but the soldiers outside, they were following my orders. They sealed the gates, allowed no one in or out. On the third day, your soldiers turned on each other. By the fourth, they’d run out of water. By the sixth, no food. I believe it was the tenth day when they knelt before me. Begging to make it stop.
Stick: Well... if I kneel before you right now, shithead, will you shut up? - Death by Disfigurement: He loses one of his hands in Defenders and is killed in it too.
- Determinator: The other thing Stick shares with Matt, after teaching Murdock to use his Super-Senses. After Matt stops him from killing the Black Sky, Stick tracks the boy down and finishes the job off screen. An ancient blind man with a bow and arrow manages to catch up with a caravan of automobiles on foot and assassinates a human weapon being guarded by half a dozen yakuza with machine guns. Then he escapes without a scratch.
- Establishing Character Moment: Maiming, coldly threatening and subsequently beheading a Yakuza boss all while complaining he's a disgrace for his weakness. That's how we first meet Stick.
- Fake Guest Star: He's more or less a member of the Defenders in all but name. He's with them one episode after the Defenders first meet, continues fighting alongside them and guiding them all the way until his death. The only reason he isn't an official Defender is because he didn't have his own show and backstory to build up until The Defenders.
- Fatal Flaw: His all-or-nothing attitude is repeatedly shown to be so detrimental to his mission and his well-being that it's basically self-destructive. Best shown when he knocks out Luke Cage with some laced incense so that he can quickly kill Danny and stop the Hand from using him. This bites him hard when Electra appears and Stick has to fight her off one-handed without anyone to back him up. While he does over-power her, she ultimately kills him.
- Fingore: After being captured by the Hand members, he is tortured by having little bamboo sticks being shoved under his fingernails.
- Good is Not Nice: He's crass, caustic, and brutally honest to offensive levels. And those are his good points. But you'll never find a stauncher ally against the forces of evil.
- Graceful Loser: Once Matt manages to inflict a significant amount of damage on him, he backs down and grins, commenting maybe Matt isn't entirely lost yet.
- Handicapped Badass: He is blind, and unlike Matt he was born that way, using it to show him there are some people less lucky than he. He later loses a hand in The Defenders and is still capable of putting up one hell of a fight, including getting the upper hand on the resurrected and superpowered Elektra.
- Hero of Another Story: He's been traveling the world killing bad guys linked to some mysterious plot involving the Black Sky.
- Hyper-Awareness: He has the same degree of awareness as Matt only without Matt's Super-Senses.
- Hypocrite: For all his talk to Matt about severing emotional attachments because they make a person, Stick lets his fondness for Elektra get the better of him, and his hesitation when she comes to capture Danny allows her to kill him.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How Elektra finishes him off with her sword.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: A blind archer is going to have these by default, and it's best displayed when he ricochets a bottle cap around the room and into the bin. He's also incredibly capable with a crossbow while in a moving car, killing a Hand ninja while shooting ''behind'' him.
- Inspirationally Disadvantaged: Strongly believes in averting this trope, and teaches Matt to do the same.
- Jerkass: He really is quite an asshole, and even Matt can barely stand him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Broke off training with Matt when Matt gave him a bracelet he made, showing that Matt was growing too attached. When he turned up 20 years later, he and Matt got into a fight and trashed Matt's apartment. After Stick left, Matt found the bracelet in the wreckage, showing that Stick had carried the bracelet around for all those years and that the feeling was mutual after all. He also seemed to sound impressed with the whole fight before leaving.
- Comes up again in The Defenders. For all his talk that Elektra wasn't Elektra anymore and needed to be killed, he hesitated when he had her at his mercy. This gets him killed.
- Katanas Are Just Better: His Establishing Character Moment has him cleanly cutting off a man's hand and head with his katana.
- Knight in Sour Armor: You will not find a savior with less faith in humanity than Stick.
- Knight Templar: He's dedicated to a his own cause on behalf of an order, with talk of an upcoming ominous war and the need for soldiers.
- Life-or-Limb Decision: He cuts off his right hand to escape Alexandra's imprisonment.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Doesn't really seem bothered by the loss of his hand at all. Jessica's a little unnerved by this.
- Master of Your Domain: uses meditation to heal injuries and live longer than he has any right to.
- McNinja: A Caucasian martial arts expert and stealthy assassin.
- Meaningful Name: Alongside the other leader of the Chaste, Stone. Sticks and Stones will break your bones.
- Mentor Archetype: A grizzled fighter who trains Matt from a young age to use his gifts.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: Elektra ends up killing Stick.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Killing is often his first answer to most problems, which puts him at odds with Matt a lot. He comes to the conclusion that killing Danny is the only way to keep the Hand from using him and the Iron Fist to achieve their goals. He also thinks that the resurrected Elektra can't be saved and must be put down. To his credit, his hesitation to kill Elektra when he gets the chance to do so ends up getting him killed.
- No Name Given: Everyone just calls him "Stick", even the show credits.
- Not Blood Siblings: So that makes it okay that he sent his daughter to seduce his son.
- Older Than They Look: According to Scott Glenn, Stick is in his late 90s yet has the strength and physicality of a twenty two year old.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: "Just call me... Stick," he says when he talks with Matt. And true to his words, everyone does.
- The Order: Stick belongs to the Chaste, an order of warriors dedicated to stop the Hand and had waged a long war against them.
- Papa Wolf: While he has a bad way of showing it, he is extremely protective of both Matt and Elektra. When a Chaste member realizes what Elektra is and says she needs to be killed, Stick kills him instead.
- Parental Substitute: Unwittingly becomes one to Matt. When he finds out about this, he leaves because it interferes with his spartan method of teachings. He was also one to Elektra too, only much nicer to her than he was to Matt.
- Pet the Dog: When he and young Matt started having genuine affection for each other, he decided to stop training Matt to be one of the Chaste and leave him to grow up semi-normally.
- Stick displays some genuinely fatherly affection towards Elektra when she is a child. He is the only one among the Chaste to show her kindness, while everyone else fears and is repulsed by her due to Elektra being a Black Sky. After she kills one of the students in self-defense, the Chaste sentences her to die and Stick saves her by delivering her to a wealthy Greek couple to keep her safe. Unfortunately, his hesitation to kill her after she's brought back by the Hand leads to her killing him instead.
- Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: It's entirely possible that he was always an asshole and just happened to eventually become a senior. Either way, he's full of vicious insults, cynicism and obscenities.
- Shadow Archetype:
- To Matt. He is what Matt is afraid of becoming, a pure soldier with no trace of humanity.
- To Nick Fury. Both serve as mentors to their respective Super Teams, both have eyesight disabilities, both are in charge of organizations that directly fight the main villainous force (SHIELD for Nick Fury, The Chaste for Stick), and both have resorted to morally questionable means. Nick Fury personally visits and recruits the Avengers one by one, while Stick only had history with one of the Defenders. Nick inspires the Avengers to be heroes by reaching for their inner goodness, while Stick pushes them to be hardened soldiers who must do what is necessary to fight a war.
- Sherlock Scan: Best demonstrated when he deduces the contents of an ice cream right down to how many different dairies the milk came from and the habits of the guy who sold it to them, and he teaches Matt to do the same.
- Sink or Swim Mentor: He doesn't go easy on Matt - what we see of his training could qualify it as Training from Hell. To his credit, Matt adapts quickly to his style.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: A significant number of his lines contain the word "shit" or "asshole" in some way.Stick: (to Sowande after a Breaking Speech) Well...if I kneel before you right now, shithead, will you shut up?Stick: (moments after revealing he serves the Iron Fist) Because, this one, the immortal Iron Fist, living weapon and protector of the ancient city, is still a thundering dumbass.
- Sole Survivor: Stick claims that by "The Defenders" all the members of The Chaste are dead, except for him. Then he also dies by the end of the miniseries.
- So Proud of You: In Season 2, he tells this to Matt after learning how to detect the Hand ninjas with their breathing and managing to save him just in time.
- The Spartan Way: He's a believer in this, and even stopped training Matt when the kid started looking at him as more than a combat instructor. He even mentions the Spartans when criticizing Matt's current life.
- The Straight and Arrow Path: He employs a bow and arrow when he needs to kill someone from a distance.
- Took a Level in Kindness: By the end of Season 2, his relationship with Matt improved after working together to bring down the Hand in New York.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He's every bit the remorseless killer for his cause that Matt isn't.
- Would Hurt a Child: Indeed, he would. In fact, he would kill one.
Stone
Stone
Species: Human
Portrayed By: Jasson Finney
Voiced By: David Sobolov
Appearances: Daredevil
"Will he be ready when the doors open?"
Another member of the Chaste, working with Stick.
- Adaptational Badass: Is traditionally Stick's second-in-command in the comics, but his single appearance implies him being senior in this incarnation.
- Covered in Scars: His back is a road map of old wounds.
- The Unreveal: His face is never shown onscreen.
- What Happened to the Mouse?? Shows up at the end of the seventh episode of the first season of Daredevil; is never seen or even heard from again. In The Defenders, Stick claims that all the Chaste aside from himself are dead, meaning it's possible he was Killed Offscreen by Elektra or another member of the Hand.
Star
Star
Species: Human
Portrayed By: Laurence Mason
Appearances: Daredevil
A member of the Chaste who helped Stick oversee Elektra's training.
- Commander Contrarian: Calls Stick out for enlisting Elektra, a Black Sky.
- Race Lift: In the comics, he's either Asian or white (his face is never shown).
- Scary Black Man: He's a large black man and a member of the Chaste.
- Stellar Name: Just look at his name.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Stick kills him to protect Elektra.
Elektra Natchios
Elektra Natchios
- See the her page
Jacques Duchamps
Jacques Duchamps
Species: Human
Portrayed By: Gilles Marini
Appearances: Daredevil
An agent of the Chaste sent to kill Elektra after she goes rogue.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Fights Elektra in a suit.
- Canon Foreigner: There's no Jacques Duchamps in the comics.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Killed with his own sais.
- Honor Before Reason: Chooses to fight Elektra head on instead of stabbing her in the back when he has the chance.
- Race-Name Basis: Other Chaste members call him the Frenchman.
- Too Dumb to Live: Has Elektra convinced that he's just some rich French guy looking for a girlfriend. Instead of taking her off somewhere and killing her when she doesn't expect it, he ANNOUNCES that he knows who she is and that he's there to kill her. This ends predictably for him.
- Villain Ball: Despite having all but seduced her already, he decides to reveal to Elektra who he is and that he is going to kill her, which ends in his own death.
Quinn
Quinn
Species: Human
Portrayed By: Ben Thompson
Appearances: Daredevil
A member of the Chaste operating in New York under Stick's guidance.
- Almost Dead Guy: He's mortally injured by Elektra but manages live long enough to to drive and crash outside Matt Murdock's apartment.
- Canon Foreigner: There's no member of the Chaste named Quinn in the mainstream Marvel Comics.
- Those Two Guys: He appears alongside a nameless member of the Chaste who perishes alongside him.
Shaft
Shaft
Species: Human
Portrayed By: Marko Zaror
Appearances: The Defenders
A member of the Chaste operating in Cambodia.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Wears all black clothing but fights on the side of good.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He appears for a single scene, in which he's killed by Elektra.
Other residents of K'un-Lun
Shou-Lao
Shou-Lao
Species: Dragon
Citizenship: K'un-Lunan
Portrayed By: N/A
Appearances: Iron Fist | The Defenders note
"Do you have something scarier than a dragon in a cave?"
—Danny Rand
A mythical dragon dwelling in a cave in K'un-Lun. Every generation, one person from K'un-Lun is chosen to face Shou-Lao to gain the power of the Iron Fist.
- The Ghost: Doesn't actually appear in the series proper, other than his eyes from when Danny had a flashback. There is also the implication that it wasn't really Shou-Lao's eyes, but a vision of the future that Danny saw.
- Living MacGuffin: Control of Shou-Lao is actually the endgame the Hand's war with K'un-Lun: the founders of the Hand were exiled from K'un-Lun because they discovered that Dragon bones can be used to achieve Resurrective Immortality. The Hand's ultimate goal is to return to K'un-Lun and acquire Shou-Lao, which would give them an infinite supply of dragon bones.
- Our Dragons Are Different: He's the power source of the Iron Fist.
- Red Baron: Known as "Shou-Lao the Undying".
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Has red eyes. They're his only visible feature.
- Resurrective Immortality: The person who kills him becomes the Iron Fist. When they die, he is reborn and lives until it's time for the next Iron Fist to be chosen. But Shou-Lao's bones have also been hidden away deeeeeeep under New York for ... centuries? All told, Shou-Lao's mortality/immortality/whole-being-a-thing thing is confusing.
"Hell"
The Spirit of Vengeance
The Spirit of Vengeance
Species: Unknown (Inter-dimensional Entity)
Portrayed By: Gabriel Luna, Henry Simmons, Clark Gregg
Appearances: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Daisy: You don't get to decide who deserves to die!
Robbie: I'm not the one who decides.
Robbie: I'm not the one who decides.
An entity of supernatural origin, bound to spill blood in the name of vengeance. Currently possessing Robbie Reyes.
- Abstract Eater: It apparently needs raw negative emotions — anger, sorrow, vengeance, etc. — to sustain itself when it possesses a person.
- Adaptation Origin Connection: According to Word of God, the Spirit of Vengeance gave powers to all the Ghost Riders in the MCU. In the comics, Robbie was empowered by the soul of the Satanist Eli Morrow, and his powers have nothing to do with the Spirit of Vengeance.
- Badass Driver: Not for nothing do people call it "the Rider". Its hosts can empower their vehicles to be tougher and faster than any normal vehicle.
- Body Surf: It can possess a host to allow it to interact with the physical world. It's implied that the Spirit needs to have a deal with its host, but it was able to forcibly possess Mack without any trouble due to the loss of hope, though it admitted that the situation was far from ideal and wouldn't be able to hold on forever. In "World's End", it makes a deal with Coulson to use him as a host to get close enough to Aida and kill her, then goes back to Robbie without complaint.
- Composite Character: Word of God has confirmed that the same spirit that empowers Robbie now has empowered every Ghost Rider, rather than the individual spirits of the three modern Ghost Riders (Zarathos for Johnny, Noble Kale for Danny, and Eli Morrow for Robbie). This crosses into Decomposite Character as Eli Morrow appears, alive and well, as a separate being from the spirit possessing his nephew.
- Dimensional Traveler: The Rider is able to move between dimensions and interact with beings on the other side, as shown when it leaves Robbie to possess Mack and later reverses the process.
- Escaped from Hell: The Spirit once escaped from Hell, and vowed that it would never go back. Coulson apparently saw it.
- Even Evil Has Standards: The Spirit may be a ruthless, violent demon, but it will not hurt an innocent. This actually caused some trouble for Robbie when Daisy discovered his identity; Robbie wanted to take her out, but the Spirit knew she was an innocent and refused to kill her.
- Flaming Skulls: Can give its hosts this. This is the biggest indication to S.H.I.E.L.D. that maybe Robbie's claim of making a deal with the Devil is accurate.
- Nigh-Invulnerable: Has been presented as such in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.; whether it be quake attacks, lethal levels of radiation, impalement, gunfire or lightning attacks, nothing so far used against the Spirit (or rather its hosts) appears to have done more than inconvenience or slow it down.
- Oh, Crap!: The default reaction everyone has to seeing the Spirit for the first time. Seeing Flaming Skulls will do that.
- Offhand Backhand: In "Deals with Our Devils", the Spirit of Vengeance takes possession of Alphonso Mackenzie aboard the Zephyr and gets on a motorcycle to go find Eli Morrow. A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent tries to stop him, but the possessed Mack forcefully pushes him away without even looking in his direction.
- The Power of Hate: According to Robbie, the Spirit hates biological Aida in a way Robbie can't even describe. When Aida first teleports away from it, the Spirit emotes for the first time in the series... by letting out a primal scream of pure rage.
- Revenge Before Reason: Actually subverted. Before heading to rescue Eli Morrow from the prison he was in, Mack expressed concern that Robbie would be unable to control himself surrounded by all the criminals housed in the prison. However, even after the prisoners started rioting, the Spirit did not compel Robbie to take vengeance on the prisoners, showing that for all its need to spill guilty blood, it can control itself, at least when it knows that doing so will help it stop greater evils. Sadly, the same cannot be said for Robbie, as he found the last of the Fifth Street Locos, the gang that crippled his brother.
- Sanity Strengthening: Odd as it seems, the spirit, while being a powerful demon of vengeance, also protects the mind of its host from all of the evil and horror the host may experience while in a transformed state. Robbie mentioned that all he and the spirit did in "hell" was fight and kill. As "hell" clearly does not function with the same laws as the universe where Robbie is from and he mentioned that is was hard to describe with the rider being the one in control, it's obvious that the spirit protected his mind from the worst of the experience. In a more mundane fashion, the ability of the ghosts to drive people insane through physical contact simply does not work on Robbie, presumably because the Spirit is protecting him.
- Scars Are Forever: Both of the hosts its seen in have noticeable damage from woundsnote , implying that despite it making them Nigh-Invulnerable, wounds from before they get their powers will remain in their Rider form.
- Sufficiently Analyzed Magic: Much like most of the MCU's magic. Word of God explicitly confirms that their rationale is that the Spirit is just a being from another dimension where things work differently, providing a pseudo-scientific explanation for how he works. What he does is still supernatural to our understanding, but only because we don't understand the science of their dimension. At the same time, the Spirit is nothing scientific like the Inhumans, the products of experiments by aliens.
- Wound That Will Not Heal:
- Since the Spirit uses hellfire rather than actual fire, any wounds the Spirit makes will reopen no matter what medical aid is applied. Even a healing factor won't work. This is assuming you survive an encounter with the Spirit.Aryan: They say when the Rider burns you, he burns your soul.
- This later comes back to haunt the heroes, Because when the Spirit took control of Coulson it also burned up all the Kree blood in his body, reopening his stab wound. Coulson indeed dies between Season 5 and Season 6.
- Since the Spirit uses hellfire rather than actual fire, any wounds the Spirit makes will reopen no matter what medical aid is applied. Even a healing factor won't work. This is assuming you survive an encounter with the Spirit.
Fear Dimension
In General
Fear Dimension
Appearances: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
A dimension inhabited by non-corporeal beings.
- Dark World: Possibly. The only place we actually see from this dimension is a darker replica of the Temple of the Forgotten.
- Immortality Field: Life and death have no meanings in the Fear Dimension, therefore nobody can truly die there. After being stabbed by Sarge and sent through a dimensional portal, May survives her wound no worse for wear in the Fear Dimension and is only affected when she goes back to Earth. When she tries to kill the First, Second and Third with Sarge's sword, their bodies evaporate but they eventually come back to life after a short time.
- Temple of Doom: The only passage between this dimension and ours is in the Temple of the Forgotten, an ancient temple built by the Mayans with the same material as the three Monoliths. There is also an identical replica of the Temple in the Fear Dimension.
Sarge
Sarge
Click here to see as spoiler
Species: Extradimensional being
Portrayed By: Clark Gregg
Appearances: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
A mysterious man who resembles the late Director Coulson.
- The Ageless: Despite claiming to be over a hundred years old, Sarge doesn't look a day over 50, and as a doppelganger of Coulson, it can be inferred that he's looked like this ever since he was created.
- Aliens Speaking English: He perfectly speaks and understands English not just in Earth but with his crew as well, despite never having been to Earth. Perhaps the result of Coulson's memories.
- Amnesiac Dissonance: His whole spiel about why he wants to take down Izel? It's due to influence from Coulson — Sarge is actually a combination of Coulson's time-displaced clone and Pachakutiq, a resident of the same dimension as Izel, and they were in fact lovers before Sarge absorbed Coulson's memories.
- Bad Boss: Will casually sacrifice his team if he thinks they'll slow him down. Snowflake and Jaco eventually defect to S.H.I.E.L.D. because of it.
- Big Bad: As the apparent leader of the mysterious crew, he seems to be this for the Earth-bound parts of season six. Subverted in that he's actually trying to save Earth from the world-destroying Shrikes... it's just that he has a Vietnam War attitude towards his work i.e. "destroy the Earth to save the Earth" and is indifferent to the unnecessary casualties he had his team leave in their wake. And then double subverted, when Pachakutiq takes over and he throws his hat in with Izel in a Big Bad Duumvirate during "The Sign".
- Big Bad Duumvirate: After his Pachakutiq personality resurfaces, he forms an alliance with Izel.
- Big Bad Ensemble: With Atarah for early season six and later with Izel and Malachi. Subverted when he begins collaborating with S.H.I.E.L.D. as a result of him accessing Coulson's memories. And doubly subverted when he loses the struggle to not become Pachakutiq, who joins Izel and forms a Big Bad Duumvirate with her.
- Canon Foreigner: An original creation for the show.
- Character Death: Gets brutally executed by May (actually Izel in May's body) after already being locked up. Subverted, as Sarge begins to heal up the following episode, and it's soon established that he has Resurrective Immortality. He's later killed properly in "New Life" — with his own sword, no less.
- Deadpan Snarker: If there's one thing that he and Coulson do have in common, it's their penchant for snark.
- Dirty Coward: He'll willingly sacrifice anybody and everybody to stop Izel... except himself.
- Evil Counterpart: To the late Coulson, and also to Mack (in terms of their leadership roles).
- Evil Doppelgänger: Is not just uncannily identical to the late Phil Coulson, but aside from a few radioactive markers his DNA is a dead ringer match. From a laboratory point of view, this man is Coulson. However, Sarge is the anthesis of Coulson; he's a Faux Affably Evil Knight Templar Bad Boss prepared to sacrifice his team and anybody else but himself to complete his goals. Coulson of course, was A Father to His Men who would never leave a man behind if he could help it, and would never sacrifice others.
- Evil Versus Evil: With Izel. Sarge is actually trying to stop her and the Shrike from destroying planets. But he doesn't care about collateral damage — he'll gladly leave a million people dead if it means he can kill her. Pachakutiq, however, is her partner.
- Expy: His transformed state has a few similarities with X-Men villain Ord.
- Fatal Flaw: Sarge's impatience and callousness are his biggest impediments in his war with Izel. A great many of his conflicts with S.H.I.E.L.D. could have been avoided if he'd been willing to work with them peacefully, or simply shown a shred of concern for innocent life.
- Faux Affably Evil: In stark contrast to Coulson's Nice Guy attitude, Sarge sure talks suave and nice, but is ready to brutally kill people on a whim mere moments later. Not even his own team is safe from it, as he subtly threatens Pax when he questions his orders and even suggests towards Jaco that they might replace him.
- Freudian Excuse: The Shrike destroyed his planet and killed his family. Subverted, as that's not his past — he's from the same dimension as Izel, and the memories he has are loosely assembled from Coulson's.
- He Who Fights Monsters: According to Jaco, Sarge wasn't always as cruel as he is when he arrives on Earth, believing that his callousness is a result of too many years spent fighting Izel.
- Healing Factor: Even a Multiple Gunshot Death can only keep him down for a little while.
- The Heavy: While Izel is more actively antagonistic and the much greater evil (for most of the season), the mystery of Sarge's origin recieves more focus. When his demon self takes over, he joins with Izel as an equally dangerous evil.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Sarge is introduced as an antagonist, before revealing that he's the Lesser of Two Evils against Izel. Then it's revealed just how far he's willing to go to stop her, up to setting off what is essentially a nuclear bomb. Then part of Coulson's personality begins to resurface, and he agrees to help stop Izel without the mass murder. And then his Pachakutiq personality takes over, and he joins in a Big Bad Duumvirate with Izel.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Mack kills him with his own sword.
- Humanoid Abomination: While he appears to be human, and even his DNA makes it seem as though he is, Sarge is anything but. His body is a copy of Coulson's, created by the Monoliths after Coulson's encounter with all three of them, while his consciousness comes from the extradimensional Pachakutiq inhabiting the body, resulting in an entirely new being that doesn't remember who or what he is beyond a jumbled mess of vague recollections from Coulson's lingering memories. He also doesn't age, has lived for at least a hundred years, and may be immortal, as his Healing Factor allowed him to survive and recover from being riddled with bullets.
- Identical Stranger: To Phil Coulson. The actual reason for this even he doesn't even know, and is the Driving Question of season 6.
- Irony: Sarge assumes that Coulson is the doppelganger upon finding out about their resemblance, with this view being bolstered by the fact that he's much older than Coulson. The reality is that while Sarge has been around longer than Coulson, Coulson's the original; Sarge's body was created and shot back in time by the Monoliths after Coulson came into contact with all three of them at once.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Another major point of difference between him and Coulson. Phil is, of course, an absolute sweetheart and easily one of the nicest guys in the MCU, right behind Steve Rogers. Sarge, on the other hand, is an absolute dickswab who looks down on everyone and treats his own men like garbage. While not quite a Hate Sink thanks to some sympathetic motivations, he is regardless intensely unlikable.
- Loss of Identity: Taking up residence in a copy of Coulson's body jumbled Pachakutiq's memories, mixing them up with lingering traces of Coulson and resulting in a new personality that only vaguely recalls anything related to either identity beyond a recollection of lost loved ones, a connection to Izel, and a need to stop her atrocities.
- Manipulative Bastard: Extremely good at getting what he wants when he wants by withholding important information until the last possible moment and deliberately getting inside others' heads.
- Mysterious Past: Claims Izel just didn't kill his loved ones, but also his memories of them. Izel implies he doesn't know the full story.
- It's eventually cleared up in "Leap" — Sarge is a personality born from a demon from a dimension full of incorporeal beings, who ended up taking the physical form of Coulson when he went to deal with the fear manifestations created by the exploding Monoliths. Sarge, having replicated Coulson's form and memories, was displaced through space and time to another planet roughly a hundred years ago.
- Never Be a Hero: Sarge is known to warn civilians that while everyone dreams of leaping into action at a time like this, they should really just stay put and survive the day.
- Older Than They Look: Tells May he's 100 in Earth years and he'll easily live to be another 100.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: For most of the season, he's only called Sarge. "Leap" reveals his real name is Pachakutiq.
- Resurrective Immortality: Sarge can't be killed by normal means, having been shot to death by May and had his neck snapped by Daisy, only to fully heal and revive shortly afterwards in both instances.
- Something Only They Would Say: Attention is drawn to the fact that not only does Sarge look like Coulson, but he uses many of the same turns of phrases, adding to both May's and the viewer's confusion as to what the relation between the two is. When he calls Daisy "Skye," a name he has no way of knowing, it's the final tipping point to convince the team that Coulson is in there somewhere.
- Unreliable Narrator: Claims that Izel is the villain. Given that Izel infects her crew minus FitzSimmons with Shrike parasites, Sarge is probably on the level, but he isn't exactly trustworthy. His demon self is an equal threat and in fact joins her.
- Wild Card: While he's always an asshole, his role in season six constantly switches between outright bad guy and Anti-Villain / Well-Intentioned Extremist who's seeking revenge on an even greater threat, though his demon self is an outright villain and an equal threat who takes over from his other personality by the end of the season.
Izel
Izel
Species: Extradimensional being
Affiliation(s): Izel's Crew (formerly)
Portrayed By: Karolina Wydra
Appearances: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The creator of the Shrike. A demon from another dimension, who has invaded this one on the hunt for the Monoliths.
- Adaptation Name Change: She's loosely based on the character "Ixchel" from the comics, herself based on the Mayan goddess of the same name.
- Aliens of London: She's a mysterious, ancient, alien-like entity that speaks English in Karolina Wydra's natural Polish accent.
- Aliens Speaking English: She communicates with Fitz and Simmons — and later with the rest of the characters — in the same language without any hint of Translation Convention or Translator Microbes being at play.
- Ancient Evil: The Incas incorporated her into their mythology.
- Arch-Enemy: For Sarge.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: With Sarge, when he rejects the feelings brought about by Coulson's memories and embraces his original form of Pachakutiq.
- Big Bad Ensemble: With Atarah and later Malachi, who leads the Chronicom Hunters in taking over the Lighthouse.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: To FitzSimmons, she presents herself as a benevolent alien simply hunting stolen artifacts, when she's really anything but. While she initially has no bad intentions towards them because she considers them worthy for their high intelligence (and this is the only time she's genuinely friendly towards any mortal), that evaporates once she suspects them of working with Sarge against her.
- Body Surf: In "Leap", Izel reveals that she can take over other beings' bodies, which becomes In-Universe Paranoia Fuel for S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Talbot, the Final Boss of Season 5. Talbot was an Empowered Badass Normal Knight Templar, while Izel is a Humanoid Abomination with nothing remotely resembling noble motives.
- Evil Versus Evil: With Sarge. Sarge is actually trying to stop her and the Shrike from destroying planets. But he doesn't care about collateral damage — he'll gladly leave a million people dead if it means he can kill her. Then his demon personality takes over...
- Expy: Her backstory as a destructive monster from another dimension who hates all living things, combined with the legion of alien minions at her disposal, bring comic villain Annihilus to mind.
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Izel looks like an attractive woman, with her only apparent unusual feature being her magenta hair. In reality, she's an extradimensional monster that devastates worlds with the Shrike and sees humans as little more than conveniences at best.
- Faux Affably Evil: Izel speaks with a polite, if somewhat quirky tone, and can even be friendly if she considers someone close to an intellectual equal, but beneath that, she's an utterly callous monster who has ruined entire worlds when she failed to find the Monoliths. This side of her really shines through in "Leap", where she speaks to S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with a courteous detachment, only to do horrifying things like mutilating one of Piper's hands or forcing Davis to commit suicide with a wide Slasher Smile.
- Feel No Pain: Izel doesn't even react to being riddled with bullets other than to stop talking for a moment. This holds true for her hosts, as well; she fires a bullet through one of Piper's hands while possessing her, with no sign that she felt a thing. However, she does scream when May impales her and kills her with Sarge's sword.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: May ultimately kills her by impaling her through the back with Sarge's sword.
- Humanoid Abomination: She certainly looks human, though she's decidedly not. She's described as a "demon", but that seems only like a loose description of what she is. She's an incorporeal being from another dimension, who was inspired by the being later known as Sarge to take a form of her own.
- Lack of Empathy: Izel has no real concern for other people, callously hollowing them out and willing to do so by the billions to make room for her own people.
- Kick the Dog: While possessing Davis, she murders him via Psychic-Assisted Suicide just to make a point to S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Monster Progenitor: Of the Shrike. She's able to sing them into existence.
- Terms of Endangerment: Tends to call people things like "my dear" while threatening mass murder.
- Unreliable Narrator: Claims that Sarge is the true villain in their conflict. Considering that Izel infects her crew minus FitzSimmons with Shrike parasites, she's almost certainly the liar in this situation. Then it's revealed she is referring to the demon within Sarge.
- Villainous Legacy: She's killed in the season 6 finale, but Chronyca-2 was one of many casualties of her Shrike army when she was still alive, and the loss of their planet spurs the Chronicoms to take up the mantle of Big Bad in the following season.
- Villainous Rescue: Her first appearance has her rescue Fitz and Simmons from Mr. Kitson's death trap, though she lacks any concern about the third man sentenced to death. It's only an episode later that we find out she's Evil All Along.
The First, The Second and The Third
The First, the Second and the Third
Species: Extradimensional beings
Appearances: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Three members of Izel's, and Pachakutiq's, race who keep fragments of the three monoliths.
- In the Hood: Their features are covered by dark hoods.
- No Name Given: They are only referred to as "The First, The Second and The Third".
- Terrible Trio: A trio of evil entities who are never seen apart.
- The Voiceless: They never say a single word.
The Shrike
The Shrike
Species: Shrike
Appearances: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Parasitic bat-like creatures under Izel's command.
- Harbinger of Impending Doom: They come to a planet ahead of Izel and proceed to infect the local population. When she arrives and fails to find the Monoliths, they proceed to destroy it.
- Human Architecture Horror: The eventual fate of anyone infected by the Shrike.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: They look like tiny dragons mixed with bats.
- Planet Eater: Every planet they arrive on, they infect it, and proceed to destroy it.
Noor Dimension
In General
Noor Dimension
Appearances: Ms. Marvel
A dimension in the Multiverse, also known as the Light Dimension, and the home of the Clandestines.
- Ancient Astronauts: They are responsible for the myths about Djinn.
- Human Alien: They appear fully human and can interbreed with humans, but are from a parallel dimension and are able to use Noor energy to manifest and manipulate Hard Light.
- Light Is Not Good: Despite being a realm of pure light, it cannot coexist with the physical universe and a portal between the worlds would result in the Earth's destruction.
- Our Genies Are Different: The people of the Noor Dimension have been known by many names, but their most common is the Djinn — or Genies. Like the Asgardians, they appear fully human and wield mystical weapons and armor. In "Seeing Red", Waleed assures Kamala that they're not actually the Djinn of folklore — noting that Thor would've been called a Djinn too if he showed up in the Himalayas — but were called that by the humans who first encountered them, and the name stuck.
The Clandestines
In General
- Adaptational Diversity: Goes hand in hand with Adaptational Nationality as the comics ClanDestine are the progeny of British English Human Adam Destine and Iranian Djinn Elylath. Here they portrayed by actors of Asian and African heritages. Some with British or American accents.
- The Ageless: They age quite slowly, being Human Aliens from another dimension.
- Brought Down to Badass: Downplayed. The Clandestine Djinn have Super-Strength and some invulnerability, but they lack their full power and need the bangle to unlock it.
- Disc-One Final Boss: All except Kamran end up dead as of "Time and Again", allowing Damage Control to become Kamala's final antagonists in "No Normal.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: For all their faults, they genuinely care about each other. They've stuck together as a family for decades and are all shocked when Najma demands Kamran be left behind in the prison.
- Evil All Along: They play nice with Kamala when they first meet, but the moment Kamala starts expressing concerns Najma decides to murder the girl — and anyone else who gets in her way, and the others attempt to do so without hesitation.
- The Exile: They were exiled from the Noor Dimension. They will do anything to get back, even if Earth is devastated in the process.
- Magical Weapon: Everyday parts of their clothing are actually magically transforming weapons with special properties. For one it's a button from his coat, for another it's a belt that is a magically extending whip.
- Mythology Gag: Najima says that the group has been called "Clandestines" as a reference to the comic book they were adapted from, ClanDestine. (And for the record, "ClanDestine" is a Pun-Based Title that wasn't used by the comic characters themselves; they were simply the Destine family.)
- Noodle Incident: Whatever led to them getting exiled from the Noor Dimension is never explained.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Their desire to return to their home dimension is genuinely sympathetic but their complete lack of concern for any harm they could cause in the process pushes them to villainous territory. Adding to that, Waleed reveals that if they open the Veil to the Noor Dimension, it'll cause an apocalypse on Earth, and Najma knows it. And given their behavior, the circumstances of their exile become a bit more suspect...
Najma
Najma
Species: Clandestine
Portrayed By: Nimra Bucha
Appearances: Ms. Marvel
The leader of the Clandestines.
- Adaptational Name Change: Kamran's mother is named Bushra in the comics. The matriarch of the ClanDestine is Elylath.
- Adaptational Nationality: downplayed Najma is portrayed by a Pakistani actress. Whilst her comics equivalents Bushra and Elylath are Pakistani American and Iranian respectively.
- Anti-Villain: Zigzagged. On the one hand, her simple desire to go back home is completely understandable. On the other, the lengths she's willing to go to with no care for its effect on others is troubling. Secondly, while she does love her fellow Clandestines, she is willing (if reluctant) to abandon her own son for siding with Kamala (when he had a very good reason to) and killed Aisha for leaving her behind. However, in the end, she realizes how awful her actions have been and performs a Heroic Sacrifice to save her son (and the world), solidifying that there was good in her after all. Kamala honours her sacrifice by ensuring Kamran's safe escape to Karachi.
- Composite Character: A mix of Kamran's mum Bushra from the comics and Matriarch of the ClanDestine Elylath. Her villainous side is more in line with the comics Lineage Gang.
- Did You Actually Believe...?: Najma gives this exchange to Kamala after the latter asks why she had an intent to kill her with no qualms.Kamala: Why are you doing this? You said you would protect me?
Najma: Why should I protect those who betray me? - Disc-One Final Boss: The Clandestines are set up as the main antagonists of the first season through their apocalyptic plans to return to the Noor Dimension. All except Kamran are killed off by the penultimate episode, leaving Damage Control as the true villains.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Najma may be a selfish and ruthless Clandestine, but she sincerely loves her fellow Djinn and is visibly upset by their deaths.
- She genuinely loves her son Kamran and despite abandoning him on Earth due to his "betrayal", she's clearly torn up at this decision and she ultimately gives her life for him.
- She really did love Aisha and it's clear she regrets killing her. Her Heel Realization has her silently understanding why Aisha didn't want to go home anymore.
- Evil Matriarch: The leader of the Clandestines and the mother of Kamran, she's hellbent on getting the bangle from Kamala at all cost. It's revealed she murdered Aisha for "betraying" them by hiding the bangle.
- Heel Realization: A particularly tragic one. When she's moments away from going through the portal back to the Noor Dimension (and confident she'll survive the process), Kamala berates her for depriving Aisha of the simple life with her new family all because of her own selfishness and begs her not to do the same to Kamran. These words seem to actually get through to her, because she is reminded of the love she has for her own son and recognizes what Aisha saw on Earth that she never could. Sadly, this leads to her sacrificing herself to destroy the portal, much to Kamala's dismay.
- Hypocrite: Calls out Kamala for acting selfish and for reasonably being hesitant in helping them get home while she acts all self-centered without concern for anyone else.
- I Have No Son!: Leaves her own son behind in Damage Control HQ for helping Kamala and so she could hunt down the bangle without interference. However, she has a change of heart moments before her death.
- Mama Bear: Najma sacrifices herself to seal the Noor, saving her son and Earth from destruction in the process.
- Monster Fangirl: Inverted. She's a dangerous Djinn, but according to her son, she's a Bollywood fan and has a huge crush on Kingo Senior. Amusingly, Kamala's mother has a massive crush on Kingo Junior, but neither realize they're one and the same.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: All she longs for is to return home to her dimension, but is fully aware that opening the door to the Noor Dimension would spell doom to the Earth and she's never considered Earth as her home at all to begin with, despite actually having a family of her own there.
- Redemption Equals Death: In the penultimate episode, she succeeds in opening a rift to the Noor Dimension only for it to kill the other Clandestines. When Kamala berates her for murdering Aisha and abandoning Kamran, Najma has a Heel Realization and sacrifices herself to close the rift.
- Sealed Evil in Another World: They were banished to Earth from their home dimension for an unspecified crime and all they want is to go back. Unfortunately, doing so will destroy the planet and everyone along with it.
- Stripped to the Bone: She is killed by the Noor portal, which encases her in a rocky substance that instantly reduces her to nothing but a skeleton.
- Would Hurt a Child: She knows fully well that Kamala helping them get home could be dangerous for Kamala herself, and when she's reluctant to help them (because of some wellfounded concerns that there could be a lot of damage as a result no less), she orders her clan to murder Kamala and take her bangle and is seen smiling as her clan attacks her. She even shows little concern for her own son and even leaves him to be imprisoned by Damage Control.
Aisha
Aisha
Species: Clandestine
Portrayed By: Mehwish Hayat
Appearances: Ms. Marvel
A member of the Clandestines and the great-grandmother of Kamala Khan.
- Action Girl: Downplayed, but she was active during the Partition of India in 1942 and was very hands-on during the war. She was also the one to be entrusted with the Bangle. That said, she was killed when Najma took her by surprise during the last train out.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: She was originally very cold to Hasan and threatened him when he tried to help her. However, after getting to know him and experiencing his kindness firsthand, she opened up to him and ended up falling in love with him.
- Expy: Ironically her and Hasan's romance as a heroic Djinn woman and human man is more in line with Elylath and Adam Destine from the comics.
- Going Native: She originally wanted to go home just like everyone else, but she found a quiet life with her husband and daughter and found beauty in a simple life on Earth.
- Magical Girlfriend: She's a Djinn from the Noor Dimension while Hasan was an Indian human.
- Mama Bear: Aisha sacrificed herself to protect her daughter Sana.
- Nice Girl: Initial distrust aside, she is a kindly and feminine woman who was fiercely protective of her family and only wanted a simple life away from war and prejudice. She even comforted and encouraged Kamala in her last moments and gifted her with the only photo taken of her, her husband and Sana (Kamala's Nani).
Fariha
Fariha
Species: Clandestine
Portrayed By: Adaku Ononogbo
Appearances: Ms. Marvel
A member of the Clandestines.
- Adaptational Nationality: Zig-Zagged as she is portrayed by a British Nigerian. The comics Clandestines as British Iranian Human/Djinn hybrids.
- Character Death: She gets killed in "Time and Again" when she tries to return to her homeworld.
- Stripped to the Bone: The Noor dimension portal covers her in a rocky substance, and when it crumbles off of her, she has been reduced to a skeleton.
- Tempting Fate: She smiles to Najma and declares "We are going home!" before she tries to enter the portal. Not only does she die in the attempt, but Najma doesn't get through herself.
Aadam
Aadam
Species: Clandestine
Portrayed By: Ali Alsaleh
Appearances: Ms. Marvel
A member of the Clandestines.
- Adaptation Name Change: From Adam to Aadam.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Inverted. Whereas the comics Adam Destine is stereotypically beautiful (blond, well-muscled, clean-shaven), Aadam is scruffy-looking and a bit overweight.
- Adaptational Nationality: Aadam is portrayed by an Iraqi American. His comics counterpart is British English.
- Adaptational Species Change: Human in the comics. Extradimensional Djinn here.
- Affably Evil: Aadam seems goofy enough to indulge in Earth culture, but when he's assaulting Kamala with the others he seems very excited about the opportunity.
- Blood Knight: Out of all of the Clandestines, Aadam seems to enjoy violence the most and is usually seen sporting a wild grin when a fight breaks out.
- Carry a Big Stick: He wields a large mace against Kamala and Kamran during the attack at the wedding.
- Immortal Immaturity: He's called out by the rest of the Clandestines for being focused on the "stupidest" parts of human culture. In his first appearance, he's dressed far more casually than the other members and staring at a phone while they have a serious conversation.
- In the Back: How Kareem kills him in "Seeing Red".
Saleem
Saleem
Species: Clandestine
Portrayed By: Dan Carter
Appearances: Ms. Marvel
A member of the Clandestines.
- Adaptational Nationality: The Clan Destine are all British-Iranian in the comics. Saleem is American and Ambiguously Brown.
- Ambiguously Brown: The Cladestines are extradimensional. But resemble real life Ethnicities. Saleem is portrayed by mixed raced Dan Carter makes it hard to pin down.
- Bald of Evil: He has been fully balded for several decades, and is the most aggressive of the Clandestines, not hesitating to attack Bruno and Kamran when they get in the way of his pursuit of Kamala.
- The Brute: Seems to fill this role for the Clandestines, being the largest and most aggressive fighter in the group.
- Character Death: Is killed by Waleed in "Seeing Red" during the chase sequence.
- Clothing Combat: He wields his belt transformed into a whip as a weapon during their assault of Aamir's wedding service.
- Made of Iron: Kamala barrels into him with a truck during the chase of "Seeing Red". He is barely injured and almost completely unfazed by the impact.
Kamran
Kamran
"Kamala, look around. They're never going to accept me, and they'll never accept you either."
Species: Human-Clandestine hybrid
Citizenship: American
Portrayed By: Rish Shah
Appearances: Ms. Marvel
Kamala's crush and the youngest member of the Clandestines.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Shows up in Kamala's second episode when she's still new to her powers, whereas in the comics he shows up when she's been active for quite some time.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the comics, Kamran was a loyal foot soldier to the group of villains he was involved with, and once Kamala rejected his We Can Rule Together offer, he turned on her completely. Here, once he realizes Najma doesn't care about Kamala's safety, he tries to warn her and even helps her during the battle.
- Adaptational Nationality: Zig-Zagged. Comics Kamran is Pakistani-American whilst the ClanDestines are British-Iranians. Due to Composite Character at play, the MCU Kamran appears to be British Pakistani originally before becoming an exchange student in the US.
- Adaptational Origin Connection: Inverted. In the comics, he's introduced as an old Childhood Friend of Kamala. In the MCU, he's introduced as a random person deliberately seeking her out.
- Adaptation Species Change: In the comics, Kamran is an Inhuman. Here, to go with Kamala's own origin change, he's a Clandestine hybrid like her. Though since he shows similar powers to her that the other Clandestine do not possess, he may be a mutant too.
- Brief Accent Imitation: He briefly puts on a Pakistani accent to help sell the lie to Aamir that he's Kamala and Aamir's cousin, and he claims that the British accent he had before was because he's a big fan of The Great British Bake Off.
- Chick Magnet: Several girls - including Kamala and Nakia - are clearly Eating the Eye Candy during his Shirtless Scene.
- Composite Character: In general, he is a mix of comics Kamran, the heroic members of the ClanDestine family. If he is indeed a mutant like Kamala, his nature as a British-Asian-Muslim mutant is similar to a one-shot X-Men mutant named Zeeshan.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Possibly. Kamran mentions having moved about a lot and his father's status is unknown. He is clearly a British-Pakistani exchange student in America by the time he shows up in the series. In the final episode, Kamran makes it clear he knows who the Red Daggers are and that they hunted down the Clandestine for decades. There's also his fear of what the Clandestine would do to Kamala and the fact that his mother disowned him for protecting her. One wonders what kind of upbringing Kamran must have had.
- Disappeared Dad: Who his father was and if he's even still alive is never mentioned, but since Kamran has the same heritage as Kamala and grew up on Earth, we can infer his father was a human rather than a Clandestine.
- Expy: A charming British-Asian exchange student in America? MCU Kamran seems to be inspired by Ravi from the To All the Boys I've Loved Before books. He even shares the same actor, Rish Shah.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Is clearly taken aback when his mother orders her clan to kill Kamala just for being reluctant to help them. He goes to Kamala's brother's wedding to warn her of Najma's true nature.
- In the final episode, after realizing his mother is dead, he was fully willing to kill the Damage Control agents coming after him. However, he draws the line at killing innocent civilians and is visibly horrified that he nearly crushed the crowd with a vehicle he sent flying in their direction (which he intended for Agent Deever, who dodged out of the way). He's relieved when Kamala saves them.
- Foil:
- To Kamala. Both of them are Clandestine hybrids who eventually learn about the death of their respective maternal relatives. While Kamala does not dwell on negative emotions, Kamran lashes his anger and grief out, inadvertently and temporarily using his powers to endanger everyone around him.
- He is also this to Davos from Iron Fist (2017). Both are British-accented, brown-skinned Asian men who are Momma's Boys, but their relationships with their respective mothers turn out to be dysfunctional. Najma was a loving parent to Kamran until she disowned him for protecting Kamala and Bruno from the Clandestines. Priya abused Davos his whole life and chewed him out over every show of brotherly compassion or mercy towards Danny. Whilst Najma empowered Kamran with her death and her son almost made a Face–Heel Turn in his anger and grief before being talked down by Kamala, Davos was full of anger by the time he gained the Iron Fist power his mother wanted for him and fell into being a full-on villain. To complete the contrast, Kamran and Davos' glowing hand powers have opposite colors and motifs. The usually cool, calm, and collected Nice Guy Kamran has powers that are represented by blue ice/rock-like energy crystals whilst the stiff as iron, Hot-Blooded kung fu warrior Davos has blood red chi powers which shine like red-hot steel.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Like Kamala and most of her family, Kamran is part Clandestine. Najma implies that he, too, is capable of tapping into the Noor Dimension, even from Earth, which turns out to be true when she passes her powers onto Kamran.
- Malicious Misnaming: Subverted. After being introduced, Kamran's always calling Bruno "Brian", even when it seems obvious that it's not his actual name. Bruno thinks he's doing it on purpose, but then Episode 5 reveals that Kamran legitimately thought his name was Brian, and apologizes.
- Not So Harmless: He's introduced as little more than eye candy, but can fight well enough to stand up to The Brute of the Clandestines. Likely justified by his Clandestine origins.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: In the last episode, Kamran – in a state of grief after learning of his mother's death – goes berserk on Agent Deever for all of the trouble she's caused, clearly intending to kill her and anyone in his way. He's thankfully talked down at the last minute.
- Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: He is revealed to have been eyeing Kamala on behalf of his family of immortal superhumans who plan to use her powers to their own ends (which is shady enough even before their true colors are revealed), but then he's shown to genuinely care for her, warning her and even fighting against his family. In the last episode, he seems to be contemplating a Face–Heel Turn... but Kamala manages to cool him down with a pep talk before any lasting damage is caused.
- Shirtless Scene: After diving into Zoe's pool at her party, he comes out of the water straight to Kamala... to tell her that she's standing on his shirt.
- Token Good Teammate: He's the least morally bankrupt of the Clandestines and eventually turns on them when they set out to kill Kamala. He did briefly go berserk when he learned that his mother died and tried to outright kill the Damage Control team, but calmed down, thanks to Kamala's pep talk.
- You Can't Go Home Again: With his mother dead, no longer having a home with the Clandestines, and now having been branded as a fugitive in the United States, Kamran is forced to flee the country with help from the Red Daggers and is now in hiding somewhere in Pakistan.
Quantum Realm
In General
Quantum Realm
Appearances: Ant-Man | Ant-Man and the Wasp | Avengers: Endgame | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. | What If...? | Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
"A reality where all concepts of time and space become irrelevant as you shrink for all eternity."
A dimension that can be accessed by becoming impossibly tiny with Pym Particles or a Quantum Tunnel. It was originally thought to contain nothing, but in truth it is an entire universe full of alien life.- Acid-Trip Dimension: The first Ant-Man movie has Scott pass through several kaleidoscopes of himself before waking up in a dreamlike void, while Ant-Man and the Wasp has it as a weird colourful area that nearly drives Hank insane just by looking at it. Even the more grounded version in Quantumania is still a World of Weirdness with very alien customs and fauna. Nathaniel Malick even outright lampshades it in the series finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.Nathaniel: We got pulled out of reality and into this... this Grateful Dead poster!
- Human Aliens: There are plenty of aliens within the Quantum Realm that look like humans, but most decidedly are not. Though apparently there isn't much difference between some of them from regular humans, as Krylar implies he at least has genitals similar to a human male.
- Narnia Time: Time flows differently in the Quantum Realm, even flowing backwards in some cases which can allow for a form of Time Travel. Scott spent five hours there between Ant-Man and the Wasp and Endgame and came out five years later. In Quantumania, Hank's ants get separated from the group and live for thousands of years in the span of a few hours.
- No Biochemical Barriers: Despite the fact that Scott and his family essentially have to go subatomic to enter it, nobody has any trouble breathing in the Quantum Realm, and neither do any of the other creatures who live there.
- Organic Technology: Scott is shocked that the rebels' warships are also living blob creatures, and Veb is shocked that human buildings aren't.
- Place Beyond Time: The Quantum Realm is described as a place beyond space and time.
- Retcon: The Quantum Realm is different in just about every appearance. Ant-Man had the Quantum Realm as an empty void with mind screwy visuals that wouldn't look out of place on a computer screensaver, Ant-Man and the Wasp depicts it as a bizarre multi-coloured shifting landscape that seemingly contained no life aside from Janet and tardigrades, while Quantumania shows it as an alien but more terrestrial landscape with an entire ecosystem and civilizations. This gets a minor Handwave, where Janet remarks that it was being obscured by "quantum fog" previously, implying it has some sort of "You Cannot Grasp the True Form" effect.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The Quantum Realm is based on the Microverse, an imperceptibly tiny universe from the comics where the Wasp was trapped for a time. The MCU can't use the name Microverse however, since Hasbro owns the rights to it.
Axia
Kang the Conqueror
See his page
Krylar
Lord Krylar
Species: Unknown
Portrayed by: Bill Murray
Appearances: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
A former leader of the freedom fighters, who defected to Kang after Janet escaped the Quantum Realm.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Shortly after his introduction, Krylar eats a live squid thing as part of a shot, showing off how casually brutal he is.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Krylar pretends to be happy to see Janet and her family again, and acts rather pleasant towards everyone when they sit down and eat. It's later revealed that he defected to Kang a long time ago, and now wants to deliver the family to him to keep his new secure position within his empire.
- Eaten Alive: Implied. His last moments on screen have him shrieking in terror as an enlarged squid creature prepares to eat him.
- Evil Former Friend: He was Janet's lover for a time while she was trapped in the Quantum Realm, but turned evil after she abandoned him.
- Face–Heel Turn: He was formerly opposed to Kang, but joined with him for the security and power Kang offered.
- Fallen Hero: He was once the leader of the rebels, but some time after Janet left, he became an ally of Kang.
- Human Aliens: He looks like a normal human, but he tells Hank that he's only human "in the ways that matter".
- Laser-Guided Karma: He eats a dish that has a terrified little creature within it, showing no remorse for having subjected it to such a cruel fate. During their escape from the bar they're at, Hank enlarges one of its brethren, which proceeds to try to eat Krylar in retribution. It isn't clear if he died, though.
- Making a Spectacle of Yourself: When he first touches down at the bar the Pym-Van Dyne family are at, Krylar wearing a pair of zany shutter shades that wouldn't look out of place in a 70s sci-fi film. He quickly takes them off to greet Janet however.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Krylar was a very minor antagonist of the Hulk in the comics, but ends up being an ally and later opponent of the Wasp in Quantumania.
- Uncertain Doom: He's last seen being picked up by a gigantified drink squid, but it's not shown whether or not he was actually killed.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Upon reuniting with Janet, Krylar expresses his resentment at his former lover leaving him and the rest of the Freedom Fighters to fight Kang alone.
M.O.D.O.K.
See his page
Freedom Fighters
Jentorra
Jentorra
"You come from above... like him. He will burn the world to find you."
Species: Unknown
Portrayed by: Katy M. O'Brian
Appearances: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
The leader of the freedom fighters who oppose Kang's rule of the Quantum Realm.
- Amazonian Beauty: A large muscular attractive woman in skimpy attire.
- Ambiguously Human: She appears completely human, although she may be the same species as Krylar. Her comic version was a Green-Skinned Space Babe, while here she has a human skin colour.
- Never My Fault: Blames Scott and Cassie for leading Kang's forces to her encampment, even though her forces captured and brought them there.
- Rebel Leader: Is this to the displaced denizens of the Quantum Realm.
Xolum
Xolum
Species: Unknown
Voiced by: TBA
Appearances: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
A freedom fighter with a powerful laser cannon for a face.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: He's weirdly insistent on torturing Scott and Cassie for seemingly no reason.
- Expy: His design is evocative of Eson the Searcher in design and build, with both of them being armored figures that wield staff like weapons. The only major difference is the cannon head that Xolum has. This is definitely intentional because the design and color of the Quantum Realm in this movie are evocative of the Infinity Stones.
- Head Blast: The laser cannon he has instead of a head can fire a concentrated blast of energy.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He fires a laser at Kang, who simply absorbs and redirects the energy to kill Xolum.
- Mauve Shirt: He saves Scott and Cassie when they first enter the Quantum Realm and gets a few lines, but is the only named casualty of Kang among the freedom fighters.
Veb
Veb
Species: Unknown
Voiced by: David Dastmalchian (English)
Appearances: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
A slime creature who secretes a goo that makes you able to understand the language of the Quantum Realm.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: He seems to be some kind of amorphous pink sac with internal eyestalks. He's also obsessed with the number of holes that other species have, since he himself has none. There's also the fact that he can secrete a substance that acts as a translator for the Quantum Realm's inhabitants.
- Expy: David Dastmalchian used Spongebob Squarepants as a base for Veb's voice, mannerisms and movement.
- Eye on a Stalk: He has his eyes on stalks to make his appearance even more peculiar looking.
- Torso with a View: He gets blasted by multiple shots from Kang's mooks, which does absolutely no harm to him but makes him ecstatic that he now has holes.
- Translator Microbes: Drinking his ooze allows you to understand language spoken in the Quantum Realm.
Quaz
Quaz
Species: Unknown
Portrayed by: William Jackson Harper
Appearances: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
A freedom fighter with the ability to read minds... whether he wants to or not.
- Ambiguously Human: Like Jentorra and Krylar, he looks completely human but it's not confirmed whether he is or not.
- Blessed with Suck: As he notes, the ability to read minds can get very disgusting very fast.
- Dirty Mind-Reading: He can't stop reading Scott's mind repeatedly after Veb has Scott thinking about the number and function of holes his body has.
- Power Incontinence: He constantly picks up ambient thoughts from people around him, with no way to turn it off.
- Thought-Aversion Failure: He falls victim to this quite a bit, since asking Scott to stop thinking about his holes just makes him think about his holes even more. Although this is weaponized in the climax — Jentorra asks one of Kang's henchmen for the passcode to the bridge, to which he responds that he'll die before he gives it... except being asked brought it to the front of his mind, which Quaz reads.
Demons
The Dweller-in-Darkness
The Dweller-in-Darkness
"Thousands of years ago, all of our people lived in peace and prosperity, until the attack of the Dweller-in-Darkness. He came with his army, devouring every soul in their path, and with each kill, they grew stronger. After decimating our largest cities, they were headed to your universe to do the same."
Species: Demon
Voiced By: Fala Chen (Impersonating Ying Li)
Appearances: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
An ancient demon who once sieged Ta Lo, eventually sealed away by the Great Protector.
- Adaptational Nonsapience: In the comics it was one of the Fear Lords, constantly scheming to create greater sources of fear. Here it's little more than a Generic Doomsday Villain.
- Adaptation Deviation: The Dweller-in-Darkness in the comics is an ancient Lovecraftian demon who looks like an octopus atop a humanoid body, is one of the Fear Lords, and has been feeding on the fear of the humans of Earth for millennia. In Shang-Chi, the Dweller looks more akin to a dragon from the Monster Hunter franchise, and it feeds on souls.
- Alliterative Name: Dweller-in-Darkness.
- Ancient Evil: An archaic demon that terrorized Ta Lo centuries ago until its imprisonment by the Great Protector.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Played With in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. It's the biggest threat and Wenwu's assault on Ta Lo is a direct result of the Dweller manipulating him into freeing it, but the demon had nothing to do with his abusive training of Shang-Chi in the past. The central conflict of the film remains between the warlord and his children, and even during the climax Wenwu has his own intentions of destroying the city, staying oblivious to the Dweller's existence until the very end.
- Combat Tentacles: It's got a few of these and they're strong enough to snare the Great Protector and a wielder of the Ten Rings. Its Soulsuckers also have tentacles, as Death Dealer finds out.
- Composite Character: Shares some aspects with fellow Fear Demon Kkallakku, which uses "Fear Eater" minions.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Ends up getting ripped apart by Shang-Chi with the Ten Rings.
- Dark Is Evil: The Dweller-in-Darkness has primarily dark coloration and it is a monstrosity whose sole purpose is to devour the souls of every living creature it can find.
- Draconic Abomination: In the comics, the Dweller-in-Darkness is one of the Fear Lords, and is distinctly octopian and Lovecraftian. In Shang-Chi it is depicted as an extradimensional soul-sucking god-monster in the shape of a hideous, tentacled Western dragon, but doesn't have such specific ancestry (as far as we know). Nonetheless, it is a bizarre, terrible, and hideously powerful otherworldly creature whose origins and true nature are a total (and possibly unsolvable) mystery.
- The Dreaded: It is an Eldritch Abomination that hungers for souls of other creatures and is impervious to most weaponry. The Ta Lo villagers are determined to keep the gate to its dimension sealed.
- Final Boss: Becomes the final enemy of the film after taking Wenwu's soul.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: It's an abominable soul-sucking demon that nearly destroyed Ta Lo and the greatest threat in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, but it has no clear evidence of sapience, let alone personality. Even when it speaks as Ying Li, it's portrayed as a sort of automatic predatory mimicry rather than a genuine impersonation of her.
- Greater-Scope Villain: It's the one manipulating Wenwu into attacking Ta Lo, tricking him into believing Li is being held captive. However, it only ever appears in the climax, and the majority of the film's conflict is centered around Shang-Chi and Xialing's unresolved issues with their father.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: As it tries to suck out the Great Protector's soul, Katy shoots it in the throat with a dragon scale arrow. This allows the Great Guardian to overpower it and Shang-Chi to kill it.
- Large and in Charge: It commands and dwarfs the smaller Soulsuckers that come in swarms.
- Leaking Can of Evil: Even while sealed away it can speak to others in their minds.
- Mooks: The Dweller uses its "Soulsuckers" as foot soldiers.
- No-Sell: The only things that can truly harm and kill the Dweller and its minions are weapons made from dragon scales and the Ten Rings themselves.
- Our Wyverns Are Different: The Dweller is depicted as a wyvern-like creature with its hands fused into its wings and a set of tentacle-like tails. It being based on a Western dragon-like creature makes it look even more alien in an Asian setting.
- Outside-Context Problem: An Eldritch Abomination from parts unknown that invaded the world of Chinese mythology and started snacking on souls like it was at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Even centuries later, nobody knows what its deal is — only that it's hideously dangerous and must be sealed away or destroyed.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Traditionally an enemy of Doctor Strange, here it faces Shang-Chi.
- Satanic Archetype: The Dweller resembles a demonic hybrid between a dragon and an octopus, and it tempts others to liberate it from its imprisonment by imitating the voice of their deceased loved ones.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: It and its minions were imprisoned behind a sealed cave for centuries until Wenwu releases them.
- Soul Eating: It literally feeds on the souls of its victims, growing larger and more powerful with every soul it consumes.
- Tentacled Terror: The Dweller and its minions are tentacled monsters that feast on the souls of other living creatures.
- Voice Changeling: It mimics the voice of Wenwu's deceased wife Ying Li to lure him into liberating it.
- You Don't Look Like You: The Dweller in the comics is a big purple Cthulhu-looking humanoid, but here it looks a bit like a Rathalos with tentacle legs.
- Your Heart's Desire: This is how it tempts people into breaking the seal of its prison. It speaks to Wenwu, pretending to be Ying Li trapped behind the gate at Ta Lo such that he might free her/it. It is implied that Wenwu intially sought out Ta Lo because of its whispers—at a time he sought nothing but power, he found a place he should have had no way of knowing existed to find said power. But when he met Ying Li, his heart's desire changed to her, and the Dweller had nothing left to offer him, prompting him to change his ways—until she died, and the Dweller could offer him her.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: The Dweller feeds on living souls to grow larger and more powerful.
- Zerg Rush: The Soulsuckers' best tactic is to use their large numbers to overwhelm their victims.
Gargantos
Gargantos
Species: Demon
Appearances: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
An eldritch one-eyed green tentacle-monster hunting America Chavez.
- Adaptation Name Change: Although it's an adaptation of Shuma-Gorath, it's named "Gargantos" due to Shuma-Gorath's name originating in one of Robert E. Howard's Kull stories that Marvel adapted, and Disney not owning that particular license where film and television rights are concerned.
- Adaptational Wimp: In the comics, Shuma-Gorath — whom Gargantos is derived from — is a multiversal Great Old One and one of Doctor Strange's most powerful recurring enemies. In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it's under Wanda's control and Doctor Strange and Wong are more than capable of holding their own against Gargantos before killing it.
- Alien Blood: Gargantos has a viscous black ooze for blood when Doctor Strange lops off one of its tentacles.
- Composite Character: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness depicts Gargantos — in the comics, another one-eyed green tentacle-monster — with the appearance of Doctor Strange's long-time enemy and premiere Marvel Comics Eldritch Abomination Shuma-Gorath, but it is called "Gargantos" because Shuma-Gorath was first mentioned in one of Robert E. Howard's Kull short stories before his debut in the Marvel comics, and thus Marvel cannot use that name outside the comics without having to deal with the current licenses holders of Howard's writings.
- Eldritch Abomination: Gargantos is a colossal levitating extradimensional one-eyed octopod entity that is initially invisible to humans, and is emblazoned with orange sigils, has black ichor for blood, and can regenerate in seconds from having its tentacles severed. Marvel's announcement for his appearance in Marvel Puzzle Quest states he's an ineffable entity from a realm beyond human comprehension, and seeks to spread madness and chaos throughout the Multiverse. This doesn't stop Doctor Strange from killing it with relative ease.
- Eye Scream: Doctor Strange kills Gargantos by gouging its eye out with a lamppost.
- Green and Mean: As seen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Gargantos is a green-colored tentacled monster who terrorizes New York City while hunting for America Chavez.
- Healing Factor: Doctor Strange lops off one of Gargantos' tentacles during their fight, but the eldritch entity regenerates it in a matter of seconds.
- Invisible to Normals: Gargantos is shown to be invisible to humans, and Doctor Strange has to use the Eye of Agamotto to reveal it.
- Oculothorax: As seen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Gargantos' body consists of a large eye surrounded by green tentacles and spikes.
- Power Tattoo: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness shows that Gargantos has glowing orange tattoo-like eye sigils on its tentacles. These are later revealed as runes that Wanda used to control it.
- Tentacled Terror: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness reveals Gargantos as a one-eyed Lovecraftian entity covered in writhing tentacles and spikes.
- Would Hurt a Child: Gargantos is hunting for America Chavez to harness her powers for itself — attacking a bus she's trying to hide in.
Souls of the Damned
Souls of the Damned
"Cease your dreamwalk, or face the eternal consequences!"
Species: Demon
Citizenship: N/A
Affiliation(s): Darkhold
Portrayed By: Andrew Morgado, Scott Spiegel, Bridget Hoffman, Christian Rummel, Richie Palmer, Audrey Wasilewski, Jessica Pennington
Appearances: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
The demonic spawn of the Darkhold that Doctor Strange encounters while dreamwalking during the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
- Berserk Button: Trespassing. The Souls first show up after Strange dreamwalks into his variant's rotting corpse, warning him to stop what he's doing or suffer the consequences.
- Casting Gag: This isn't the first time Scott Spiegel has voiced the demonic spawn originating from an evil mystical book.
- Dem Bones: The Souls are clearly skeletal in nature, with their faces in particular looking very skull-like.
- Enemy Mine: After a brief struggle against them, Doctor Strange manages to "tame" the Souls and use them to confront the Scarlet Witch. The Souls are more than happy to redirect their ire towards her, with one of them outright screaming that she's a murderer.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Apparently, dreamwalking into a corpse is considered taboo even by the standards of the Darkhold, the Souls of the Damned demanding that he stop lest they drag him to Hell for it.
- Evil Laugh: The Souls chuckle with sinister glee as they fly through the air and attack Strange/Wanda.
- Expy: These things are very clearly based on the Deadites from Sam Raimi's own Evil Dead franchise, being the hellspawn of a Tome of Eldritch Lore that harass the main character after he reads from it.
- Lean and Mean: The Souls are gaunt, skinny creatures, and they viciously attack anyone who abuses the Darkhold.
- Screaming Warrior: The Souls of the Damned constantly screech and laugh evilly as they harass their victims.
- Undead Abomination: Unlike the ghosts seen in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Souls of the Damned are most decidedly not human. They're flying, undead skeleton creatures that emerge whenever someone uses the Darkhold to perform forbidden spells, such as Strange's decision to dreamwalk into a rotting corpse.
Jake
"Jake"
Species: Demonic Goat
Appearances: She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
A demonic goat living in a Hellish dimension who Madisynn made a deal with to escape.
- Ambiguously Related: It isn't clear if the Hell-like dimension he comes from is the same one the Spirit of Vengeance comes from. Nor is it clear if it's the same goat as the one that appeared briefly in MoonKnight.
- Dark Is Evil: A demonic goat, no shocker, has dark fur and red eyes.
- Deal with the Devil: Madisynn makes a deal with him to escape his home dimension. We don't know the specifics because if she states them, Jake will take the souls of her and her loved ones, but it involved six drops of blood.
- Gruesome Goat: Considering how closely goats are associated with the Satanic in media, Jake being a demon in the form of a goat should come as no surprise.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: If the end credits illustrations are to be believed, he has glowing red eyes.
- Tom the Dark Lord: "Jake" is not a name you would expect from an unholy demon. While it's possible Madisynn, The Ditz and a Hard-Drinking Party Girl, couldn't remember his real name, he had a sign stating his name was Jake from his neck if the end credits drawings are to be believed.
