10 Comic Book Characters You Probably Didn’t Know Were In Marvel Movies

Over Marvel’s 75 year history, there have been literally thousands of heroes, villains, sidekicks and characters of all sorts running around their funny pages. As such, those in charge of adapting their comics to the big screen are spoilt for choice over which individuals to include. This would explain, then, why Marvel movies routinely feature pretty significant characters from the source material hidden in smaller roles. For instance, think how Curt Connors, one of Spider-Man’s greatest enemies in the comics, appears in Spider-Man 2 and 3 but never turns into the Lizard. That one is a pretty obvious example, however, which most people with even a passing interest in comics could spot. The most ardent Marvel fan, though, would be hard pressed to notice many of the other ones on this list. On that note, read on for 10 comic book characters that you probably didn't even realize had been in Marvel movies already. And if we missed any, be sure to let us know in the comments section. 10) The Gentleman Remember that man in black who turned up to talk to the bad guys at the end of both The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel? Well, thanks to the cancellation of that franchise we never got to find out who he really was. However, the name he is given in the credits reveal that he is actually a minor character from Spider-Man mythology - Gustav Fiers. Almost uniquely, the character doesn’t actually derive from the comics. Instead, he comes from a series of novels starring Spider-Man that were written in the 1990s. In those, Gustav Fiers is a mysterious supervillain who calls himself The Gentleman. Due to his blaming Spider-Man for his brother’s death, he brings together several of the webhead’s enemies to form the Sinister Six, which is clearly what the Amazing movies were heading towards, given that Sony had a Sinister Six film in the pipeline. 9) Raza Longknife In Iron Man, Tony Stark is kidnapped by terrorists - something which precipitates the creation of his very first Iron Man suit. Eagle-eyed viewers might have noticed that the terrorists are called the Ten Rings, referring to the ten magical rings worn by the Mandarin in the comics. Even the most astute fans, though, surely didn’t realize that one of the Ten Rings’ number is based on a separate comics character. The leader of the terrorists in the movie is named Raza and has a side of his face disfigured by Tony during his escape. Bizarrely, the character is actually based on an alien pirate named Raza Longknife. Perhaps to show that this was a different take on the character, his disfigurement is on the opposite side of the original character’s distinctive cyborg faceplate. Furthermore, the movie Raza’s story is actually similar to a separate villain, Wong Chu. 8) The Human Torch Yes, we know, The Human Torch has already been in several Marvel movies already, but hear us out. This entry actually refers to the other Marvel character who goes by Johnny Storm’s superhero title. A property of Marvel’s precursor, Timely Comics, The Human Torch was a heroic android named Jim Hammond who could create fire. Stan Lee later used the character’s name and gave it to the Fantastic Four star. In 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, the original Human Torch (sort of) made his way to the screen. In Howard Stark’s expo which Bucky and Steve visit at the start of the film, the character can be seen in a display case. This is presumably a reference to how Captain America also derives from Timely Comics, but it also could be a nod to how Chris Evans played the other Human Torch in the Fantastic Four movies. Either way, it's definitely a cool little Easter Egg. 7) Mastermind The X-Men universe is so overpopulated that the movies regularly shove comic characters into the narrative wherever they can put them (which often causes continuity issues when they reappear down the line). One prominent character hidden in the movies is Mastermind, a powerful mutant foe of the team. In X-Men 2, General Stryker callously uses his lobotomized son Jason to manipulate Professor X into wiping out all mutant kind. Going by his mind control abilities and first name, it can be gleaned that he is a very loose adaptation of Jason Wyngarde, known as Mastermind in the comics. He's usually a member of the Hellfire Club, but they later appeared without him in X-Men: First Class. Though he is one of the bigger X-Men comics villains, this version of Mastermind is so far removed from the familiar character that it's easy to forget that he made an appearance in the movies at all. 6) Henry Gyrich This other important X-Men character was also so hidden away in the movies that you would be hard pressed to notice him, even if you were looking. In X-Men, Senator Kelly is kidnapped when his assistant, Henry Gyrich, is impersonated by Mystique. Elsewhere, a news report mentions that the real Gyrich has been “mauled by a bear” (presumably Sabretooth). This is a surprisingly brief appearance by a major character in Marvel comics. A perennial thorn in the side of many superheroes, Gyrich was actually the governmental liaison for the Avengers for a time. It’s a shame, then, that he was killed off so quickly, as Gyrich would make for an interesting character for the films to play with. In more recent years, fans had theorized that Martin Freeman would be playing the role in Captain America: Civil War. However, that isn’t the case, as we now know that he's actually Everett Ross. 5) Cosmo The Space Dog If you stayed to the end of the credits, you would have seen the surprise cameo from Howard the Duck in Guardians of the Galaxy. With the shock of seeing that character back on screen after the notorious 1980s movie, you might have missed that that same scene features another wacky Marvel character you never thought you’d see on film. In it, a dog in a space suit licks the Collector, only to be shaken off. The same dog appeared as one of his exhibits earlier in the movie. This is, in fact, Cosmo the Space Dog – the head of security in Knowhere and an associate of the Guardians in the comics. Once an ordinary dog sent into space in a Soviet space shuttle, he later mutated and learnt to speak. While the movie couldn’t stretch to a talking dog (a talking duck is far more acceptable), the Guardians of the Galaxy animated series does feature Cosmo as a regular character. 4) Adam Warlock Cosmo isn’t the only character hidden in the Collector’s collection. A bonafide Marvel superhero can also be found if you keep your eyes open. In both Thor: The Dark World and Guardians, a glowing cocoon can be glimpsed at several points. Once they see it, fans will recognize this as the cocoon of Adam Warlock – a hugely powerful hero based in outer-space. Intriguingly, in the aforementioned post-credits scene of Guardians, you can see that the cocoon is now open… As we said in our "10 Awesome Moments of Foreshadowing in Marvel Movies" list, this is surely more than a quick nod to the comics character and is in fact actually setting Warlock up for an appearance in the MCU further down the line. The character is a major part of ‘The Infinity Gauntlet’ storyline in the comics, so expect to see Adam Warlock turn up proper in Avengers: Infinity War, or perhaps Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. 3) Doc Samson It’s not one of the film’s major problems, but The Incredible Hulk is guilty of underusing a popular character from the comics: Doc Samson. So much so that fans might have not realized it was him if they had missed his name. In the movie, Dr. Leonard Samson is a psychiatrist dating Bruce Banner’s true love Betty Ross (sorry Black Widow). In the comics, Samson is also affected by gamma radiation and gains super strength and green hair. And he isn’t really anything like Modern Family’s Ty Burrell, who plays him in Incredible Hulk. Hopefully, the character will make a reappearance in the MCU at some point in the future. Also, an even more submerged character is a computer nerd who Bruce bribes with pizza to enter a lab. The movie's novelization confirms that this is Amadeus Cho, an important supporting character in Hulk comics. He even became a version of the Hulk in more recent years. 2) The Leader Clearly the makers of The Incredible Hulk took lessons from the X-Men movies in cramming in characters from the comics. As well as Doc Samson and Cho, supervillain The Leader also makes an appearance. In the movie, Sterns is a scientist who works with Emil Blonsky to tap into the power of The Hulk. The last time he is seen, an accident causes some of Bruce’s blood to mix with an open wound on his forehead. As his head swells, Sterns starts to smile… This is naturally a nod to the enlarged cranium of the character in the comics, who believes his intelligence casts him above others, hence the name The Leader. Clearly, Sterns was being set up for an appearance in a villainous role in a future Hulk movie. However, as we all know, a sequel never materialized. 1) Fin Fang Foom The Marvel Cinematic Universe has so far brilliantly reinvented a number of comics characters to make sense in a movie. Sadly, one that might just be beyond them, though, is the brilliantly-named Fin Fang Foom – a dragon who is a recurring foe of Tony Stark's. Still, this hasn’t stopped a nod to the character from featuring in Iron Man. The original character is the leader of a dragon-like alien race with shapeshifting abilities who infiltrated human society centuries ago. In the movie, he can be briefly seen on a billboard when Iron Man tests his Mark II armour by flying through the city. It is a spectacularly brief and easily-missed cameo, but it is there. The image was specially drawn for the movie by artist Adi Granov, based on FFF’s look in the Viva Las Vegas comics story. Here’s hoping this is just a tease for an upcoming full-on appearance in the future.