The Marvel Cinematic Universe boasts one of the biggest, most colorful casts of characters out of any movie franchise in history, due in no small part to the talented actors who bring these beloved comic heroes and villains to life. However, not every great actor in the MCU has gotten the best material to work with.

There have been many times throughout the MCU’s history where a brilliant actor has gotten the short end of the stick, either due to lack of screen time or subpar writing. And while this issue has become less prominent over the years — especially where the villains are concerned — that doesn’t make the worst cases hurt any less. Here are just a few actors who have been wasted by the MCU.

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Mads Mikkelsen

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Nobody plays cool, classy villains quite like Mads Mikkelsen. He first rose to fame as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, and has since portrayed Hannibal Lecter himself in the Hannibal TV series. But while the MCU did indeed bring Mikkelsen in to play a main antagonist, it didn’t exactly give him much to work with. Mikkelsen appears in 2016’s Doctor Strange as Kaecilius, an incredibly obscure villain from the comics who only ever appeared in a small handful of issues.

The MCU’s Kaecilius is a sorcerer who betrayed the Masters of the Mystic Arts, leaving Kamar-Taj and swearing loyalty to the dread Dormammu. It’s briefly mentioned that Kaecilius wishes to summon Dormammu so that humanity can have eternal life in the Dark Dimension — a goal driven by grief over the death of his family. However, the potential depth of Kaecilius’ character is never explored due to lack of screen time. He even gets upstaged by his master in the final battle, causing Dormammu to leave a much bigger impression despite only appearing in one scene.

The only moment that comes close to making use of Mikkelsen’s range is the “Mister Doctor” exchange, which allows the usually-stoic Kaecilius to show a brief hint of humor. Otherwise, he’s just a typical humorless bad guy without any nuance or personality. Many fans have expressed their hope that Mikkelsen will return to the MCU as Doctor Doom, a major role that would allow the actor to truly flex his talent. The MCU has reused actors before (take Gemma Chan, who went from minor villain Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel to protagonist Sersi in Eternals), and Mikkelsen expressed interest in playing Doctor Doom back when Fox had a solo film in production from Noah Hawley. However, there’s been no news on the matter since said film was quietly canceled.

Christopher Eccleston

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It’s almost become a cliché at this point to bring up Malekith the Accursed, leader of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim, as the MCU’s worst villain ever, but he has his reputation for a reason. Malekith barely receives any screen time or dialogue, making him more of a plot device than an actual character. And that’s a crying shame, because there’s no actor more perfect for the part than Christopher Eccleston, best known for his role as the Ninth Doctor in Doctor Who.

While the MCU’s Makekith is as boring as bad guys come, the comic book Malekith — created by legendary Thor scribe Walt Simonson — is a demented, sadistic schemer with a flair for the dramatic. And of course, any Doctor Who fan will tell you that Eccleston is downright fantastic at portraying whimsical tricksters with a terrifying dark side. One need only look at the iconic episode “Dalek” to see his tremendous range on full display. But alas, Eccleston’s talent went to waste in Thor: The Dark World, giving the MCU’s Malekith his well-earned bad reputation.

Walton Goggins

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Unless you’ve seen Ant-Man and the Wasp recently, you’ve probably forgotten that Walton Goggins was ever in the MCU at all. Arguably one of the greatest character actors working today, Goggins’ talent has shone in everything from Justified to Sons of Anarchy to The Hateful Eight to Invincible. But while Goggins would be perfectly suited for a major villain like Carnage or Mephisto, he was instead squandered as Sonny Burch, a very minor character from the Iron Man comics who doesn’t even have a supervillain identity. It’s still possible that Burch will return in the future, especially since his mysterious employer was never revealed. Even so, it’s a shame to see an actor like Goggins relegated to a bit part.

Jude Law

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Like Mikkelsen and Eccleston, Jude Law (aka Dr. Watson in the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes films) is another perfectly-cast big bad who didn’t have nearly enough screen time to make an impression. He appears as the main antagonist of Captain Marvel, the Kree military leader Yon-Rogg — but because his role as villain isn’t revealed until the end of the second act, Law doesn’t get much time for his character to be fleshed out. In fact, his only memorable moment is when Carol takes him down with a single plasma blast in the middle of a villainous monologue. That said, Yon-Rogg does survive the film, fleeing Earth and returning to the Kree Empire to fight another day. As such, it’s possible that we haven’t seen the last of Jude Law in the MCU.

Thor’s Entire Supporting Cast

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This entry is admittedly a cheat, but it’s hard to pick just one actor who was criminally underutilized in the Thor movies. The most obvious candidates are Jamie Alexander as Lady Sif and Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano, and Ray Stevenson as the Warriors Three — a group of fan favorite characters from the comics who are relegated to background characters in the movies. The Warriors Three even have the dishonor of being unceremoniously killed off in Ragnarok. However, even the more prominent supporting players end up receiving too little focus.

Idris Elba got a fair share of cool moments as Heimdall, only for him to die at the start of Infinity War with little fanfare. Heimdall’s time in the MCU came to an end before he could be properly explored as a character — a sad fact that hits even harder after seeing Elba’s brilliant performance as Bloodsport in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. Karl Urban shone as Skurge the Executioner, but he ultimately received too little focus for his heroic sacrifice to leave the impact it should have. Not to mention Rene Russo as Frigga, a character whose best moment came in Avengers: Endgame, long after the character was killed by Malekith in The Dark World. Even Anthony Hopkins’ Odin arguably fails to live up to his full potential.

As much of a massive success as Ragnarok was, it’s hard not to deny that the Thor films have made some major missteps in handling their supporting cast. For every beloved character like Thor, Loki, Valkyrie, and Korg, there’s another character who failed to live up to their full potential, despite being portrayed by a talented actor. That said, Kat Dennings managed to make a comeback as Darcy Lewis in WandaVision, and Sif is set to return in next year’s Thor: Love and Thunder. So with any luck, this is one mistake the MCU will learn from.

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