Marvel began in 1939 as Timely Comics, but the universe most people know came together in the early 1960s. In just a few years Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and their collaborators created the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, the X-Men and the Avengers. Their idea was simple and new at the time: heroes with money problems, bad tempers and families, all living in the same New York and running into each other.
Sixty-odd years later, Marvel has thousands of characters, and since 2008 the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has made many of them household names. This page is the hub for our comics section. It sorts the characters people search for most into teams and villains, gives each a proper description, and lists real names and first comic appearances where the record is clear.
- Founded
- 1939 as Timely Comics
- Key creators
- Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko
- Owner
- The Walt Disney Company (since 2009)
- On screen
- Marvel Cinematic Universe, from Iron Man (2008)
- Home base
- A fictional version of New York City
Our comics character guides
Marvel's two biggest corners have pages of their own: the Avengers and Spider-Man, with every Spider-Verse hero and villain. For the other side of the shelf, see our DC Comics characters guide.
The Avengers
The Avengers are "Earth's Mightiest Heroes", a team built from heroes who already had their own comics. That's still how the team works: the lineup changes constantly, but the core is a handful of big names who argue a lot and turn up when the threat is too large for anyone alone.
Iron Man (Tony Stark)
Inventor · Founding Avenger · Tales of Suspense #39 (1963)
Tony Stark is an arms manufacturer who builds a suit of armour to escape captivity and spends the rest of his life trying to make up for what his weapons did. He's brilliant, arrogant and generous by turns, and his drinking problem became one of Marvel's best-known storylines. Robert Downey Jr.'s performance in Iron Man (2008) launched the MCU, and Tony's sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame closed its first saga.
Captain America (Steve Rogers)
Super-soldier · Captain America Comics #1 (1941)
Steve Rogers was a frail young man from Brooklyn who volunteered for an experimental serum during the Second World War. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created him punching Hitler on his first cover. Frozen in ice and revived in the 1960s, he became the Avengers' leader and their conscience: a man whose loyalty is to ideals rather than to any government.
Thor Odinson
God of Thunder · Journey into Mystery #83 (1962)
Thor is the Asgardian prince who wields the hammer Mjolnir, which only the worthy can lift. In early comics he shared a body with a human doctor, Donald Blake. The films turned him from a stiff warrior into one of the funniest Avengers, and his long arc is about learning humility and losing almost everything along the way.
Hulk (Bruce Banner)
Gamma-powered giant · The Incredible Hulk #1 (1962)
Physicist Bruce Banner is caught in the blast of his own gamma bomb and becomes the Hulk whenever he loses control, a creature whose strength rises with his anger. The Hulk was grey in his very first issue before settling on green. Writers have used him to explore trauma and split identity, and the later "Smart Hulk" combined Banner's mind with Hulk's body.
Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff)
Spy · Tales of Suspense #52 (1964)
Natasha first appeared as a Soviet spy working against Iron Man. She defected and became one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best agents. She has no superpowers, just training from the Red Room programme and a lot of nerve. In the MCU she holds the original team together, and she gives her life on Vormir for the Soul Stone in Endgame.
Hawkeye (Clint Barton)
Archer · Tales of Suspense #57 (1964)
Clint Barton is a former circus performer who also started out as a misguided villain before joining the Avengers. He's a superb archer with a quiver of trick arrows and a habit of being the most ordinary person in the room. He later mentors Kate Bishop, the second Hawkeye, who shares the title in comics and on screen.
Black Panther (T'Challa)
King of Wakanda · Fantastic Four #52 (1966)
T'Challa rules Wakanda, a hidden African nation made rich and technologically advanced by its vibranium. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, he is often cited as the first Black superhero in mainstream American comics. He's a king first: careful, strategic and always weighing his country against the rest of the world. Chadwick Boseman played him until his death in 2020, and Shuri took up the mantle in Wakanda Forever.
Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers)
Cosmic powerhouse · Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (1968)
Carol Danvers began as an Air Force officer in the original Captain Marvel's stories, gained powers through an accident with Kree technology, and became Ms. Marvel in 1977. She took the Captain Marvel name in 2012. She can fly, absorb energy and fire it back in blasts, and she sits near the top of the team's power rankings.
Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff)
Chaos magic · The X-Men #4 (1964)
Wanda and her twin brother Quicksilver debuted as reluctant members of Magneto's Brotherhood before joining the Avengers in 1965. Her powers grew from "hex bolts" into the ability to rewrite reality itself, which has made her responsible for some of Marvel's biggest disasters. WandaVision turned her grief into the MCU's most unusual series.
Vision
Synthezoid · The Avengers #57 (1968)
Vision was built by the villain Ultron to destroy the Avengers and joined them instead. He can change his density, phasing through walls or turning diamond-hard, and spends much of his time wondering whether an artificial man can feel. His marriage to Wanda is one of the team's longest-running storylines. In the MCU he is made from Ultron's body, J.A.R.V.I.S.'s mind and the Mind Stone.
Ant-Man (Hank Pym and Scott Lang)
Size-changers · Tales to Astonish #27 (1962); The Avengers #181 (1979)
Scientist Hank Pym discovered the particles that let him shrink or grow and co-founded the Avengers. He also created Ultron, which tells you something about his luck. Scott Lang is a reformed thief who stole the suit to save his daughter and became the second Ant-Man. On screen, Paul Rudd's Scott is the one who brings the Quantum Realm into the Infinity Saga's endgame.
The Wasp (Janet van Dyne)
Founding Avenger · Tales to Astonish #44 (1963)
Janet van Dyne gained the power to shrink, fly and fire stinging blasts after teaming up with Hank Pym, and she gave the Avengers their name. She later led the team herself and is one of its most experienced members. The MCU split her story between Janet and her daughter Hope.
Falcon (Sam Wilson)
Captain America · Captain America #117 (1969)
Sam Wilson was one of mainstream comics' first African-American superheroes, Cap's partner for years before he took over the shield himself. In the MCU, Steve hands him the shield at the end of Endgame; The Falcon and the Winter Soldier deals with what it means for a Black man to carry that symbol.
Winter Soldier (Bucky Barnes)
Cap's partner · Captain America Comics #1 (1941)
Bucky was Steve Rogers' wartime sidekick and was thought dead for decades. Writer Ed Brubaker brought him back in 2005 as a brainwashed Soviet assassin, one of the rare comic resurrections that fans welcomed. His story is about recovering a self that someone else spent years erasing.
Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange)
Sorcerer Supreme · Strange Tales #110 (1963)
Stephen Strange was a brilliant, egotistical surgeon whose hands were ruined in a car accident. Looking for a cure, he found the Ancient One and became Earth's chief defender against magical threats. Steve Ditko's psychedelic art for his early stories is still some of the strangest work Marvel has published.
Spider-Man and the street-level heroes
Not every Marvel hero saves the universe. Some protect a single neighbourhood and worry about rent. These characters are often the most relatable, which is why they stay so popular. Spider-Man's huge cast has its own page.
Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
Friendly neighbourhood hero · Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962)
A teenager from Queens is bitten by a radioactive spider, uses his new powers for money, and learns the hard way that failing to stop a thief can get his Uncle Ben killed. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Peter Parker was a teenage hero with real teenage problems, and that made him Marvel's flagship character. Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy and a whole multiverse of spider-heroes followed.
Daredevil (Matt Murdock)
The Man Without Fear · Daredevil #1 (1964)
Matt Murdock was blinded as a boy by radioactive chemicals that sharpened his other senses into a kind of radar. He's a defence lawyer by day and a vigilante in Hell's Kitchen by night, and he's Catholic, guilty and stubborn. Frank Miller's run in the 1980s set the noir tone that the Netflix series and Daredevil: Born Again picked up.
The Punisher (Frank Castle)
Vigilante · The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (1974)
Frank Castle is a military veteran whose family was killed in a mob shootout in Central Park. He wages a one-man war on crime and kills without hesitation. He started as a Spider-Man antagonist and has always worked best as a dark contrast to heroes who refuse to kill.
Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan)
Jersey City hero · solo series from 2014
Kamala Khan is a Pakistani-American teenager and Avengers superfan who takes the name of her hero, Carol Danvers. Created by Sana Amanat, G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona, she was Marvel's first Muslim character to headline her own series. Her stories are as much about family, faith and school as about fighting.
Moon Knight (Marc Spector)
Fist of Khonshu · Werewolf by Night #32 (1975)
Marc Spector is a mercenary who dies in the Egyptian desert and is revived as the avatar of the moon god Khonshu. He lives with several identities, including Steven Grant and Jake Lockley. The 2022 Disney+ series, with Oscar Isaac, made dissociative identity the centre of the story.
Deadpool (Wade Wilson)
The Merc with a Mouth · The New Mutants #98 (1991)
Created by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza, Wade Wilson is a mercenary with cancer who gets a healing factor from the same programme connected to Wolverine. It leaves him scarred, unkillable and very talkative. He knows he's in a comic and says so. Ryan Reynolds' films made him one of Marvel's biggest stars, even though he's about as far from family-friendly as Marvel gets.
The X-Men
The X-Men are mutants, people born with powers that show up around puberty, and the world mostly hates and fears them. Since 1963 the comics have used that set-up as a metaphor for prejudice of every kind. The team was a minor title until 1975, when Giant-Size X-Men #1 brought in an international lineup. Under writer Chris Claremont it became Marvel's best-selling book for years.
Wolverine (Logan)
Mutant with claws · The Incredible Hulk #180–181 (1974)
Logan, born James Howlett, is a mutant with a healing factor, animal senses and retractable claws. A secret programme bonded unbreakable adamantium to his skeleton. He's been alive for well over a century, which means he's lost almost everyone. Short-tempered, loyal and good at killing, he became the X-Men's most popular member. Hugh Jackman played him for over two decades.
Professor X (Charles Xavier)
Founder · The X-Men #1 (1963)
Charles Xavier is the world's most powerful telepath. He founded a school for young mutants and trained them to protect a world that distrusts them. His dream of peaceful coexistence defines the X-Men, but the comics keep reminding readers that he's also secretive and manipulative and has made some terrible calls for the greater good.
Jean Grey (Phoenix)
Telepath and telekinetic · The X-Men #1 (1963)
Jean Grey was the original Marvel Girl and one of the first five X-Men. She became host to the Phoenix Force, a cosmic entity of life and rebirth. Chris Claremont and John Byrne's Dark Phoenix Saga (1980) is one of the most famous stories in superhero comics, and Jean's death-and-return cycle has become a running joke in the fandom.
Cyclops (Scott Summers)
Field leader · The X-Men #1 (1963)
Scott Summers fires destructive beams from his eyes that he can only control through ruby-quartz lenses. He's the X-Men's first field leader, serious and tactically brilliant. He's often overshadowed by Wolverine, his rival for Jean. Later writers pushed him toward a more radical position on mutant survival, and that's where his fans think he got interesting.
Storm (Ororo Munroe)
Weather controller · Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975)
Ororo Munroe grew up as a street thief in Cairo and was later worshipped as a goddess in Kenya for her power over the weather. She became one of the X-Men's best leaders, famously winning the job in a duel after losing her powers. For a time she was married to Black Panther and was Queen of Wakanda.
Rogue (Anna Marie)
Power absorber · Avengers Annual #10 (1981)
Rogue absorbs the memories and abilities of anyone she touches skin to skin, so she can never safely touch anyone. She started as a villain in Mystique's Brotherhood and came to the X-Men for help. Her romance with Gambit is one of the team's best-loved relationships.
Gambit (Remy LeBeau)
Thief · Uncanny X-Men #266 (1990)
A Cajun thief from New Orleans, Remy charges objects with kinetic energy, usually playing cards, and throws them as explosives. He's charming, evasive and carrying a guilty secret about his past. The 1990s animated series made him a star.
Beast (Hank McCoy)
Scientist · The X-Men #1 (1963)
Hank McCoy has a genius intellect and ape-like agility. A later experiment covered him in blue fur and he kept it. He quotes poetry in a fight and has served the Avengers too. Recent comics have given him a much darker side.
Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner)
Teleporter · Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975)
Kurt Wagner is a blue-furred, tailed German mutant who teleports in a puff of smoke. Despite looking like a demon, he's a devout Catholic and one of the gentlest people on the team. He's the son of Mystique.
The Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four #1 (1961) started the modern Marvel Universe. Four people go on an unauthorised space flight, get blasted by cosmic rays and come home changed. Instead of secret identities they became celebrities and a family who fight constantly. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's 102-issue run introduced Galactus, the Silver Surfer, Black Panther and Doctor Doom. The MCU introduced its version in The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025).
Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards)
Leader · Fantastic Four #1 (1961)
Reed can stretch his body into any shape, but his real power is his intellect. He's one of the smartest people on Earth, and that often leaves him distracted, distant and sure he knows best. His flaws as a husband and father are as much part of the comic as his inventions.
Invisible Woman (Sue Storm)
Force-field projector · Fantastic Four #1 (1961)
Sue started as the team's least-developed member and grew into its most powerful: she can turn invisible and project force fields strong enough to hold back nearly anything. She's the emotional centre of the family and, many writers argue, its real leader.
Human Torch (Johnny Storm)
Flame-wielder · Fantastic Four #1 (1961)
Sue's younger brother bursts into flame, flies, and shouts "Flame on!" while doing it. He's a show-off and a hothead, and his friendship and rivalry with Spider-Man is one of Marvel's longest-running double acts. He shares the name, but not the origin, with the 1939 android Human Torch.
The Thing (Ben Grimm)
Strongman · Fantastic Four #1 (1961)
Ben Grimm is a test pilot from Yancy Street who came back covered in orange rock and couldn't turn back. He's funny, gruff and deeply sad about what he lost. "It's clobberin' time!" is his catchphrase, and his friendship with Reed, whom he half-blames, is the team's backbone.
Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd)
Herald of Galactus · Fantastic Four #48 (1966)
Norrin Radd saved his home planet, Zenn-La, by agreeing to become Galactus's herald, searching out worlds for him to consume. On Earth he rebelled, and Galactus exiled him here as punishment. He's Marvel's melancholy philosopher in silver.
The Guardians of the Galaxy
The name first belonged to a 31st-century team in 1969. The modern lineup came from a 2008 relaunch by writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, and James Gunn's 2014 film turned a group of obscure space characters into some of Marvel's most recognisable faces.
Star-Lord (Peter Quill)
Team leader · Marvel Preview #4 (1976)
Peter Quill is half human and was taken from Earth as a child. He grew up among space pirates and became a reluctant hero with a mixtape and a big mouth. The films leaned on his grief for his mother and gave him a Celestial father, Ego.
Gamora
Assassin · Strange Tales #180 (1975)
Gamora is the last of her species, raised by Thanos as a weapon and billed as the deadliest woman in the galaxy. She turned on him and joined the Guardians. In the MCU Thanos sacrifices her for the Soul Stone. A version of her from 2014 survives Endgame but doesn't remember Quill, and by Vol. 3 she has chosen to stay with the Ravagers.
Rocket Raccoon
Pilot and engineer
Rocket is a small, furious, genetically altered animal with a genius for weapons and machines. He hates being called a raccoon. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 told his origin as an experiment of the High Evolutionary, and turned a running gag into the series' emotional centre.
Groot
Flora colossus · Tales to Astonish #13 (1960)
Groot first appeared as a monster in a pre-superhero sci-fi comic and was reinvented as a gentle, tree-like alien who can only say "I am Groot." Rocket understands him perfectly. His sacrifice and regrowth as Baby Groot in the films won him a huge following.
Drax the Destroyer
Warrior · Iron Man #55 (1973)
Drax was created to kill Thanos; he debuted in the same issue as his target. The comics version was a human whose soul was put into a new body. The MCU made him an alien who takes everything literally, which turned out to be some of the funniest writing in the franchise.
Marvel villains
Marvel's best villains are rarely pure evil. Doom thinks he could rule better than anyone, Magneto has seen what humans do to minorities, and Thanos thinks he's saving the universe. That's why they last. For how Marvel's great hero–villain pairings compare, see our guide to iconic rivalries.
Thanos
The Mad Titan · Iron Man #55 (1973)
Created by Jim Starlin, Thanos is a Titan from Saturn's moon who, in the comics, is in love with the personification of Death. In the 1991 story The Infinity Gauntlet he collects the Infinity Gems and wipes out half of all life to impress her. The MCU kept the snap and changed the reason: Thanos believes culling half of all life will save the universe from overpopulation.
Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom)
Monarch of Latveria · Fantastic Four #5 (1962)
Victor von Doom is a scientist, a sorcerer and absolute ruler of the small European nation of Latveria. He wears armour to hide a scarred face, which may be barely scarred at all. His rivalry with Reed Richards is the heart of the Fantastic Four. Plenty of readers call him Marvel's greatest villain because he's proud, brilliant and, in his own mind, entirely honourable. Robert Downey Jr. was cast as Doom for the upcoming Avengers films.
Magneto (Max Eisenhardt / Erik Lehnsherr)
Master of Magnetism · The X-Men #1 (1963)
Magneto controls magnetism and metal on a massive scale. Later comics made him a Holocaust survivor whose experience convinced him that mutants must defend themselves by any means necessary, against a humanity he believes will try to exterminate them. He and Charles Xavier are old friends with opposite answers to the same question, and he's switched sides more than once.
Loki
God of Mischief · Journey into Mystery #85 (1962)
Loki is Thor's adopted brother, a Frost Giant raised in Asgard. He's a shapeshifter and illusionist who causes trouble mostly to prove he matters. He was the villain who brought the Avengers together in both comics and film. Tom Hiddleston's performance and the Loki series turned him into a fan-favourite antihero.
Green Goblin (Norman Osborn)
Spider-Man's archenemy · The Amazing Spider-Man #14 (1964)
Norman Osborn is a ruthless industrialist who takes a strength formula that drives him insane. With a glider and pumpkin bombs, he learns Peter Parker's identity and, in 1973, kills Gwen Stacy. He later became a public figure who ran his own team of "Dark Avengers".
Ultron
Rogue AI · The Avengers (1968)
Ultron is an artificial intelligence built by Hank Pym (Tony Stark and Bruce Banner in the MCU). It decides humanity is the problem and keeps rebuilding itself in stronger bodies. It's also, in a twisted way, Vision's father. Its "daddy issues" with its creator are as much the point as the robot armies.
Kang the Conqueror
Time traveller · The Avengers #8 (1964)
Kang is a warlord from the 30th century who tries to conquer different eras. There are countless versions of him across time, some of them at war with each other. That makes him complicated to explain and ideal for multiverse stories.
Red Skull (Johann Schmidt)
Nazi agent · Captain America's nemesis
The Red Skull was Hitler's pet terrorist in the Golden Age comics. He has outlived the war through one scheme after another, often leading HYDRA. He's everything Captain America stands against, and Marvel has never tried to make him sympathetic.
Galactus
Devourer of Worlds · Fantastic Four #48 (1966)
Galactus is a giant who survived from the universe before this one and must eat planets to live. He's less a villain than a force of nature, and stories about him are about whether a hunger that size can be judged at all. His first arrival, the "Galactus Trilogy", is one of Lee and Kirby's peaks.
Venom
Symbiote · The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (1988)
An alien symbiote that Spider-Man wore as a black costume during Secret Wars rejected him and bonded with disgraced reporter Eddie Brock. Together they hate Peter Parker. Venom later became an antihero, the "Lethal Protector", and starred in three Sony films with Tom Hardy.
Kingpin (Wilson Fisk)
Crime lord · The Amazing Spider-Man #50 (1967)
Wilson Fisk is a huge man made almost entirely of muscle who runs organised crime in New York from behind a legitimate business. He started as a Spider-Man villain and became Daredevil's archenemy under Frank Miller. Vincent D'Onofrio has played him on screen since 2015.
Hela
Goddess of death · Journey into Mystery #102 (1964)
Hela rules Hel, the Norse realm of the dead, and wants to rule Asgard too. In the comics she's Loki's daughter. Thor: Ragnarok made her Thor's older sister instead, played by Cate Blanchett.
MCU cast: who played whom
The actors most associated with each character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and related films. Characters played by more than one actor show the best-known recent version.
| Character | Actor | First MCU film in the role |
|---|---|---|
| Iron Man | Robert Downey Jr. | Iron Man (2008) |
| Captain America (Steve Rogers) | Chris Evans | Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) |
| Thor | Chris Hemsworth | Thor (2011) |
| Hulk | Mark Ruffalo (Edward Norton in 2008) | The Avengers (2012) |
| Black Widow | Scarlett Johansson | Iron Man 2 (2010) |
| Hawkeye | Jeremy Renner | Thor (2011) |
| Loki | Tom Hiddleston | Thor (2011) |
| Nick Fury | Samuel L. Jackson | Iron Man (2008) |
| Spider-Man | Tom Holland | Captain America: Civil War (2016) |
| Black Panther | Chadwick Boseman | Captain America: Civil War (2016) |
| Doctor Strange | Benedict Cumberbatch | Doctor Strange (2016) |
| Scarlet Witch | Elizabeth Olsen | Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) |
| Captain Marvel | Brie Larson | Captain Marvel (2019) |
| Thanos | Josh Brolin | Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) |
| Star-Lord | Chris Pratt | Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) |
| Gamora | Zoe Saldaña | Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) |
| Rocket (voice) | Bradley Cooper | Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) |
| Groot (voice) | Vin Diesel | Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) |
| Wolverine | Hugh Jackman | Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), after Fox's X-Men films |
| Deadpool | Ryan Reynolds | Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), after Fox's Deadpool films |
| Mister Fantastic | Pedro Pascal | The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) |
Where to start with Marvel
Sixty years of continuity can look impossible to get into. It isn't, as long as you pick a door rather than trying to read everything.
- Films first — the Infinity Saga, from Iron Man (2008) to Avengers: Endgame (2019), is the easiest way in. Our watch order guide explains release order versus chronological order.
- One character, one run — pick a hero and read a celebrated run: Ed Brubaker's Captain America, Matt Fraction and David Aja's Hawkeye, G. Willow Wilson's Ms. Marvel, or Jonathan Hickman's Fantastic Four.
- The classics — Lee and Kirby's Fantastic Four and Lee and Ditko's Amazing Spider-Man are dated but still lively, and everything else builds on them.
- Animation — X-Men: The Animated Series (1992) and its 2024 revival X-Men '97 are the best quick introduction to the mutants.
Marvel's themes are consistent once you notice them: power that costs something, outsiders who protect a world that doesn't want them, and heroes whose private lives are as messy as their fights. For a sharper, more cynical take on superheroes, try The Boys. If you want the archetypes behind all of this, our anti-hero guide covers Deadpool, the Punisher and Venom.
All Marvel character names A–Z
Every hero and villain on this page, with real names where they have one.
A–B
- Ant-Man — Hank Pym / Scott Lang
- Beast — Hank McCoy
- Black Panther — T'Challa
- Black Widow — Natasha Romanoff
C
- Captain America — Steve Rogers / Sam Wilson
- Captain Marvel — Carol Danvers
- Cyclops — Scott Summers
D
- Daredevil — Matt Murdock
- Deadpool — Wade Wilson
- Doctor Doom — Victor von Doom
- Doctor Strange — Stephen Strange
- Drax the Destroyer
F–G
- Falcon — Sam Wilson
- Galactus
- Gambit — Remy LeBeau
- Gamora
- Green Goblin — Norman Osborn
- Groot
H
- Hawkeye — Clint Barton / Kate Bishop
- Hela
- Hulk — Bruce Banner
- Human Torch — Johnny Storm
I–K
- Invisible Woman — Sue Storm
- Iron Man — Tony Stark
- Jean Grey — Phoenix
- Kang the Conqueror
- Kingpin — Wilson Fisk
L–M
- Loki
- Magneto — Max Eisenhardt
- Mister Fantastic — Reed Richards
- Moon Knight — Marc Spector
- Ms. Marvel — Kamala Khan
N–P
- Nightcrawler — Kurt Wagner
- Professor X — Charles Xavier
- Punisher — Frank Castle
R–S
- Red Skull — Johann Schmidt
- Rocket Raccoon
- Rogue — Anna Marie
- Scarlet Witch — Wanda Maximoff
- Silver Surfer — Norrin Radd
- Spider-Man — Peter Parker
- Star-Lord — Peter Quill
- Storm — Ororo Munroe
T–W
- Thanos
- The Thing — Ben Grimm
- Thor Odinson
- Ultron
- Venom — Eddie Brock
- Vision
- Wasp — Janet van Dyne
- Winter Soldier — Bucky Barnes
- Wolverine — Logan / James Howlett
Frequently asked questions
How many Marvel characters are there?
Nobody keeps an exact count, because thousands of minor characters have appeared once and vanished. When Disney announced it was buying Marvel in 2009, it described a library of more than 5,000 characters, and the number has kept growing since. Only a few hundred of them have appeared in the films and shows.
Who are the original Avengers?
In the comics, the team formed in The Avengers #1 (1963) with Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Ant-Man (Hank Pym) and the Wasp. Captain America joined in issue #4 and soon became the leader. In the films, the original six are Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye. Our Avengers guide covers every lineup.
Who was the first Marvel character?
Marvel Comics #1 (1939), published by Marvel's predecessor Timely Comics, introduced the android Human Torch and Namor the Sub-Mariner. Captain America followed in 1941. The modern Marvel Universe started in 1961 with Fantastic Four #1.
Who is the most popular Marvel character?
Spider-Man is usually named Marvel's most popular and commercially successful character, across comics, films, cartoons and games. Wolverine, Iron Man, Deadpool and Captain America are close behind, and the films made Groot, Rocket and Loki into stars as well.
Who is the strongest Marvel character?
Among regular characters, the usual answers are cosmic beings like the One Above All, the Living Tribunal and Galactus, then the Phoenix Force, the Scarlet Witch at her peak, and the Sentry. Writers raise and lower these ceilings constantly, so read our power scaling guide before you settle any argument.
Are the X-Men part of the MCU?
They're on their way in. Fox owned the X-Men film rights until Disney bought 21st Century Fox in 2019. Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) brought Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Marvel Studios has said more mutants will follow.