The Marvel Cinematic Universe is an ever-expanding world, home to all manner of colorful characters. Some of them come from far-away worlds, while others are just regular humans with power thrust upon them. Some of them use that power for good, while others wield it for more sinister intents.
However, some of the most lovable stars in the MCU aren’t heroes or villains — or even human, for that matter. Some of the greatest unsung champions of the MCU are its cute and cuddly pets. Some of them are ordinary animals, while others have superpowers of their own. But they all have one thing in common: they’re all downright adorable.
Goose
The most prominent pet in the MCU so far is Captain Marvel’s loyal cat, Goose — originally named Chewie in the comics as a reference to Chewbacca of Star Wars fame, but renamed after a Top Gun character for the big screen. Goose was originally owned by Carol Danvers’ mentor Mar-Vell, aka Dr. Wendy Lawson, and remained at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base where she worked long after her death. Once Goose sees Carol returning to the base alongside Nick Fury, she doesn’t hesitate to tag along on their adventure.
Of course, it’s revealed near the end of the film that Goose isn’t a cat at all, but rather a deadly alien entity known as a Flerken, which hides a seemingly endless maw of tentacles beneath its cute orange tabby face. Goose proves to be instrumental in stopping the Kree Empire from seizing control of the Tesseract (aka the Cosmic Cube, aka the Infinity Stone of Space), swallowing it whole in order to keep it safe. Even then, Goose is just as temperamental as a real cat, as shown when she scratches Fury’s left eye out. Goose is last seen in Fury’s care after Carol leaves Earth, but with Fury himself now in space, it may not be long before Captain Marvel is reunited with her loyal Flerken.
Lucky the Pizza Dog
The most recent addition to the MCU’s cast of pets, and without a doubt one of the cutest yet, Lucky — aka “Pizza Dog” — is featured prominently in the Hawkeye TV series on Disney Plus. In the comics, Lucky is introduced in the first issue of Matt Fraction and David Aja’s 2012 Hawkeye series, which serves as the primary influence behind the MCU Hawkeye show. In the source material, the golden retriever is saved by Clint after losing an eye in an encounter with the Tracksuit Mafia. Clint takes the dog in and renames him after seeing that the name on his collar is, as fate would have it, “Arrow”.
In the TV series, Kate Bishop is the one who adopts and eventually names Lucky — and introduces him to pizza too, for that matter. Unlike Goose, Lucky is an ordinary pet without any special powers, so he always stays home whenever there’s crime-fighting to be done. But even if he is just a regular canine, Lucky the Pizza Dog has managed to capture the hearts of fans everywhere.
Morris
Switching gears from the mundane back to the supernatural, Morris from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a mystical being known as a Dijiang from the otherworldly realm of Ta Lo. Originally, Morris belonged to Ying Li, the mother of Shang-Chi and wife of Wenwu. But after her death, he befriended Wenwu’s captive Trevor Slattery, aka the false Mandarin from Iron Man 3. Morris is as delightful as he is helpful, and he’s instrumental in helping Shang-Chi and Katy reach Ta Lo before Wenwu and his forces.
Sparky
The most ill-fated pet on this list, Sparky is featured in the fifth episode of WandaVision, in which the wire-haired Jack Russell terrier is adopted by Wanda’s twin sons Billy and Tommy. But while Sparky quickly endears himself to the Maximoff family, he’s found dead before the episode is over. It’s revealed at the end of the next episode that the culprit behind Sparky’s death was none other than the witch Agatha Harkness, aka Wanda’s neighbor Agnes. The villains of the MCU have committed no shortage of heinous crimes, from trying to take over the world to wiping out half the life in the universe. But out of all those atrocities, killing a sweet, innocent puppy is perhaps the most unforgivable.
Giant Ant
One of the strangest pets in the MCU isn’t a dog or a cat or even a supernatural creature, but an ant that was accidentally enlarged by Ant-Man’s Pym Particles during his battle with Yellowjacket. The Giant Ant sticks around after the fight, and it’s shown that Scott’s daughter Cassie has taken a liking to the insect. Later, in Ant-Man and the Wasp, the Giant Ant returns as part of Scott’s plan to escape his house arrest. Curiously, even though Scott has a tendency to name his favorite ants (Ant-thony in the first film, Ant-tonio Banderas in the second), the Giant Ant never receives a name of his own, hence the generic nomenclature here.
Cosmo
This spacefaring labrador appears very briefly in the MCU, but he’s just too precious to leave out. Cosmo is introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy as one of the captives in the Collector’s collection, who is freed when Collector’s long-suffering assistant Carina wrecks the museum with the Power Stone. Cosmo reappears in the film’s post-credits scene, licking the face of the dejected Collector to Howard the Duck’s disgust. Cosmo shows up once again in the second episode of What If…?, stowing away on T’Challa’s ship after his fight with the Collector and accompanying the Ravagers to Wakanda.
Fenris
Super-pets aren’t just for the heroes — this giant-sized Asgardian wolf is Hela’s loyal watchdog in Thor: Ragnarok. In both the comics and the myths that inspired them, Fenris (aka Fenrir, aka Fenris Wolf) is no wild beast, but a god in his own right, not to mention Loki’s son and Hela’s brother. But in the MCU, Fenris is seemingly no more intelligent than an ordinary wolf, and is portrayed as Hela’s pet rather than her sibling. But either way, the big screen Fenris is tough enough to take on the Hulk himself.
Alligator Loki
Speaking of Asgardian creatures, this final entry would likely object to being called a pet — if he could speak, that is. Alligator Loki is, as his name implies, a version of Loki who is also an alligator. It’s never explained how or why this Loki is an alligator, but he’s counted among the ranks of the Loki variants featured in the fifth episode of Loki Season 1. He may not have the vast mystical powers of his fellow variants, but he’s still not to be trifled with. Just ask President Loki, who got his hand bitten off by Alligator Loki during a tense standoff. It just goes to show that anything is possible in an infinite multiverse.