Hated MCU Characters Who Are Somehow Still Alive

The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to grow as more films add to its massive story, all building towards what may be the most incredible cinematic event in the history of film with the Avengers: Infinity War parts 1 and 2. Marvel is building up a significant catalogue of characters along the way—including more than a few who have maybe already outlived their welcome.

According to a survey of Twitter users conducted by Brandwatch, poor Natasha Romanov is the least liked of all the Avengers. If you're a fan, don't blame us, we're just reporting the numbers. Despite the hotness and awesomeness of Scarlett Johansson, fans just aren't buying it. Some people aren't enthused about the way Marvel has handled the character while others just don't think a non-powered superhero is much of a superhero at all. Regardless of the exact reasons, the majority rules in this case and Black Widow is the top of the Avenger's trash heap in many viewers' eyes.

Part of the assassin's problem is that, despite appearing in numerous movies, we still barely know anything about her other than she's Russian, she can't have kids, and she's pretty handy at beating up people. But hell, even Hawkeye has a backstory now. Meanwhile, we know jack about Natasha. So is it all that, or just the fact most of the participants in the survey were men? We may never know. In any event, if Natasha gets offed by Thanos in Infinity War—and let's be reasonable, she wouldn't stand a chance against the Mad Titan—it doesn't seem like many people would care.

Sticking with the Avengers, Hawkeye is the other standout character who doesn't make much sense when compared to super soldier Captain America or big, green rage monster the Hulk. Hawkeye is a guy with great aim. That's nice and all, but how many arrows fit in your average quiver, anyway? And even if he has spares, compare him to Thor, who could take a punch from an Ice Giant. The same monster would just break Hawkeye's face open.

It may be cold and cruel, but the fact is that Hawkeye is just a man. He's not really cut out for interstellar combat with alien armadas How he survived this long is anyone's guess, and how he'll manage the Infinity War against Thanos and his other cosmic minions is going to be a heck of a stretch of the imagination.

Hey, remember this guy? In the last standalone Incredible Hulk movie, Abomination was introduced as a villain who could rival the big green beast pretty much by being a meaner, angrier version of the Hulk. Seems reasonable, right? While at first the idea of the Abomination seems cool, he quickly degrades into just a more smashy-smashy version of the hero with a skin condition and the ability to emote. What's the point of the Hulk being an uncontrolled rage monster if his villain is the exact same thing? And to make matters worse, when the Hulk finally defeats him, he lets him live so the government can take him captive. Because that worked so well when they tried to capture the Hulk all those times.

Speaking of terrible Hulk villains who are inexplicably still alive, who gave Thunderbolt Ross his job? Is this man not the worst soldier in the military? Across two films (Ang Lee's Hulk from 2003 is, amazingly, still part of the MCU) and his mad pursuit of the Hulk, how much collateral damage is this man responsible for? He would have been dragged before the Senate and stripped of his rank faster than you could say "gamma radiation" for what happened in San Francisco alone, not to mention the debacle in the sequel.

Ross' problem is that he's kind of insane and isn't using anything close to military tact, skill or logic to capture his prey. When it's been made obvious on numerous occasions that the military does not possess anything even remotely powerful enough to control the Hulk, he's more than willing to kill soldiers and civilians alike on the off chance that maybe somehow some random thing will work and allow him to...what? Hold Hulk captive while they try to find a way to get a needle in his arm? Ross should have been offed by a government assassin like Black Widow long ago.

The only reason this weasel has survived so far is to teach children that if you do bad things, you'll go to jail—because heroes don't kill people, they just bring them to justice. Why else would a man who continually tries to steal from, destroy, and ultimately kill Tony Stark be allowed to keep on going? Hammer's business model seems to be steal all of Stark's good ideas and make them worse, then employ a crazy Russian supervillain with whip hands. None of it really works out all that well for him and he loses his defense contract as well as ending up in prison. But he effectively puts thousands of lives at risk all to turn a buck.

If you're a comics fan, then Iron Man 3 may have crushed your soul a little bit. In the comics, the Mandarin is a total badass. A genius, a martial arts master so powerful his bare hands can split Iron Man's armor, and a sinister force in possession of ten super powered rings made from alien technology. He's a major force to be reckoned with. And then came Iron Man 3. Ben Kingsley is a great actor, but Iron Man 3's Mandarin was a waste of the character. Simply being a fraudulent villain meant to misdirect Iron Man from the real threat and serve as comic relief was a great disservice to a magnificent supervillain. And in a final insult, the drunken bumbler Mandarin managed to survive and be put in prison to perhaps bumble around another day.