Top 5 Underpowered Marvel characters (MCU vs Comics)

Now as we all know, the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) & Marvel Comics are two very different things. The story lines, the relationships, the costumes and most noticeably the power levels. Being a massive MCU & Marvel Comics fan it really pains me when some of the most complex, powerful & interesting characters have to be nerfed to fit into the movie universe and in this article I’m going to count down the Top 5 underpowered Marvel characters (MCU vs comics).

#5 – GAMORA

Coming in at number 5 I have Gamora. The adopted daughter of the mad titan himself and an eventual key member of the Guardians of the Galaxy team. In the MCU she is a still a very complex character. Gamora has an interesting relationship with Peter Quill, she is clearly a very skilled fighter and an expert in hand to hand combat. She is a beloved character amongst fans and someone who I personally cannot wait to see more development for in the future.

However, as it stands right now, Gamora has been extremely underpowered and made into much lesser of a character than what she deserves. In Marvel Comics Gamora has pulled out some insane showcases of power including surviving falls from space and beating an entire army in under 10 minutes – Not to mention her 1v1 capabilities. MCU Gamora may not seem overly special but in the comics she has stood toe to toe with Captain Marvel and savagely won.

Gamora also has a list of abilities we have never seen or even heard about in the MCU, the craziest of which being the enhancements she was given by Thanos. Two examples of this are a near unbreakable skeleton and an amazingly fast healing factor. MCU Gamora is a great character already but when compared to her comic counterpart they’re like black and white when it comes to power and durability.

#4 – QUICKSILVER

Coming in at number 4 we have Marvels blur boy, Pietro Maximoff, Quicksilver. Quicksilver is one of my favorite Marvel characters overall as I’m drawn to speedsters. As much as I love Aaron-Taylor Johnson’s interpretation of the character, it still annoys me how much he was nerfed for Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The comics version of Quicksilver is unimaginably faster than the on-screen version we got in the MCU (NOTE: I’m not talking about or referring to the X-Men universe Peter Maximoff played by Evan Peters, this is solely about the MCU iteration.)

Let’s talk speed feats from the comics. Pietro has evacuated a whole military base before someone could blink. His speed has been mistaken for invisibility. He can outrun sound, light and radio waves. He has ran a circle around the world in 92 seconds, putting him at Mach 203.5 (for comparison a regular airliner would be between 0.4 & 0.7 Mach approximately. As you can see, there is a huge difference in speed and abilities whereas we are forever stuck with the guy from Age of Ultron who was hit by bullets.

Although it was at least a sacrificial death, it still will never sit right that someone with that level of speed, enough to basically freeze time while you move, was gunned down by a regular weapon.

#3 – DRAX THE DESTROYER

Coming in at my number 3 spot, I’ve got Drax the Destroyer. The Guardians of the Galaxy are some of the most loved movies and characters in the MCU. They’re full of jokes, gimmicks and insanely quotable scenes.

Arguably, the character at the front of these jokes and comedy acts most commonly is Drax. Drax in the MCU is such a waste of a good character. I understand that a lot of people love him for his dry and bland (but funny) personality but for me he is wasted and here’s why.

Comics Drax has obliterated worlds and ripped cores from their stars. He has taken full hits from Mjolnir and from Thor himself and brushed it off. Most impressively in Annihilation #4 he tore through a powerful Thanos’ forcefield and proceeded to punch through him and tear his heart out. The real Drax is extremely strong, powerful, fast and resilient and in my opinion the MCU version is straight up disrespectful.

#2 – THE HULK

Missing out on top spot, at number 2 is the green goliath, the Hulk. I would have said the incredible hulk but, well…he’s not that incredible. Yes, he does do some cool things and have decent strength feats in The Incredible Hulk and the first two Avengers‘ movies but compared to the Hulk in the comics this is just embarrassing.

We all watched the Hulk being bullied by Thanos in Infinity War whereas in the comics Thanos actively tried to avoid the Hulk as he is afraid of him. The comics hulk would cause earthquakes around the world as he fought, even sometimes shaking the planet as a whole. He has held the fabric of reality together with just strength, destroyed asteroids twice as big as earth and held up mountain ranges on his back.

Comics Hulk is one of if not THE strongest fictional character of all time and what did we get? We got a bratty childish green monster who turns into a sweater wearing middle aged green man. I think I speak for every MCU fan when I say our Hulk was done dirty and we all want to see some crazy feats and brutal real Hulk action.

#1 – ODIN BORSON

Coming in at number one, the most criminally underpowered MCU hero, Odin Borson. Father to Hela, Loki and Thor. What do we ever see of him? he sits on some sofas, sits on a throne, sits on a cliff, makes a couple of speeches, lies in bed and not much else. I know Odin isn’t a headliner hero in the MCU so if you don’t know much about why he is underpowered I’m going to tell you.

Odin in the comics is an INSANELY powerful character. He’s so powerful he once absorbed Infinity (one of the most powerful entities in the Marvel universe) into himself. He was the one who put earth itself into rotation and also once transferred all of humanity into a completely different dimension. Not to mention all of his fighting, strength, durability and other magical feats.

Odin is one of the most complex, intelligent and powerful leaders, fathers and people in general in the Marvel universe and we never even got to see a tiny glimpse of what he was capable of in live action.

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So there you have it. The Top 5 underpowered marvel characters. Do you agree with our ranking? Let us know in the comments below. As always, thanks for reading.