The Marvel Cinematic Universe is full of memorable characters, but there are just as many forgettable D-listers and below padding out the franchise’s roster. It’s no secret that cinematic superhero universes like the MCU succeed or fail based off the strength of their characters, needing unique personalities, incredible acting talent, and fun powers to stick in the memory of fans. But for every unforgettable performance the movies of the MCU provide, there are just as many characters that are impossible to remember.

Many of these characters are civilian supporting characters that aren’t big names in the comics, though some should have gotten more attention from the MCU than they have. Others are forgettable villains demonstrating the MCU’s problem with crafting good antagonists, leaving hordes of underdeveloped villains to languish in obscurity. It’s not just the MCU guilty of these choices either, with some Marvel movies from the early 2000s being particularly dry with their casts.

10. Betty Ross

The Incredible Hulk

Despite being so early on in the MCU’s success, The Incredible Hulk has largely had most of its cast left hung out to dry by the franchise due to the legal situation regarding another Hulk solo film. Admittedly, this wasn’t a huge loss in most cases, with Liv Tyler’s Betty Ross being one of the most forgettable romantic interests the Marvel Cinematic Universe has ever put forth. The daughter of General Ross, who was actively hunting the Hulk, Betty instead sought to console the beast and help Bruce find a way to manage him.

Tyler’s acting does nothing to help the character stick in the mind, evidenced by the fact that few fans even noticed her absence after Mark Ruffalo was re-cast as The Hulk in The Avengers. Beyond being a scientist and being in love with Bruce Banner, it’s hard to come up with a single thing that could describe the character, making her fairly one-note. It’ll be interesting to see what the MCU does to redeem her with her return at long last in Captain America: Brave New World.

9. Dar-Benn

The Marvels

Sadly, even the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s more recent releases still include some villains that are next to impossible to recall. Enter Dar-Benn, the villain behind the financial flop superhero movie The Marvels. A zealous Kree warrior who had reached the title of Accuser, similar to Ronan of Guardians of the Galaxy fame, Dar-Benn seeks revenge on Captain Marvel for what she perceives as starting the civil war that tore her home planet apart. Using the quantum band, Dar-Benn attempted to seize resources from inhabited worlds like Earth in order to restore her empire’s former glory.

Dar-Benn is as forgettable and generic as MCU villains come, with littlei n the way of personality, unique powers, or compelling motivation. Everything she does is essentially a female re-run of Ronan the Accuser, even using the same weighty Kree gavel as her weapon. It’s safe to say that placeholder villains like Dar-Benn contributed to the box office failure of The Marvels.

8. Cypher

X2

For the most part, Fox’s X-Men universe was pretty good at keeping its cast of mutant characters memorable, even for those that only made small appearances. That being said, there were admittedly hordes of nobody characters populating the backgrounds of the films, with the most obscure and unremarkable of them easily being Cypher from X2. After being briefly mentioned on Stryker’s list of mutants, Cypher is captured by his strike team during the assault on the X-Mansion only to be later rescued.

Cypher had one of the most easily-hidden mutant powers ever, allowing him to understand and fluently speak any human language. It’s hard to imagine that such a power caused him to be ostracized or bullied so much that he had to upend his life to go live with the X-Men – Cypher could’ve easily just considered himself a particularly gifted polyglot. Regardless, it doesn’t make for a particularly cinematic or impressive mutant ability to be realized in a film, keeping Cypher buried deep within the memories of even the most die-hard X-Men movie lovers.

7. Erik Selvig

Thor

The supporting cast from the first two Thor movies have had a pitiful time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe ever since, from the ill-fated Warriors Three to Jane Foster’s gang of human colleagues. But perhaps none of them have been so consistently forgettable as Erik Selvig, the renowned astrophysicist whose entire perception of reality is changed when he meets a walking Norse god. The Swedish professor has appeared in three Thor movies and two Avengers movies, yet has hardly managed to make an impact at all.

Selvig appears just infrequently enough in the MCU that it’s easy to forget who he is by the time he inexplicably comes on screen once more to help Thor locate some hidden (or literal) well of knowledge. Of course, like most things in the Thor mythos, Thor: Love and Thunder turns Selvig into a joke, having him be arrested for public nudity at Stonehenge while descending into silly madness. It’s hard to blame anyone for not remembering Erik Selvig in the first place.

6. David Banner

Hulk

Ang Lee’s Hulk in 2003 is one of the most largely forgotten Marvel films in the present day and age, and for good reason. The film boasted a somber, depressing tone of a tragedy rather than a fun superhero movie, eye-wateringly bad early CGI, and some dour performances that mix with the split-screen editing mimicking comic book panels like oil and water. For his Hulk villain, Ang Lee settled on none other than Bruce Banner’s abusive father himself, David Banner, who becomes a sort of version of Marvel’s Absorbing Man.

David Banner was played by the brilliant actor Nick Nolte, but it’s hard not to feel like Lee misused his machiavellian villain. There was no reason to combine him with a totally unrelated C-list villain, and his final lightning form at the end of the film is laughably goofy-looking. Somehow, David Banner manages to be less memorable than the CGI Gamma Dogs that Hulk punches in the groin earlier on in the film, making him one of many difficult things about re-watching 2003’s Hulk.

5. Yon-Rogg

Captain Marvel

Sadly, Captain Marvel is 0 for 2 when it comes to having a memorable villain to go up against. In her sole solo film, Carol Danvers uncovers her amnesia, going up against Jude Law’s Yon-Rogg, a high-ranking official in the Kree military. Though he first seems to be a close confidant and ally to Carol Danvers during her time in the Kree Empire’s Starforce, his hand in manipulating the powerful heroine is soon revealed, unearthing his true colors.

Yon-Rogg is incredibly obvious as a twist villain, with Jude Law making no attempt at subtlety for his true villainous motivations, but worse than that, he’s simply boring. Though Yon-Rogg does have the physical advantages of being a member of the Kree race, he can’t hold a candle to Captain Marvel in combat, making him never feel threatening. There are many memorable elements of Captain Marvel, but Yon-Rogg certainly isn’t one of them.

4. Crossbones

Captain America: Civil War

Every now and then, the Marvel Cinematic Universe requires a filler villain to pad out a bland action setpiece early on in a film before the main conflict gets going. Brock Rumlow, a.k.a. Crossbones, is one such example of a minor antagonist, duking it out with Captain America and his team in Captain America: Civil War. It’s easy to forget that Brock also actually appears in Captain America: The Winter Soldier as one of the primary HYDRA agents infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. at the behest of Alexander Pierce.

By the time the MCU brings him back in full costume, it’s hard to remember that Crossbones was actually a S.H.I.E.L.D. infiltrator from the very start. His jolly roger-themed armor and pneumatic punching gauntlets are kind of cool, but he gets handled quite easily by Captain America, making him just one of many faceless masked thugs that the Man out of Time has faced down. Though his ultimate suicide bombing did scar The Avengers forever, Crossbones had all the personality of a wet paper bag.

3. Baron Von Strucker

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Crossbones isn’t the only HYDRA goon to be given second-fiddle villain status early on in a major MCU crossover movie, with Baron Wolfgang von Strucker somehow being even more forgettable. A high-ranking HYDRA leader operating in Europe, Baron von Strucker first appeared in a mid-credits scene for Captain America: The Winter Soldier. His HYDRA cell stole Loki’s scepter and used it for experiments which eventually created Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

Leaning into Captain America’s pulpy 1940s aesthetic, Baron von Strucker sports an odd-looking modern high-tech monocle on his bald head. Other than this, the villain has essentially zero memorable traits, never getting enough screen time to flesh out his motivations or the reason behind his dedication to HYDRA (something all of the MCU HYDRA villains could’ve honestly used). By the time he’s defeated, it’s incredibly difficult to even remember who Baron von Strucker was in the first place.

2. Malekith

Thor: The Dark World

One of the most-skipped movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s filmography, it’s no wonder that Malekith is such an easily-forgotten villain. The leader of the Dark Elves, Malekith is as generic of a stock fantasy villains as they come, wanting to plunge the world into a vague eternal darkness for uninteresting reasons. His design is also nothing to write home about, with a boring all-black outfit and chalky-white skin.

Actor Christopher Eccelston of Doctor Who fame has made no secret of his hatred for working in the MCU, describing the lengthy makeup process as painful and talking down the script for Thor: The Dark World. This indifference certainly shines through in what small amounts he is able to emote through the makeup, dropping off an unforgivably dull performance that makes an already generic villain all the more forgettable. Between Eccelston’s distaste, the script, and the boring visuals, Malekith’s name is the punchline to a joke the single time he’s mentioned since in Avengers: Endgame.

1. Kirigi

Elektra

The Marvel Cinematic Universe can certainly come up with some bland and forgettable characters, but it can’t hold a candle to some of the most dreadfully boring antagonists of bizarre early 2000s Marvel movies like Elektra. Behold Kirigi, perhaps the single most boring and forgettable Marvel villain ever put to screen. In Elektra, Kirigi is the leader of The Hand’s clan of mutant warriors, apparently responsible for killing Elektra’s mother when she was just a young girl.

Kirigi is a painfully milquetoast ninja villain with vague super-speed powers, looking like a background extra in a Kurosawa movie more so than a major antagonist. Even within the bounds of the film Elektra, Kirigi is less memorable than his minions, with other mutants like Tattoo at least having more interesting powers. With generic powers, no personality to speak of, and an undefined goal or backstory, Kirigi might be the single most seldom-remembered Marvel movie character ever.