The Marvel Cinematic Universe is undeniably one of the biggest and most successful franchises in movie history. From its very beginnings back in 2008 all the way to the present, it has grown into a cinematic behemoth, adapting various characters, stories, and concepts from the pages of Marvel Comics and onto the big and small screen alike. The many characters of the MCU have helped to build a broad tapestry of varying abilities and power levels, with even some of the franchise’s supporting characters boasting impressive potential. As well as its expansive adaptation of its comic book source material, the MCU has also become known for its humor, bringing plenty of levity even to seemingly serious stories through the broad application of one-liners, running gags, and silly characters.
As funny as some of the MCU’s characters may be, they sometimes cross a line into more irritating territory. Even the funniest MCU movies are guilty of taking the joke just a little too far, with certain characters standing out as being just a little annoying in the way their humorous aspects are forced upon fans. While the following are all undeniably pretty funny in their own right, they’re also all MCU characters who have become fairly annoying in the years since their introduction, even if they still do occasionally make us laugh.
There are several strong MCU characters who are underpowered in the franchise, and Drax the Destroyer is one of the most obvious examples. Having endeared himself to fans as the formidable but relatively dim-witted muscle of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Dave Bautista’s Drax has regularly given us plenty to laugh at. Bautista’s performance makes Drax both lovable and hilarious, and this has seen him deliver some of the most quotable moments in the franchise to date. However, Drax’s shtick has gotten old pretty fast, and his loud, overconfident demeanor and frequent misunderstanding of whichever situation he finds himself in are pretty grating. Where Drax was once absolutely hilarious, his hyperbolic, boastful nature and misplaced confidence have made even his funniest moments seem annoying in hindsight. While it was hilarious at the time, looking back on Drax’s funniest moments makes it seem that the MCU is simply milking his lack of intelligence for laughs, and it no longer strikes the hilarious chord it once did.
Darcy Lewis is a Marvel character who debuted outside of the comics, being created specifically to serve as a supporting character in the MCU. Introduced as Jane Foster’s somewhat inept and relatively uninterested intern, Kat Dennings’ performance as Darcy quickly cemented the character as something of a fan favorite. Throughout Thor and Thor: The Dark World, Darcy was very much used as the main source of comic relief, though this was phased out when Thor himself was rewritten to be a more consistent source of comedy. Darcy then went on to feature in WandaVision, again providing a little levity among its fairly serious story. Sadly, the need for characters as inherently comedic as Darcy Lewis has waned considerably, as the MCU formula has shifted slightly to make its major characters funnier where possible. Fans have begun to grow increasingly tired of characters written purely to add comic relief, and as the MCU has failed to add any considerable depth to Darcy’s character to date, she’s become a little annoying. With a little effort, this could easily be fixed, so we may yet see Darcy play a more important and interesting role in the MCU’s future.
Another character created specifically for the MCU, Luis’ appearances in Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp secured him fan-favorite status. Played by Michael Peña, Luis is characterized by his fast and incessant speech, often delivering lengthy and comedic exposition dumps that feature various pieces of completely irrelevant information. It was a pretty funny bit at the time of Ant-Man‘s release, and Luis being Scott Lang’s best friend secured him a place in the movie’s sequel, where he played a similar role. The problem with Luis is that he was clearly created predominantly to be the comic relief sidekick. Again, the MCU made the mistake of introducing a character designed simply to make the audience laugh, but this has gotten old pretty quickly. As popular as he once was, Luis has now become a character the MCU should leave behind, because the general thrust of his comedic potential has simply run its course, and there aren’t really any more stories that require his continued presence.
Over the course of Thor’s MCU movies, he somehow went from being a Norse god who took himself far too seriously to one of the most comedy-focused characters in the entire franchise. The shift in Thor’s character is pretty divisive, with some noting that Thor: Ragnarok vastly improved upon the hero’s first two solo movies, while others argue that Love and Thunder proved Thor’s comedic status has gone too far. The truth lies somewhere between the two, as both are valid points: Thor was dull before, but then he became too silly. In fairness, Thor has given us some truly excellent moments of comedy, with Chris Hemsworth’s delivery often serving as the catalyst for some big MCU laughs. However, constantly making Thor the butt of the joke has grown pretty tiresome, as it overlooks his status as one of the franchise’s most powerful Avengers. Thor’s comedic overhaul was a welcome shift, but the time has come to shift him back toward being at least slightly more serious in future MCU stories.
While Korg may be an MCU character more powerful than he seems, he is widely known among audiences as “the silly rock guy”. Taika Waititi’s soft-spoken voice for Korg helps to give him a sort of gentle giant feel, with his endearing ignorance and relentlessly upbeat attitude often proving the source of moments of levity. Despite the nature of his comic book counterpart, it seems that the MCU introduced Korg purely for comedic purposes, and while this originally gave us some hilarious moments in Thor: Ragnarok, the character has swiftly become pretty annoying. By making Korg the comic relief, the MCU has completely glossed over his powerful nature and has made him seem pretty useless and ineffective in almost every other way. Much of the frustration with the character stems from this wasted potential, but the simple fact remains: Korg might be funny, but he has also grown incredibly annoying.
