20. Gamora
Zoe Saldana‘s lithe green-skinned Gamora on the one hand kicks some serious ass and has a kind of interestingly conflicted backstory (the trained assassin/adoptive daughter of Thanos, who has betrayed and rebelled against him) that’s usually reserved for the male antihero. It’s just a shame that she also has so little sense of humor: as a character, she may be strong and independent (and hot, despite greenness, natch) but she’s not really that much fun, especially when surrounded by the wisecracking Quill, the motor-mouthed Rocket and adorable Groot.
19. Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch
A new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you can see why, with Whedon wanting to get deeper into his heroes’ minds, it was time to for the “enhanced” Maximoff twins to step up: her power, never exactly defined to be honest, involves being able to read and manipulate minds, occasionally trapping her victims in a semi-catatonic fearful mental state. But she can also shoot red electricity or create seismic electromagnetic shockwaves or… honestly, we’re not too sure. While Wanda is central to ‘Age of Ultron’ it feels like it’s more for what she can do than for who she is. We hope Elizabeth Olsen gets more to work with outside of speaking in a precarious generic Rahssian accent in the future.
18. Phil Coulson
The first representative of S.H.I.E.L.D. in “Iron Man” and its longest-standing cinematic agent (though he’s now moved to TV and has been sitting the movies out), Agent Coulson was initially mostly a sort of snarky bureaucrat and lent a welcome note of ambivalence by actor Clark Gregg. But in “The Avengers,” Whedon did something cunning, making him a sort of superhero fanboy/audience surrogate and thus instantly lovable. And then he killed him off —the bastard!— his sacrifice becoming one of the most genuinely heroic acts of the films. Whedon’s right to imply that his small-screen resurrection cheapened the character somewhat, but it helps if you don’t watch “Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D” anyway.
17. James “Rhodey” Rhodes/War Machine
In addition to doing good things for Hawkeye and Black Widow, ‘Age of Ultron’ spreads the love to include B-list superheroes, and no one benefits more than War Machine. His bit is little more than an extended gag, but it’s a cleverly self-referential one addressing directly the character’s inevitable second-string status and also giving him a moment to shine. Not since the heady early days of the Iron Man films (back before Rhodey was War Machine and before Terrence Howard was Don Cheadle) has the character really felt like there was a place for him in this new Avenger-y world.
16. Vision/J.A.R.V.I.S
Arguably J.A.R.V.I.S. and The Vision are two different characters, even though they are both played (or voiced) by Paul Bettany and the latter hero is born from Tony Stark’s A.I. program matter. In five movies (no really!), J.A.R.V.I.S. has essentially been Stark’s science exposition mouthpiece/personal Siri and Google Maps, explaining where the bad guys are and where they came from. But J.A.R.V.I.S. has also had some great moments of comic relief. In ‘Ultron’ he becomes The Vision, an A.I. program in human form who is hyper intelligent and powerful, but like a newborn child —he sees this new world and human inhabitants with childlike wonder. The problem with the Vision is he is superhuman, as strong as Thor. He’ll come in handy in a fight against Thanos, but if you include him in a battle against anyone who isn’t a top-tier villain, forget it. What would be the point? It’ll be an interesting challenge to see how this character can grow.
15. Peggy Carter
A character so popular she got her own (decent) spin-off TV show, Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter was Captain America’s great wartime love. And little wonder: the British spy is a total badass even without superpowers or special serums, but is feisty and funny in equal measure. She’s also the source of the Marvel movies’ most effective romance to date, a tragically unrequited one that Nicholas Sparks would be proud of: that she clearly falls for Steve before he’s all buff gives it a purity that’s rare for these movies, and her brief role in ‘Winter Soldier’ is an unexpectedly brutal emotional punch in the midst of all the exploding airships.
14. Pietro Maximoff
Hot-headed, impatient and super fast, the ‘Ultron’ version of Quicksilver, aka Pietro Maximoff, is very different from the insouciant and flippant teenager version seen in “X-Men: Days Of Future Past.” And that’s because aside from their powers, they’re basically two different characters. For one, the Maximoff twins are Eastern European and their parents were killed by machinery made by Stark Industries, so they have a huge anti-American bias. Pietro, played well by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, is protective of his sister Wanda and generally goes off half-cocked —he’s so much faster than everyone else and feels like the world is half an hour behind him. The character shows some soul, yet it’s understandable and effective that Whedon chooses the character arc he does for Pietro.
13. Drax the Destroyer
Perhaps the biggest surprise in ‘Guardians,’ a film that stars a tree and a talking raccoon, was wrestler Dave Bautista‘s oddly touching portrayal of Drax the Destroyer, a role that could easily have simply been played as a big lumbering hunk-of-brawn meathead. But Bautista finds moments of humor in his character’s otherwise smashy-smashy-VENGEANCE persona (all the funnier because they’re played as though he’s unaware he’s being funny) and the relationship between him and Groot is a bromance (tree-mance) for the ages.
12. Yondu Udonta
Ambivalence is a quality in short supply in tentpole comic book movies, but Yondu, as played by the unsurpassably gonzo Michael Rooker, is a strong character in that regard: without ever compromising his darkness or dangerousness, he almost accidentally ends up fighting on the right side. So he’s never exactly redeemed per se, but his grudging, gruff and occasionally slightly psychotic affection for Quill, whom he abducted as a child then raised, makes him a far more interesting character than just the minor villain/rogue he could be, and Rooker is perfect casting.
11. The Mandarin/Trevor Slattery
Casting Ben Kingsley as Iron Man’s best-known villain, the fearsome crime lord The Mandarin, was so obvious that it almost seemed a little dull, and though he had a Bin Laden-style makeover, his early appearances weren’t wildly exciting. And then, in the boldest, funniest and most gloriously fan-alienating moment in the Marvel movies to date, Tony Stark discovers that he’s actually a drug-addled, narcoleptic British luvvie who took the job as a front after falling on hard times. It’s a breathlessly unexpected reveal, and even more so for Kingsley’s hilariously against-type performance (which got a further showcase in “Hail To The King”).
